I feel heat rise into my face. “Well. There’s a phrase a man uses when he wants to ask. And she doesn’t have to agree. She only does if she truly wants to. Which sounds impossible now that I say it aloud.” I frown. Can this really be true?
“It works more often than you’d think,” she says. “Go on.”
I square my shoulders, heart pounding harder than it did in the fight. “Callie, will you marry me?”
She tilts her head. “Will you keep me in your village and never let me out?”
“No,” I say instantly. “We’ll go anywhere you want. We’ll see your friend. Today. Now. And then you decide. Or we decide. Together.”
She searches my face, long and careful. “Together is the right word.” She smiles. “Yes. I will marry you.”
For a heartbeat I can only stare at her, the truth of it striking deeper than any spear.
Then I cup her face in my hands, thumbs brushing away the last of her tears, and I lean down slowly, giving her time to pull away if she wants to.
She doesn’t.
Her mouth meets mine, warm and sure, and the kiss deepens naturally, unhurried, a promise rather than a claim. The jungle fades. The ocean roars somewhere far away.
For the first time, I am not holding on.
I am being chosen.
26
- Callie-
Crat'ax looks terrible, or as terrible as a young, eight-foot caveman who’s all muscle can look without really making an effort. His cuts have stopped bleeding, but he’s got seaweed in his hair and his loincloth isn’t actually covering much anymore.
I reach up to pick out the strand of seaweed and give him a critical look. “I can’t show you to Theodora like this. Or me, really. Is there anything left of the boat?”
“Probably some of the wood is still afloat, but in pieces,” he tells me. “I saved only the spear.”
I think about it. “Which is closer, the village or the saucer?”
“The village,” he says, confirming my own guess. “The saucer is still a day or more away. In a boat, that is. If we walk, three days. Probably more. The village we can walk to in one day. The land is flat, I noticed.”
I tap my lips. I have zero desire to walk through this raptor-infested jungle for three days. “The dragon is no longer in the cage and can’t make everyone crazy anymore. Can you keep me safe in the village? Can you build a boat in a short time, and then sail it to Theodora?”
To my satisfaction, his eyes don’t light up with relief when he’s presented with the idea of going back to his village. Instead, he thinks. “A boat like mine, twelve days. Some of the boys are really good at building boats now. They can help. Most of the time will be spent finding and cutting wood in the jungle. But the Dry tribes can do that in exchange for splix. Ten days.”
“And then we go to Theodora as soon as there’s no storm?”
“Storms are rare,” he says. “Probably we can start the next day, after the boat is finished. And we don’t have to paddle the whole way in one go. We can stop and rest on the way if the weather turns bad. We can wait it out.”
I tilt my head. “Are you sure about this? You won’t suddenly say that there’s something important you have to do first? There’s no charcoal firing, or nut harvest, or rekh fight that youmustgo to before we can set off?”
He taps his lips. “Hmm. There is a tree I wanted to plant in the jungle…”
I glare up at him. “What?!”
He laughs and lifts me, making me squeal. “No, don't worry. I will not look for excuses not to go. I won’t need to. What do you think your friend wants to do? I’m not sure I can recommend that she live in the village with us. The men… well, you saw them. They may not behave well with her around. If she’s anything like you.”
“We’ll tell her about the village and the tribe, and then she can make up her own mind. It’s getting dark, my love. Can we go somewhere else?” I nod to Sprub’ex’s body, which can still be seen among the trees.
We walk quickly along the coast until we find a small clearing covered with knee-length grass.
I suddenly jerk as I spot movement in the dark. “What’s that?”
