Page 51 of King of Serpents

Mating had one unexpected drawback that Therxian had not expected... sleeping without his mate beside him was a trial that was nearly impossible to overcome. Despite the comfort of the best cushions and pillow filling his bed, and the softest sahguin cloth draped over him, he could not get comfortable. He thrashed restlessly until finally falling into an uneasy sleep. He certainly had not achieved sufficient rest before he was awoken by his name being irritably hissed a short distance from his head.

“Therxian, get up. Cease ignoring me. I insist that we speak immediately,” she demanded.

Her tail whipped out, slapping the side of his exposed coils, drawing an irritated grunt from him. By Higthar, he was exhausted. He blearily cracked one eye open in response to the rude strike to his tail.

Jathella.

Of course. No one else would be so bold as to enter his nest. Because of their alliance, he accepted and tolerated much in the way of intrusion into his privacy. Now it seemed she was entering his nest without invitation.

Groaning, he rolled away, determined to ignore the female disturbing him. If she was going to be as rude as to invite herself in, then he had no reason to be polite. As it was, he was exhausted and heart-sick from the longing that filled him with his mate’s absence. He was in no mood to deal with the lecture that was waiting on Jathella’s tongue.

“Miserable creature,” she muttered. “Did you think my warnings served no purpose? I do not know which is worse: a love-sick mated male, or your previous distracted state.”

“Jathella, I am in no mood for you,” Therxian grumbled, drawing the sleeping cloth over his head.

Laughter met his words from another direction, and he inwardly groaned. Just how many of the sisters had invaded his nest?

“Buosoa, it is not a laughing matter,” Kitanara interjected. “I like Alex, but I thought we agreed that it was necessary to focus on the task at hand. A human mate at this time will only work against our goals.”

Wonderful. They were all present.

“I disagree,” Buosoa returned calmly. “A mate will give Therxian more purpose in what he is fighting for. Slengral ran with his mate—and for good reason—but Therxian cannot be expected to fight for change while isolating himself and allowing the council to slowly destroy him.”

“I have nothing against the human. Though I have not spent as much time with her, I have appreciated what I have heard. Alex is certainly resourceful and clever and would be a welcome addition to the shinara if it was at a different time. But it is not. If he was going to violate the queen’s decree, he could have at least picked a Seshanamitesh female,” Jathella pointed out sourly. “Zathexa would be more accepting, and her presence could be explained in a way that satisfied everyone rather than having a mate secretly hidden away. How does this support him efficiently?”

“Or you can let me make my own decision,” he gruffly countered as he pushed away the sleep cloth and slowly rose from the cushions.

Jathella cast him an exasperated look. “You agreed with me on these points when we discussed it.”

“I agreed that I would not flee back to the Vir,” he corrected. “And yes, it is true that my original intention upon returning was to take a Seshanamitesh female for my mate, but the proximity-bonding and perhaps the hand of Shangla herself, changed everything. In the end, I could not deny my instinct to claim that which was mine.”

“It is not the male’s right to claim in the shinara,” Jathella muttered in weak protest, but her tone had lost some of its irritation, and she sighed heavily as she leaned on her velkat. “But I see your point. This was a thing that we cannot deny our part in since we were swayed by compassion and asked you to hide the human. We should have foreseen the likelihood of a pheromone bond, but we had assumed that such bonds with humans were inferior and would not take hold in the shinara where multitudes of females dwell. However, I will not pretend for your sake that this does not complicate matters.”

Therxian inclined his head. “I would expect no less from you. I only ask that you continue to conceal my whereabouts when I am with my mate. In turn, I will be discreet and make sure that my presence is seen and noted within the palace daily.”

Jathella exchanged a glance with her sisters. Buosoa’s mouth hitched and Kitanara nodded, perhaps a bit more eagerly than Jathella would have liked because the elder female frowned impatiently.

“It should not be a problem,” she reluctantly admitted. “As Zathexa has ordered that we see to it that we secure the residential area of the palace, and your nest especially, to prevent the noble families from going around her instructions, at least one of us will be stationed at the entrance to your nest and another at the entrance to the residential area. It will just be a matter of continuing to receive your sustenance.”

Therxian snapped his gavo. “You may eat anything that I am not personally present to consume. I will merely order extra portions of meat with my morning meal so that I may take it to share with my ashlava.”

Jathella grimaced at the term but inclined her head. “The extra food beyond our own palace rations will be appreciated, especially as some of us have an excessive appetite,” she added, casting a look toward Kitanara.

Buosoa grunted in agreement, and the youngest of the sisters merely grinned in response, clearly accustomed to such teasing from her siblings.

“It would be very welcome indeed,” she added enthusiastically.

“We should make you work it off more,” Buosoa observed, her mouth curling into a smirk. “Perhaps escorting Therxian will even things out a bit.”

Escorting? He cast a questioning look at Jathella, and she snapped her gavo in affirmation.

“An extra precaution that Zathexa insisted on. She already did not trust the council, given her suspicions regarding the disappearance of her offspring, but she trusts them even less now following the incident. The families were already vying for power right under her nose but are now doing so blatantly.”

“I am glad that she is distancing herself from them and is finally taking precautions,” he murmured.

Jathella’s face softened. “Though she will not say so, I believe the incident around Slengral and Lori, and her willingness to concede to the council’s pressure and overlook their transgressions against her authority, has weighed heavily on her. She takes responsibility for what happened to Lori, even though it was never her order.”

“No, she just paved the way for their interference in his mating,” he bitterly retorted. “If this manner of protection had been arranged for Slengral and his mate, we would never have come to this.”