Page 22 of Tharn’s Hunt (Barbarians of the Dust #2)

SHARING WATER, CLAIMING, AND OTHER THINGS I SHOULD NOT DISCUSS AROUND JUS-TEEN

THARN

I do not like the way Jus-teen touches Jah-kee.

This is an unreasonable thought. I know this.

Jus-teen is Jah-kee's sister-female. Their bond is ancient and deep.

Deeper than clan-ties, deeper than lifeblood.

And Jus-teen's hands are skilled, gentle as they wipe the fire-sweat from Jah-kee's brow, as they tip water past her cracked lips, as they check the pulse at her throat.

Yet I cannot stop the low growl that builds in my chest each time she leans close to Jah-kee, each time her fingers brush the strands of head-fur from Jah-kee's face.

The growl dies before it reaches my lips. But barely.

" She will be well, brother ," Rok projects, his mindspeak rippling with amusement. " Jus-teen knows what she does ."

I force my claws to retract, my shoulders to relax. " I know this ," I project back, not taking my eyes from where Jah-kee lies still on the stone pallet. " I merely... observe ."

" Is that what you call it ?" Rok settles beside me against the cave wall, his frame also casting shadows across the floor. " Strange. I would call it 'watching her like prey about to escape a trap . ' "

My gaze snaps to his face, a snarl building in my throat before I recognize the teasing light in his eyes. Rok, amused by my discomfort. As always.

" I brought her here ," I project stiffly. " I am responsible for her recovery ."

" Mmm ." Rok's mental hum vibrates with doubt. " And that is why your skin glows where her scent lingers? Why your dra-kir pounds when her name crosses the mindspace? Why you have not taken your eyes from her since you arrived ?"

Heat floods my face. It is an unfamiliar sensation that irritates me further. " I am concerned ," I insist. " The Giving Stone was waiting. She nearly died in my care ."

" Nearly died while you carried her across half the territory to reach help ," Rok corrects. " There is a difference, brother ."

I have no response to this, so I return to watching Jah-kee. Her color is better this sol, the unnatural flush of fever —as Jus-teen calls it—fading from her cheeks. Her breathing comes easier, deeper.

I know she will live. This knowledge alone should ease the tight knot of fear that has sat in my chest since her collapse. Yet tension still coils through me, making me restless, irritable.

Jus-teen rises from Jah-kee's side, wiping her hands on her strange hide coverings. Her water eyes—so much like Jah-kee's, yet lacking the same pull on my dra-kir—meet mine across the cave.

" She's stable ," she projects, her mindspeak clear in the mindspace. " The fever's broken. She needs rest now, and more fluids when she wakes ."

I dip my head in the way Rok has now taught me means affirmation. " You have my gratitude ," I project.

Jus-teen's lips quirk in what might be amusement at how formal I sound.

" I didn't do it for you, big guy. But you're welcome .

" She crosses to Rok's side, her small form fitting neatly against his larger one as she settles beside him.

" You look like shit, by the way. When's the last time you slept ? "

I blink. “… Like excrement ?” My gaze flicks to Rok, seeking confirmation. But I sense no insult here. “ Is this a human compliment ?”

Jus-teen chokes on air. Rok’s amusement rises in the mindspace.

I nod, solemn. “ Then you also look like… shit .” I gesture between them. “ Very… healthy .”

Jus-teen collapses against Rok, gasping. “ Oh my god. Never change .”

I tilt my head. Change what? My appearance? My scent? Before I can ask, she adds: “ And for the record—no, it’s not a compliment. Just a human phrase that means you don’t look so well. ”

" I am not tired ," I lie.

Her water eyes set on me with disbelief.

" Riiiight ," Jus-teen projects, stretching out the word unnaturally. " That's why you're swaying on your feet. Very convincing ."

The casual way she addresses me unsettles my instincts. She speaks as if we’ve shared a hearth for many cycles, not mere sols. Yet when Jah-kee’s clumsy thoughts brushed my mind, it felt… different.

Natural.

Everything about these females defies understanding.

" You should rest, brother ," Rok adds, his mental voice gentler. " Jah-kee will not wake for some time. Her body heals ."

I resist, unwilling to close my eyes even for a moment. Not while Jah-kee remains vulnerable.

" I will watch ," I insist, settling more firmly against the wall. " In case she wakes ."

Jus-teen and Rok exchange a look, and I wonder if they are having some private conversation.

" Suit yourself ," Jus-teen finally says, turning back to me with a shrug. " But if you face-plant on the cave floor, I'm not picking you up ."

I do not know this "face-plant." Is it a plant with a face? A hunter plant that bites?

My gaze sweeps the cave floor. My claws flex. If this face-plant is a threat to Jah-kee, I will tear it from the stone.

“ What is this face-plant ?” My thought echoes sharply with suspicion. “ A predator ?”

Jus-teen snorts, the sound loud in the quiet cave.

A clear image flashes from her mind to mine: a creature made of nothing but black lines.

Two for legs, two for arms, a circle for a head, swaying with exhaustion, suddenly tripping over nothing and landing flat on its face with a silent thud.

The line creature has my distinctive tracker's markings on its back.

“ It means you will fall ,” Jus-teen projects, her thought laced with deep amusement. “ On your face .”

My posture straightens. My gaze shifts to Jah-kee's sleeping form, then back to Jus-teen. My exhaustion is a betrayal I will not admit.

"I will not fall," I project, the vow a solid, steady thing.

A small smile plays on Jus-teen's lips, and she shakes her head slowly. A wave of fond exasperation washes from her mind into mine. “ Okay, big guy ,” she projects, the words soft with amusement. " Whatever you say ."

Rok's amusement ripples through the mindspace like wind over the dust, and I get the distinct impression he approves of how his female teases me.

" Come, Jus-teen ," he says, rising to his feet and extending a claw to help her up.

" Let us give my brother space to prove he is as sturdy as he claim s. "

They move deeper across the cave and I watch them go, noting the easy way they move together, the casual way Rok's hand settles at the small of Jus-teen's back.

And I wonder.

What is it like to be so comfortable with another being? To have such ease between you? To feel the light connecting you, strong and unbreakable?

My gaze returns to Jah-kee's sleeping form. Will she ever want that? With me? Or will she, once recovered, wish to return to her own kind, her own world?

I have seen images of her planet. So much water. Why would any being want to remain here, in the dust, where every drop is scarce and precious?

The thought sends a spike of pain through my chest so sharp I nearly gasp aloud.

I do not wish to contemplate such things. Not now. Not while the memory of her burning skin against mine, her fading presence in the mindspace, is still so fresh.

Instead, I settle more comfortably against the wall, my eyes never leaving her face, and prepare for a long vigil.

I must have slept after all, for I wake with a start to find the cave dimmer, Ain's light barely streaming through the entrance. My neck aches from the awkward angle, my muscles stiff from too long in one position.

But these discomforts fade to nothing when I see Jah-kee's eyes are open, watching me.

"Hey," she vocalizes, her voice weak but clear. "You look terrible."

The sound of her voice sends a wave of relief through me so powerful I nearly sway with it. My dra-kir pounds against my ribs, the golden glow beneath my skin flaring brighter in response to her wakefulness.

" Jah-kee !" I am by her side in an instant.

“I’m here.” She smiles faintly, the expression lighting her pale face. "Alive, too. Thanks to you." She tries to sit up, wincing with the effort. "Though I feel like I've been run over by a truck."

Faint images. So faint as she vocalizes.

A hulking thing of unnatural angles and shrieking metal, rolling on circular limbs that crush everything in their path.

Dust . What world breeds such monstrous moving things?

One of my hands hovers near her shoulder as if to protect her from it, but I am uncertain if I should touch her.

"Care-ful," I vocalize as best as I can, having heard Jus-teen say the same in the many solmarks that she bent here tending to her. But the human word is still awkward on my tongue.

Jah-kee looks up at me, surprise flickering across her features. "You're getting better at talking," she vocalizes. "I understood that perfectly."

Is that...approval?

Pride swells in my chest, though I know such a simple accomplishment hardly merits it.

Jah-kee's smile widens, and my dra-kir stumbles in its rhythm. Has her smile always affected me this way? Or is it merely relief at seeing her recovered?

"Where are we?" she asks, glancing around the cave. "Is this where Justine's been? Is she here?"

I recognize Jus-teen’s name and lift my head, scanning the cave as if she might appear at the sound of it.

"Did we make it?" Jah-kee breathes, her eyes widening.

The hope there is unmistakable, fragile but blazing.

"You brought me all the way here. Through the desert.

While I was..." She trails off, her gaze dropping to her hands, which tremble slightly against the stone beneath her.

"I don't remember much. Just... the fever. And dreams."

I tilt my head, her thoughts still that hazy imprint in the mindspace. Perhaps only facilitated by the fever fog that consumed her. It has not fully cleared.

Her cheeks stain pink as she flushes slightly, the color creeping up her neck. "Weird ones. Probably just the fever."