Chapter 20
Vera
It felt like I’d been sitting in this cramped crevice for hours but I knew it couldn’t be that long.
The moon had only barely moved across the sky, a big silver disk that only vaguely hinted at the purple that tinted almost everything on this planet.
Beautiful but also a reminder that I was not on Earth any longer and never would be again.
That didn’t make me sad, I’d gained so much since coming here, even with all the lurking and not-so-lurking danger.
It was quiet here, the loudest noise seemed my own breathing and the pounding of my heart.
The longer it took, the more I struggled with sitting still.
It was cold, and my legs were starting to cramp, but it was my idea to come with Zathar.
I wanted to show him support and be there for him when he did this thing.
It had to be hard to confront his mother again, and I wanted to make sure that he was all right.
Crazy to think that in such a short amount of time I’d gone from trying to feel distrustful of him, despite this weird pull I felt, to caring so much.
I had no real experience with the emotion, but I was pretty sure that what I felt for Zathar was love.
That’s why I was here, to let him know that, even if I was still too chickenshit to actually say it out loud.
“Found you, come on out,” a male voice suddenly said, startling me so badly that I dropped the sling I’d been clutching in my fingers.
I nearly screamed too but I managed to hold it in at the last moment, my eyes going wide and my heart rate shooting through the roof at the sight of the Naga male suddenly appearing right in front of my hiding place.
To my eyes it looked as though he’d appeared out of thin air.
Just suddenly a pair of glowing purple eyes and two pearlescent fangs catching the light of the moon.
He was a big shape that seemed dark and muted in the soft light of the moon, difficult to focus on as anything but a shadow.
I was pretty sure it was the scout leader from last time, the one that Zathar had called Khawla.
I hoped that meant he wasn’t going to hurt me.
He used his claws to cut through the branches that covered the hole I was in, yanking the falling trunk of the tree aside with his tail.
A display of just how powerful a Naga could be when they wanted to be.
I cowered away, still not making a noise or ready to crawl out of the hole I was in.
I knew it was a futile thought to have, but maybe he hadn’t actually seen me.
I felt like the snow hares I’d read about, who froze in place, hoping their camouflage would keep them safe.
I knew that wasn’t working for me, but I still didn’t uncurl from my hiding spot. I just watched the Naga male with the oddly muted scales as he ripped my hiding place apart. He wasn’t being rough or vicious, just dismantled everything in a very methodical way. It was extremely unnerving.
“Come on, there’s no escaping this. You can understand me, can’t you?
” he said. It was the calm note to his voice that finally convinced me to get up.
That wasn’t the voice of someone who intended to harm me.
That just left the countless others he was probably going to hand me over to, but it didn’t look like there was any chance of avoiding that.
Nodding to let him know I could understand what he said, I rose on my shaky, cramped legs.
Stalling for time, I made a show of stretching them and moaning in pain.
It seemed to work because Khawla just looked at me with a frown on his face but didn’t urge me to get a move on.
I eyed the dark woods around us and the soft glow of lights to my right where the village was. Could I make a run for it?
Though snakes on Earth weren’t particularly known for their speed, Zathar had shown me just how fast he could travel.
I didn’t think I could run for it and get away, not with this guy chasing me, who’d just track me down if I did outrun him.
What would happen when he took me with him?
I tried to weigh my options quickly before he lost his patience.
I’d be dragged before the Queen and that female Naga, Astrexa.
The latter definitely wanted me dead, the first just wanted me out of the way so her son did as she wanted.
That ship had sailed though, whether I lived or died, Zathar would never bend to her will again and I took great satisfaction in knowing that.
Finally, I had to conclude that the Queen had to know that too, her only leverage was me.
With an eye for these kinds of manipulations that I didn’t think I had, I knew that we had a card to play too.
Our news for our freedom, as long as they actually needed the warning.
The Queen wouldn’t kill me either if she thought it was the way to control Zathar, which it absolutely was.
“Ready?” Khawla asked, perceptive guy that he was.
“You’re not going to run, are you?” That he added with an almost put-upon sigh as if he found the thought alone exhausting.
I rolled my eyes and considered picking up Zathar’s backpack and my sling but then just left them there.
If I brought those, they might confiscate them, and Khawla didn’t look interested.
With lead in my shoes, I let him guide me through the woods toward the town.
He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t restrain me.
It really was very tempting to try to run, but then I saw the silent shadows moving through the woods with me.
More Naga, quietly escorting us. I should have known he wasn’t alone, had they been scouring the woods just to find me?
Or was there another reason they were out here tonight?
I was relieved I saw no sight of a single Naga female, not even when I walked into town and the Naga males closed in around me.
I saw many grim faces, and when I spotted the male I’d knocked out once, Msera, he even offered me a slight nod.
That almost looked like respect to me, what was going on here?
Spotting the storage shed where they’d locked us up before, I tried to hide how uneasy the sight of it made me.
Then we were past it and entering the village square, a structure with obvious importance looming on the edge of it.
A roof on poles, with no walls other than fluttering drapes in many colors.
The edges of the pointed thatch roof had wooden boards carved in decorative serpentine shapes, shimmering gold in the firelight coming from many torches around the square.
Khawla and the hunters that surrounded me were headed that way and I tried my best to resolve the shapes I could see behind the curtains.
My heart started racing when I thought that the bigger shape at the center might be Zathar.
I knew it was going to upset him to see me right now, but I was still happy they were bringing me to him.
“I’ll take it from here, scout,” a female voice interjected and I winced and ripped my eyes from the promising sight of my mate.
Rising high on her slender tail was Astrexa, a wicked grin on her sharp features.
I could see the set of sharp fangs on either side of her mouth and when she flicked out her split tongue I winced back.
On her, that was definitely creepy, but that was mostly because I was pretty sure she was savoring the taste of my fear.
Khawla met her bright blue eyes with his own purple orbs for a long second.
It looked to me as if the master scout was briefly considering objecting but then he inclined his head respectfully and with a gesture of his hand, he and the other hunters started to melt away.
The sneer on Astrexa’s face was briefly directed at his departing back before it settled back on me and I felt about ten inches tall beneath it.
That look rivaled the ones my mother used to level at me and the response was instinctual.
I wasn’t the same person now that I was back on Earth. I could feel it in the way my fear made way for rage at that look, I wasn’t going to let anyone treat me that way any longer. Lifting my chin and squaring my shoulders, I ignored the urge to cower beneath her and glared right back.
She curled her lip at me, “You are nothing, hu-mhan!” Her hiss was strong, filled with venom and though I tried to dodge, she was whip-fast when she grabbed for my arm.
Her tail slinging around behind me and caging me in.
“I know you can understand me, prey,” she said, slitted eyes narrowing on my squirming arm, excitement filling her features.
“If you wish to live, you are going in there and renounce him as your mate. Make it sound good and I won’t eat the flesh of your bones and use your ribs for hair combs like I did with the last female who dared to stand in my way.
” For emphasis, she lifted a clawed finger to the bone-white decorative combs stuck in her black hair.
I stared at them with horror, vaguely recognizing the curved shapes of rib bones, had she really done that?
Wouldn’t her previous opponent have been a female of her own kind?
Did she just admit to cannibalism to me?
Whether it was true or not, I was definitely terrified.
Not only did it sound like a horrible fate, but I didn’t want to contemplate the pain and horror that Zathar would feel if that happened and he was forced to mate her afterward.
Having to see his horrible mate prance around with my ribs in her hair day after day.
It was the stuff of nightmares; I couldn’t let that happen.