Page 73 of King of Serpents

His mate giggled, driving desire to his loins, which he immediately quelled. There would be time enough for that later. Right now, his mate was tired. This alone was enough.

“I don’t think I’m big enough to carry you around fused to my body,” she whispered, drawing a hiss of laughter from him, and he tapped her lightly with his wing.

“Perhaps you can fuse with me then. I would not mind giving up such a luxurious life of being carried around if I can keep my mate with me always. My favorite parasite.”

Her sleepy laughter filled their chamber, warming his hearts further. His own eyes slowly grew heavy as the rhythm of her heart gently lulled him.

“Therxian?”

“Mmm?”

“Do you think anyone knows about the western wing?”

His eyes cracked open, and he paused uncertainly. “I do not know. It may have long been forgotten. Mother might have some idea. Or Elder Goyu,” he said slowly. “All we can do is ask them.”

“Sleep with me first for a bit, okay?”

“Of course,” he rumbled, settling more comfortably on the cushions. “There is time yet.”

She mumbled incoherently in agreement, and his eyes slowly began to drift shut.

“Therxian?” she mumbled around another yawn.

“Yes, hithana?”

“Wake me up before you go. Your visit isn’t complete until someone gets their back blown out. I think I will be on top this time. You get to move funny for the rest of the day to remember me by.”

Laughing quietly, he hugged her to him, love engulfing him completely. “As you like, my mate. I would have it no other way.”

Chapter 51

The whooshing sound behind the wall, a sound that had been absent for several days, was back again. Alex stood up and walked over to the smooth wall to rest her hand against its surface. Using her hand to steady herself, she slowly flattened herself against the wall, resting the weight of her body against it as she placed her ear to the smooth surface.

Yes... something was definitely moving out there. Now she was certain of it.

Was it possible that a massive body of water lay on the other side of the wall? It hadn’t initially struck her as odd that there was no balcony in the queen’s nest, but after seeing the other wings, and hearing the sounds of movement, it seemed likely. Especially given the way that water was accessed by the nest and flowed from that uppermost point through the rest of the palace. It seemed that the queen’s nest had to open access at all except for the tunnel that led upward. But that may have very well been a later addition—or an escape route created out of necessity.

Her mate’s eyes followed her, his gavo rising with curiosity as he watched her. “What are you doing, hithana?”

“Shh,” she waved him off with a rapid flap of one hand—which was met with an amused look from the male—as she pressed her ear more firmly to the wall. “Don’t tell me you can’t hear that? There’s something moving.”

His gavo inching higher, Therxian tipped his head, her ears fanning as he too listened. After a moment, he slowly rose and joined her beside the wall, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You are right. I had not paid much attention as fresh water flows freely through hidden channels between the upper and elder shinara, and it is nearly impossible to determine direction of water flow or how much water flows behind a cavern wall just by listening. But this is more than water flow through a channel. For something to be swimming on the other side, there must be a significant-sized pool of water at the very least.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” she mumbled. “It’s just so weird. Why would they literally build the palace against a cavern filled with water?”

Therxian flicked his ears casually as he too rested his hand against the wall. “Perhaps it provided an advantage. The elder shinara would have existed for several generations before a palace was ever erected. And it may not have originally been so grand. When my people lived on the surface, it is unlikely we would have dwelled in nests carved from rock, unless they dwelled along the mountain cliffs. Perhaps by the time of the palace’s current incarnation, the Uralial were already an established offshoot from the Seshanamitesh.”

“Do you think it is an Uralial?” she whispered, and again his ears flicked before he also lowered his head and rested it against the wall to listen.

“The aquatic creatures that dwell in the caverns can easily rival those that dwell in the sands,” he replied quietly. “It could be a giant swimming megnosh—they are massive but also slow-swimming and have sweet flesh. Or it could be a gilap, a deadly finned predator nearly equal in size to an adult male that swims along the waterways, hunting prey.”

“Memo to me: do not swim anywhere on this planet,” Alex mumbled to herself. She frowned as she slowly became aware of an isolated sound. “Is that... tapping? I something trying to communicate?”

Therxian abruptly gathered her up into his arms and quickly propelled them back away from the wall with a massive snap of his wings. Alex squealed in surprise at being propelled so quickly back from the wall.

“Therxian, what the fuck?” she hissed back at him.

“It is wise to be cautious,” he grumbled. “Do not respond to it. Do not even speak too loudly so close to it. That tapping would not be made by any mere sea beast. There is intelligence behind it. This is hunting behavior—and cunning at that. Therefore, we need to take precautions so that we do not give it any information that might help it. The cavern barrier is thin enough that our voices will carry. Even if our words are distorted, whatever is on the other side will be able to listen to us.”