Page 30 of The Naga Outcast’s Unwanted Mate

Nearing the most western gate into the village, almost directly opposite where Vera was hiding, I was happy to notice the guards manning the palisade. Good, they weren’t complacent at least, that was going to help in the days to come. They spotted me when I broke through the treeline but then I didn’t make any attempt to hide.

“Evening hunters,” I called out, “I’m not here to fight. I need to speak to the Queen. I have important news.” The two males were both mated and a good dozen years older than I was, we’d never run in the same circles. I respected them both as skilled warriors and hunters, both with mates that were on the quieter side, not nearly as ambitious and war-like as a female like Astrexa or my mother.

“Stand down, Zathar. Drop your weapons,” one said cautiously and I did as he asked. Leaving the one sword and knife I was carrying on the flattened earth in front of the gate. It was a little overbearing, I didn’t plan on hurting any of my former Clansmen. I’d only fought the hunters in the mountains when they threatened my mate.

“What news?” the other asked, his spear resting butt first on the ground while he leaned against it with his torso. The posture was very casual, indicating he didn’t consider me a threat, which was true. He wasn’t being insulting, he was letting me know he knew I was an ally, not an enemy.

“I’ll tell the Queen first, Imvru,” I said to him, my eyes following the other male as he darted inside to fetch help. I braced myself for the appearance of one of my sisters, or even Astrexa as they escorted me inside. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’d make a show of it with hunters holding me under spear point as they paraded me through town. My mother was always ready for theatrics.

My prediction came true, a whole crowd of males showed up under the leadership of a handful of my surviving sisters. I’d been speaking with Imvru about his growing handful of younglings but both of us fell silent at the sight. “Hmm, you sure know how to create excitement, don’t you son?” he remarked quietly.

I didn’t protest the spears, just greeted my sisters and then asked them to take me to the Queen as I had important news. I counted myself very lucky that Astrexa wasn’t among them, but I hoped she would be at the Pagode. It made me uneasy not to know where she was.

“Of course, brother,” the youngest of my sisters said. She was barely out of her last growth molting, nearly a dozen years younger than myself. I didn’t think we’d spoken more than a handful of sentences to each other in our entire lives. She had that vicious cast to her face that was so very similar to my mother’s, a snarl curling her lips, displaying her fangs. On her body, nearly as many scars covered her as Astrexa wore with pride. It said enough.

“Lead the way Sazzie,” I said, gesturing to the center of town. She gave me a haughty look and did exactly that, her tail moving with sharp, angry motions as she led the way. The way our older sisters let her do that said everything about Sazzie’s place in their hierarchy. I hadn’t paid enough attention to her when I was still in the Clan, or maybe she’d just risen fast since I’d been cast out for the first time several months ago.

The Pagode was devoid of my mother or Astrexa and when Sazzie and my other sisters just curled up on their customary pillows I knew what was about to happen. They were going to make me wait and twirl my fucking tail tip, making sure I knew my place. I was no longer a Prince seeking an audience, I was an outcast, a nobody to the Clan and the Queen was not summoned for such a lowly Naga.

Furious, I said, “I don’t have time for this! YOU don’t have time for this. I have dire news or I wouldn’t even be here. Life or death!” But my words didn’t move them. Sazzie actually threw back her head and yawned in an exaggerated manner. For the first time in my life, I considered doing violence to one of my own kin, well, discounting my own mother. Sazzie had gone from just a small, unnoticeable sibling, to the most annoying creature in all of Serant.

But no matter how much I ranted, how much I demanded or pleaded, they remained unmovable. They were set on making me wait and each minute was one I could ill afford, leaving Vera exposed and at risk of being caught in the middle of a war we weren’t part of. Damn it, I should not have come here, and I should not have let my mate convince me to take her with me.

Chapter 20

Vera

It felt like I’d been sitting in this cramped crevice for hours but I knew it couldn’t be that long. The moon had only barely moved across the sky, a big silver disk that only vaguely hinted at the purple that tinted almost everything on this planet. Beautiful but also a reminder that I was not on Earth any longer and never would be again. That didn’t make me sad, I’d gained so much since coming here, even with all the lurking and not-so-lurking danger.

It was quiet here, the loudest noise seemed my own breathing and the pounding of my heart. The longer it took, the more I struggled with sitting still. It was cold, and my legs were starting to cramp, but it was my idea to come with Zathar. I wanted to show him support and be there for him when he did this thing. It had to be hard to confront his mother again, and I wanted to make sure that he was alright.

Crazy to think that in such a short amount of time I’d gone from trying to feel distrustful of him, despite this weird pull I felt, to caring so much. I had no real experience with the emotion, but I was pretty sure that what I felt for Zathar was love. That’s why I was here, to let him know that, even if I was still too chickenshit to actually say it out loud.

“Found you, come on out,” a male voice suddenly said, startling me so badly that I dropped the sling I’d been clutching in my fingers. I nearly screamed too but I managed to hold it in at the last moment, my eyes going wide and my heart rate shooting through the roof at the sight of the Naga male suddenly appearing right in front of my hiding place.

To my eyes it looked as though he’d appeared out of thin air. Just suddenly a pair of glowing purple eyes and two pearlescent fangs catching the light of the moon. He was a big shape that seemed dark and muted in the soft light of the moon, difficult to focus on as anything but a shadow. I was pretty sure it was the scout leader from last time, the one that Zathar had called Khawla. I hoped that meant he wasn’t going to hurt me.

He used his claws to cut through the branches that covered the hole I was in, yanking the falling trunk of the tree aside with his tail. A display of just how powerful a Naga could be when they wanted to be. I cowered away, still not making a noise or ready to crawl out of the hole I was in. I knew it was a futile thought to have, but maybe he hadn’t actually seen me. I felt like the snow hares I’d read about, who froze in place, hoping their camouflage would keep them safe.

I knew that wasn’t working for me, but I still didn’t uncurl from my hiding spot. I just watched the Naga male with the oddly muted scales as he ripped my hiding place apart. He wasn’t being rough or vicious, just dismantled everything in a very methodical way. It was extremely unnerving.

“Come on, there’s no escaping this. You can understand me, can’t you?” he said. It was the calm note to his voice that finally convinced me to get up. That wasn’t the voice of someone who intended to harm me. That just left the countless others he was probably going to hand me over to, but it didn’t look like there was any chance of avoiding that.

Nodding to let him know I could understand what he said, I rose on my shaky, cramped legs. Stalling for time, I made a show of stretching them and moaning in pain. It seemed to work because Khawla just looked at me with a frown on his face but didn’t urge me to get a move on. I eyed the dark woods around us and the soft glow of lights to my right where the village was. Could I make a run for it?

Though snakes on Earth weren’t particularly known for their speed, Zathar had shown me just how fast he could travel. I didn’t think I could run for it and get away, not with this guy chasing me, who’d just track me down if I did outrun him. What would happen when he took me with him? I tried to weigh my options quickly before he lost his patience.

I’d be dragged before the Queen and that female Naga, Astrexa. The latter definitely wanted me dead, the first just wanted me out of the way so her son did as she wanted. That ship had sailed though, whether I lived or died, Zathar would never bend to her will again and I took great satisfaction in knowing that.

Finally, I had to conclude that the Queen had to know that too, her only leverage was me. With an eye for these kinds of manipulations that I didn’t think I had, I knew that we had a card to play too. Our news for our freedom, as long as they actually needed the warning. The Queen wouldn’t kill me either if she thought it was the way to control Zathar, which it absolutely was.

“Ready?” Khawla asked, perceptive guy that he was. “You’re not going to run, are you?” That he added with an almost put-upon sigh as if he found the thought alone exhausting. I rolled my eyes and considered picking up Zathar’s backpack and my sling but then just left them there. If I brought those, they might confiscate them, and Khawla didn’t look interested.

With lead in my shoes, I let him guide me through the woods toward the town. He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t restrain me. It really was very tempting to try to run, but then I saw the silent shadows moving through the woods with me. More Naga, quietly escorting us. I should have known he wasn’t alone, had they been scouring the woods just to find me? Or was there another reason they were out here tonight?

I was relieved I saw no sight of a single Naga female, not even when I walked into town and the Naga males closed in around me. I saw many grim faces, and when I spotted the male I’d knocked out once, Msera, he even offered me a slight nod. That almost looked like respect to me, what was going on here?

Spotting the storage shed where they’d locked us up before, I tried to hide how uneasy the sight of it made me. Then we were past it and entering the village square, a structure with obvious importance looming on the edge of it. A roof on poles, with no walls other than fluttering drapes in many colors. The edges of the pointed thatch roof had wooden boards carved in decorative serpentine shapes, shimmering gold in the firelight coming from many torches around the square.