Kestra stares at Dale for a long moment, then stops struggling against her silk bonds, relenting.
Dale looks up at Riven and nods, a silent gesture that carries more respect than I would have thought possible. Riven carefully adjusts the webbing, loosening it just enough that Kestra can breathe easier, can move slightly, but not enough that she’s a threat.
And suddenly, I can’t stand still anymore. I push through the small crowd that’s gathered at a safe distance and run straight for Riven.
He turns at the sound of my approach, and I throw myself at him without hesitation. His upper arms catch me, holding me close against his broad chest, and I’m laughing and crying all at once.
“You came,” I manage to say, my voice muffled against him. “I can’t believe you came.”
His mandibles click in what I now recognize as amusement. “I was terrified,” he admits quietly, so only I can hear. “But losing you was more terrifying.”
I pull back just enough to look into his clustered yellow eyes. “I love you,” I tell him. “So much.”
His mandibles part slightly, a soft chittering sound escaping that I’ve never heard before. “I love you too,” he says, and the words sound like they’re torn from somewhere deep inside him, raw and honest and perfect.
Around us, I can hear the murmur of voices, people talking in hushed tones about what they’ve just witnessed. But for this moment, it’s just us—me and this amazing, brave creature who conquered his deepest fears to protect people who might never accept him.
The townspeople, who have been watching from a safe distance, are slowly emerging from their hiding places. There’s still fear in their eyes, still uncertainty, but there’s also something else. Something like awe.
Merry is the first to speak up, her voice carrying over the murmurs. “That spider just saved our asses.”
“He protected us,” adds another voice. “He didn’t have to do that.”
Old Man Peterson, who had been skeptical about my warnings just minutes earlier, clears his throat loudly. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he announces to the gathered crowd, adjusting his worn baseball cap. “I’ve seen some weird shit in my eighty-three years, but I ain’t never seen a tree lady get her ass kicked by a giant spider.”
A few people chuckle at that, the tension breaking just slightly.
Riven’s legs shift nervously beneath him as he whispers to me, “I expected a lot more screaming.”
“Well, you did just save the entire town,” I point out. “That tends to earn you some goodwill.”
He looks down at me, those alien eyes somehow conveying a universe of emotion. “I would have come even if it didn’t.”
My heart swells to approximately three times its normal size. “I know.”
Dale approaches us again, looking like a man whose entire worldview has been forcibly rearranged. He clears his throat.
“Mr… Riven, is it?” he begins, formal and awkward. “I, uh… I owe you an apology. And my thanks.”
Riven inclines his head slightly, waiting.
“I misjudged you,” Dale continues. “Pretty spectacularly, in fact. If you hadn’t been here today…” He trails off, glancing at the destruction around us.
“Your bullets would have been ineffective against her bark exterior,” Riven supplies helpfully.
Dale’s mouth twitches. “Yeah, I’m getting that impression.” He hesitates, then extends his hand. “Thank you.”
Riven stares at the offered hand, then carefully extends one of his own. The handshake is possibly the most surreal thing I’ve ever witnessed. This massive arachnid creature and the small-town deputy, formally shaking hands in the middle of a destroyed street.
“Well,” Dale says when they release. “I’ve got to coordinate with emergency services, get Kestra secured for transport. You two take care.”
As Dale walks away, Riven’s legs curl slightly around me, a protective gesture that makes my heart flutter.
“You don’t have to stay,” I tell him softly. “I know this is hard for you. You can go back to the mountain if you want. I’ll handle things from here.”
Riven looks around at the humans cautiously moving through the debris, at the destruction Kestra caused, at the sky above Pine Ridge. Then he looks down at me.
“No,” he says simply. “I think I’ll stay.”
