Page 27 of Bound By the Vori

“I told you it was good,” Sijhord pointed out as he popped another in his mouth. He held the bag out to Rykaal, but her other mate declined.

“Rykaal doesn’t like sweets,” Sijhord explained and devoured yet another ormi. “As you noticed, he was raised in the jungle and so lacks an appreciation for civilized things like that.”

Kim chuckled as she reclined against Rykaal, enjoying the way her mate’s arms and tail immediately curled around her. “You were raised in Evath?”

Sijhord shook his head. “A smaller town nearby, just to the south. Shava. That is to say, our nest was just outside the town. You probably have not noticed, but Vori females dwelling within urban areas is a new thing. When I was a nestling, the towns and cities were inhabited by single, unmated males who had left their maternal nest but had not found a mate, or some who were not looking to mate with a female at all. My fathers frequently took me to Shava because they traded there, and one of my fathers even had a business located within the town.” He shrugged and crunched on another ormi while Kim continued to tentatively nibble on her own. “It is not as big or busy as Evath but still plenty of things that come with the pleasure of living in or near such places.”

She was just about to shove what was left into her mouth and just take the plunge when a panicked shout rang from above them and there was a loud rumble. Her eyes flew up to the higher steps just as the rocks began to crumble from beneath the fleeing Vori. Baskets of flowers and food were sent flying as everything propelled down toward her in a rolling crash like an avalanche. Someone screamed, but she did not realize that she was the one screaming until her mates suddenly coiled tightly around her. She felt their tails whipping around them wildly as they balled themselves around her, forcing her to pull her legs up even as she assumed a protective position while they tucked their heads down over hers.

Eventually the groan of falling rocks faded and was replaced by the wails of nestlings and more than shocked human women. Slowly Sijhord and Rykaal unwound from around her and she could hear the stones falling off them and clattering against the stone step around them.

“Kim, are you well?” Rykaal rumbled with worry.

She lifted her head and peered up at him, blinking the dust from the collapsed stonework from her eyes. Broken baskets, pastries and bits of food were strewn everywhere among the mess of flowers. Rykaal’s black scales were covered in patches with a thin layer of gray and looked as dusty as she felt.

“Yeah, I think so,” she mumbled as she sat up. Sijhord’s hand promptly slid behind her to help her as she looked around. “What the hell happened?”

Rykaal’s mouth thinned as he too peered around them at the disaster. “I do not know.”

Sijhord murmured in agreement as he nuzzled her, his tongue flicking madly as if he couldn’t help but to scent her thoroughly to assure himself that she was alright. He hadn’t behaved in such a way since their first mating and had curiously investigated every part of her. Suddenly, he stilled, and his tongue flicked again against her neck before his head slowly traveled down to her belly and he inhaled deeply. His eyes shot up and widened in shock.

“Kim?” he rasped.

Rykaal frowned and lowered his head, his own tongue flicking as he deeply took in her scent. His eyes widened and snapped up to share a shocked look with Sijhord before meeting her gaze. A soft growl rumbled from him, and he straightened while Sijhord nuzzled her belly, his tongue flicking, a picture of delight despite what nearly happened.

“I mean to find out what happened here,” Rykaal growled with a venomous hiss. “If someone was behind all of this, I will kill them personally.”

Switch flipped. Rykaal was now in protective daddy mode. If someone was responsible, the poor bastard had better hope that Rykaal never found them.

Twenty-Three

Sijhord bit back his frustration, the end of his tail slinking restlessly as he peered around the Matriarch’s garden. Now that the weather was cooling, the now gravid Matriarch enjoyed meeting with Kim in gardens rather than the other parts of the palace in which she habitually spent her time such as her study, the salon, or her little private balcony garden that offered reprieve from the sun. While the gardens were perhaps one of the most exquisite places in the palace, he was more on edge than ever. It was too open for his liking when he suddenly felt uncertain regarding when a possible attack could come.

He did not understand how their specialists among the Elite Guard could not find any conclusive evidence as to what happened at the Flower Festival. It could have been due to weakening in the stone base, but even the specialists and guards who examined the site were suspicious. There was too much of obvious strategic pattern in the way two of the giant, ornately carved sculptures that happened to stand side by side over that one part of the vorubal. It was too much of a coincidence, and the tension within the palace was high.

Which probably accounted for why five of the ten males mated to the Matriarch, rather than her habit of being accompanied by just one or two of her mates, were coiled in strategic positions where they were able to keep an eye on their mate and anyone who may come and go from the garden. Sijhord bit back the urge to snort contemptuously. He understood the natural worry and protectiveness of the males when it came to their mate and Matriarch, but none of what happened was anything that had threatened her. Kim had come dangerously close to harm on two occasions now—something which had Rykaal in a near maddened state with his fury. The fact he could not just “lose it” as their mate so aptly told him, was the only thing that kept the male in line and still able to perform his duties.

Kim’s hand patted Sijhord’s tail, and he looked down at her, feeling at once both infatuated with his mate and helpless as she smiled up at him. What if he failed to protect her and their young growing within her? It frightened him knowing that something could tragically remove her and their nestlings from his life far too easily.

Glancing around restless, his gaze fell upon Inkol who was coiled alertly just off to the side from where the Matriarch was trimming a small selection of blooms from the ancient garahna bushes. Although his gaze frequently returned to the queen, it shifted restlessly to scan his surroundings, often touching briefly upon Kim in passing. The Matriarch smiled over at the male as she set the cut flower into the basket that he held so that it rested with all the others. Turning back to the bush, she selected another perfect blooming bud and cut it from the bush. Holding one of the flowers by its long stem, she regarded it quietly.

“Did you know that the garahna have bloomed here for as long as the palace has stood in this spot?” She glanced over at Kim, a fretful frown pulling at the corners of her mouth. “Every revolution the flowers and bloom things seem to carry on like they have for generations. Our Flower Festival is a reminder of that connection to our forebearers that speaks to us when the flowers return. And yet that came close to ending in tragedy for nearly a dozen delicate, and very vulnerable humans in the vorubal. There were a thousand ways that the vorubal could have been improved upon to make it a safer, more accessible place for humans. And it was never done because it was tradition that kept it exactly as it was, enjoying the beauty of our Flower Festivals

and other seasonal celebrations along its steps as our ancestors have done.” She sighed and set the flower in the basket for Inkol to carry to her chambers before moving over to where a brilliant blue male lay waiting for her to join him in his coils.

Kim cleared her throat, and Sijhord felt for her. As companion to the Matriarch there was a balance that she had to tread between the compassion she felt for a female she clearly liked and the sort of honesty and input that the Matriarch valued as a ruler. It was not a position that he would enjoy. Even listening to her share her thoughts with the Matriarch from rotation to rotation exhausted him. It did, however, make him admire his mate more and more as time went on.

“We can be thankful that there were no lives lost and no one was severely injured. I don’t think that anyone blames you. I don’t think anyone saw any signs of wear on those statues or the stonework on the upper tier. Nor do I think anyone would blame you since you do have regular inspections done every revolution according to Rykaal. There’s never been an incident before at the vorubal despite of our more adventurous humans ignoring repeated warnings and using some really poor judgment in climbing and hanging off some of that same statuary,” she added with a wince.

Sijhord felt that down to his bones. He had seen humans scaling more than just the vorubal in the past. It was enough to give the guards of Evath fits of worry and always made him glad that he was able to quickly secure palace duty after training.

“They may not, but I blame myself.” Lowering herself upon her mate’s coils, the Matriarch frowned. “What makes me angry is that this feels like a personal failing. You have been impressing upon me human vulnerability as well as tendency toward boldness and exploration that could potentially take them into unsafe places. And all of your tales, as well as evidence from the last several revolutions, have indicated that they have a spirit equal to ours despite the fragility of their bodies, and a love of celebration that draws them to our festivals with their mates in greater numbers than we have ever historically enjoyed before. I should have made it a priority to reinforce the structures of the vorubal and some of our more notable landmarks long before the festival began.”

The male curled beneath and around the Matriarch nuzzled her comfortingly until she melted into the male in response, a smile pulling at her lips. That was, until he spoke.

“Have you considered that if it was sabotage that even the best plans and preventative measures would not have changed a thing?” he murmured.

The Matriarch stiffened and straightened once more to a seated position as she frowned at her male. “I was told that there was no significant reason to believe that the destruction was intentional.”

---