Page 11 of King of Serpents

“This as well,” he prompted when she gave it a curious look.

“Looks like some kind of salad,” she observed as she picked up the nachel, a utensil that humans identified as similar to their spoon. She scooped up a small amount of the mixture into her mouth, and a look of pleasure crossed her face. “Holy fuck!”

He startled, his coil jerking in surprise. Although this term had been explained to him by the humans, he still found it difficult to adjust to their free use of words describing intimate coitus so widely for everything. But paired with the look of pleasure on her face, it was doing things to his primary sant. The pressure as it slowly began to engorge was alarming. There was a time that he had looked forward to feeling such a response as he had watched more and more human females carried into the nara, but he had barely felt more than the slightest change of pressure within it. Yet now that his obligation lay elsewhere, this very small human was now awakening it with startling effectiveness.

This was very bad.

He swallowed hard, his eyes dropping to study his meat as he quickly picked up a large chunk and began to tear it vigorously with his teeth, enjoying every satisfying rip of the meat and the crack of the bone. It was hardly normal eating behavior for him, but filling his stomach seemed to momentarily drown out the ache lower in his body, and the sound of the cracking bones disrupted those little sounds of pleasure Alex made.

Mother Shangla, give me strength.

Chapter 8

Cooped up in a prince’s room was losing its novelty fast. Despite having plenty to eat and drink and a comfortable place to sleep, there was literally nothing with which to keep her occupied. Even Therxian wasn’t inclined to be stuck there with her. He left for hours at a time, and always with the direct order that she was to remain quiet. Boring.

There was little to do except nervously watch the tiny grains of rock break loose and fall from the walls and ceiling. She swore that that entire palace was one good earthquake away from crumbling around her. Every quiet fall of sand had become part of a soundtrack that made her anxiety spike. And if that wasn’t exciting enough, the insects of monstrous proportions that regularly emerged from the flowers could be counted on to break up the monotony of her day.

Alex squinted suspiciously, her eyes fastening on a cluster of glowing galthie flowers that had begun trembling on the wall a short distance from her. Her skin prickled in anticipation as she waited for it to emerge. Unfortunately, she wasn’t disappointed. The stems parted, the flowers drooping and nodding as the alien head of the insect pushed outward from beneath the growth and was immediately followed by its bulbous body as it emerged to crawl among the glowing galthie flowers on the wall. She shuddered, her mouth twisting with distaste as she tracked it.

Creepy.

It looked like some sort of mutated beetle from a horror-scape game she enjoyed playing. It was less entertaining in real life—and a lot more disconcerting. She wondered if she could coax Therxian into acquiring needles for her so that she could fashion some sort of blowgun. Insects seemed to invade frequently enough, due to the way the palace was structured, that destroying them would at least keep her marginally entertained for a short time.

Sighing, she leaned back against the wall, her eyes trailing up the curved wall. Glowing flowers grew on the walls, strategically spaced and clinging to carefully cut-out cavities within the stone as their roots spread across the walls in complex networks. Though it wasn’t quite bright enough, she had to admit it was pretty effective. Of course, part of that was likely due to the three giant crystals that stood near the sitting area. They were so large that their tips nearly reached the ceiling. They were currently glowing with a soft light that made it a bit easier to see in that part of Therxian’s “nest,” but as his vocalization was the only thing that apparently kept them lit, she hoped that he wasn’t out too long. As it was, the slow dimming of the crystal’s light made the shadows deepen eerily.

Being stuck in the dark in an alien nest deep underground wouldn’t be at all good for her mental health.

From the far side of the room near the entrance, which was already deeply cast into darkness, there was a sound of something skittering over the stone. She clutched a pillow tightly to her chest, ready to beat the living shit out of anything that came at her. She swallowed as she sank her fingers deeper into the pillow. The fine hairs at the back of her neck prickled. A soft sound rasped, drawing closer. Alex stumbled to her feet and lifted the cushion higher.

“Go away, go away,” she whispered in a chant.

No such luck. The sound was getting louder as it drew closer. Worse, it sounded much bigger than an insect of horrific proportions.

The shadows shifted, and she shrieked as she launched the pillow at them with all her strength. The loud thwack of contact was followed by a hiss and a curse too low for her translator to pick up. A loud hum filled the room, and she squinted as light suddenly flooded from the crystal, illuminating the space and the large Seshanamitesh scowling at her. Therxian’s wings snapped with obvious annoyance, his gavo lifting slightly in a position she recognized among the aliens living in the colony. Territorial, defensive... pissed off.

“Have you lost your mind?” he hissed, and he slapped the pillow away from him with his tail.

Why was he always insisting that she was crazy? She was like Alice thrust into Wonderland and being stared at like she were the odd one.

“Of course not,” she snapped. “And stop calling me crazy. You are the one creeping up a dark hall without saying a word. Were you trying to give me heart failure?”

His expression shifted faintly to surprise, and he frowned. “Is your species so fragile that your hearts are at risk of failure?”

Her brows dipped at the sudden shift in conversation, but she shook her head, refusing to be distracted.

“That’s not what we are talking about here,” she huffed. She marched over to him and snatched the discarded pillow from the ground before giving him an annoyed look at the faint amusement on his face. “I’m not doing you any favors or feeling bad at all,” she grumbled. “It just happens that this is the most comfortable pillow you own. I’m not going to just leave it on the ground over here.”

Therxian inclined his head with exaggerated solemn agreement despite the hint of amusement demonstrated by the ripple of his gavo. The big turd.

“I’m just saying don’t call me crazy when you are sneaking up on me in the dark—or do any other weird alien things,” she added.

“Weird alien things,” he echoed, and his gavo gave a harder ripple as he struggled to contain his amusement.

Alex made a face at him, utterly disgusted, even if privately a little amused by how odd the whole exchange was. Despite being big and broody in appearance, Therxian was far more personable than any of the other Seshanamitesh she had casually met at Raza.

“Just demonstrate a little sympathy to the resident human here. It would be nice,” she mumbled and then startled at his soft laughter in response.

“My apologies,” he rumbled, and the massive coil of his tail shifted and rolled as he suddenly glided away from her to the heavily cushioned, wide bench. “I forgot that, despite your bold barbarity, humans possess both weak senses and bodies.”