“What were you thinking,buying a human slave?!” I accuse, unable to heed her request.
She reaches up to the projected game and slides one tile to a different grouping, collecting points before it’s her friend’s turn. “What wereyouthinking whenyoutried to buy her?”
“I wanted tosaveher.”
My aunt chuckles lightly, and moves two more tiles around her game. “How altruistic of you, Kiahn. Remind me to mention your benevolent ways to your father, the next time his majesty deigns to visit our little principality.”
“I do not care what father thinks of me.”
It’s now that Zalora breaks her concentration on her game, and tilts her head to peer at me. “You should,” is all she says before she’s back to muttering curses at the fact that her friend just matched two high-scoring tiles.
I know she is right in her own way. The more in favor I am with my father, the more of my people he will allow to join his Great Council - the more voices being heard from the Northern Principality when decisions are being made. Though, Aunt Zalora has loftier aspirations for her games, since she has always sought for my father to name me as his successor over his other princes, from his other principalities. I have no designs on ruling at the capital. All my energy is spent by trying to do right by my people, in my little slice of Xaavia.
“Alright,” I say, pretending to concede, “and whatwouldthe king think of me entering a breeding contract with a female who not onlyisn’tof a noble bloodline, but isn’t even Xaviann? Wouldthatput me in his favor?”
“Don’t be facetious, Kiahn, it’s unbecoming of a prince,” Zalora comments, shifting another tile to pocket double points in her game. “Did you know that the Raxians have been known to mate with humans?”
I furrow my brow as this sudden deviation from the topic at hand. “The Raxians? The species whose skin changes color?”
“Yes,” Zalora nods, gaze intent on her game as she keeps vigil over her opponent’s moves. “And Vel informs me that the resulting offspring have not only been known to display a wider range of skin-colors, but their health is more robust, too.” She tuts as her friend, Lox performs a move that restricts my aunt’s best-scoring tiles from being played. She decides to actually look at me now as she says, “so, I think your father may well be intrigued by the idea that you are willing to try something new. Who knows, maybe yours and Niska’s child will be born with long-extinct Bloodline Venoms. There are several of those in our family history, you know.” Turning back to her game, she apparently means business now as she takes one of her long, black gloves off. Using the uncovered hand, Aunt Zalora pushes two tiles to her opponent’s piles and grins smugly at the resulting block the manoeuvre forces Lox into. “Besides, it’s just one contract. Either it will bear fruit, or it will not. But there will be more contracts after this one.”
Something about how dismissive my aunt is being about this whole thing is rubbing my horns the wrong way. “But Niska didn’t really have much of a choice, did she? Does she even know the dangers of-”
“No one’s dragging the poor girl to the breeding bench, Kiahn,” Zalora snaps, her hot gaze on me now, apparently irritated with the conversation. Good. I want her irritated. At least then she will entertain what I’m saying instead of being indifferent. “Shewantsthis. She wants to secure her and her friends somewhere safe for humans. She will know all the terms before she signs that contract. She will be looked after, but she’s a smart female. She knows that doesn’t come for free. No one is mistreating her, I can assure you of that.”
She wants this?
I… I do not know if I believe such a thing. She is so small and soft, and I am-
I could really hurt her.
“Andyou-”Zalora lifts her cane, pointing the golden top at me down the line of the table, “- youneed this, Kiahn. You need to start entering bridal contracts, you need to start producing heirs so we can strengthen our family. Maybe the contract with the human will be barren, maybe the two of you will produce an heir whose Bloodline Venom is so strong, we are elevated above your father’s current favorites. I do not know what will come of this, all I know is that you need to get over your hesitancy to breed. You are not your father. You will not repeat his mistakes.”
I blink at her for a moment or two, feeling like my whole body is locked in place. My aunt has always had this special way ofknowing. Even when Az, Zann, and I were young, it was like she could see into our minds and identify the bad decisions running rife before we even made them.
And, I’m sure you don’t need to be the Goddess of Wisdom herself to figure out that when your father is the cause for your mother’s death, it affects you deeply. But Aunt Zalora is not normally one to waste words for the sake of talking. When she speaks, she means it.
And, apparently, I needed to hear it, too.
Slowly, I release a breath and let my head hang a little. I can hear Zalora rise from her seat and start walking toward me, the tap of her cane on the floor a rhythm I’ve listened to my whole life. When she reaches my side, she cups my chin and lifts my face so that she can look me in the eye.
“You will be so much better than him, Kiahn, I know it,” she says, her voice turning gentle. “My sister knew it the moment she birthed you into this world. You just need some faith in yourself.”
I stare up at her, wondering if this really is the right thing for me to do. “What if I bite her?” I ask, the words sounding quiet and hoarse.
What if I bond that sweet, vulnerable little human to me, and she ends up heartsick from it, just like my mother was?
She drops my chin, and brushes non-existent dirt from her immaculate skirts. “We do not know how humans would react to Bonding Venom. Perhaps it will merely make you more tolerable in her eyes,” she says, the ghost of a playful smirk toying with her lips.
I roll my eyes at her attempt to inject some levity to the subject. My family are sometimes overly fond of making light of the serious. Letting myself fall back, I slump in my chair with a huff. “She tolerated me just fine when I met her.”
She tolerated me so well, she was right there, seated in my lap.
“So I’ve heard,” Zalora says, raising a brow at me, making me feel like a young male being chastised all over again. “Just tell me you will enter contract negotiations with her. You know Vel, with all her fascination and love for the human species, she will make sure your Niska is safe and taken care of every step of the way.”
I can’t help but snort at that. “You should have bought her a human of her own instead of one for me.” Vel probably prefers the human females over me already.
Aunt Zalora chuckles and heads back down the length of the table toward her paused game of duos. “Maybe, if she’s good.”
