Page 96 of Alien Burn

Tivek spread his hands in triumph.

Dhomhes gave her a long, wounded look.

She smiled back at him, without checking first to see who might object.

The unfamiliar freedom of it caught her a moment later. So did the realization that she had almost spoiled it by looking for Roemary.

She let her gaze return to Dhomhes instead.

He was watching her. He didn't make the smile larger or try to turn her hesitation into a question. His fingers rested on the bench between them, close to her hand.

She touched one of them with hers.

Just that. A brief, deliberate contact.

His hand turned beneath hers.

Tivek had begun explaining how to read a break in the rock. He was drawing on the path with the end of a fallen stem, crouched forward, wholly occupied with making her understand. Sereya leaned enough to see the diagram.

Dhomhes's fingers stayed loosely around hers. Moving just enough to caress her.

Enough that she felt the simple touch all the way to her belly.

“Here,” Tivek said. “If you cut at the wrong angle, you can spoil the piece. Dhom makes me say what I think before he'll tell me what he sees.”

“Does he always agree?”

“No.”

“Do you?”

Tivek looked up. “Not always.”

“Good,” she said.

His grin faded into something more thoughtful.

“Most people want the answer they were going to give you.”

Dhomhes's thumb went still against her hand.

“Is that about the practice shafts?” he asked.

Tivek scraped a little dirt over the diagram.

“No.”

They waited. Sereya could hear water moving beyond the thick leaves along the wall. Somewhere on the main path, footsteps came and went.

“Mother's been in that office a long time,” Tivek said.

Dhomhes looked toward the building.

“Would you like me to check?”

“She said she'd send for me.”

“Then we can wait.”