Page 36 of The Emerald Boa's Lover
“This is a sign from the ancestors. I know of you, Charlie. Billie speaks of you. So does Hannah on her visits. Yes. You shall take me to the younglings.”
“Yes sir.” I tease at the command.
“Your highness.” He corrects, but we’re both smiling. I head up the stairs and he coils around the access spire beside it. I can’t help but glance over a the wall of muscle heading up the spire and shake my head. He makes Dalahan look slender by comparison. Billie is a petite 5ft 4 little thing. How does that…work? I amuse myself and focus on the task at hand.
“How young are we talking?” I ask him when we reach the third tier. He looks out at the younglings and his intense stare sends them slithering to every nook they can find to hide.
“As young as possible.” He cups a hand to his scent pits and looks to me for sympathy. “Do you have any who have recently hatched? That Billie and I can train to be comfortable in the presence of a Royal and also of her needs?” I nod, realising why the younger the better was his motto. The kids were cowering from the big scary Royal. They would also notice that Billie was a little…different.The younger the Ucfeni, the more natural it will be for them to grow up with Izule and Billie as their parents.
“Acutally?” I look up to the fourth tier. I can hear Lidia moving around up there and smile. “Four Coral Sweeper eggs are hatching. Would you like to come and—”
“Hatching? Right now?” His hood spreads even wider, as does his smile, and I can see the end of his tail flicking with anticipation. “Take me to them.” He commands, and I do so with a laugh. Lidia nearly jumps out of her skin when she sees Izule slide his bulk from the access spire. He is at least careful where he places himself, since this is basically a nursery. Incubators are arranged in Ucfeni sub-species groupings, and Lidia is fussing over a single set of four mottled eggs. “Coral Sweepers, you say?” His hand is still cupped to his scent pits and he waves his other hand for me to lead him over. “Rare. Pretty colours. Will Billie like the patterns…”
“Their mother had a pale pink underbelly, magenta on her back, and black stripes from the neck to the tip of her tail.”
“No spots?”
“No spots.” He hums and then looks at me curiously.
“You met their mother?” I nod with a sad smile. “Why is she not with her eggs?”
“…because she died.” I swallow a lump in my throat and watch the eggs. One of them is starting to bulge where the baby is pushing and mouthing at the shell. They are very much like snake eggs, Ucfeni eggs, rather than hard-shelled like chicken eggs. “At the palace. During the Gcorket festival.” He snaps his hood flat and looks at me with shock. “Erm.” I hold my elbows and clear my throat. “One of the invading Ucfeni stabbed her in the chest. I did my best but I wasn’t able to save her.” I exhale deeply, staring at the hatching egg. Any moment I’ll see a tiny little mouth. “She died in my arms and I had to evacuate the eggs.”
Izule puts a hand on my shoulder and ululates softly. I blink and look up at him, surprised by this gentle gesture. Then again, why should I be? He has been caring for Billie so well the two have fallen in love. I bet he’s actually a very gentle giant.
“Then their mother is with her ancestors, and smiling on this day. On you. The man who saved her clutch. Be proud that you have done your best, for none of us can do any more than that.” He nods to me, and I have to admit, I see the appeal. Izule turns to focus on the eggs, as do I.
“Here we go.” Lidia coos, openly loving this part of her job, as the first baby breaks through the eggshell. A tiny little pink mouth appears and a pink tongue flicks out to take in their first scent of the outside world. It isn’t long before all four eggs have a little pink mouth peering out of a hole.
“Let me scent you.” Izule braces his hands on the table and leans close to the eggs. Lidia looks uncomfortable with this, and is about to ask him to move back, but I shake my head at her. The first to hatch pushes their head clear from the egg, and then slides in an ooze of clear slime. Gross. Exhausted from hatching and taking a breather the hatchling seems to slump in the slime. Lidia has a towel ready and squeaks when Izule takes it from her. “Come little one.”
“Oh I’m not sure—” She begins, but Izule ignores her. EvenI’ma bit tense as the Royal’s massive hand reaches down into the incubator and scoops up the tiny little pink baby. But he’s so careful! If anything I am taking some serious notes right now. His left hand is covered in the towel, his right hand carefully slides the baby Ucfeni onto the towel, and he focuses with one corner of the towel on clearing the baby’s face first.
“She is an albino.” He smiles at how pale the baby is. She is near white, with tiny little horn ridges on her head and pink stripes vertically from her neck to her tail. “Bracelet.” Izule commands, and Lidia offers one with the number 1 on it, meaning first hatched. I know I’m not the only one holding a breath when Izule lifts the tiny hatching up to scent. He could swallow that baby whole, she’s so small. His tongue flicks out at her face, and the baby lifts her head weakly towards him. She won’t open her eyes for weeks yet, so sound and scent are her only ways of locating where he is. Izule flicks his tongue at her again, and she makes a tiny little squeaking hiss towards him. “You smellperfect.”
Okay. Now he’s crying. NowI’mcrying, but I do my best to hide it with a quick wipe of my hands to my eyes. Izule doesn’t seem to care, nor does he look any less intimidating, even with tears in his eyes. “Hello princess.” The baby squeaks again and he chuckles. “I require a sling.” When we don’t move fast enough, probably because we’re both still hypnotised by this whole experience, his expression darkens and he glowers down at Lidia with his hood wide. “Get me a sling.” He hisses, and she hurries to a side bench to retrieve one. Once she moves he settles back down and ululates at a lighter pitch than I’m used to hearing. It’s almost bird-like, the cooing, as he breaths through his mood tube and his lips pucker like he’s about to whistle. The little Ucfeni responds to the noise, and so do the eggs, as they start bulging and moving like crazy. It’s like he’s calling them forth.
Well, I’ll be damned. Even baby Ucfeni obey the Royals. It isn’t long before Izule is wearing a soft fabric sling over his left shoulder and under his right one, with four albino Ucfeni nestled against his mighty chest. Two boys, two girls. His left arm cradles the sling and hatchlings within, and his right hand pries the edge to one side to ululate at them. Each wear a bracelet, and Lidia dutifully took down their details to register their hatching. Normally, we would weigh them as well, but no one was going to get Izule to put those babies down. No way. I’m not even going to try. “Charlie.” I flinch at the sudden address, and then smile. “I am honoured this day. Fate clearly meant for us to come together now as we have. Their scent is perfect. Even the colours of these hatchlings are pale and easy on the eye for my Billie. She will be very pleased. Once they are named, we shall let you know.”
“Trust me?” I clear my throat and beam a smile at him. “Knowing that these four are going to live a life of luxury will go a long way for me.” I can stop worrying about them, now I know Billie and Izule have them. I also know I’ll get to use ‘Auntie Hannah’ to spy on my behalf. “I can tell you’re going to be a great dad.”
“Iama great dad.” He corrected me with a grin. “The moment I held the first hatched and scented her, I became her father. Just as the moment you held your eggs for the first time, you did.” Well balls. That’s deep. Great. Now I’m crying again. Izule needs to leave and stop poking me in the heart, damn it. “It is the greatest honour, to raise another and shape a life.” And now he’s laying more profound one-liners on me. “Thank you.” He bows his head to me, a deep sign of respect, and makes his way toward the access spire. “Daddy’s got you. Mummy is going to name you, and then I’m going to hold you all in my coil forever.”I’m getting toothache. How can something that big and deadly be that sweet?
I hear him hiss softly to the sling, and then resume ululating before winding down the access spire.
“That was adorable.” I conclude once he’s gone and chuckle at Lidia, who is still looking a little pale. “I wonder if we can get Billie and Izule to give us permission to advertise the fact that Royals have adopted from us too? Anyway, I’m heading home.” The urge to kiss Dal and snuggle with my eggs, in a very manly way I might add, is a little too intense to ignore. I also want to write down everything I saw Izule do while it’s fresh in my memory. I leave Lidia to clear up the incubator and log the hatching. Luha and Mandy are comfortably cuddling together (the eggs, of course) on a massive beanbag. Dzen is reading to the younglings who have all come out from hiding now the big Royal Prince has gone.
I look back over my shoulder at the front of the Orphanage after walking out of the building. The big sign ‘O’Hara Orphanage’ still feels like a big ‘I love you’ from Dal. After seeing Izule falling in love with the four Coral Sweepers I’ve been worrying out for so long, I really feel this was all worth it. And I’m looking forward to falling in love with my own little ones too.
Chapter 28
Hatching day
Dalahan.
Two weeks later.
I am blissfully asleep when Charlie takes hold of my shoulders and shakes me. I hiss, snapping my eyes open, pull him into my arms and coil my tail protectively around him.
