Vel nods her head in agreement. “No-one of the time besides those loyal to him knew this to be happening. Remains of the poor females were found many, many years after his reign had ended. The theories were rife, but what I’m telling you today has been corroborated by discovered records - records from the verymales who were performing the fang extractions to ready the females for their king. They also told us that he would lie to the females, telling them that what was done to them was not under his orders and that he would punish the males responsible. He would then seduce them, telling them he did not care that she was fangless, and that he would make her his Queen, tricking her into copulation. Unfortunately, he would not even try to hold back his urge to bite them while mating, meaning that she was bonded to him-”
“But he wasn’t bonded to her,” I say, seeing where this whole messed up scenario was going. “What a piece of shit!”
“Yes, the female would feel an intense connection with the king, but it wasn’t reciprocated,” Vel confirms. “And from the accounts found from the king’s loyal household surgeon, this one-sided bond drove the females to severe illness, not just mentally, but physically too. Ultimately, all of King Gahaari’s brides became shells of themselves and gave up on life.”
I’ve felt anger for injustices before. I feel it all the time on a large scale when the rich and powerful get away with committing heinous crimes. When serial killers become celebrities, immortalized in the latest Netflix documentary while their victims get forgotten. Or, on a more personal scale, when I’ve been cheated on by a boyfriend, or when my best friend, Polly told me about how her dad had a whole other family that she and her mom had no idea about.
This is that same feeling. I stare at the image of the Xaviann skull in front of me, her two canine teeth missing. That shithead king mutilated her and then made her fall in love with him until it drove her insane knowing that he never felt the same. That she was nothing to him except a good time between the sheets.
“As sad as the peasant female’s fate is,” Vel says, continuing on with her history lesson, “it is not what changed Xavianns forever.” She tapped on her screen and changed the hologramonce more. This time, we see the king sitting on a large, ornate throne, surrounded by Xavianns in a big hall. In front of him, small groups of his people would approach him, their mouths moving as if addressing him but we’re unable to hear the words. “King Gahaari’s court began to press him to choose a bride to bond with. Knowing that once he does this, he will be forced to finally be bonded on his end, and he’ll no longer be able to bed other females, he was not in any rush to do so. This weakened his relationship with his nobles and the other nations who had offered up their daughters for his consideration, as well as his advisors who were keen for him to sire heirs. But King Gahaari had a plan, and he would not concede to the demands of others until his team of scientists had concocted something to help him with said plan.” The hologram shifted to a closer view of the king sitting around a table with other male Xavianns. One of them approaches and offers an open palm with a single pill resting on it.
“What doesthatdo?” Lois asks.
“Gahaari knew he couldn’t pull the fangs from his official bride. She would be the daughter of a noble or even a Princess from a foreign nation. Something like that would not go overlooked. He needed something that would allow him to be bitten, but not affected by the bonding bite. This drug promised to do such a thing,” Vel explains as the image zooms in on the single pill like it holds the power for evil. “So he took it. He took the drug, and then he took a bride, and he did not feel the effect of her bonding bite. He became bold, too. He started bragging to other, unbonded males on how he can bed females without consequence, and soon they too, wanted this experience. The demand was evident, so, seeing a new way to strengthen relationships between himself and his younger, unmated noblemales, the king started to secretly supply the drug to males, unbeknownst to the females in their lives. Soon,a black market for the stuff emerged and it became more widespread. The problems started to arise when infidelities were uncovered, trust, hearts, and health were all broken or breaking, but most worryingly, it affected the offspring.”
Jaya leans forward in her seat as the hologram depicts a mother Xaviann cradling a little, gray, horned baby swaddled in colorful blankets. “The drug affected the children?” she asks. “How?”
“Well, first of all, you remember how I told you of the two venoms that we-”
The doors to the conference room rush open and in storms a tall Xaviann male; Prince Kiahn. His eyes scan the four of us around the table until he comes to me, and seems to straighten his spine before he bows his head in greeting like he hadn’t just come charging in here like an enraged bull.
My gaze briefly flicks up to his horns and I have to stifle the smile forming at the thought of him butting heads and locking horns with another Xaviann.
“Kiahn,” Vel says, standing and returning his bow. “I was just educating the humans on… well, many things, really.”
The Prince doesn’t look amused as he grunts in acknowledgment, and gives Vel a curt nod. “I have been speaking to the staff in the kitchens and-”
“Youwere in the kitchens?” Vel asks, unable to hide the scoffing noise she makes.
Prince Kiahn blinks at her, his jaw clenching before he says. “We need to see to it that we serve foods that are not harmful to the humans.”
“Ohhh,” Vel grins, picking up her tablet, “so my fascination with humans was‘weird’and‘obsessive’when we were growing up, but now you need myweird, obsessive intereststo make sure we don’t poison your new toy?”
“Vel,” Kiahn warns, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
“You two grew up together?” I ask, the question flying out of my mouth before I’d really registered it. Prince Kiahn opens his beautiful green eyes to look at me again.
“I’m his second cousin, once removed,” Vel supplies as she saunters out of the room, seemingly highly amused that she’s irritating the Prince.
“Can we get you removed a second time?!” he calls out after her.
We can all hear her chuckling as she walks down the hall.
When the doors whoosh shut, Prince Kiahn stands there, and Lois, Jaya and I remain seated, the three of us waiting for him to…do somethingnow that he’s interrupted our lesson.
His eyes scan the table top, seeing the hologram of the baby Xaviann levitating in mid-air. He blinks rapidly and then his gaze finds me, holding me captive for far too long to be casual before it drops to my throat. I don’t miss the way his body sways forward a little before he seems to catch himself. “Well,” he nods, giving the shiny tabletop a swift double tap with his index and middle finger. “See you at dinner.”
With that, he bows again, before turning and leaving.
12
Chapter 12 - Kiahn
Aunt Zalora sits at the opposite end of the lengthy dining table, playing a game of duos with her long-distance friend, Lox. She wears a face of intense concentration as she ponders her next move, the game projecting groups of various playing tiles mid-air in front of her from her personal comm orb, floating by her shoulder.
My fingers tap the surface of the polished wood in front of me.
“Kindly find somewhere else to brood, young nephew,” she drawls, her gaze not deviating from her game - not even once. “Lox and I are currently tied, and I need to concentrate if I’m to win this round.”
