King of Serpents (The Darvel Exploratory Systems #6)

Prologue

Therxian’s eyes swept over the mountainside, his wings twitching behind him.

The village was quiet in the early hours of the morning; it was inviting to a lone male looking for a restful place to find refuge.

When he arrived many seasons ago, escaping the cruelty and harsh expectations for males of the shinara, this mountaintop nara, and the Vehal who took him in, had been nothing short of salvation to him.

His indigo scales shimmered in the early morning light as he curled his tail thoughtfully, his gavo twitching.

With all that Slengral had said, and all that had been shared by his mate, Lori, he had no choice.

He was going to leave the mountain that had served as both sanctuary and home for him for countless revolutions. And the nara.

His wings snapped with irritation. If only Slengral had not returned.

He would have remained undisturbed by thoughts of the Aglatha shinara.

He resented the intrusion into his peaceful life as the nara’s head of the hunters.

Aside from the loneliness of heart that was an unfortunate consequence of being an unmated male, his life had been peaceful and satisfying... and uncomplicated.

“You are leaving?”

Therxian sighed and turned to look over his shoulder at the healer as Gamay drew up beside him and settled on her coils.

There was no condemnation in her eyes, just deep wisdom within their depths as she regarded him knowingly.

Turning away to stare back into the thick mist rolling around the peaks of the Zir Mountains, he snapped his gavo in the affirmative.

Gamay hummed quietly to herself as she settled back, the numerous necklaces on her chest tinkling with her movement.

From the corner of his eye, he observed the way the multiple fans of her gavo flicked sedately as she, too, stared out at the mist.

“You need not feel guilty, Therxian. The entire nara suspected that this day might someday come. Even Slengral knows what events he has set in motion even if he prefers not to see it.” She gave him a quizzical look. “Speaking of Slengral—is it your plan to leave without saying anything to him?”

Therxian flicked his ears, uninterested in how it might appear.

“There is nothing to speak of. He already knows my intentions even if I was not specific as to when I would depart. He has little interest in this matter now that he has put it firmly into my hands. Instead, he is absorbed with Lori and caring for her with his nest-brothers.”

She chuckled quietly in response. “That one certainly has nothing but his mate in his eyes. He sees little else. It is no wonder that Queen Zathexa was unable to control him.”

“He is foolish,” Therxian stiffly replied as he folded his wings tightly against his back.

“He gave no thought as to what he risked by taking his mate down into the shinara. Nor should he have instigated Mother or the noble matriarchs by bringing the hunters into the human colony. He brought Mother’s attention directly upon his female. ”

Gamay fanned her ears, flicking them in nonchalance.

“It could be argued that such action was unavoidable. Perhaps even Queen Zathexa saw that, though she tried to exert some control over the matter to prevent chaos from descending upon the throne. I am not a female of the Aglatha, but I am not originally of the Vir Mountains. When I was young, I too found my way here like so many of these human females are now. I remember well my mother-nest in the shinara I was reared in deep within the Gahwa. They survive only by a tenuous balance of power, and a Queen is often restrained by it. It is time that you understand this. You are no longer the callow youth who rebelled and deserted the shinara to its fate. You have grown to be a leader in your own right. You know that everything begins with small movements, and there is not one hunter who can bring down the biggest game alone with incurring great risk to his life. Changing the way of the shinara is like organizing the biggest hunt of your life. Every effort, however small, counts. Perhaps you should instead be grateful that even Slengral felt a small responsibility toward the males of the Aglatha and that it persuaded him to take his own risk.” She chuckled quietly.

“Or, perhaps more accurately, Lori did.”

Therxian’s lips twitched reluctantly. Lori was certainly a fine female.

Even though it frustrated him when he heard how she willingly put herself in danger to do what she felt was right, and he sharply criticized his younger brother for not adequately protecting her, he had to admit it was a strong possibility that she had persuaded Slengral.

He pressed his lips together, refusing to show even a hint of amusement over such foolishness.

“Perhaps you are right. All the same, if Slengral were wise, he should have convinced her otherwise. Is this not one of the lessons ingrained in every male during their revolutions of training in the haga—how to persuade one’s mate?

Even if he had been so incapable, he is at least twice her size.

He could have carried her away as he pleased.

If I had such a tiny, fragile female for my own, I would have ensured her safety in this way,” he grumbled.

Gamay chuckled, her leather ears flicking.

“You certainly have a lot of opinions for one who is unmated, Therxian,” the healer observed with amusement.

“I would like to see this technique when you are mated so that you can show me how successful you are. In observing Kethan and Quillen with their Alexandra, I can assure you that you may be overconfident about the ease with which you imagine yourself capable of handling a female—especially a human female if that is your destiny.”

Therxian sobered. “Mother will not allow it—surely from what Lori recounted, that much is obvious. Nor will the noble matriarchs in her council. There is no point in even thinking of the possibility of having a human mate when the politics of the shinara will make all of these decisions for me. If I want the support of the shinara then I have to follow its rules outwardly as much as possible.”

The healer gave him a shrewd look. “Do you imagine that you can live peacefully with this yoke around your neck?”

His mouth flattened into a grim line. “If I am to lead the shinara into a better future, then there can be no other way. I must set aside any selfish notions and do what is best for the Aglatha.”

It did not matter anyway. He had no mate and would be unlikely to encounter another human once he descended into the Aglatha.

“Then I wish you luck,” Gamay murmured in farewell as she drew back, though he did not miss the note of skepticism in her voice.

He frowned in confusion but thrust away the disturbance in his mind that her words brought to him.

Whatever the healer believed that she foresaw, it mattered little when compared to what was necessary.

As to that—there was no putting it off any longer.

Spreading his wings wide, his gavo rose as he launched himself into the air and parted the thick mist with the slice of his wings as he dived from the heights into an unknown future in the dark caverns of Seshana.