Chapter 26
The Royals
Tumva
She is a menace. When she touched my slit, teasing the edge of it, I wanted to hiss with embarrassment.
I also fantasised about snarling and yanking her off her stool to tangle with her in the back of our hollowed our viewing room.
Her trousers would be awkward to get off her legs, but for a moment my mind went to the dark place Gcorket draws from all Ucfeni.
A tangling pit of desire. Even now I’m begging the swell of my pouch to calm down.
Gcorket has never been for me. Other Ucfeni are desired by females, not I.
No one shows a Death Striker any interest. No male has seen me as a threat to their successful selection either.
All my presence ever achieved was to intimidate obedience and submission, for fear of my bite.
Yet, Hannah enticed my scent pits and ensnared my breeding drive.
I want to mate her. I want to take her back to my nest and tangle with her over and over.
But I must abstain, for now. I am unable to push the thought of this ‘debrief’ she has promised we will have later from my mind for very long.
She may not wish to mate yet. She may wish to discuss courtship first. To kiss.
I know nothing about how humans mate, or if there is a ritual to follow.
But…her looks are hungry. Her touches are enchanting.
Her scent is maddening. I want her, but I don’t want to scare her off.
If she only allows me to taste her lips, I will gladly take that affection.
It is far more than I have ever had in my life, and I will thank her for it.
Not because she is the only woman to see me as a man and not a monster.
But because she is Hannah. I have never felt this way for another.
I never thought it would be possible. For every scale and every nerve to hum with praise for this feisty, scrappy woman.
She pretends not to be kind, especially at work, but she is abundantly compassionate.
I know if we don’t see her sister her today she will try to pretend that she isn’t dissapointed, and it will be a lie.
She worries about Billie every day. I don’t understand why she is afraid of upsetting her sister by not calling her without forewarning, but I accept that this is true.
When The Lunar Dancers split into two groups to line the sides of the middle platform beneath us at the sound of trumpets, I am elated.
“Hannah, they come. The Royals.” He nod for her to look to the far upper left of the hall.
As if to represent their station over all their subjects, the Royals enter to lounge on the upper most platform and look down on the rest of us.
They arrive together, the Royals, and all the males display their cowls and privilege.
The trumpets and horns continue to play as they wound out from the private entrances and they towered up high on their tails to address us mere worms. That’s how it always felt, looking up at the Royals.
They lived in a different world to the rest of us.
Their Royal sandy scales and the stark eye or chevron patterns to their cowls and backs were almost as prestigious as all the gold they wore.
Not gold coloured sequins and fabrics like the performers and musicians.
Oh no. They wore the real thing. King Xulei rises up on his tail in the middle of the Royal line, a formidable Ucfeni with many battle scars across his sandy scales.
He has only dark brown eye like markings on his hood and a creamier colour to his torso and undertail.
His wrap around skirt is woven gold silk, his belt a golden Royal holding it’s own tail to clasp it shut, and around his neck he wore the Sovereign collar.
It was thick and had a rainbow of precious stones set within it.
One was a com-gem, but all the others were real gems. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, amethysts, and many more I couldn’t name.
It was the collar worn by every Royal Monarch who ruled over Orna.
Every since our people came out of the deep jungle to make this monumental city.
One day it would go to his first hatched son, Vrujac.
I recognise him to the stoic King’s left.
His scales are more golden sandy in colour and he has yellow framed black bands running down his torso and under tail.
A stark contrast to King Xulei. I recognise him from his markings, but also because the future ruler is well publicised amongst our people.
The others I recognise as Royals, but I couldn’t tell Hannah which is which.
Other than of course, the only female of King Xulei’s clutch with his late Queen.
His second born, Jajana. She has also been well publicised, because King Xulei has declared that this Gcorket she will recieve tribute males from other Royal nests to select a mate from, if one so pleases her scent pits and eye.
“Wait, so that’s the princess then?” I relay all this to Hannah eagerly so she understands what she sees.
She asks me many questions and I do my best to answer her.
“She’s pretty.” I incline my dark head and regard Jajana.
She has sandy scales, white and black bands on her underbelly and black and white ringed eyes on her hood.
She is ordained with a delicate silver chain shrug, a headdress of blue feathers to match her skirt and adornments.
By Ucfeni standards she is beautiful. Large in size, thick in the tail and curvaceous at her waist and hips.
Her torso is lean and her manner is delicate.
“I bet she’ll have lots of scaly princes coming from across Thelia to hope she will choose them. ”
“Yes, she will. She will become a Queen and lay the next Royal clutch of Kings, but only if she deems the male is worthy of her.”
“I gotta say, I like the sound of that. That your princess gets to choose her prince.”
“That is the way of Thelia.” I raise a scaly brow and look down at her curiously. “Do human women not choose their mates? Do your males not display their prowess with hope of compatibility and selection to mate and couple?”
“Hmmm.” Hannah turns away from the Royals, as more arrive, to think over her reply.
“There are a lot of different cultures on Earth. Historically There has been a lot of male dominance over who a woman could be with or marry, but not everywhere. There are cultures on Earth were we have Matriarchs and women are dominant in the culture, but it’s not common.
In most modern cultures now though, there is equality between the sexes, or you know, just about.
Wages are another thing, and some men need a good five knuckle reminder from time to time that just because they like a girl’s ass, they don’t get to grab it, but overall… both should give consent to any union.”
“Of course both give consent, but the mating behaviours males and females?” I press, worried I may have missed something important and be found lacking for this lack of knowledge of human mating habits. “Who romantically pursues the other for your species?”
“In modern societies, it can be either.” She shrugs at me.
“But for a long time in a lot of places, I suppose men took the dominant role in that area. In both the pursuit of a wife and to protect their daughters from unwanted attention.” She snorts behind one hand.
“Man, that sounded like something from a cheesy novel, didn’t it?
” I have no idea what she is saying, but I am deeply worried.
For humans their males are the dominant ones in courtship?
They don’t put on displays and hoe the female will pursue them?
It felt natural to me to wait for Hannah to proposition me, if she was interested in something more than a platonic relationship, but was that strange to her?
Was she hoping I would make such a move?
Did she only do so because I failed to take the lead? Is that how she thought of me?
I wanted to ask her…but I was afraid of her answer. I do not want her to see me as a lacking male. Her culture is different to mine. I…will have to be more dominating with her, if that is what would please her.
Sweet ancestors, please don’t let me fail. I want her to claim me as her bond mate. I can’t lose her now. I’ll do anything. Even if I must take on a more feminine role and be direct about my intentions for her, I will.
Hannah is watching desperately for the Royals once more, but we both know she’s not looking for the wealthy Ucfeni monarchy.
She looks for her sister. I lean over the table and try to search for any sight of the human as well.
Beside Prince Vrujac his bond mate and our future Queen Sacxi.
She holds one hand with her mate and the other strokes her swollen navel.
She is Gravid and likely carries the egg of the crown prince that will follow after Vrujac.
She has brown scales, indicative of hailing from Erya.
She suits all the gold she wears, and has a golden veil shimmering around her cowl and shoulders.
Two more smaller Royals slither onto the platform.
One looks like a smaller version of Vrujac with the same markings, but he grins while everyone else looks very serious.
Beside him and on Jajana’s right another Royal who holds himself like a hunter is a man with brown and caramel chequering on his hood and down his back.
Finally, the youngest Royal proudly slithers up to the platform and dwarfs his siblings.
In both his girth, his muscular prowess, his piercing yellow gaze, and his length.
Only the King and Jajana, due to her sex, is larger than this prince.
“Izule.” Hannah gasps and she absently lifts her left hand to hold mine on her shoulder for support.
I feel how tense she is as she looks for her sister.
Izule is Billie’s sponsor. Now he is here, the chances of seeing her sister has increased.
I know the second Hannah has spotted her sister because she jerks forward and I have to hold her steady so she doesn’t topple off her stool to scramble toward her. “Billie!”