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A shadow suddenly skirted out from behind mine, distracting me from my thoughts.
I paused, about to turn around and then suddenly realized it was a familiar shape. It was a spider noc and the only one of those I’d ever known was Hadi.
Our former king had yet to join us in the physical realm. It was a wonder that his spirit was still here at all. He had been dead for the longest. But it seemed that Clem’s magic was stronger than I had ever known, because there he was.
When I had reached this level of shadowy presence, it hadn’t taken me long to regain my physical form after that.
“Hadi will be with us soon. He is getting stronger,” I mused.
“Yes, he is,” Kiar replied.
“...And you’re alright with that?” I asked.
Kiar eyed me with confusion as Hadi’s shadow disappeared.
“Why wouldn’t I be? When Hadi returns, we will return to our stations. He has always been pleased with loyalty. He will reward us…”
I must’ve glared because Kiar hissed softly at me.
“With what?” I asked. “Allowing his mortal enemy to be bound to him for eternity? Do you think we can really keep Sun happy that way? Do you think Hadi will overlook being shackled to our human mate?”
Kiar’s face twisted up, and then his gaze hardened, hissing harshly now.
“What are you suggesting Bracken? We will serve our king, Alhadya. We do not serve Sun. He will be gifted to us. No different than when Hadi gave you Clem.”
I went silent. It was times like this I wished Clem was beside me. I could reveal things to him that I couldn’t reveal to my oldest allies and friends, feelings that would have gotten me beheaded before the coo, in fact.
The Gods themselves hadn’t seemed to know how to control and organize us nocs once we awakened. It had been chaotic. But under Hadi’s command, we had driven the human vermin to the brink of extinction. We had taken over their capital city and made it our own. We had won countless battles. We had served Hadi when we had collectively only served our hunger and bloodlust before his ascension to the throne.
But I had always been uneasy with this arrangement, this absolute subservience. It felt unnatural from the start, made more precarious by this bond forged through the tether.
Furthermore, as his advisors and trusted guards, our king had never turned that cruelty to what was clearly mine.
But I had no doubt that now he would. He would hurt Sun once he had a body. I knew this in my bones, even if Kiar couldn’t see the truth.
It was unforgivable, the thought of anyone else making Sun suffer, even the king. But I couldn’t leave Kiar behind, I realized as he slithered next to me. We were the left and right hands of darkness. I’d be greatly diminished without him.
Maybe, once he saw Hadi’s true colors, I could convince him to join us somehow.
I had little hope that Hadi could see reason and allow Sun to stay by our side as a slave once we conquered this world. For once we united the stones, any human that remained would wish they were dead, I had no doubt.
So that was a hopeless thought. And I had even less hope that Sun would accept submission under Hadi without getting himself killed. For now, I stopped pondering on the future and focused on the greatest basic instinct, my most treasured emotion, Tsuki had granted my kind—lust.
“Let us go feed them,” I said, flapping my wings to shoot between the trees, eager for alone time with Sun afterward, since I was now too impatient to wait for Kiar’s tender love and care to stretch our mate completely. At the very least, Sun should use his mouth on me and only me without having to attend to Kiar and Clem’s needs for once.
It took a while for Kiar to catch up, which made me smile. At least I was stronger and faster and would always have my wings–flying was a treasure that Kiar could only dream of. I would have to comfort myself with that knowledge, at least.
When I reached the others, Sun was sitting against a tree, playing with his sharp pieces of stone and Clem was on the ground playing with flowers. They were like two innocent little animals. No more threatening than the small creatures that I had captured for our meal.
“What are you doing?” I asked Clem.
He looked up at me with his round black eyes and showed me a chain of flowers.
“I’m making Sun a crown,” he said proudly.
Sun lifted his head, looking over.
“That’s for me?” he asked.
