Chapter 50
“You lost your weapon?” Therxian echoed his mate’s reluctant admission in disbelief.
He did not know why he was so surprised when she had already demonstrated her fearless willingness to explore the palace.
However, he had assumed that she would not wander recklessly or put herself in a position of potential endangerment.
He certainly had not expected to be greeted with this revelation.
He had only just arrived, eager to reassure himself of his mate’s safety, and ease his anxiety.
He had not been prepared to hear that she has lost her only means of protection.
“How could you possibly lose your weapon?”
It defied any possible explanation.
Alex gave him a small, embarrassed smile. “I admit that I was probably not paying the closest attention when I started clearing away the fallen rock blocking the corridor to the palace’s west wing.”
“And you thought it was a good idea to clear away an obvious blockade.” He recognized that he was becoming increasingly agitated, but it did little to constrain his reaction.
“Well, yeah. It looked a bit suspicious, given the pristine condition of the rest of the palace. It seemed worth checking out.”
“A barrier could have been in place to keep something dangerous out of the palace,” he hissed. “You endangered yourself needlessly.”
“It could have,” she agreed. “But it seemed too convenient. And unlikely considering what we know. It seemed more like it was hiding a secret.”
“Perhaps so,” he reluctantly admitted. “And you did not consider that some secrets should remain buried?”
Alex gave him a surprised look. “Not a chance. It is where everything began and where everything returns to. A warped, purist struggle for power and killing off rivals and any threat to the desired order.”
“And it is the precursor to a bloody conflict that is still affecting the Uralial,” he reminded her testily.
“What if there are Uralial still lurking around the elder palace... watching? If not for the fact that the meat gift left for you was clearly delivered by a winged male who would have direct access to that tunnel and who clearly lacks common sense by choosing to court a female with another male around her, I would have considered it a warning. But we cannot discount that they might be out there.”
“Yeah, I kind of considered that afterward,” she admitted with a wince. “You look angry.”
“I am not angry,” he immediately denied. “What you see is worry. I am worried. You should have waited for me to accompany you.” His gavo twitched anxiously and his mate peered up at him.
“I really didn’t consider it necessary. I was armed, and I’ve been alone in the palace since day one.
It didn’t seem necessary to wait for you to accompany me.
Am I to drag you around as I explore?” She paused and squinted up at him.
“Are you sure you’re all right? You look like you’re about the have a stroke. ”
“What is that?” he demanded, distracted by whatever she was accusing him of.
“It is where your heart stops functioning correctly,” she clarified. “It interrupts blood-flow to the brain.”
Therxian scoffed, but his gavo lifted in curiosity despite himself. “How can that happen. If one heart ceases working, there is a second one that will still operate. The situation will either be resolved, or one will live at half-strength.”
Alex’s lips twitched. “Not how it works with humans. We only come with one. And you just have that look.”
He did not really understand what she was speaking of, but it appeared that she was sensitive to his concern.
And he was very worried. Unfortunately, it did not lessen at all as she launched into a thorough description of the elder’s palace’s layout.
It, in fact, grew when she returned to the matter of the destruction barricading the western wing, which renewed his agitation.
He silently studied her through it all, however.
Noting her animated excitement, he was reluctantly drawn into it himself.
“Four wings descending from the royal residence,” he hissed quietly when she finally paused for air. “The arrangement clearly has some meaning.”
“It struck me as if they patterned for different family branches, maybe, but definitely each was almost treated as a separate residence within the palace, with its own primary nest around which the others were clustered. They were connected in some way to have them directly within the palace but also treated like separate family groups, if that makes sense.”
Therxian hummed in agreement. “Your assumption sounds likely, ashlava. In our current Aglatha shinara, only the royal mother-line dwells within the palace. Once a queen takes rule, her siblings leave to establish their own nests elsewhere to make room for the queen’s brood.
No others dwell there, but in the elder palace its design appears to be very intentional.
I wonder if it relates at all to the Grand Matriarchs. ”
“The whatsies?” Alex queried as she raised her eyebrows curiously.
He huffed a quiet laugh, the tip of his tail curling affectionately around his mate. “It is the title with which Yilada bought the support of her cousins of the Shel line, Zara and Shalyia. It clearly is one that held some meaning for the sisters that was not merely invented.”
“You are thinking that the court was more complex than it is now?” she asked, and he inclined his head in confirmation.
“There is much that we do not know. But it is possible. The shinara was more complex back then.”
“Especially if the Uralial dwelled alongside them. That may answer one question that has been bothering me. Therxian, the western wing—I don’t think it was just implicit with the destruction of the Uralial within the shinara. I think it housed an Uralial family.”
His gavo rose with curiosity as he lowered himself to her eye-level, drawing closer to his mate. “You are certain of this?”
“Not entirely,” she said with notable hesitancy.
“But the entire main nest was wrecked, and the wing itself doesn’t overlook the shinara.
Instead, it overlooks a pool that seems to disappear into the cavern wall.
I think there are hidden waterways throughout the elder shinara that the Uralial had access to—and still may have access to. ”
He frowned. He had not considered that possibility.
While Jathella had told them the tale of the two sisters, having an Uralial family-line formally established within the palace gave the Uralial a greater presence and recognized position of authority and affluence within the activity of the palace than anyone probably realized.
“It has been assumed that Uralial dwelled in deep, inhospitable subterranean waterways far away from the shinara,” he slowly replied, “and that their presence within the shinara was a rare occurrence in which the desperate journeyed far from their home territories to live among the Seshanamitesh and beneath our strict regulations. If you are correct, the waterways are far closer.”
“You mean that the Uralial are hiding right beneath your noses,” Alex concluded wryly.
Therxian inclined his head. “It also means that they likely still access the palace. It may account for some of the sounds you heard. If so, it may mean that they know that you are here and have chosen not to interact with you.”
“Is that a good thing?”
And that was the problem. He did not know whether they were merely an invisible presence watching over her, or a malicious presence waiting for a specific opportunity to attack.
Sighing, he drew his tail higher, looping it protectively around his mate and drawing her closer as his wings fanned around them.
“For now, we will assume that they do not intend to harm you. They would have had plenty of opportunities if they had meant to cripple my strength. Once we mated, it would have given them the opening they desired.”
“Good point.” Alex slowly released her breath as her arms wrapped around the tail encircling her to hug it tightly to her.
He drew her to his chest so that he could enjoy the pleasure of holding her with more than just his tail.
His hearts warmed and melted as she trustingly rested her cheek against his chest. He hoped that there were some males among those in the shinara who felt similar warm joys.
“It does make me feel better to know that I wasn’t losing my mind or something. ”
He chuckled despite himself. Humans did appear to enjoy indulging the strangest imaginings.
He did not think he would ever understand it, but he was becoming accustomed to its unique charm.
Drawing his wings around them so as to provide his mate with additional warmth and comfort, he settled back on his upper tail, adjusting his hold on her so that she was draped comfortably against his chest and torso.
This was much better than the distance she enforced between them whenever she wished to discuss things.
Although he understood that reclining in their bed was often too distracting for both of them when it came to necessary matters, he disliked it on principle.
Perhaps that was part of what Jathella meant when she said that Alex would be a distraction for him.
He did not care. He sacrificed himself for everything and everyone in the shinara.
He would keep something for himself with no regrets.
His attachment and longing for his mate did not keep him from doing what needed to be done.
And it seemed that he had finally convinced Jathella of that as well since she had ceased staring disapprovingly at him every time he returned from his mate’s nest or retired back to it.
This time was for him and his mate. He began to absently hum, giving voice to everything he felt in his hearts.
Alex sighed softly after some time, her breath exhaling across his scales. “This is really nice. I miss this. I miss you. You are always gone so long.”
“Too long,” he murmured in agreement as his tail released her and he drew back from the simple cushions on which he was reclined in the main chamber.
Carrying her with him, he left the main chamber and retreated to their bed deep within the queen’s nest. He slid into it leisurely, adjusting his mate’s weight in his arms as he dropped over the lip of the bed and onto the cushions.
Although his sant was primed and ready to extrude at the very sigh of readiness from his mate, he was perfectly content.
Holding her like this sent a sense of peace and wellbeing through his body that was more powerful than the first bloom of a pheromone bond.
Holding her was a physical expression of their oneness that reaffirmed their connection to him.
“If I could hold you for an eternity, our breaths and hearts joined as one, I would know nothing but contentment.”
“You would be the perfect anglerfish,” she whispered and then giggled softly against his chest.
“What is that?” he asked in a low voice, matching her volume.
She was getting sleepy. He could feel it in her warmth and the pliancy of her limbs as she sculpted her body easily against his, her arms encircling him.
She rubbed her cheek against his chest and yawned.
“A deep-sea fish—in the extreme darkness of the deep sea, they are rare to encounter their own kind, so when a male finds a female, he attaches himself to her and becomes fused and completely joined with her, breeding with her for the rest of his life.”
“Sounds like bliss,” Therxian replied, his hand skimming over her back lovingly.
His mate giggled, driving desire to his loins, which he immediately quelled. There would be time enough for that later. Right now, his mate was tired. This alone was enough.
“I don’t think I’m big enough to carry you around fused to my body,” she whispered, drawing a hiss of laughter from him, and he tapped her lightly with his wing.
“Perhaps you can fuse with me then. I would not mind giving up such a luxurious life of being carried around if I can keep my mate with me always. My favorite parasite.”
Her sleepy laughter filled their chamber, warming his hearts further. His own eyes slowly grew heavy as the rhythm of her heart gently lulled him.
“Therxian?”
“Mmm?”
“Do you think anyone knows about the western wing?”
His eyes cracked open, and he paused uncertainly. “I do not know. It may have long been forgotten. Mother might have some idea. Or Elder Goyu,” he said slowly. “All we can do is ask them.”
“Sleep with me first for a bit, okay?”
“Of course,” he rumbled, settling more comfortably on the cushions. “There is time yet.”
She mumbled incoherently in agreement, and his eyes slowly began to drift shut.
“Therxian?” she mumbled around another yawn.
“Yes, hithana?”
“Wake me up before you go. Your visit isn’t complete until someone gets their back blown out. I think I will be on top this time. You get to move funny for the rest of the day to remember me by.”
Laughing quietly, he hugged her to him, love engulfing him completely. “As you like, my mate. I would have it no other way.”