Chapter 30
Kehtal wiped the medicinal brew over Daskh’s scales, praying to Shangla that the male would absorb enough of its healing essence. His gaze flicked to the male glowering angrily at his side with a flattened gavo. His mouth tightened with concern, unclear whether or not he heard correctly.
“Lori is where?”
“Detained at the palace,” Slengral repeated, his voice a vehement hiss with his barely restrained fury. “She will be escorted to the surface with her maiden at hand just before nightfall to begin the maiden’s trial.”
Kehtal’s hand went still against the heavier, protective scales around Daskh’s wing base and his mouth parted with shock. “A maiden trial? Lori is a mated female. Since when was an adult female subjected to a maiden trial? Not even the Uralial females who make their homes within the boundaries of the shinara are forced to endure the trial. Everyone knows that it would be unfair to them and yet Lori comes from a wingless species and she must endure?”
Slengral sighed and settled heavily on his coiled tail. “The Uralial are from a common ancestor and so it is likely easier to accept that they would retain similar customs before their females are allowed to leave the mother nest. Despite the animosity that many of the females of the shinara have toward the Uralial for their perceived inferiority, they still recognize this. No such assumptions can be made for humans from the point of view of the council.”
“Absurd,” Kehtal muttered in reply as he dipped the cloth into the mixture and ran it down Daskh’s back. “Since you are here rather than with our ashlava, I assume this means that we are not permitted to join her.”
Gavo snapping angrily in confirmation, Slengral huffed as he crossed his arms over his upper coil. “They will not even allow her to return to our nest. They will only return her after she has completed it.”
Kehtal frowned as he wiped a particularly dry stretch of scales. “And if she does not?”
“Then we will do what we must.”
His eyes snapped over to the other male in surprise. “You are suggesting that we defy the shinara... and your mother? Do you understand what that will mean?”
Slengral inclined his head, his gavo snapping. “Lori will not be pleased if it comes to it, so it is better to avoid it if possible. It is merely a matter of last resort. I have confidence in our mate. She will succeed.”
“If you believe that, you should not be so anxious,” Kehtal pointed out as he flicked the damp cloth in Slengral’s direction. “So why the hostility?”
Slengral rolled his shoulders, the feathered leather of his ears flicking. “I do not believe I am hostile. I do not trust having our mate outside of our protection. She is too vulnerable to be kept away from us and to face Seshana without us. They give her Payeri—an unknown and expect me to just accept this. Nor will they even give me the simple courtesy of nesting with my mate and allowing our comfort before she must leave. I am not hostile. Everything about this situation is intolerable.”
That was reasonable, and the more Kehtal thought about it the twitchier he got. He was finally forced to set the rag down, content at least that Daskh had been thoroughly seen to before he ended up inadvertently jabbing instead of dabbing at the unconscious male.
“Payeri—wasn’t that the name of the female who...”
“Yes,” Slengral bit out, interrupting him. “She volunteered when no one else would, claiming that she felt the need to repay her debt for harming Daskh.”
Kehtal frowned. That was an odd coincidence. “Do you think it was intentional?”
“I considered it,” Slengral reluctantly admitted, “but our gifts were not something planned or that it could easily be anticipated—least of all what Daskh intended.” His gavo and the tips of his wings fluttered irritably. “Unless they were looking for any reason at all to harm and were following us undetected as they waited for an opening, they had little opportunity to actually plan an attack.” He lifted his wings helplessly. “It is possible but just as equally possible that it was an accident.”
“If it was planned, then it has put her in a position to harm our mate.” Kehtal sighed as he rubbed along the edges of the gavo on his neck where stress gathered among the collection of small muscles and nerves. “But I do not think she would have volunteered to assist our mate if she was attempting to assist Vekatha. It would be far easier to remain silent and allow Lori to either be forced out of the shinara alone or attempt to weaponize it as an excuse to invalidate our mating.”
Slengral’s gavo snapped in agreement. “This is the only reason that I allow Lori to go through with this as she insists. I do not trust Payeri but I have no solid reason to object and disrupt Lori’s plan to maintain peace between our species. I just do not like it. This trial risks the lives of both our mate and our offspring.”
Kehtal’s gaze narrowed shrewdly on his nest brother. “You have a plan?”
The male met his eyes and slowly lifted and snapped his gavo back again. “We cannot move Daskh and are limited as to what we can do while he is unconscious. The healer is confident that he will awaken soon, so we will give him as much time as possible while also ensuring that the shinara guards who are keeping an eye on the proceedings have relaxed their watch on us. To accomplish this, I will trust Lori’s judgment and wait until just before the first light of the small sun rises with the morning star. Just as we dare not do anything while the guard is keeping a close watch, nor is there likely to be any immediate danger to our mate from Payeri if she proves to be deceitful.”
He inclined his head. Even though he disliked the wait, that was logical. The beginning of the maiden trial was kept under close watch. While guards were selected to escort the blinded female to the chosen trial grounds, and a secondary set of guards made sure there was no interference or meddling that might come from the shinara, by the end of the first night, all was left to the skills of the maiden. At least it was a favorable time of the year. Although the nights were longer during the wet season, the smaller sun rose first so that it inhabited the sky with the morning star and set at midday during the wet season thanks to its own rotation around the primary sun, which provided an extended period of relief from the killing heat of the day. They would be able to set out earlier and their mate would not be subjected to such torturous temperatures during the day.
“We will all go,” he agreed as he grabbed the cloth and began to wipe Daskh’s scales again. His nest brother needed to get better and awaken quickly.
Slengral gave the unconscious male a skeptical look. “He may not awaken on time. If he does not, I will go ahead and mark a trail for you to follow.”
Kehtal’s gavo snapped reluctantly. He did not like that idea. Their family being separated brought an uncomfortable reminder of when he was separated from Slengral and Daskh, caught in the human lab with Lori. They protected and cared for their human mate better when they were all together.
“He will be,” he assured the male at his side, his throat tight with emotion.
Slengral glanced at him soberly but did not protest. There were no words that needed to be said. They would all do what needed to be done when the ganda indicated the rising of the small sun.