Page 67 of Stripped By the Alien

He's silent long enough for me to look up. His eyes meet mine, and what I see in them isn't humor or hyperbole. It's a promise so absolute it frightens me.

"Krix'vorr."

"What?"

"You can't rip the Nest apart."

"Watch me," he says, and kisses me again before I can argue, and for a little while longer, the Queen and the Nest and the whole dangerous galaxy remain exactly where they belong.

Somewhere else.

Krix'vorr lies on his back while I rest against his side. One of his arms remains draped across me, and the steady pulse of the Beast moves through the chamber walls around us. The warmth from a few minutes ago still lingers beneath my skin, but my thoughts have finally begun catching up with everything that's happened. Sophia. The Gzet. The Queen. Every time my mind circles back to the future, it eventually reaches the same destination.

The Nest.

I trace one finger along the edge of a dark plate on Krix'vorr's chest before glancing up at him. "Krix'vorr?"

One antenna twitches. "Mm."

"What exactly is the Nest?"

For a moment he says nothing. The pause isn't long, but it's long enough for me to notice. Krix'vorr rarely hesitates when answering questions. Usually he speaks with the certainty of someone who has already decided what the truth is. "I've been deciding how much to tell you."

I prop myself up on one elbow and study him. "Is it that bad?"

"No, not at all. Not bad. Not bad as such."

“Well?”

"The Nest is the birthplace of my Brood," he says. "It's also the center of the Queen's authority. All my Swarm are hatched there.”

I have some flashbacks to what I’ve heard of bees and other insects. “The Queen lays all the eggs?”

“What? No, of course not! Not all of them. She has several underqueens who lay many, too.”

“So this queen of yours… did she lay you?” The topic kind of creeps me out, but I’m also fascinated.

“No, I was laid by an underqueen called Batr-xuz. A most respected underqueen, by all accounts. I’ve never met her. The underqueens are held in isolation from the rest of the Brood, except for mating purposes.”

It’s a little overwhelming, and I don’t know what to make of all of this. “How many in your Brood?”

"By now? Must be billions, most almost ready for the Harvest. The Nest is where decisions are made because the Queen lives there. Harrowers report there. Harvest fleets receive assignments there. When the Queen commands someone's presence, they go."

I think that over for a moment. "And if they don't?"

"If they don’t? The idea is absurd. I have never heard of anyone not obeying." The answer comes so calmly that it takes a second to register.

"You can't refuse her."

"I have difficulties imagining it."

That isn't what I expected. I watch him for a moment, trying to determine whether he's joking. He isn't. "But you won't."

"I never have."

The Beast's heartbeat continues beneath us while I picture the place ahead. The Nest sounds less like a city and more like the center of an empire. Everything I've seen so far suggests that the locusts take power seriously. The thought of meeting the creature who commands all of them makes my stomach tighten.

I have many questions. I’m kind of scared of the answers, but I have to ask at least one. "What happens when you arrive with me?"