Page 36 of Serpents of the Night

Did she want to be stuck in the room with Payeri—a complete stranger—while she was feeling at her lowest? Lori battled down a shudder. While Jathella’s offer was sensible, it was the last thing she wanted. She would have plenty of time out there with the Seshanamitesh female when she was mentally prepared for it. She certainly didn’t want to waste valuable down time while in a place of relative safety while being cautiously alert in Payeri’s company. Not when she still was so uncertain about the female’s intentions toward her. There would be plenty of time where she would be forced to depend on Payeri, but first, she would rest so that she could be on her guard and ready for anything.

“No. I honestly just want to sleep.”

Jathella gave her skeptical look but inclined her head, her gavo flaring only slightly so that its snap in agreement was more of a soft whisper. “Very well. I will see to it that no one disturbs you. If you need anything there is a metal tube near your door and a striker. Just ring and an attendant for this tunnel will come. Three strikes for service. Repeated rapid strikes if it’s an emergency.”

“Thanks, I will remember that,” Lori whispered and promptly covered her mouth as a yawn cracked her jaw.

“One last thing, I must take your communication device,” Jathella said, a regretful note in her voice as she tipped her head toward Lori’s comm. “It is not permitted for the maiden to have any outside aid and the queen matriarch is aware that device allows you to speak to your mates and fellow humans.”

Lori’s hand went to her comm, her stomach plummeting sickly. They were taking it? She wouldn’t be able to comm her mates to hear their voices to help her sleep or tell Hashal goodnight before he was tucked into bed at night. Nor would she be able to get in contact with Vi or Eddie at the colony to call for help if she needed it. Although she habitually took it off at night, she had long become accustomed to wearing it every day. Jathella’s eyes softened with sympathy, but the female held her hand out and Lori was left with no choice but to remove it from her wrist and hand it over, however reluctantly.

The commander smiled as her hand closed around it, but she nodded toward a covered dish sitting at the other end of the table. “I would recommend that you at least eat first before you sleep. You are missing mealtime and will be hungry if you awake later while everyone is resting.”

Lori nodded in acknowledgment. Leaning forward, she dragged the tray toward her, earning her a satisfied smile from Jathella. The female inclined her head once more, her wings flicking only slightly as she shifted around on her coils and left. Lori’s eyes followed her out the door before dropping to the tray. The covering was similar to dome-like lids. Obviously, this was a common case of some designs being universal in the sense that there were only so many ways for basic technology to evolve to do a thing. That it was recognizable was actually pretty comforting, so she didn’t hesitate to pull off the lid.

The steam of cooked meat, roots, and various vegetation wafted up, and her stomach growled. How nice it was to eat palace food without having the queen matriarch and the entire court watching her. Licking her lips, she grabbed the two-pronged eating utensil and stuck a bite of meat into her mouth. She wasn’t sure what sort of creature it came from but living on Seshana, she’d long decided that she was a lot happier not knowing what things looked like when they were alive.

Thankfully, her mates were happy to oblige her.

Her stomach sank as she realized that she would likely not have that luxury while on the surface with Payeri. Maybe they would give her some kind of alien rations to take if they did not let her retrieve her pack from the nest, and she could find enough root vegetables to eat to supplement it. She rubbed her bare wrist absently. She could hope.

Chapter 30

Kehtal wiped the medicinal brew over Daskh’s scales, praying to Shangla that the male would absorb enough of its healing essence. His gaze flicked to the male glowering angrily at his side with a flattened gavo. His mouth tightened with concern, unclear whether or not he heard correctly.

“Lori is where?”

“Detained at the palace,” Slengral repeated, his voice a vehement hiss with his barely restrained fury. “She will be escorted to the surface with her maiden at hand just before nightfall to begin the maiden’s trial.”

Kehtal’s hand went still against the heavier, protective scales around Daskh’s wing base and his mouth parted with shock. “A maiden trial? Lori is a mated female. Since when was an adult female subjected to a maiden trial? Not even the Uralial females who make their homes within the boundaries of the shinara are forced to endure the trial. Everyone knows that it would be unfair to them and yet Lori comes from a wingless species and she must endure?”

Slengral sighed and settled heavily on his coiled tail. “The Uralial are from a common ancestor and so it is likely easier to accept that they would retain similar customs before their females are allowed to leave the mother nest. Despite the animosity that many of the females of the shinara have toward the Uralial for their perceived inferiority, they still recognize this. No such assumptions can be made for humans from the point of view of the council.”

“Absurd,” Kehtal muttered in reply as he dipped the cloth into the mixture and ran it down Daskh’s back. “Since you are here rather than with our ashlava, I assume this means that we are not permitted to join her.”

Gavo snapping angrily in confirmation, Slengral huffed as he crossed his arms over his upper coil. “They will not even allow her to return to our nest. They will only return her after she has completed it.”

Kehtal frowned as he wiped a particularly dry stretch of scales. “And if she does not?”

“Then we will do what we must.”

His eyes snapped over to the other male in surprise. “You are suggesting that we defy the shinara... and your mother? Do you understand what that will mean?”

Slengral inclined his head, his gavo snapping. “Lori will not be pleased if it comes to it, so it is better to avoid it if possible. It is merely a matter of last resort. I have confidence in our mate. She will succeed.”

“If you believe that, you should not be so anxious,” Kehtal pointed out as he flicked the damp cloth in Slengral’s direction. “So why the hostility?”

Slengral rolled his shoulders, the feathered leather of his ears flicking. “I do not believe I am hostile. I do not trust having our mate outside of our protection. She is too vulnerable to be kept away from us and to face Seshana without us. They give her Payeri—an unknown and expect me to just accept this. Nor will they even give me the simple courtesy of nesting with my mate and allowing our comfort before she must leave. I am not hostile. Everything about this situation is intolerable.”

That was reasonable, and the more Kehtal thought about it the twitchier he got. He was finally forced to set the rag down, content at least that Daskh had been thoroughly seen to before he ended up inadvertently jabbing instead of dabbing at the unconscious male.

“Payeri—wasn’t that the name of the female who...”

“Yes,” Slengral bit out, interrupting him. “She volunteered when no one else would, claiming that she felt the need to repay her debt for harming Daskh.”

Kehtal frowned. That was an odd coincidence. “Do you think it was intentional?”

“I considered it,” Slengral reluctantly admitted, “but our gifts were not something planned or that it could easily be anticipated—least of all what Daskh intended.” His gavo and the tips of his wings fluttered irritably. “Unless they were looking for any reason at all to harm and were following us undetected as they waited for an opening, they had little opportunity to actually plan an attack.” He lifted his wings helplessly. “It is possible but just as equally possible that it was an accident.”

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