Chapter 3
Therxian met his mother’s sharp gaze with a hard stare, refusing to let his carefully cultivated mask of indifference slip.
Her lips drew back from her sharp teeth in a silent hiss, but he maintained an affable expression of disinterest before slowly shifting his gaze away from her to some spot in the distance.
Let her threaten. She was trying to intimidate him so that she could bend him to her will. She would now see that she could not control him so easily. At length, her features smoothed, and she reclined once more into her throne as she regarded him coolly.
“Still disobedient,” she observed, her nose wrinkling faintly.
Her long, golden tail twitched on the floor, where it was coiled around the throne.
“I suppose that is to be expected. Despite his many revolutions as a dedicated hunter, even Slengral strayed when it suited him. This just seems to be the male nature.”
Therxian’s jaw clenched. It was no surprise to him that his mother simply glossed over her own involvement in the events that had led to his younger brother abandoning the shinara. She was baiting her trap, after all—even if it displeased her that she was forced to use him.
He fought back an urge to smile disdainfully at her barely restrained expression of disgust. He relaxed his gavo and peered back at her calmly.
“Do not blame me just because you found a way to cheat yourself out of being surrounded by future nestlings.” He allowed his gavo to flick minutely.
“So you did not like his choice of mate—which among us is to care? It is a pity that such things are to only be entertained by the mated couple.”
“The Vehal has ruined you,” she angrily retorted. “Is this what they are teaching their nestlings—that mating is a decision of youthful fancy rather than one of serious, long-term alliances?”
“Yes,” he replied, dropping the word succinctly.
He shifted his coils, stretching out the cramp that had steadily been growing under her scrutiny.
“Moreover, among the Vehal, we have seen a healthy population boom and stronger hatchlings than ever since expanding our bloodlines by welcoming humans into our fold. Something that you should think about further, Mother. How many hatchlings are born healthy and strong in the shinara? And if our ways are so excellent, then why did over half the hunters abandon the Aglatha?”
Zathexa froze, her expression unreadable.
Despite that, he knew from experience that behind her calm exterior, her mind was busily working as she analyzed everything that he said.
Though she was as backward as all the females raised to take on the mantle of authority within the shinara, and had made terrible, unforgivable decisions for what she had been led to believe was the best for the shinara, she was not truly evil or stupid.
But would she be resistant to change with the noble matriarchs continuously whispering in her ear?
That would have to be the first thing he dealt with.
Afterward... her time of reign would come to an end.
It was his hope that it would be one of peace.
“Perhaps there is some truth to what you have said,” she finally conceded, her coils shifting in betrayal of her restlessness. He had hit a nerve. Good. “But I will remind you that Slengral did not stay and fight for these things that you speak of. He abandoned us.”
He barked a dry laugh. Is that what she thought?
“For good reason. Do you truly imagine that he would return with Lori after you tried to kill her?”
For an instant, something like surprise, and perhaps relief, flickered in his mother’s eyes. “Lori... the female, she is alive?”
He snapped his gavo in the affirmative. Very slowly, she sank back into her throne, some of the tension leaving her powerful body as her gavo flattened completely. Her wings quivered slightly, but a long, weary sigh escaped her.
“He took her and their nestling away,” she murmured. Her eyes darted to him wearily with sudden comprehension. “They went to Vehal to nest.”
He gave her an incredulous look and only just barely restrained himself from laughing in mockery. “Really, Mother? You conspired with your court to kill her, tried to forcibly breed him... and this is what you have to say?”
From her post to the right of the throne, first commander Jathella met his eyes and shook her head, pleading with him, but he ignored her.
His eyes scanned the females reclined within their throne chamber, their sharp gazes trained on him, hungry for what he represented for their maternal lines as Queen Zathexa’s son, but hating him for what he otherwise was.
Zathexa dragged her hand over her face tiredly.
“It is not so simple. This is something both you and Slengral fail to realize. The well-being of the shinara is more complex than a small Vehal nara or the easiest route to satisfy your own personal desires and ambitions. Your brother was not only completely antagonistic when it came to his responsibilities but obstinate.”
“And what would have satisfied you?” Therxian asked. He genuinely wanted to know what was so important that his mother—despite being detached and cool toward them as her responsibilities and role as queen demanded—would plot against her own offspring.
His question appeared to give her pause, and she shifted uncertainly, her attention drifting around the throne chamber as she considered her words. His lip curled faintly before he pressed it once more into a thin, hard line. The noble houses of the matriarchs were definitely a problem.
“We must consider our traditions,” she managed at last. “It is the body upon which the governance of the shinara has been established for generations by the blessing of Shangla. It allowed us to survive.”
“And what if the humans and Slengral’s encounter with the human was not also a blessing of Shangla?” he asked, his voice flat and uncompromising. “Perhaps Higthar, her heavenly mate, brought his Lori to him. Perhaps he brought all the human females who now mingle their blood with ours.”
The tip of his mother’s tail curled uneasily and something unreadable flickered in her eyes. Was this something that she had already considered? He considered continuing his argument when a female rose angrily from her cushions, her vibrant blue body showing the first signs of silvering with age.
“Nonsense! All life comes from Shangla. We do not require the bloodlines from other worlds polluting our own.” She sneered at him, the multiple fans of her gavo rising angrily.
“The males of the Vehal have corrupted your thinking. You consider your own selfish desires. It is no wonder that the first mothers descended into the great caverns, abandoning all males except those most faithful to protecting the daughters of Shangla. Only those males were worthy and trusted to honor the gifts of our great mother. Shangla cut off the Vehal from her nurturing coils for the violence and disregard of their males, and now they—along with the hunters of the upper caverns who deserted us—insult her further to their own peril!”
A murmur of agreement rose among the council, the natural acoustics of the throne chamber amplifying their voices in a way that might have been intimidating to a lesser male. Therxian just ignored it, however, and bestowed the female a cold smile.
“And the naras of the Vehal have been thriving these last few years since interbreeding with the humans, and the relationship between the males and females among us is peaceful, nurturing, and supportive. Whatever the sins of the past, the nara has surpassed the shinara by a hundred-fold!”
Fury ignited among the females as they rose, hissing, their shouts drowning all else out in the room.
Even his mother could not quiet their anger, though she shot furtive glances of something that seemed oddly like worry in his direction.
He did not wilt and cower beneath their collective fury.
In that moment, he comprehended the strength and threat of the houses of the noble matriarchs fully.
Though his mother was queen, she was one against their considerable weight.
He would not bow beneath their fury. He rose higher on his coils, but it was the quick, speaking glance his mother gave Jathella—prompting the female into action—that kept him from showing further aggression in his own immediate defense.
The captain nodded and slid away from the throne toward him, her sister Buosoa descending from the opposite side.
The females positioned themselves on either side of him, their velkats, the long double-headed lances, held firmly in their hands.
Jathella’s gaze scoured the room with a hard glower as she leaned in to speak quietly to him.
“The queen predicted this might happen. Please come with us.”
Therxian inclined his head and dropped back, rolling off his coils to follow Jathella as Buosoa took up position behind him, her velkat held high in front of chest in warning.
To his surprise, none of the matriarchs dared to come nearer.
Truthfully, they recoiled away from the large females even though they continued to spit venom and hurl insults in his direction.
Whatever power the matriarchs had, it clearly respected the boundary that the sisters—who were larger than the average Seshanamitesh female—presented.
This was worth noting, so he studied the reaction of the matriarchs as they passed through their midst.
He glanced over at his mother briefly, only once, noting that the queen rose rigidly upon her tail in front of her throne, her hands fisted at her sides as she faced the court.
Her gaze shifted to him, and he was surprised to see a flicker of what appeared to be regret in her gaze before she resolutely looked away from her, her back stiffening.
His gaze dropped away and shifted to Jathella as they exited the clamor of the throne chamber.
Somehow, with his absence, the voices were getting even louder so that they followed them down the corridor as they made their way to the residential part of palace.
He studied the female in front of him. Although, unlike Slengral, he had never been a playmate of Jathella and her sisters when they were young, as he had already been of age to dwell with the rest of the young males in the haga, he trusted his brother’s assessment of the females’ loyalty and willingness to assist him for the betterment of the shinara.
He had been warned that they would not oppose the queen directly, but Slengral assured him that they would be open to helping Therxian as they had helped him.
He had to admit that an alliance with them was a good choice.
Seeing them in action proved they were indeed formidable allies.
He had little doubt that this alone had greatly improved Slengral’s chances of success in escaping, and ensured Lori’s own survival.
Given their rank and their close association with the throne, garnering their assistance would be to his advantage.
There was only one small drawback. Jathella and her sisters were all distinctive in appearance due to the pale blue patterning of their scales.
It made them easy to spot anywhere within the Great Nest or any place within the shinara.
While it would work in his favor in some ways, he could not ignore that anything they did on his behalf would not be without notice or scrutiny.
But how to open dialogue with the sisters?
He considered the matter as peered at Jathella.
She would be the one to approach. It seemed that she took the lead and Buosoa followed.
Would Kitanara? Proceeding would be tricky, however.
One did not just openly ask another to form a rebellious alliance against the nobles and queen.
He frowned contemplatively as Jathella led him into a room, but it was the sound of Buosoa following them inside that made his gavo twitch with surprise.
He stopped and rose on his tail as he turned to look back at the other female until Jathella’s voice broke the silence, drawing his attention back to her.
“Calm yourself, Therxian.” The female gave him a hard smile as he turned once more to face her. “We have been waiting for this moment. We knew that somehow Slengral would find you and send you here in his stead. To do what must be done.”
It seemed that his brother had left him an opening without even realizing it.
Perfect.