Page 22 of King of Serpents

He hissed in amusement despite himself. “I would agree. Although they are all from noble families and have been groomed from birth to lead within positions of power, there is nothing in particular that commends them other than the choice from the families of which daughter to send to my bed.”

“So, when is the next one coming?” she asked, pinning him with a curious look.

“Tonight.” The word felt like ash in his mouth. At least he was not alone in his distaste. By her grimace, he understood that she empathized with his plight. “And every night following until each female has had her opportunity,” he continued in distaste. “Then I will be allowed some days of rest before the next round.”

She shuddered empathetically—which he surprisingly appreciated—and shook her head. “No offense to your alien culture, but that is all kinds of fucked up. But then, from what I’ve seen, Seshanamitesh customs wouldn’t exactly win any awards for compassion or any of the nine intergalactic noble virtues.”

“Noble virtues?” he queried in a long hiss. It was the first time he had heard a human mention such a thing.

The corner of Alex’s mouth quirked in a faint smile. “Don’t feel bad, humans aren’t that great at following most of them either. They were penned by the Intergalactic Council, by some elevated ancient civilization or another that no longer exists in this universe, but I think that humans like to pretend we invented most of them. And for those we don’t like, well, people just prefer to pretend that our own cultural mores are more than enough to dismiss the others,” she added with a small chuckle.

“I see,” he replied.

That seemed consistent with most beings. To act in one’s own self-interest and follow virtues to the point where it was only convenient seemed to be a failing shared by their species. His tail uncoiled slowly as he considered her words.

“The Seshanamitesh are not unlike humans. There are plenty of ideals that have a noble origin here, just as the Vehal have a less-than-noble story in their early foundations. Only someone who is willfully blind will refuse to acknowledge these things. The dominance of the females within the shinara was about their own preservation and safety against the threat coming from our dying world as well as from the old systems of male rule. So, they bred their males smaller and their females larger and established a tightly regulated society in which the aggression of the males was allowed an outlet in the upper caverns and the surface of the world while the females reared the next generation and built the future of the species. The construction of the shinara itself is by their engineering through vocalizations that only females are capable of, by which they manipulate the stone and operate much of the technology held within here. Separated from the hardships of life, the females of the shinara were able to devote themselves to innovation and invention. But as in all things, some things were lost along the way and others created that should not have been.”

“Loss of basic decency, it sounds like,” Alex snorted mirthlessly.

Therxian grimaced and inclined his head, his gavo snapping in the affirmative. “We have laws that protect our males, but they are stretched, reinterpreted in ways that harm rather than shelter those who are mated, and used against them to transform them into servants. I suspect that it began with the haga.”

Alex leaned forward, her food forgotten in her hand. “What do you mean?”

His tail flicked in barely controlled annoyance. “The haga is not something that has always existed within the shinara. I once heard elders speaking of it when I was a juvenile and I never regarded it the same way again. Although males were ejected into the upper caverns upon reaching maturity and showing signs of extreme territoriality that was unsuited to life within the tight confines of the shinara, females always raised their sons and cherished them as much as their daughters in the old annals. Matings arranged between daughters and sons possessing desirable qualities were normal. The great flower-gathering festivals that the males participated in were often the way that a young male could show off his attractiveness and gracefulness to females. But the institution of the haga changed everything. It separated males into something akin to livestock, where males were segregated and trained to please the ruling females, and anyone could be bought and convinced to look away for a price.”

“Something happened to you,” she murmured.

He shuddered in response, pushing away the memories of more than one young male crying as they were pinned by ruthless females, and helplessly subjected to their pheromones—many enduring only to just be abandoned once the female had her fun, leaving the male feeling broken and bitter, often as he recovered from the pheromone bond. And consequentially defeated when the next female came who took an interest in him. Then he would not fight. He would just submit and pray that it would be over quickly.

Although it was a rare occurrence, it was far too often.

His nostrils flared angrily, his gavo flaring and snapping. “Not to me. But I saw enough of pain and misery in the haga. There is a reason that many hunters of the upper cavern escape as soon as they are strong enough to fly that distance. No one wishes to be locked within cesspit of the haga.”

Alex drummed her fingers on the table, bringing his attention to them. “So, this palace is now like your own private haga. That is why you are so anxious now.”

He swallowed thickly. He had not considered it in those exact terms, but now that she had pointed it out clearly to him, he could not unsee it. The dark palace had become the twisted corridors of the haga where the females were waiting... biding their time.

His gavo fluttered anxiously, and he shook his head. “One thing at a time,” he muttered. “I do not know how long we will be able to keep you hidden from the females now prowling the palace. We must get you out of here soon. If we delay too long, you will be discovered.”

“Don’t want that,” Alex agreed. She stuck the meaty bone she had been nibbling on into her mouth and stretched her arms over her head, her knuckles cracking in a way that made his tail curl unpleasantly. Rolling her shoulders, she once more grabbed the chunk of meat grasped between her teeth and began to eat it earnestly again as she eyed him.

“Even if we do manage to get me out of here, by some miracle, I won’t be able to make a beeline for the surface, will I?”

Beeline made no sense to him, but he got the general gist of what she was saying and so he reluctantly inclined his head. “The further we try to move you all at once, the more likely it is that we will be caught.”

“Should we do it tonight?” she asked, her eyebrow raising at him, but he jerked his chin downward in the negative.

“We have missed the window of opportunity. The best time to move you from the palace will be when the females are departing. The guard will be distracted.”

Alex’s lip curled. “Oh, fuck, don’t tell me that you expect me to hide in here while you do the nasty with whatever female is assigned to you tomorrow.”

“I will do my best to dissuade her,” he muttered, but not even he was convinced. He had a feeling that he knew exactly who he would be paired with, and it did not leave a lot of room for hope.

Still, there remained a kernel of optimism as he slept beside Alex that night and even into the next day as he prepared himself for the gathering. He was not even surprised when Gareiia’s name was called. What he was surprised about was the thick chains that the female’s family brought forward.

“For her safety,” her mother hummed, a spiteful look burning in her eyes as she glanced over at Therxian.”

There was never a time he had wished harm on a female—not even when dwelling in the depths of the haga. But the way that female looked at him—a look that was mirrored by her daughter—he wanted nothing more than to make them suffer as the large manacle at the end of the chain was fastened into place around his neck.