Page 44 of Serpents of the Night

“It is simple,” he replied, undeterred. “Our laws demand that mated males be treated with care. No one is allowed to separate a male from his mate as it would subject him to a cruel loss having been under her care and receiving regular exposure to her calming pheromones. We have already been without our mate for many turns of the suns and are beginning to feel the effects, which should not have been allowed to begin with if there had been anyone to speak on our behalf who was knowledgeable in this matter.” He cocked his head. “To deny us would be to publicly deny all the males of the shinara their most basic rights within the shinara. One of the few that they can enjoy and depend upon,” he added, not quite being able to help himself.

The queen matriarch smiled, but it did not meet her eyes, and the expression itself was brittle with the tension behind it. “I see.” Her gaze turned sharply to Slengral. “It was your plan with this meeting all along to force me to allow you to see your mate.” She chuckled softly, the sound bitter when he met her with a hard glare of his own, his wings standing out slightly from his sides. “So, it was. And you would have won because I would have no choice but to concede. Unfortunately, you are no longer mated. That she gave up alone meant that she abandoned you. You are no longer mated by shinara law. Even if I allowed it, it would not be possible because she is dead.”

Daskh fell back as if struck, his heart clenching painfully. Slengral’s reaction, however, was more extreme as he recoiled back on his tail with an angry hiss of denial. Hand clenching over his hearts, Daskh’s head turned, and he looked over at his nest brother, and through the wave of hopelessness that fell over, him he noted the whiplike movement of the male’s body, the muscles tensing, preparing to charge the queen matriarch. He would have too, if not for Kehtal reacting so quickly to wrap his arms and wings around the male, even as the smaller male trembled with grief. Despite being so much smaller, it was enough to stop Slengral who, even subconsciously, was always aware and careful with the smaller members of their nest.

At least Hashal had been left behind. He was momentarily spared the pain.

“If I could spare you this pain, I would,” Zathexa continued in frustration. “But Payeri saw it with her own eyes. She circled back, hoping to convince Lori to change her mind, but encountered a sandstorm of such size that she was grounded and was forced to wait out its passage.” She swallowed thickly, her head dropping. “There were signs everywhere of numerous Fazthals that had surfaced, and blood splattered over the dunes. All that was left was this,” she continued as she waved to a servant who properly brought a tattered item that, despite its abuse, was still recognizable.

Lori’s pack. It was unmistakable as the servant handed its ruined remains to his nest brother.

Daskh collapsed in grief as Slengral moaned deeply and curled around the bag in his arms, clenching it tightly to his chest. Kehtal’s shriek of despair as he went lax against Slengral broke Daskh’s heart even further as he trembled, his forearms quaking beneath his weight and the waves of sorrow engulfing him.

“I blame myself,” she rasped. “I should have rejected the demand of the court. I had wished to spare her scrutiny and derision by allowing her to prove herself and prove the merit of human females to the shinara. And now my son is without his mate... and his offspring....” She made a low, sorrowful sound deep in her throat as she looked at Slengral. “Forgive me.”

Slengral’s head slowly raised, and he blinked up at her, his gaze empty of its usual cunning look. There was room for nothing but the sorrow that appeared uncontainable within him.

“I must go. I have to check,” he choked out.

Zathexa’s head dropped but her chin dipped once. “You cannot. The announcement is going out as we speak that your mate is lost to us. You are no longer a mated male, and you are too valuable to the shinara to be permitted to leave its protection.” Her jaw trembled but hardened as she lifted her gaze to meet his eyes. “We have no choice now. We must secure a new mating. We need an heir now your offspring are gone with their mother.”

Slengral’s mouth dropped open, an anguished shriek of denial emerging from him as his shot out, knocking Kehtal free. The male fell back but was quickly plucked up by Slengral as the male shot into the air. The guards immediately rushed to action as they took to the air after him. Daskh’s wings opened to join his nest brothers, but he did not even have a chance to rise from the ground before the heavy bodies of several guards dropped over him, pinning him down to the unforgiving stone. He whipped his tail violently, struggling against their grasp but they secured him with a punishing weight until he lay beneath them, rage and grief bleeding through his heart. He blinked his eyes through the pain, his head turning and lifting just enough to watch as Slengral and Kehtal were brought to the ground with brutal efficiency.

Slengral shrieked in a way that Daskh had never heard from the male before, and the walls shook in response as he fought. The male’s head jerked around, and his defiant gaze landed on Daskh, his eyes filled with remorse. He blamed himself. Daskh understood that feeling. As he had blamed himself for his injury that had left them vulnerable and open to attack from Vekatha, Slengral now likewise blamed himself for allowing Lori to be separated from them. Daskh shook his head, trying to communicate to the best of his ability.

Do not blame yourself.

His head rolled weakly in defeat, his eyes dropping away. None of it mattered anymore, anyway. Lori was gone. She had been his hope and his heart after losing everything and Daskh no longer had the strength to fight anymore. He had been Kehtal’s guard and friend, he had lived among his nest brothers happily as they showered their mate with love and watched with fascination as their nestling began to grow within her. And it was all gone as if it had been nothing more than a dream. He was empty and dead, though he had not yet ceased breathing.

His gaze shifted aimlessly with hopelessness before falling a figure in the distance, lurking near the door. A female was watching them. He did not recognize her, but something teased at his memory. Slengral followed the movement, his eyes shifting to her as well as a low growl erupted from him.

“Payeri!” he screamed as the guards dragged him bodily from the ground between them.

The female shrank back in fear and darted through the door but not before Daskh drew her scent deeply, his purpose renewing as vengeance filled him. One way or the other he would get free and settle all debts with the female for abandoning his fragile mate in the dunes.

“Do not harm them,” Zathexa shouted, rising from her throne. “They merely grieve and my heart bleeds with them. Their sorrow is mine as we prepare to honor Lori as we would a noble matriarch who faded from this world. Carry Slengral to the room that has been prepared for him as we speak. Lock him in there and keep him well-guarded until we are able to finish breaking the pheromone bond and introduce him to a new mate. As for Daskh and Kehtal, return them to their nest. Their nestling is still there waiting for them I suspect. Put their nest under guard. None are to leave until this matter is settled. We do not need any maddened males wreaking havoc through the shinara while the bond collapses. I do not care how long it takes! It is for their own good as well as the good of the shinara.”

“Yes, queen matriarch.” The guards answered as one, their voices ringing hollowly through the room, feeding Daskh’s hatred to even greater heights as he was hauled from the palace.

Chapter 37

Slengral watched the comings and goings from his nest suspiciously. He refused to touch any of the food brought to him and banished any female that scented of even a hint of aroused pheromones. In the end, mated males had to be sent to serve him, not that it made him anymore cooperative. He refused to yield and cooperate with those who stopped him from searching for his mate. From honoring his mate properly.

Even if she perished in the dunes as Payeri and his mother claimed, there had to be something remaining of her somewhere that would help them do their final duty to send her to court of Shangla and Higthar where she could await them in peace and enjoy the plentitude of the gods to dwelt beyond the scorching sands and high mountains.

“You are in a mood,” Jathella commented as she entered.

“Is that unusual?” he replied flatly, his tail coiling unhappily beside him.

The commander of the guard regarded him quietly and dipped her chin. “Perhaps once it would have been, but no longer. You do not take pleasure in anything your mother provides for you.”

He hissed quietly, unamused. “Mother thinks that if she distracts me that she can easily swap out my mate for another and that I will thank her for the favor.”

The female frowned, obviously displeased with his answer, but he did not care. She might have known him once when they were nestlings together, but revolutions had passed and different fires of Higthar had forged them. Jathella was a tool forged by his mother. She was no ally of his.

“What is your purpose for coming here, Jathella?” he murmured as he turned and settled upon the broad cushioned bench just behind him. “There are plenty of servants available to see to my needs—they come more frequently than I have the patience for.” He met her gaze, leveling her with a hard stare. “I know I have spoken of this before the last time you came.”

Jathella sighed and leaned against the wall. “You are impossible. Why do you fight so hard knowing that your mate is dead? Why can you not try for another life and move on without her? Do you think she would enjoy for you to be alone?”

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