“I’mnot—”
Heblinked.He could see her nipple rising beneath the fabric.
“Hm?”Zaria asked, amused.
“I’mnot doing that.”
“Youseemed rather happy to, when we were ruttin’ at thebath.Sucked my salami like a lid off a pot.”
“Don’tever call your nipples ‘salami’.Ivtarr preserve.”
“What’sthe answer, love?”
It tookIsaac a significant effort to meet her eye.“Don’t people kiss on the mouth,usually?”
“Well,”Zaria replied, “my face ain’t flat like yours.Thing is, I do got another setof lips.”She dipped her outstretched breast, pointing toward her legs.“Ifyou’d rather kiss them instead—”
“I’mnot kissing you at all!”
Sheleaned over him, cupping her breast towards his face.
“Zaria!”
“Kiss‘em, squire.I need some luck.”
“Therope!”
“Hm?”
“Therope!Throw the rope!”
“Oh?That rope there?”
“Yes!”
“Youwant me to throw that rope?”
“Yes!”
“Wantme to toss that rope up to that bony bit, there?”
“Yes!Yes!Please, just—”
Hestopped.She leaned back and laughed.His blush warmed the sunburn on hischeek.
“Tooeasy,” Zaria said, walking away.
“Thatwon’t work forever!”
Shepicked up the rope, looked back at him, managed to wink with only one eye, andthrew it into the air.The loop caught on the broken bone.She tugged thelength a few times, testing the strength.Nothing came loose, and the rope heldsecure.
“Shouldalearned not to doubt me.”She shrugged off her pack, tossing it heavily to hisside.“I’ll be taking them gems now.”
Reluctantly,Isaac dug through his own pack, burying a hand through the rainbow of preciousstones.Zaria dragged the hanging rope line over to the face of a boulder.Withone hand, she placed a foot against the craggy face, lifting herself from theground.Since one of her hands was nearly split in half, she had improvised asystem of climbing one-armed, which mostly involved using her teeth as animprovised clamp.Isaac was sure that, if she didn’t have one of the strongestjaws of all zoanthrope species, it would not work at all.
Evenstill, it pained him to watch.
“Right,”she said.“Feels sturdy enough.I’ll scamper up and make a winch for you, sameas usual.”
