Page 11 of Bound By the Vori

Brushing his opposite hand over her fingers tightly clutching his arm, he leaned in. “You will be fine,” he whispered. “I know the Matriarch will be delighted with you. And if she is not, then it does not matter. You have us, and we will help you forge whatever path you want on Vora, even if it means terminating our posts early and going somewhere else where you can pursue your interests and passions.”

Kim glanced up at him in surprise and smiled with a shy, uncertain sweetness that made his hearts ache. How could his female ever believe even for a moment that he would do any less that she would look at him in such a way?

“You would really do that?” she whispered. “You’d give up everything for me?”

He brushed his nose against hers and planted a kiss at the corner of her mouth. “My duty to the Matriarch is important, but you—you are our everything.”

Her bottom lip trembled against his before he slowly withdrew and she hastily blinked. “All right, let’s go.”

With final parting words with Sijhorn, who happily waved them off, they made their way from the family residential building toward the main palace. Kim’s eyes widened the closer they got to it and more of the fine detail in the carvings and mosaics adorning it became clearer.

“It is beautiful, is it not?” he murmured.

“I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

He grinned at her and led them into the winding corridor of columns before at last reaching the front entrance. As the gate guard immediately recognized him and nodded in greeting as he let them pass, it was with little ceremony that they entered and found their way to the throne room. At their approach, one of the two guards stationed outside the entrance slipped inside while the other guard remained in place, barring the entrance until he received word from the other male to let them in.

The entire experience left his mate entering with wide-eyed wonder and curiosity as her head craned to take in everything she could of the vast chamber. The inlaid tile on the floor was of the brightest and most intricate design, and the walls had numerous beams of various size and columns carved depicting Vori rising up to lift the ceiling with their hands or to twine decoratively within some corner. Each figure and carved flower was delicately gilded and provided a sumptuous presence to the throne room that complemented the massive throne upon which the Matriarch sat depicting great, winged serpentine monsters with fierce faces, their mouths opened as if to snarl or tear into any threat.

The sharp gazes of Esheb and Inkol tracked them as they made their way deeper into the room. The Matriarch reclined on her throne, intently studying the datapad in her hand until Esheb cleared his throat and leaned down to whisper to her as Rykaal and Kim came within a respectable distance to the throne.

Looking up, the Matriarch pinned Kim with a sharp, inquisitive look. His hearts pounded with pride as his mate did not back down or avert her gaze as even many Vori would do as the powerful Matriarch studied her. Even he could not quite still his unease. For the first time since Rykaal came into service, he felt his tail tighten warily and vibrate very faintly—thankfully without setting off his dual rattles. Even so, Esheb gave him a keen look, his entire body tense and alert, but the Matriarch chuckled and placed a hand on the male’s arm, calming him, as she rose from her seat.

“It is fine, Esheb,” she murmured as her amused gaze slid over to Rykaal. “He is a mated male now, and these things are to be expected, especially when the bonding has gone quite well,” she added, as she flicked her tongue, taking in their combined scents. Turning fully toward Kim, she did not look his way again as she slowly began to undulate toward Kim, her tail sliding between him and his mate. “You may leave us, Rykaal. Your mate will be good in hands.”

He glanced to his mate anxiously, a desire to protest on his lips when suddenly Inkol’s blue hand settled on his shoulder and nudged him gently. “I will personally see to it that she arrives safely to your quarters and to Sijhord,” he murmured.

Swallowing his protest, Rykaal nodded, and when his mate glanced his way, he lifted a hand in farewell that she returned with a confident smile. Some of the tension within his chest eased, and he returned her smile. That was his mate. She would be fine.

Ten

Kim eyed the Matriarch as the female circled her, the embroidered gold fabric fluttering around her scaled hips as she moved. Kim didn’t flinch or turn nervously but stood in place while the queen amused herself. When the female slid in front of her again, Kim raised a polite eyebrow, refusing to look the least bit intimidated by the examination.

“Do I meet your approval?” she asked bluntly.

A smile flashed on the Matriarch’s brightly painted lips and the female inclined her head. “You will do. I have read many positive things about you and your position on your homeworld. You come highly recommended by those who worked with you. I just wanted to see for myself that you were… sturdy enough,” she said tactfully.

What exactly was that supposed to mean?

“I’m no Skinny Minnie, if that’s what you’re implying,” Kim replied bluntly. “But as you can see, I’m perfectly okay with that and comfortable in my own skin.”

Even if one of the guards was unnerving her with the way he was staring. With his ebony scales and grayish complexion, he looked a lot like Rykaal except that he was more pewter than lavender and his markings were different. Despite the focus of his gaze on her, she didn’t feel threatened—it was just odd. Unless she was mistaken, he appeared to eye her with something akin to longing and envy in his gaze.

The Matriarch’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully on the male for a moment before her gaze slid over Kim, coming to rest on the dark fabric of her skirt. Her eyes lifted to meet Kim’s with a quirk of her brows and a contemplative expression on her face. Kim glanced over the queen covertly, noting what had to be at least nine marks in different vibrant colors painted across her scales just below her belly. One particularly bright blotch of sapphire matched one of the guards, but while there was not a hint of black darkening her vibrant golden scales—a color designating royal breeding, Kim assumed—there was, however, a twisted charm of two serpentine tails locked together on a chain around her neck that matched one that the darker male was wearing.

Were her own guards her mates? From all that Kim had been told, she had assumed that the larger males were spurned by every female—she had assumed that would have included the queen. Apparently not. But she had to admit that was pretty ingenious. Although she did not have the physical advantages of her mates as other females enjoyed, she had a loyal—and large, from painted marks alone—bunch of males who would be more than a match for any threat that came at their mate and queen.

And that could explain why the male was staring enviously at her—or at her clothes. He had not missed the fact that Kim was clearly wearing Rykaal’s dominant scale color any more than the Matriarch had. And that had not gone unnoticed by his mate either.

“Quite,” the Matriarch replied at last. Turning a way, she put some distance between them before looping back on her coils to regard Kim thoughtfully. “And that is exactly what I wanted to be certain of.” She tipped her head. “What did you think of my city?”

Kim blinked, surprised by the change of topic. “It’s lovely. A lot of humans,” she added after a heartbeat. “It must take a lot of adjustment for both the humans who come here and for the native population.”

A pleased smile curled the female’s lips, and Kim was certain that she had somehow passed a test she hadn’t seen coming.

“Exactly. It has been a concern with which I have struggled,” she said as she cast a frowning glance around her throne room. “I am sure that all of this looks impressive to you, and yet somehow with all of my influence and wealth, I have not managed to lure even one human female into my court from the sheltered nests made by their mates.”

Kim’s brows shot up. Not one? With all the human women that she saw in the market alone, she was surprised to hear that. “What have you tried?”

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