by Jaid Black
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Jera gritted out between clenched teeth.
“It means you’re the she-bitch Zor said you were!”
“Just for that,” Jera murmured in a tight, agitated tone, “you get to die first.”
Kyra gulped. If she ever survived this ordeal by some miracle of fate, she would work on controlling her tongue. “Jera, I—”
A flash of red bolted past, snagging Kyra’s attention completely. “Oh god, did you see that?” she whispered hysterically.
“Yes.” Geris clutched Kyra’s hand and pressed her body closer to hers. “Good lord, yes.”
Jera rolled her eyes and chuckled mockingly. “The winged gulch beasts will not look to the pits for their prey for mayhap another two hours. Don’t try to outwit me for it shan’t happen.”
“B-But it didn’t look winged,” Kyra pleaded desperately, “it was red and it wasn’t flying overhead. Jera, I know you hate me for whatever reason, but this has gone far enough. We will all die if we don’t get out of here!”
“You’ll be dying anyway, my dearest Empress. I daresay…”
Jera continued to ramble on with her venomous spewing, but neither Kyra nor Geris were paying any attention to her words. Wide-eyed and speechless, they were both watching in horror as a hissing red creature with the body of a snake from the navel down and the body of a woman from the navel up slithered behind Jera, inching closer and closer as the madwoman continued to talk.
The creature was long and lithe, red all over, and was slinking up behind Jera on a tail that kept her upper body erect. The beasts’ eyes glowed a dull gold that seemed to grow brighter and brighter, apparently in anticipation, as it drew closer to its prey. When the beast opened her mouth, three rows of razor-sharp teeth gleamed the same gold-like color.
As much as Kyra hated Jera, she could not let the woman die like this. She found her voice and screamed out a warning. “Jera! Behind you!”
“I’ll not fall for that,” Jera bit out. She aimed the zykif’s sights for Kyra’s forehead. “Say hello to the goddess for me, sweet Empress.”
Less than a second later, Jera watched in horror as the hand that held the zykif cocked and ready to murder the High Queen was ripped from her arm.
Jera’s scream of agony sounded throughout the cavernous forest. She reached her intact hand out toward Kyra and Geris and sobbed uncontrollably. “Help me!” she cried. “For the love of the goddess, help—”
Kyra and Geris clapped their hands over their ears and shook violently as they watched the cackling woman-snake tear each of Jera’s limbs from her body, one by one, as if toying with her and enjoying it. Jera’s moans of agony were sounds both of them knew they would never forget. It would haunt them. It didn’t matter that Jera was evil. It simply didn’t matter.
“Run!” Geris screamed, breaking both of them out of their shock. Then when Jera’s decapitated torso flew threw the air and fell at their feet, she screamed again, “run!”
Kyra glanced from the woman-snake to the torso. Preparing to flee, she took but a moment to grab Rem’s bridal necklace from the carnage at their feet before bolting from the scene alongside her best friend.
Dear God in heaven, Kyra silently prayed, please let us live.
* * * * *
Kil stood over the dead body of Ty, the very body he had brought death to, and studied it. His nostrils were flaring, his gaze was smoldering.
It was done.
Ty had raped and murdered the Empress Jana and now he had paid the ultimate price. Death had come to him.
“’Tis over,” Rem said in low tones as he came up behind his brother. He laid a gentle hand on Kil’s shoulder and squeezed softly. “’Tis done.”
“Aye.”
“Will you be all right?”
Kil drew in a ragged breath. The man whose shell of a body lay before him had been his life’s obsession for as long as he could remember. He had lived only to hunt him, risen up whole and healed from many a battlefield deathbed that should have claimed him only to realize this moment.
And now that it ‘twas here he felt…empty.
‘Twas as if his life no longer held meaning or direction. He was now a nomad, a stranger even unto himself. He had no sons, no daughters, and like as not ever would. Even did Kyra breed an heir to the empire, he could not fathom placing his emotions in another’s care, giving her the power to destroy him should she die, just as their father before him had been destroyed following their mother Jana’s death.
Nay. He could not and would not conceive of it.
And yet, ‘twas only with the thought of obtaining his Sacred Mate that his sorrow was vanquished somewhat. An odd quandary that, and one he chose not to think on just now. Kyra, after all, was yet to hatch a son. He could deal with these odd feelings, premonitions, later.
“Aye,” Kil answered at last. “’Twill take some time, but I will be all right.”
Rem nodded, though Kil couldn’t see it for his back was to him. “Let us go.”
Chapter 35
The four brothers met up at the Q’ana Tal conveyance. Neither group had found any sign of either Kyra or Geris. But Zor and Dak had found Jera’s remains. They could not help but to wonder had their nee’kas met the same fate.
“You are certain ‘twas her?” Rem asked, his eyes giving away nothing of his feelings.
“Aye.” Dak inclined his head. “Beyond a doubt, brother. Jera is dead.”
“And the necklace?”
“We tried to retrieve it,” Zor said softly in way of apology, “but ‘twas gone. Nary a sign of it anywhere.” He wished he could restore his brother’s happiness since it seemed that his and Dak’s was to be snatched violently away, but there was no help of it. Jera was dead and the necklace was gone. Rem could never find and claim his true Sacred Mate.
Rem closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. When he opened them at last, it disconcerted every of the Q’an Tal warriors to behold the slight evidence of tears within them. Rem was not given to such extreme emotion. Rem was not given to emotion at all. “Thank-you for trying,” he murmured.
“You are welcome,” Zor offered in a subdued tone.
Silenced ensued for long minutes. Finally, Kil looked up to the black skies within the forest and said what needed to be said. “We have combed the forest, we have left behind no gulch pit or heeka nest without thoroughly searching it first.” He took a deep breath and met first Dak’s and then Zor’s gaze. “They are not here,” he said quietly.
Silence prevailed again. And then regretfully, remorsefully, Zor turned to Kil and sighed. “I know.”
* * * * *
Kyra and Geris jumped up and down, squealing from both excitement and relief as they saw Death and Glok’s revved up, super cool conveyance make a landing at the edge of the forest clearing beside them.
This had been a day made of nightmares. But they had survived it.
Kyra glanced upward toward Tryston’s setting dominant sun. As it sank soulfully into the horizon, it shimmered down from the golden-red of day into just plain red. Not necessarily her favorite color after their tangle with the woman-snake, but she was still glad to see it. She’d never thought to see it again.
“Hey there little fire-berry. You and the onyx babe need a lift?”
Kyra and Geris glanced at each other and then at Death and Glok. They were grinning from ear to ear and couldn’t seem to help themselves. They had made it. They were alive. “You bet we do!” Geris laughed out. “We’ve never been so happy to see two handsome faces as we are right now!”
Glok actually blushed. “Then get in, ya hot little piece a art.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Cuz we, as you say, are here.”
Five minutes later, Kyra spotted Zor’s conveyance at the edge of the forest clearing several miles down from where she and Geris had emerged from it. “Death!” she shouted. “My husband’s down there! Can you land this thing and help me find him?”
“Aye, little fire-berry,” he rumbled back, throwing
the conveyance into hover-mode to prepare for a landing. “But we can only stay mayhap another hour. After that, there will be too many gulch beasts down there.”
It occurred to Kyra that Death must be serious, for it was the most words she’d ever heard him utter in one sentence. “Okay,” she answered back, “if we don’t spot him, we can try the communicator again.”
* * * * *
The Q’an Tal brothers walked stoically from the crashed Q’ana Tal conveyance and headed toward the forest’s edge. It had taken a good while to make Zor and Dak accept the only logical explanation that existed, but eventually Kil and Rem had talked their brothers into retreating before the forest of Kogar brought death to them all.
Time, simply put, was no longer on their side. The gulch and heeka-beasts would be out in full assault within the hour. At daybreak, when the majority of the beasts hibernated, they could begin to search for Kyra and Geris’s remains.
Deep in the forest, neither woman could have possibly lasted this long without having succumbed to death. ‘Twas not possible. Not even a warrior armed to the nines could have survived it.
“I should have told her my fears,” Zor choked out. ‘Twas the first he had spoken in many minutes. He halted at the forest’s edge, inducing the others to stop as well. “I should have explained why I did not want her to leave the palace, rather than seeking to shield her from worry of Ty’s threats.”
“Aye.” Dak swiped at a tear, then rapidly batted his eyelids opened and closed to ward off any more from falling. “I should have as well.”
“Do not do this, brothers.” Kil stood between them, clapping a hand on either of their shoulders. “Your nee’kas loved you.” He sighed, tears of his own threatening to spill. “They would not want for you to do this.”
“By the goddess,” Rem breathed out. He squinted his eyes to make certain his vision wasn’t failing him. And then he knew it wasn’t. He smiled slowly. “For the love of the goddess—look!”
The Q’an Tal brothers followed the direction of Rem’s pointing finger. Two very short warriors with extremely engorged breasts were alighting from a conveyance that looked to be operated by Death and Glok of Pika’s fame. The beautiful warriors were bounding toward them even now, arms outstretched, tears coursing down their cheeks.
“Kyra,” Zor murmured. “Kyra.”
Running the rest of the way to meet her, Zor took off and sped in the direction of his nee’ka. He grabbed her when he caught her, fearful to ever let go again, and swung her up into his embrace as he clutched her to his chest.
Zor could hear Geris sobbing into Dak’s arms about winged monsters and red snake women. He could hear Kil and Rem laughing triumphantly behind him. He could hear it all, but he had not a care of it. ‘Twas the feel of Kyra in his arms that encompassed the whole of his world. “I thought I had lost you,” he said quietly. “By the goddess, I thought I had lost you.”
“We made it,” Kyra replied, emotion tight in her voice. She drew her husband’s face down and kissed him. “We’re okay.”
“I love you, nee’ka.”
“I love you too, Zor.”
A few minutes later, after Zor and Dak had put their wives down, Kyra and Geris expounded upon their harrowing adventure to all four of the brothers, leaving nothing of it out. They spoke of the gulch beasts overhead, of how Jera had tried to kill them, of the red woman-snake, and of how Jera had eventually died.
“I’ll never forget it,” Kyra said, her eyes unblinking. “As long as I live, the look on Jera’s face will be forever etched in my memories.”
“Neither will I,” Geris admitted softly, “forget it, that is.”
Kil hugged Kyra and Geris simultaneously, rocking back and forth on his feet with them in his embrace. “You two are kind indeed to grieve for one such as Jera. She thought to kill you.”
“Aye.” Zor shook his head, his teeth clenched. “She got naught but what she deserved for what she did to you, as well as to my brother.”
“’Tis over,” Rem said simply, not caring to dwell upon Jera or her death any longer. “No more needs be said.”
“I’m still regretful that we could not set things to rights for you, Rem.” Dak removed Geris from Kil’s arms with an indignant huff, inducing his brother to chuckle. He clutched Geris firmly against his side, then nodded to Rem. “We would that we could have brought you peace.”
“Oh.” Kyra shook her head and grinned. “I almost forgot.”
“What did you forget, nee’ka?” Zor splayed his hands at his hips and regarded her. “You’ve more to tell? I hope my hearts can take it,” he muttered.
“Well, sort of.” Kyra backed out of Kil’s embrace and turned to face Rem. She dug into the pocket of her—Zor’s—leathers and pulled out a bridal necklace whose stones looked…hopeful. “For you.”
Rem’s jaw went slack as he studied the proffered piece of jewelry. Stunned, his gaze shot up to meet Kyra’s. “But how…?”
Kyra blew out a breath. “I, uh…” Shuddering, she backed up into Zor’s embrace, seeking the comfort of her Sacred Mate’s arms around her. She took a deep, cathartic breath and told Rem how it happened. “I snatched it from her…her…” She shook her head. “I snatched it from her severed torso before Ger and I ran.”
“Oh, nee’ka.” Zor squeezed her tightly, as if to ward off the bad memories.
“Thank you, sister.” Rem searched her eyes, still unable to believe that the necklace was his again, or that during all that had transpired, she had thought to retrieve it for him. “I cannot ever repay you for this.”
Kyra smiled. “You can start by taking it from my hand.” She shivered tellingly. “No offense, Rem, but the damn thing holds as many fond memories for me as it does for you.”
Rem couldn’t help it. He laughed. “I hope to remedy that.”
Kyra grinned back at him. “Please do.”
As Rem was removing his bride’s necklace from Kyra’s palm, Death and Glok were strolling over to the group to make certain all was well. “You okay, little fire-berry?”
“Yeah.” Kyra ran over to Death and Glok and hugged them tightly. Geris joined her moments later, embracing the big men as best as she could manage.
Zor frowned, but said nothing. The men had, in effect, played a part in his nee’ka’s rescue. Had they not come upon Kyra and Geris, gulch beasts could have devoured the women whole before they’d made it far enough away from Kogar before darkness fell.
Relenting, Zor walked to where the men stood, embracing the women even now. There was something about the giagantic one called Death, some nagging suspicion that told him there was more to him than what meets the eye. Dismissing the feeling, he inclined his head gratefully. “I owe you much.”
“Nay.” Death shook his head. “’Twas the least we could do, Your Majesty.”
“Mayhap,” Zor replied thoughtfully, “but I’d still like to repay you.”
“Oh yeah?” Glok asked between puffs on his mooka. “How?”
Chapter 36
“Mmmm.” Kyra closed her eyes and moaned softly as her husband thrust slowly in and out of her welcoming pussy. There had been many times today when she had never thought to feel this again. “Oh Zor. You feel so good.”
“Not even half as good as you feel, my hearts.”
Kyra secreted away a smile. She could distinctly remember a time when that endearment had annoyed her mightily, yet now it was one of the sweetest sentiments she’d ever heard tell of. Gliding her hands over his muscled buttocks, she moaned greedily as he continued to ease in and out of her. “I love you, Zor Q’an Tal. High King or common man, there could only be you.”
“Ah nee’ka.”
Kyra smiled fully. She opened her eyes and made a thorough study of his features. “And thanks, by the way, for what you did for Death and Glok.”
Zor grunted as he slid into Kyra’s channel and ground his hips into hers. “Let us not speak of them whilst we couple, pani.”
“But I’m
serious.” Kyra groaned out her praise of Zor’s prowess before returning to the topic of her choosing. “That was so nice of you, making them both high lords. I can’t believe—mmmm.”
Zor silenced her with a long, heady kiss that came complete with tongues, lips, and a whole lot of love. Picking up the pace of their mating, he thrust into Kyra’s inviting cunt faster and faster, their mouths never breaking contact.
When the moment of truth grew closer and Zor realized he was but moments from spurting his life-force, he broke off the kiss in favor of gazing into Kyra’s eyes. He pounded into her harder, possessively. “Aye or nay,” Zor gritted out, his hips slamming into hers. “Aye or nay, nee’ka.”
Kyra’s hips thrashed upwards to meet her husband’s, her own thrusts eager and needful. “Aye,” she moaned out. “Yes Zor—do it.”
“Your pleasure is mine, nee’ka.”
And with those prophetic words, the High King of Tryston and the Emperor of Trek Mi Q’an lowered his head and gorged.
Epilogue
Three Weeks Later
The High King and High Queen of Tryston threw a small, intimate party to celebrate the arrival of their fourth hatchling, another girl child named Klea. Zor was imminently pleased, as Klea’s birth was yet further proof that his seed was fiercely potent. And since Kil had seemed relieved by Klea’s hatching—most likely because he wasn’t yet ready to deal with the intense emotions a Sacred Mate brings with her—Zor was all around elated, his happiness lessened by naught.
The gathering included all the Q’an Tal brothers and their hatchlings, plus Kyra, Geris, and Cam. Much to Zor’s disgruntlement, as he was still not ready to accept the fact that he would be relieved of Kara the very day she turned twenty and five, Kyra had insisted upon inviting Cam to the celebration and would brooch no arguments to the contrary. If he was to become her son-in-law, she had declared, then he was also to be a regular attendee at family functions.