Page 115 of Tempting Fate

“Uh-huh.”

He stalked towards her. “What do I have to do to keep your sassy mouth quiet, hmm?”

“Nothing you can do in public, my love.” Kira swatted him on the arse and shooed him away.

Too many feelings bubbled up, and I pushed them down. “You really love him.”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

I swallowed. “Happy for you.”

“Thanks. So… you and Airida look close.”

“Not like that.”

“You’re allowed to be happy, you know.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not you too. Fenn is always up in my grill about it. We’re just friends.” Who could be more.

“You haven’t thought about it?”

“Found a rope!” Reskavi called.

Good timing.

If I’d thought the shaa’ith were strong, they had nothing on Reskavi. He made a bigger hole and hefted a boulder without any effort, then tied the rope around it.

“I want to go down there,” I said. But I wasn’t daft enough to try it without a harness, and it wasn’t like I’d done any upper body training in, well, years.

“You should be a corsair with that attitude,” Reskavi chuckled. “Now I have two fearless little humans.”

I’m not yours. He hadn’t meant it like that, but I felt the pushback in my bones. But it would be nice to be someone’s.

Reskavi clambered down with a fluidity belying his size and bulk. “Cave,” he called up, then hauled himself out of the hole. “But there’s no real way to get in from here. Some shafts of light that way.” He headed up into the sloping scrubland away from the lake.

I gave Kira a questioning look.

“He gets like this. Let’s go.” She scrambled up the incline, having to use hands and feet in places, it was so steep.

I followed, testing rocks and clumps of plants as handholds as I went. My regular shoes were not, in fact, the best choice; among the succulents, prickly leaves dug through the soft fabric, and the soles were no match for the sharpness of the rocks, the points pressing into my feet so hard they might leave bruises.

None of it mattered. I was on a fucking planet—moon—exploring.

The sky darkened to teal as the sun descended, casting our long shadows behind us as we crested the rise.

“Fuck. It’s beautiful.” Kira’s voice held so much awe—and rightly so.

I couldn’t even speak. The hill dropped away, revealing a complex lake system surrounded by flowers in bloom, colours I knew Airida would want to paint someday, riots of pinks, reds, and oranges, with the odd vivid blue.

I took some photos for him and zoomed in. Then zoomed in more. “What’s that? Down there?” I held out my comm, showing a dark patch behind a copse of spindly trees.

“Could be a cave entrance. But it’ll be dark soon,” Reskavi said.

“I need to see it.” And not just because it might help me get into the geoscience guild. Could we…?

“Not today, you don’t.” The big kri’ith turned both Kira and I around, pointing down the steep slope. “No idea what lives down there, and it’s further away than it looks.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure, Reski?”