Chapter 22
Therxian hesitated, surprisingly reluctant to leave the female within the nest he had secured for her.
He was enjoying her curious exploration of the space and soft exclamations of delight over its beauty carved out by his ancestors and the small comforts he had supplied.
His eyes followed her as she walked around the perimeter of the bathing pool, her eyes fixed on the surface that rippled gently with the flow of water that fed directly into it from a natural spring.
The water was a clear, vivid blue; the color intensified subtly by the minerals contained within the black stone and glowing faintly.
Crouching by one side, she reached down and skimmed her fingers across the surface and gave a little shiver that sent a response of heat streaking through him to plunge low into his belly.
“It’s a bit cool,” she observed.
“But easily warmed,” he replied, nodding toward the small fire stove at the pool’s side.
She looked down and brightened. “Oh! Well, that’s useful!” Withdrawing her hand, she glanced up at him with a smile. “Does the palace above have rooms like this?”
He swallowed as he pushed past the desire rising rapidly within him and dipped his chin in the negative.
“To my knowledge, the royal palace does not enjoy a luxurious pool like this one. There are some hunters’ caverns with access to natural springs, but the position of the upper palace and shinara means they must divert warm water from elsewhere in order to create small bathing pools. ”
She nodded thoughtfully and straightened.
“A pity this was abandoned, but that just works in my favor.” Brushing her hands off on her thighs, she turned him with a bright smile.
“This is really great, Therxian. It all looks very comfortable. I don’t suppose there is any food among all the supplies you smuggled down here. ”
He hesitated, feeling somewhat guilty. He had brought her some dry vegetation that was easy to store, which he acquired from the Daliska Market, but it was hardly the sort of regular fare that she enjoyed in his nest. Now he worried in retrospect that she would not be adequately fed by it.
Would she even be able to prepare it? Why had he not considered that before?
He had been so focused on acquiring things that would keep well and be easy to transport to the lower palace without rousing suspicion that he had not carefully considered the matter.
“There is,” he replied hesitantly. “Come. There is no preparation chamber in the royal nest.”
Alex gave him a curious look but followed him from the nest back into the main corridor.
He glanced back at her to make certain that she was keeping up well enough, only to find that she was having no difficulty maintaining a quick clip in her stride as she followed, but that she was studiously observing their route as if to commit it to memory.
It was fortunate that the layout of the lower palace was simpler than that in the upper shinara.
The food preparation area was located in the heart of the royal residence, with a secondary access corridor leading from it into the royal court chamber.
The route from the royal chamber was not only short but also very direct once entering the main corridor.
Turning down a secondary tunnel, they were quickly at the preparation chamber where a massive stove waited to be kindled.
With Alex’s eyes following his every movement, Therxian went directly to it and began loading it with the large chips of gathered fuel.
He had become so accustomed to using wood among the Vehal that the dung chips were something he was still adjusting to utilizing again, though he had to admit that akanth chips burned cleaner, producing less smoke and smell than wood.
Grabbing the fire-starter, he demonstrated the method of lighting the smaller broken pieces of chips and gradually adding more to build the fire before adding the larger chunks of fuel to create an intense, hot flame.
That done, he grabbed a large bowl of hammered metal and filled it with water before turning toward the bags of supplies he had left stacked against one wall and opening them.
Gathering handfuls of fungus and vegetation commonly grown in the uppermost caverns and along the nearby waterways, he cut them with a blade on the stone cutting surface and added them to the metal bowl.
All the while, Alex silently watched. Though she didn’t interrupt him with questions like Alexandra had often done whenever anyone among the Vehal showed her anything, he knew that she missed nothing.
It made him feel a little more confident about leaving her alone there, but at the same time he worried that if there was something she did not quite understand and she did not ask now, she would suffer difficulty when he was not available to help her.
He glanced over at her, his gavo rippling with uncertainty. “Is there anything you need me to explain?”
Her eyes snapped to his face, her expression shifting to one of surprise. “No, this is pretty straightforward. Lighting the oven may take a little practice, but I’m pretty confident that I can handle it. The rest of this,” she gestured at the stewing vegetation, “seems easy enough.”
Relief rushed through him. Good. It was an easy enough task but there had been some humans accustomed to living in the colonies with their human technology who had struggled to adapt to simple tasks that they had never needed to learn when the colonies were run with everyone having very specific functioning tasks and communal eating.
Alexandra was very capable, however, so he was not surprised.
Leaning against the preparation table, Alex rested her weight on it as she propped one elbow on its surface so that she could rest her cheek on her small fist as she watched him. “Looks pretty good. Too bad there isn’t any meat to throw in there.”
Therxian felt a pang of guilt. No Seshanamitesh would be sustained long term without a regular supply of meat.
No female would even accept a meal from a male that did not contain meat.
Although he knew a few humans who chose to just eat the vegetation that grew on the Vir mountains, he should not have treated her diet as something flexible to what was convenient for him to acquire.
He would never have ignored supplying meat to one of the Vehal or Seshanamitesh.
“My apologies, hithana. This is just temporary,” he assured her, eager to correct his mistake. “I will acquire meat for you and return this evening. I will even show you where you may cold store the food I bring you in a lower cavern accessed from here.”
Hithana? He nearly dropped the large nachel he was using to stir the contents of the bowl.
He clearly had been spending far too much time around mated males in recent revolutions before returning to the shinara.
Such soft names for females did not spring so casually from his mouth, but he had clearly been influenced by them.
It was his good fortune that Alex did not seem to understand.
Her expression did not change even slightly at the unintentional love-name.
He breathed a sigh of relief, ignoring the slight pang in his heart at her blank expression as she continued to study the stew and nodded.
“I get that acquiring meat takes a bit more effort for you since you are not able to leave and hunt,” she replied with a level of understanding and empathy that surprised him.
“I will be sure to use whatever you can provide sparingly to make it last.” She then tipped her head, rocking her cheek back against her fist to smile at him.
“If there are times that you cannot get some, don’t worry too much about it.
Going without meat now and then will not kill me.
I have just been spoiled with real meat in place of the synth-meat that Darvel always fed us. ”
Darvel Exploratory Corporation. He had long been regaled with stories of the abuse that these ranking humans committed against those they considered their property.
While there were some “citizens” among the human females in the nara, the non-gratas had a plight so similar to Seshanamitesh hunters that he felt a level of resentment toward this Darvel that he had thus-far had only felt toward the society of noble matriarchs within the shinara.
He understood that supplying meat was difficult in space, but the fact that they previously had not even tried to acquire meat upon arriving on the planet made him feel sorry for those who would have enjoyed it.
It made him proud that his youngest brother had been an instrumental part of overthrowing their rule.
Unfortunately, it also made him detest his own situation even more in that moment.
The constraints on him would not even allow him to do something so simple as hunt.
Providing Alex with meat should have been a ridiculously easy task.
He was not only a hunter but the lead hunter within the nara, and here he was imprisoned within the palace, confined to the life of a breeder. Or so the noble matriarchs intended.
Though he chafed at his current lack of freedom, he managed to cool his ire, reminding himself of what Lori called his “long-game.” Inclining his head to Alex in silent recognition and thanks for her understanding, he continued heating the stew until everything was adequately softened for gentle digestion.
He spooned all the contents into a large stone bowl and handed it to her.
She glanced at it in surprise and peered at him curiously.
“You aren’t going to eat?”
Did she sound disappointed?
He dipped his chin regretfully as he wrestled with a sudden pang at not being able to linger and join her.
“I must return,” he murmured. “The servants will be setting out my meal soon. My absence will not be casually noticed during much of the night when we are active, but palace meals are prepared and delivered according to a strict schedule. It will be noticed if I am not present.”
Her lips pinched together briefly, but she nodded. Lifting the bowl in a small salute, she gave him a faint smile.
“Alrighty. I will just take this then and return to my quarters. Hurry back to your nest before anyone notices anything.”
Therxian inclined his head, but he was not sure if she even noticed since she hastily turned away from him with her meal and walked away with the same swift pace that she had used while following him.
Her stride carried her away from him at a shocking speed now that he was the one who was still.
He watched her, and his heart inexplicably sank.
He understood that her reaction was a logical one.
He was the one who said he could not remain.
Did he want her to protest and beg him to stay?
Yes. He could privately admit to himself that part of him did want that, even though the rest of him admired and appreciated her strength and flexibility with which she met every situation. His own situation was not her fault.
The truth was that he longed to remain. And if he were unencumbered by the expectations of the court and the suspicion that would have been leveled against him for ignoring it, he would have been tempted to remain and hunt for her.
He would have brought back meat and worked to make a great meal for her that would have satisfied her.
And when not hunting, he could stretch lazily out by her side while she cheerfully murdered anything that dared to come near the nest. It was a surprisingly heartwarming thought, and for a moment he even entertained what it might be like to have a mate and nestlings like other males had.
Slengral certainly seemed happy with his offspring.
He shook his head, his gavo snapping irritably.
Nest with Alex? Had he lost all functions of his mind?
Clearly establishing a suitable hiding place for her affected him more than he would have believed.
This was no sweet-tempered mate to nest with.
She was not soft like Slengral’s Lori was.
While she was clever and amusing, she was often impatient and temperamental, and inclined to mischief.
Despite their similarities in name, Kethan and Quillen’s studious mate, Alexandra, would never have asked for forbidden weapons.
Nor would Lori, who was the image of gentleness and quiet resilience.
As enjoyable and amusing as her company was, Alex was anything but quiet.
It truly surprised him that she had managed to remain undetected within his nest for so long.
All the hormones and pheromones of the females trying to breed with him were beginning to get to him. They were getting into his head and slowly making him go crazy. He was certain of it. There was no other explanation that made sense.
Hissing with annoyance at himself, he left the kitchen and the lower palace. His heart ached at the distance and his scales itched anxiously, but he resolutely ignored it. The sooner he could evade the breeding plot of the matriarchs; the sooner his rationality might return to him.