Page 88 of King of Serpents

“Yes, I understand the appeal. I have wondered what pleasure such a small, fragile race could provide. Now I will satisfy my curiosity before I kill you.”

He grinned wildly as he whipped toward her on his long tail, his movements quick and graceful. Alex darted out of his immediate path and inwardly cursed as her trajectory carried her further away from her blowgun. Rounding a low, ornamental table, she kicked it toward him, sending it and the various pots and décor on it flying at him. Though the male brought his wings up to protect himself from most of the blows, it obscured his vision, giving her an opportunity to run in the direction she wanted as his outraged shriek filled the chamber. She didn’t look back, however, not even when his tail hit the floor with a force that she could practically feel through the bottom of her feet. Alex sprinted, pushing her legs to move, but it was not enough to gain the distance needed before his tail whipped out in a blow that sent her flying off her feet.

She hit the ground, the air exploding from her lungs in a painful burst. For one terrible moment she couldn’t breathe as she rolled on the floor. But her hearing was not likewise encumbered. She heard the rasp of his scales against the stone as he slid forward. And she heard his shrill giggle as he drew closer and bent over her.

“So sweet,” he hissed, and his hand descended, his claws closing firmly around the back of her neck, pinning her to the floor. “So very sweet.”

Chapter 59

Therxian’s head bowed under the weight of the shackle around his neck that simultaneously, with the shackles around his wrists, kept him pinned upright. He scoffed bitterly. In all of his plans, he had not quite envisioned this happening. And yet, once again, he was chained to the wall of his nest, but this time he did not have a clever human around to keep him company. His heart ached at the thought of his mate. What was her fate? Did Buosoa arrive on time? He hated the feeling of uncertainty and powerlessness that was currently plaguing him. His every thought circled around his worry—and there was nothing he could do about it.

Hissing to vent his frustration, he shifted his weight on his tail and tugged at his arms uselessly. The clatter of the chains was the only sound in the heavy silence of the nest. It was almost ironic that his imprisonment offered the same level of solitude that he had once embraced—though with the distinct addition of being bound.

He sagged in the chains, his gavo flicking restlessly. It was uncomfortable, but he might as well conserve his strength. He hung there until his arms began to develop a slight ache. Thankfully, even while resting on his coiled tail, the chains were low enough to cause him any exceeding discomfort beyond that. It was not enough to distract him from the small annoyances. Such as the fact that the way his gavo scraped the wall with its slightest movement was also irritating.

He twisted slightly in an attempt to relieve the pressure on it but froze when he heard the echoing rasp of someone entering the entryway of his nest. Therxian stiffened, and he winced at the twinge in his neck as his lead lifted slightly so that he had a clear view of the entrance. An aggressive vibration rose within him, and it erupted in a loud hiss when a female entered—a female who had no business being there.

A female who supposed to be gravely ill. He had seen her collapse with his own eyes among the other poisoned females. She had succumbed just before his mother had. And it was clearly all a staged performance and a well-orchestrated lie. Ferinia entered alone and she moved slowly across the floor, her tail gliding sinuously. She regarded him, satisfaction gleaming in her bright eyes.

Ferinia smiled. “You appear confused, Therxian. Now, why was that?” She cocked her head as she regarded him with a feigned expression of confusion, but it melted away in a long, slow smile. “Oh, yes. I know. I am supposed to be rapidly declining within my maternal nest from an unknown source of poison, like those other useless females. And perhaps I would be... if I had actually taken the poison at all,” she hissed, her smile widening.

“Of course you did not,” he muttered bitterly. “You feigned it all. It was you behind this madness all along,” he spat.

A smile curled her mouth. “Indeed. To think that so much of this all could have been avoided if you had done the sensible thing and chosen me. Even when presented with Gareiia’s obvious scheming, you would not turn to me and yoke strength to mine where it rightfully belonged. Instead, you chose another.”

With a flash of clarity, he came to the startling realization that everything had been a performance. Ferinia setting herself against Gareiia’s aggression and playing the part of the determined but more sensible option while making the younger female appear more power hungry and desperate. Gareiia had been everything that he would have imagined a daughter of Yilada to be. Even Vekatha’s relentless support for the returning daughter had convinced him that if a nestling had been hidden, it would have been within the first house. Gareiia had been the most logical possibility. And her venomous, entitled position had simply reinforced that illusion.

“You were fostered within the fourth house to draw suspicion off you while secretly colluding with the first house,” he rasped.

Ferinia inclined her head as she drew closer to him. “Indeed,” she hummed. “The first house wanted to foster me, out of their allegiance to my mother, but she was wiser than that. She secured my place in the fourth house through a secret alliance, but Shalyia was my tutor when I was young as a courtesy between noble lines of the upper houses, and with Zara, she manipulated things in my favor.”

“But Gareiia—” he rasped.

“Was groomed to serve her purpose and yet proved herself to be a selfish, spoiled female who believed that she could ignore everything that had been put in motion and carve out her own place as queen.” She chuckled cruelly. “She deceived herself well with her illusions of grandeur. She had even begun to believe that she was far better than me. Naturally, she had to be dealt with. It is fortunate that I was well-prepared. Though she was instructed to lure you in for me, I took precautions. She never suspected that her loyal and ingratiating Dehv was my eyes and ears and hopelessly bonded to me.”

Therxian’s jaw tightened. “And my brothers as well?”

She inclined her head again, her gavo snapping lightly as the corners of her mouth lifted with amusement. “Quite so. And each of them succeeded, even if the males they brought me were ultimately useless. I would never have guessed that the males of the royal line would be so dramatic in engineering their own escape. Nearly half committed suicide, another escaped only to be tragically killed in the effort to retrieve him, and one even found a way to castrate himself after the first failed breeding attempt. Naturally, I had to put him down since he was no longer of use to me. And then there was Slengral who not only took a mate before Vekatha could secure him, but even when his return was enforced, he still managed to escape with his family.” She sighed dramatically. “I truly thought my opportunity for a smooth accession had passed and that I would be forced to take it by violence. Which I do not object to, but it is really so much more trouble dealing with all the little rebellions and objections to my legitimate claim.”

“But then I returned,” he rasped.

His eyes slid shut as he inwardly cursed himself. He was a fool. If he had stayed away as Slengral insisted and so many within the Vehal advised, the Aglatha would have collapsed into civil war but could have ultimately led to better clarity and a willingness to remake the shinara into something better in the aftermath. Instead, he provided Ferinia the tool she needed.

“Yes. Unfortunately, it seems that you are just as difficult as your brothers, but far wilier,” she retorted. “I thought I had learned well enough from my mistakes with Slengral and created the perfect environment to prevent you from slipping out of my grasp.” Her smile fell, her eyes glittering sharply at him. “I did not anticipate such difficulty accosting me at every turn. Every trap, you neatly evaded. I did not understand how... except I realize now that you had help, did you not? From your ‘mate?’”

“I did,” Therxian replied as he smiled bitterly at her. “Indeed, your traps and efforts set up the environment for our bond and cemented it. I should be thanking you.”

Ferinia scowled in response, her eyes narrowing on him. “It is inconsequential. It is just another female to dispose of. As I did Gareiia. With the announcement of your mating, she knew I would act soon and thought she could get to you first. Foolish female,” she scoffed. A hard, cruel smile hitched the corner of her mouth. “But Dehv dealt well with her, do you not agree? Of course, the blame has been put on you. The entire palace witnessed her behavior in the throne chamber. All Dehv had to do was present himself as a witness to the guard—and you saw what happened for yourself.” She laughed mockingly. “All he had to do was say that he witnessed you agreeing to secretly meet with her and then allow the guards to discover you with her dead body.”

“And what exactly does that accomplish. I would have been executed if not for Jathella interceding on my mother’s behalf,” he hissed.

She regarded him coolly, and her smile returned. Cold. Calculating. “Oh, Therxian, you would not have died,” she whispered as she drew up close enough that he could feel the heat of her body on his scales. She wafted her wings, and he was hit by the pungent sweetness of her pheromones. It was nauseating, and he grimaced with distaste, uninterested in curbing his reaction despite the way she was studying him. “It will be far easier once the bond is broken. Once I forge a new bond with you, this stubborn resistance of yours will just melt away,” she observed, her voice dropping into a thoughtful murmur. “You could hate me for the rest of your life, but you would be powerless against the effects of the bond. At last, you are exactly where you were always meant to be.”

She touched the manacle around his neck with one finger, her claw gently scraping across it as she slowly ran it across the metal. “At least until I enter the queen’s nest. This arrangement is only temporary, after all. But soon everything will be perfect.” Her hand lifted his jaw and glided over the sensitive scales there. “Once you are in my nest, you will never leave it.”

Therxian jerked his head away with a venomous sound rising from his throat. Ferinia’s eyes chilled, but then she laughed and her hand dropped away.

“Still defiant, I see.”