Page 13 of Serpents of the Night

“Well, it is certainly eye-catching,” Lori murmured as her gaze followed a pair of females suddenly coming up on their left, veering directly for Slengral.

She stiffened, ready to deter them somehow—though she wasn’t entirely sure exactly how she would do so—when Slengral’s broad wings suddenly snapped wide, blocking the females entirely as he turned away from them and snatched Lori possessively against his chest. It happened so quickly that she was certain that her heart was ready to be snatched right out of her body from the sudden shock of it. By some miracle, it continued beating as Slengral continued to hide them within his wings. It didn’t disguise the hisses of disgust and anger, but he didn’t move until he seemed certain that they had moved on. Only then did he slowly set her on her feet and draw his wings away. Lori felt a flush rise to her cheeks at how much more openly they were now being stared at, and chief among those staring was his mother.

The queen matriarch had apparently approached while they were in wing lock and the disapproval on her face was abundantly clear. It made Lori feel small and insignificant—and then pissed that she felt that way.

“That was a rude display,” Zathexa observed when Slengral finally turned toward his mother. “They are our guests.”

Lori was practically bursting with fury but at a loss for what to say that wouldn’t prove that she was just as ignorant of their culture as they all knew she was. She was expected to reply for her mate and to defend him, but instead, she stood there struggling with her helpless anger. Daskh’s tail tip curled around her ankle supportively, but she was surprised when Slengral suddenly rose up on his coils to match his mother’s disapproval with a sharp glare of his own.

“Since when was it permissible for guests—or any female—to dare to approach a mated male without his mate’s verbal consent and invitation?” he hissed. “Do not berate me for being rude when their behavior would have earned them strict reprisal from any female here if they had attempted it with their mate. I clung to my mate in an appropriate demonstration of my attachment to her.”

“And rose your wings against them,” his mother pointed out, “which you know is considered a direct insult.”

Slengral flicked his ears, his gavo rippling, evidently unconcerned if he insulted them or not. His wings folded back but then suddenly widened in surprise as he peered down along his side. From Lori’s position beside him, she was able to see Hashal clinging to her mate, seeking comfort beneath his wings—the action was likely to soothe the anger of her mate, which Hashal was clever enough to act upon. The sudden flaring of Slengral’s wings, however brief, unfortunately, did not go unnoticed. The queen matriarch stared down at the small male clinging to her son with an expression of disconcertment.

“Oh yes. I had been warned of this situation.” She withdrew with a grimace. “I did not think that you would bring a foundling into my nest.”

“Why wouldn’t we when he is now ours?” Lori countered, finally able to find her voice. She may not know much about dealing with questions of etiquette, but when it came to her family, she knew exactly how to respond. “He is our son... all of ours,” she added, tipping her head toward her mates who each snapped their gavo in agreement, though Slengral perhaps more aggressively than the others. “We wouldn’t leave him behind.”

“He is nearly of age for the haga,” Zathexa objected. “It would be better for him to be there among his peers than here among females where young males don’t belong.”

Lori’s smile tightened slightly. This was a cultural difference—she understood that the queen matriarch’s statement was considered reasonable within their culture, but that didn’t mean she was going to give even an inch.

“I respect that is how it is done in the shinara but not in Raza colony—his home and our home. Therefore, if our presence is required, then so is his, as we are his parents and responsible for his care and welfare by Raza laws. If his presence offends, we will be happy to leave,” she offered, feigning a sympathetic smile.

Zathexa held her gaze for a long moment before edging closer. “You realize that this reflects badly on you, human. Word has already spread of your pregnancy which is considered an insult to Mother Shangla. Mothering this nestling will keep it firmly in their minds and remind them of your insult.”

Lori’s polite smile slipped, and she frowned at Zathexa. “Being a mother is never an insult to any deity. Or if it is, then it is not a deity that I would wish to honor. My pregnancy was clearly blessed by your Shangla in some fashion because it happened whether it pleases you or not. And Shangla no doubt blesses us even further for taking in a nestling and loving him as our own without condition. It would honor your Shangla that we do not discount or abandon one of hers. But the truth is that I simply don’t care. The nestling and my mates are mine and under my protection,” she pointed out, drawing out her final words with a low hiss to drive her point home.

The queen matriarch eyed her for a long moment before finally making a sound of exasperation, her much longer gavo snapping in an irritable fashion as she turned away from them.

“This way. You are seated near me as my heir and the guest of honor,” she said, gliding away from them.

Lori followed behind Zathexa, her mates drawn tightly around her as they waded through what seemed like a sea of females draped over large cushions around low tables. Each table had at least one dome-covered galthie flower and was large enough to comfortably seat at least two females around it. Their own table was to the left of Zathexa’s risen platform. Lori sank gratefully behind it, glad to no longer be standing out in the open and in the center of attention. Not that she wasn’t aware of the numerous females peering in their direction as her males settled uneasily around her. Every so often one would lift their wing and fan it in their direction. Slengral’s nostrils would flare each time in response, telling her that they were probably wafting pheromones in his direction, but he showed no reaction aside from a building annoyance that was evident in the tension of his body pressed against hers and the wrinkle of his nose.

Hashal scooted into her arms, his small wings clasping tightly to her as he buried his little body against hers. Lori stroked his small body beneath his wings as she peered up at Zathexa. The queen matriarch opened her arms regally, drawing every single gaze in the room toward them as she formally welcomed her son’s return home. As Lori listened, uncertainty grew deep within her stomach.

Although she didn’t detect any open hostility in many of the gazes turned toward her, she was growing more apprehensive by the moment as she became increasingly aware that she had the one thing that many of the unmated females in the room wanted. It wasn’t so much that they wanted Slengral for himself, but they wanted to be mated to the heir and mother to the future heir. Lori and her family were nothing more than an obstacle to them, and for the first time, she wondered if the decision to bring Hashal had been a selfish one. Was she purposely putting him in the line of danger? It hadn’t seemed likely that he would be in danger in the shinara, but now she wasn’t so sure. She could have left him in the safety of the colony. She had more than one person who would happily watch him, and yet leaving him behind had felt wrong and had been ultimately impossible for her.

“Oh, poor little one. It is naturally very intimidating, but he will be fine,” an elderly female assured from the table at her right. The female’s scales were nearly bone white with age, her long gavo withered and hanging loose rather than clasped tightly in place. Her eyes didn’t glow as brightly, nor were they of a clear, luminous hue as they regarded first Hashal and then Lori as a smile crept across her weathered face. “He is obviously a survivor, and I’m betting a quick little thing—are you not?”

Hashal peered over at her and slowly tipped his head, his tiny gavo snapping. “I’m very fast,” he whispered. “Even Kehtal cannot catch me, and he is the fastest of my fathers.”

Lori smiled down at her nestling as the female nodded approvingly and gave a rattling chuff of amusement.

“As I thought. Not that you have anything to worry about. Not when it comes to your nestling or your mate.” She tipped her head knowingly toward the gathering of females. “Do not pay any attention to any of them. They are flaunting their pheromones for their own vanity. Any female with eyes can see that he is firmly attached and bonded to you. All three of them, in fact, which would give me ideas if I was younger.”

The aged male at her side gave a raspy laugh of his own as he fondly brushed his fingers along his mate’s tail. “Shaleia, you do not need three males when I’m always ready and eager for you my starry one.”

Lori’s smile widened at the obvious flirtatious nature of the male as his mate entwined her tail with his.

“Hush. Just remember who is in charge,” the female retorted with a playful tap of her wing.

“Always, ashlava,” her mate rasped as he leaned into the larger female so that their cheeks brushed lovingly. “I await your instruction and your pleasure, Shaleia.”

“Later, fool,” the female retorted with another raspy laugh that made Lori smile at just how sweet the interaction was.

For as much as everything seemed grim and pitted against them within the shinara, the simple interaction gave her hope. Ignoring the forbidding gaze of the queen matriarch whenever it turned toward her, Lori instead sent her gaze searching among the other couples and clung to the genuine displays of affection among them.

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