FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Esmal fluttered awake, hand prickling with pins and needles. The one Shkhanna had been holding when the fog came in. There was no fog. There was desert heat soothed by a late summer rain outside. Slowly he collected his senses:

He lay in the library with Behesh and Srei; his loves asleep, Srei tucked to his chest with Behesh wrapped around them both. His shoulder was a little stiff from sleeping on whatever mattress he had been placed on. Then there was the scent of the room rousing him. Srei smelled the same against him: floral sweetness buried under the musk of their love making. Behesh’s musk. The wyvern’s scent they now would carry, that smell of overturned soil and a comforting mixture of sex. It made it a little hard to concentrate. His body buzzed a little in pleasure. They both just smelled distractingly good to Esmal now.

He nuzzled closer to Srei and took a deep breath, letting himself be drawn deeper and deeper into whatever pleasant bliss he felt.

Did you ever wonder what drew you to Srrket, Esmal? Shkhanna’s question haunted his thoughts again. He tried to push it away so he might doze off with them both, but the harder he tried the more awake he became.

Even as his thoughts strayed to dark places, however, he did not fall into despair. Behesh and Srei’s scent buoyed him while he considered what Shkhanna meant. Had his life in Savish really been a cruel one? Or was Esmal’s misery a product of something impossible for him to even fathom? That he felt out of place because his soul was not… human? What did that even mean? What shape did souls even take? He remembered what Sisbul told him two months ago: “When I first put you into a trance, I traveled the length of your soul to seed our bond.” Did Sisbul know? He did not believe Sisbul would keep this from him. Though, he doubted the steward would know to even consider such a thing. Esmal was the first human, after all, to share a connection to Shkhanna.

Human… the word felt strange in his mind. As if it were suddenly too large a concept to understand. Gods, of all times for insights, of all the insights he must receive, why this one and why now?

Behind him, he heard Behesh sigh. The wyvern yawned and whispered, “Esmal?”

Esmal thought he had remained perfectly still. Srei slept undisturbed.

“Esmal I can smell you are awake.”

The prince leaned back into the wyvern’s scales and asked, “How?”

“Smell is my sight in the dark. You are, hmm… more aroused. You have been awake some time?”

“Yes.”

“I apologize if things are uncomfortable—”

“No, Behesh,” Esmal reached up and touched his snout. “It is not you. Strange dreams troubled my sleep.”

“Oh? Anything of grave portent?”

Srei groaned and both males flinched. “What time is it?” she asked.

“Not quite dawn, love,” Behesh answered.

“Then what are you two doing up?”

“Esmal was woken by ‘strange dreams.’”

Srei grumbled, and as she sat up Esmal joined her. Behesh remained lying on the ground. Esmal leaned against the big wyvern while Srei faced them in the dark. She asked, “Alright, Esmal, what did you dream about?”

Esmal hesitated. “I really was just trying to fall back asleep.”

Behesh nudged his shoulder; his nostrils flared.

“Behesh?”

“Mmm,” the wyvern growled, “You are hiding something.”

Concerned, Srei asked, “Esmal?”

Esmal got up and stumbled away from them both. He reached the wall and cursed, “Gods, I do not mean to impinge on your courtesy Behesh, but I would love for some sort of light right now.” Soon as he said it, two discarded candles in the room sparked to life. At a cost, as Esmal’s fingertips were singed by magic.

When he saw himself in the light, however, he realized it much worse than his finger. He touched the scales on his abdomen. The brass color caught the candlelight in such a way Esmal might have considered it dazzling. He looked at the other two and asked, “What happened?”

“You wove a spell during the bonding ritual,” Behesh said quietly.

Esmal shook his head. “I don’t remember.”

Srei said, “You were sort of gone at the time.” She cleared her throat. “We were all a little caught up in the moment.”

He sighed and said in Savish to be safe, “I’m not looking forward to having these removed.” Esmal sat against the wall. Srei got up and knelt beside him while Behesh crawled towards him as well.

“Are you alright, love?”

“We are here for you.”

Srei nuzzled into Esmal’s neck while Behesh’s snout rubbed the prince’s bare front. If Esmal did not remember weaving a spell last night, he could not hope to guess what happened to his clothing. Esmal wrapped one arm around Srei and rubbed Behesh’s cheek with the other hand. Having both of them this close did help. Again, it was almost like some sort of high kept him from despair in the moment. Though, Esmal dreaded when the rug might be pulled out from under him.

He said, “Thank you both. Do I even want to know what the spell was for?”

“It was to take Behesh’s cock,” Srei said with a stifled giggle. “You both seemed pleased with the results.”

“I admit it was very pleasant if unexpected,” Behesh added. “Though, I doubt it will be worth whatever pain is necessary to return your flesh.”

Srei pulled back and got them back onto the matter at hand, “But what was your dream about?”

Esmal took a deep breath, as if to use their scent to steady himself before he spoke: “I want to first say, for now I am only telling you both because I trust the two of you more than anyone else. I do not know if I may call this a dream or a vision or visitation—perhaps it is just nonsense. But I believe I spoke with Shkhanna just now.”

Srei gawked. “And?”

“Don’t keep us in suspense, dear,” Behesh urged.

Esmal recalled the dream to the best of his ability for them.

When he finished, Behesh grunted and nudged Esmal’s scaled stomach. “Hmm, at least we know why this is happening.”

Esmal drew his knees up to his chest and hugged himself into a tight ball. He muttered, “I just don’t know what’s real anymore. What I can trust…”

“Oh Esmal,” Srei touched his chin and turned his face to look at her. “Trust us. That our bond is real.”

“We are not going anywhere,” Behesh added. He growled a little before joking, “Err… I quite literally cannot live without you at this point.”

Esmal smiled. A pain still squirmed inside him, but he knew he would not need to figure this out alone. “Thank you both,” Esmal said. “I still feel very unsettled—like I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“Regardless who you are, Esmal,” Srei said, leaning against him, “We are going to be beside you.”

Esmal teared up. Throat dry, holding back tears, he whispered, “Thank you, thank you both.”

Outside, rain scattered its beads far and wide across the city, while inside three lovers held each other in the candlelit dark.

***

“You both really don’t have to come with me,” Esmal said as the three of them walked through the rain-washed city streets. The wakening sky’s muddy dawn light cast the retreating storm clouds in sharp relief.

“Who says we are going with you? I am going to take my usual bath,” Behesh said.

Srei held onto Esmal’s arm. She felt even more protective than normal. Even after consoling Esmal, she knew a turmoil still rolled around in her prince. Something he did not say. Something, perhaps, Esmal did not know how to say.

“I just… when Zairsh sees you both with me he will know something is wrong as well,” Esmal said.

Srei kissed his hand. “People care about and want to protect you, dear. Accept it. Zairsh will want to as well. Besides, he will notice your finger has changed—if not your stomach if you two follow your normal routines.”

Today Esmal wore the clothes he came to Srrket in. The heavier, woolen clothing would make for a stifling day, but Esmal wanted to be sure he remained covered against anyone seeing the scales on him. Srei wondered if he would even have the nerve to tell Sisbul today about his indiscretion. Shkhanna’s revelations had made Esmal as shaken and uncertain as when he first got to the palace.

Earlier Esmal had asked, voice cracking, “Was I really tormented by my father or did I just feel out of place because of what Shkhanna did to me?” Neither Srei nor Behesh could answer that question for him, but Srei reminded Esmal of the scars on his back, left by a whip his father wielded. Srei had no doubt Imad was an evil man, and she knew that deep down Esmal knew that about his father. Yet Srei sensed something else dogging her prince.

“Hmm,” Behesh grunted in the silence, “Perhaps we could take a long bath to join you both after training, hmm? Would you like that Esmal?”

The prince shook his head. “I was already pretty overwhelmed last night. I cannot imagine what would happen if you added Zairsh to the mix.”

“Ah,” Behesh said, “just a thought. I expect Zairsh would not be opposed. If there were any lizard in Srrket who has bedded a wyvern, I would bet my scales on Zairsh.”

Srei smiled up to Behesh. “Seems like a poor bet, considering what we did last night.”

Behesh, in a hissing snarl, practically giggled. It was infectious; a smile peeked at the corner of Esmal’s lips. Seeing that made Srei feel better. All this trouble and bad news and looming threat frustrated her to no end. The three of them should have been honeymooning right now! A month ago, it would have been a nice daydream. Now Srei had the two most important people in her life by her side and she could not simply relish in being with them.

When they reached the gates to the palace, a gruff voice called out behind them, “Got a retinue with you now, boy? If they’re joining us they better be prepared to fight.”

All three turned to find Zairsh approaching from another street. His horns caught the early light and made him easy to pick out.

Behesh dipped his head in acknowledgement before he said, “Zairsh, it has been some time since we have seen each other.”

Zairsh said as he approached the trio, “Good to see you, book wyrm.” He asked Esmal, “Did you spend the night at the library instead of the palace?”

“We moved there,” Srei said. “To put distance between us and our problem.”

Zairsh’s nostrils flared. “Not the only reason by the smell of it. You just can’t seem to keep reptiles off you, hmm, Esmal? Almost as popular around here as me.”

Esmal shook his head. “That I seriously doubt—I am not exactly looking for anyone else to spend my time with.”

“Hmmph, well good,” Zairsh said. “Hardly get enough time teaching you as it is.”

“Speaking of, we should be going to wash up before the rest of the city begins to wake,” Behesh said. He nudged Srei with one of his mangled wings. “Shall we, Srei?”

Srei kissed Esmal and whispered in his ear, “Come find us if you need us.”

***

“You planning on telling me what happened to your finger?” Zairsh asked.

Esmal grimaced and said, “Magic happened.”

“Well I gathered that, but who did it to you?”

“I did,” Esmal said. He hesitated; they had just reached the northern grounds where they normally sparred. He lifted his shirt and Zairsh cursed. Esmal touched the brass scales and said, “This is what it costs me to use magic.”

“Well… shit, you’re not going to be much use to anyone if you go back to your empire looking like me,” Zairsh said. “Can it be reversed?”

Esmal nodded. “Sisbul found a way, but it is very painful. These were accidents, I try not to cast anything if I can.”

Zairsh glanced to a wall where a canvas had been draped over the weapons wrack they used. The lizard sighed and took out his pipe from a small pouch on his sword belt. He said, “You know, I’m not as young as I used to be. Think I need a moment before we get ready. Come smoke with me, boy.”

Esmal gawked as Zairsh walked inside the palace. That first floor of open ceiling left much of the stone still damp from the night’s rain. Esmal followed and found Zairsh under an awning where two wooden chairs had stayed dry through the night. Wood creaked as Zairsh sat and gestured with his pipe to the other seat. “Join me.”

Esmal did and said, “If you just wanted to talk, Zairsh—”

“Less talking, more smoking,” Zairsh grumbled. He packed his pipe then offered it to Esmal. “Light it.”

“I do not have—”

“You got magic, don’t you?” Zairsh growled. “Let me see it.”

Esmal scowled at the big lizard. It did not feel right to do, but he touched the pipe and said, “Kindle to my touch.”

That now familiar burn followed as a new ring of scales climbed down his finger.

“Huh, no kidding.” Zairsh took a hit off his pipe before handing it to Esmal. “I can tell you’re shook up. You’re no good to me when you’re too distracted to hold a sword.”

Esmal held up his finger. “Given this, it makes sense for me to be distracted, right?” He put the stem to his lips. Acrid smoke flushed through his chest, a little dizzying, hot. He held down his urge to cough and handed the pipe back to Zairsh.

“Is that what’s got you so screwed up inside?” Zairsh asked before taking another drag.

Esmal tried to play dumb. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Zairsh huffed smoke through his nostrils. “I can tell when your resolve is weak, boy. Do you want to stop that bastard who broke your arm or not?”

“Of course I do—”

“Then why won’t you look me in the eyes today?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

“It’s too complicated to explain—”

“Kid, I promise I’m a lot smarter than I look.”

“I know that, Zairsh, it’s just—”

“Esmal,” Zairsh grabbed him by the cheeks and made him look the lizard in the eyes. “Tell me you don’t want my help and I’ll drop it.”

The impulse came; the words welled up, but he choked on them, unable to lie.

“I… I don’t know who I am anymore, Zairsh,” Esmal admitted, voice shaky.

The lizard gave him a sympathetic look. “Don’t you start crying on me now—not what warriors do.” Zairsh pushed the pipe into Esmal’s hands. “Take some more of this to calm your nerves and start talking.”

And, much sooner than Esmal meant to, he repeated his meeting with Shkhanna again. The pipe helped keep him calm, like Behesh and Srei’s scent from the morning. Zairsh sat beside him by the time Esmal finished, rubbing his back.

They shared some silence before the lizard said, “I’ve dealt with gods before—all they do is meddle.”

“You’ve dealt with others?”

“I’ve seen a lot of this world, kid,” Zairsh said. “I got a question for you, though. You make it sound like you were never happy in Savish. Now, when you first got here I could tell you grew up pretty crooked, but you weren’t some tree blown over in a field. You had people, didn’t you?”

Esmal considered this. He nodded. “Mostly women,” he admitted. “My sister, before she died, my mother and aunts and cousins. Before I was away on the warfront all the time, I always tried to sneak away to spend time with them.”

“You had a place you could go. People who you felt safe with.”

“As safe as I could in Savish,” Esmal said. “By the time I was twenty I was outside of the palace so much I just threw myself into war. I think I wanted to die, but fighting did let me be numb. Made my father proud of me. I had been trained to be a general and a warrior, I could put on this mask and, as long as I didn’t let myself feel anything, I could be around the men.” Esmal glanced at the bigger lizard. “Why are we talking about this?”

“You say you don’t know who you are,” Zairsh said. He stared across the room where a beetle the size of Esmal’s thumb slowly crawled along the wall. “But you knew where you belonged, even before you got to Srrket. Here you had to think about who you were and where you belonged all over again, in a new way, but it’s led you to the same place. I think you know who you are, you just ain’t figured it out yet.” Zairsh got up with a grunt. He shook out his pipe and stowed it in his pouch.

Esmal shook his head. “What does that mean? Are you saying I should just let myself get covered in scales?”

“It’s not the scales you’re starting to really see for the first time,” Zairsh said. He started to make his way outside, “You’ll figure it out.”

“What do you think I am?” Esmal demanded.

Zairsh waved for Esmal to follow him. “Come on, kid. Less talking, more chopping.”

***

“Are you ready?” Sisbul asked. Esmal lay across the same table he danced on hardly a week ago in Sisbul’s suite.

“Do all of you need to watch?” Esmal asked, looking up at the five reptiles crowded around him. Tezz and Zysh to Sisbul’s left, Srei and Zairsh to the steward’s right.

Srei crouched beside the table and took Esmal’s hand. “We just want to support you.”

“You sure you don’t want me to put you in a trance, Esmal? It could numb the pain,” Sisbul said.

The steward swimming around Esmal’s skull sounded more risky than ever. He shook his head and lied, “I want to remember the cost of my indiscretion.

“Alright.” Sisbul placed his palms over the scales on Esmal’s stomach and incanted, “Turn back the time on this body old to make its flesh again whole.”

Esmal grit his teeth as his stomach began to burn. He groaned, gripping Srei’s hand tight. “Shkhanna’s slit,” Sisbul whispered before he barked, “Tezz, Zairsh, hold him down.” The pain reached a threshold as the Tezz’s paws pushed down on his shoulders while his son grabbed Esmal’s ankles. He looked down and saw something horribly wrong. His stomach was a bubbling, steaming crater. As if it cooked from the inside. As Esmal started screaming, Sisbul shouted, “Zysh make sure he doesn’t bleed to death!”

A set of cool hands touched his temples. Another naga, Zysh, leaning over him, incanted some spell. Esmal tried to thrash out of their grips to get away. His body flew on a flight response: get away from the people burning a hole through your center. He tried to kick and punch, even as his limbs barely responded because of the blood loss and pain.

“Srei! The Soothing Stone!” Srei let go of Esmal, feeling like she needed the stone. She could barely look at her prince as the room filled with the smell of bubbling, burning flesh and blood. Sick, close to vomiting, she ran to Sisbul’s desk where the stone was. Zysh had mentioned using it, but Sisbul said, “So long as the changes are not too deep Esmal should be fine.” Now there was a crater in Esmal’s stomach, wider than even the scales had stretched.

Srei dashed back over the table and, like the day they met, shoved the stone into Esmal’s chest.

Slowly, the prince stopped struggling, his body almost entirely shutting down if not for Zysh being sure to weave a spell that kept Esmal from bleeding out.

“It’s done,” Sisbul said. “Everything is regenerating.”

Srei refused to look. Zairsh let go of Esmal and went to Srei’s side. He whispered, “Step away, girl.”

“I-I—” but she didn’t even fight the bigger lizard when he led her away to the other side of the room. He took her to an empty chamber pot where Srei summarily bent over and voided the breakfast she ate with Esmal and Behesh less than an hour ago.

Behesh—

Dammit… Srei wanted to stay with Esmal but could not be gone from the wyvern too long. Otherwise Behesh would barge in here as an anxious, overprotective mess.

Zairsh knelt beside her and said, “You know they won’t let the prince leave here till he wakes up on his own.”

Srei, throat and mouth filled with the taste of bile, merely nodded and groaned.

“You get back to Behesh. I will keep watch over Esmal.”

Srei shook her head. She could not leave—

“Idiot,” Zairsh snarled at her. “Behesh only has you and him. Esmal has all of us. Trust me to take care of him.” Srei shivered and wretched again. Zairsh patted her back and whispered, “It’ll be alright. Once you can get your feet under you, get cleaned up and get back to Behesh. You can bring him here and we can all wait this out together. I swear on my scales I won’t let none of them, not even the steward, do anything else to Esmal till you get back.”

Srei coughed, spat into the pot, and wiped her lips. Rasping, she said, “Ugh, fine. But if Esmal dies, I’m killing all three of them.”

“Heh, I won’t stop ya, girl,” Zairsh stood and went back over to the table. Esmal’s flesh had closed over again. They had done the finger before this, and that hurt but got cleaned up quick enough. This, though… gore spilled across the table and onto the stone floor. Slick chunks of flesh and blood reeked. Zairsh said, “Someone ought to clean this up.”

“Good idea, son,” Tezz said. “Let’s go get some rags and—”

Zairsh rested his hand on his sword hilt. “I’m not leaving Esmal’s side.”

Tezz gave him a bewildered look. The drake cleared his throat, “Very well, will you help me, Zysh? I expect Sisbul will want to stay by his consort’s side.”

Both retreated from the room to get cleaning supplies. Srei stopped by Esmal to kiss his cheek before rushing out the room, holding her stomach as the smell began to overwhelm her again.

When the door closed behind her, Zairsh said, “I think you and me are the only ones who saw.”

Sisbul said, “I’m pretty sure I am going to have nightmares about today.”

“Heh, after the Battle for Srrket I’d figure you would have toughened up,” Zairsh said. “We could hardly keep up with how fast you cut your way through all those humans.”

“I have nightmares about that day, too,” Sisbul said. He impassively stared at Esmal’s stomach. It raised and lowered in slow breaths.

“You’re too soft, steward.” Zairsh slapped his chest. “Our hides are supposed to be tough.”

They stayed in silence a moment longer. Zairsh glanced at Sisbul, wondered what went on behind the old snake’s eyes. “It wasn’t just his skin that changed,” Zairsh said, probing. Now he wondered if Sisbul had noticed. Though they boiled and cooked in what had melted, it was not a changed digestive tract that caused Esmal’s reaction. It was something else the magic put into his body.

What had Esmal said Shkhanna told him? She gave him part of her soul? That cunt. She could have shoved anyone’s ghost into that baby but instead it had to be a part of her own meddling soul?

Sisbul finally spoke, “Was it the spell he cast? Even if he grew a tail, wings, if his very bones changed… there’s no reason that should have been there.”

For better or worse, Zairsh had seen enough cut open bodies to recognize the dissolving reproductive organs inside Esmal. Not internal testes like most reptiles carried—something else entirely.

“Don’t tell him,” Zairsh said.

Sisbul finally looked at him. “Excuse me? He has the right to know what went wrong—how much changed—

“Esmal knows now just how dangerous these changes are. He won’t be so careless. There is a lot on his mind, this is not one more thing he needs.”

“I don’t lie to my consorts, Zairsh.”

“Then forget what you saw.”

“You think you’re protecting him by hiding this?”

Zairsh pushed the first inch of his sword from its sheath with his thumb. “I won’t tell you again, steward.”

Sisbul stared in shock. “You know it would be suicide to attack me.”

“Don’t care.” Zairsh dared the naga to call his bluff.

Sisbul knew Zairsh had the audacity to swing a sword at gods and knew getting into a fight with the lizard would be more trouble than it was worth. “Fine, for the time being I will keep this from him. But I will tell him eventually.”

“Good. Just give him some time.”

Sisbul weaved his body between Zairsh and the table so the lizard had to look at him. “What do you know that I don’t, Zairsh?”

At that point the door opened and Zysh, Tezz, and several other servants rushed into the room. Zairsh let go of his hilt and backed away from the table so they could clean this mess up.

***

Esmal woke groggy. Soon as he stirred, arms wrapped around him and hugged tight. Srei, he recognized her smell before he opened his eyes.

“Esmal… you had us worried sick,” Srei kissed his brow. “You’re safe.”

Esmal’s had been moved onto Sisbul’s bed, dwarfed inside it. Before he might say anything Behesh had clambered onto the bed as well. He nuzzled them both, growling in his throat a moment before he said, “You chose a very poor time to try and die.”

Grunting, Esmal touched his stomach. No scales, just soft, hairless flesh. He asked, “What happened?”

“The changes in your body were more than just to your skin,” Sisbul said. The naga stood at the edge of the bed, having approached from across the room. “Your insides started dissolving as well.”

Esmal shuddered. He vaguely remembered.

“Zysh and Sisbul managed to keep you alive,” Srei said. “You should be alright now.”

“But you really should not be casting anymore spells,” Sisbul said. “We got lucky. If scales grew over your face, throat, or chest I am not sure we would be able to remove them without killing you.”

“We should only speak in Savish from now on,” Srei said in Esmal’s native tongue. “The risk is too great.” She got off him and helped Esmal to sit up.

“There will also be no more magic lessons,” Sisbul said.

“Wait—I still may need—”

“No, Esmal,” Sisbul snapped. “You told me you would only use it in a life or death situation and then the same night you used it for nothing more than your own pleasure. The stakes are too great to keep risking your life.”

Esmal felt anger kindle in his chest that he recognized was not his. Sisbul must have known, too, but the steward continued to stare Esmal down. The prince knew the look. He received that sternness when Sisbul first carried him into the desert. The look of a ruler laying down the law.

“Very well,” Esmal muttered.

The anger in his chest prickled on his sternum.

Sisbul relaxed his stance and said, “Thank you for listening. Esmal you are too important to all of us to lose to something so preventable.”

“Hmm, the steward speaks the truth,” Behesh said.

Srei asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Esmal said. He might have been more shaken up, but having Behesh and Srei so near helped keep him calm. He wondered if their scents affected Srei the same way. He knew Behesh did. Was it just his human body reacting to those pheromones or something else? Would Esmal ever be able to make sense of that distinction given what Shkhanna did to him?

Srei said, “With your permission, steward, we would like to take Esmal back to the library to rest.”

“You may. I shall stop by in the evening to see how Esmal is doing,” Sisbul said. He met Esmal’s gaze, dark eyes softening before he added, “Truly, Esmal, I am sorry.”

Limbs still feeling a bit asleep, Srei helped Esmal to his feet before he said, “So am I, steward.” And the consort quietly wondered which thing he apologized to his steward for.

***

“We should at least be meeting him armed,” Srei said. They stood in their shared room with Behesh. The wyvern had gone out to tend to the library—playing as though he knew nothing about the meeting about to happen.

It had been three days since Esmal met Shkhanna. In that time, he had at least reached one conclusive decision.

Esmal waited beside Srei for a knock on the door. He said, “Zysh won’t hurt us.”

“Yes, but I want to hurt him.”

“Heh, are you going to challenge him to a duel?”

“If I knew he wouldn’t cheat with magic I’d break both his arms for what he did to you.”

“Would you now?” A voice called through the door before it opened. Zysh wove his way inside, saying, “I admit, what I did to Esmal might have been extreme.”

“You slimy—”

Esmal tugged Srei’s elbow. “Now’s not the time. We can settle our score later.”

“Then what did you call me here for?” Zysh asked. He shut the door with his tail and settled onto his coils.

“I’ve decided to help you,” Esmal said.

Zysh’s brow quirked but he betrayed nothing less in the candlelight. “What brought about this change?”

“Shkhanna gave me a vision.”

“You? Only those with a direct link to Shkhanna can speak with her.”

“Jealous?”

Zysh’s tongue flicked out in an annoyed hiss. “Skeptical, however, I’ll entertain your lies,” Zysh said. “What did she tell you?”

“That Imad needs to die.”

Zysh remained impassive. “Really? And this will protect Srrket?”

“Shkhanna seemed more interested in making sure he dies, and she told me I should see your plan as an opportunity.”

“Interesting, so you are saying she spoke to you directly? Her visions are supposed to be much more oblique,” Zysh observed.

“You’re distracting from why we called you here,” Srei accused. “Have you ever considered that we just kill Imad when he steps through the portal?”

“And how do we know that doesn’t lead to a retaliatory invasion?” Zysh asked. “Let me guess, Esmal here runs back to Savish and ascends the throne. Do you honestly think they will let him? When his father dies under suspicious circumstances and he insists their empire halt all their expansion efforts?” Zysh scoffed and waved dismissively. “You would be deposed in a month and we would be left with a bitter empire as our neighbor.”

Esmal grimaced. Srei glared at the snake but let the prince speak for them both: “I admit, it will be risky, but my father is an evil in this world that needs to be purged. He already carries powers gifted to him by Verishna, with a connection to Sisbul he might become unstoppable. Once my father is dead, even if I don’t become emperor, our empire is likely to crumble from internal power struggles.”

Srei added before Zysh might speak, “Esmal knows his father far better than anyone else here. Are you really going to trust the word of a tyrant? I know what happened in Rusker and other kingdoms when they fell. Half the people were carted off as slaves. If they treated their own kind like that, how do you think they’ll treat reptiles?”

“We invaded Srrket with the intent of enslaving every one of you,” Esmal said. “I doubt my father has changed his mind.”

Zysh studied them both. His silence spoke volumes, though. Eventually, he said, “Very well, we will kill Imad.”

Esmal released the breath he held. “Thank you, Zysh. For trusting us, for trusting me.”

Srei added, “Now that we are on the same page, what were your plans exactly?”

Zysh went through explaining the ritual to open the portal. Zysh planned to do it on the roof of the palace the day after the fall equinox. Esmal would need to offer some of his blood, make an incantation on it, and then repeat the incantation with Zysh. They would paint a doorway in blood and from it a portal would appear. Imad would step through and they would close the portal before anyone else might. Then they would kill Imad.

After Zysh detailed the steps, Esmal asked, “Do you really think we should still keep this from Sisbul?”

Zysh shook his head. “I believe Sisbul would still try to stop us. He would be more worried about you and I than the greater good.”

Esmal chewed his lip then admitted, “I do not like lying to him.”

Zysh, for once, looked sympathetic. “Believe me, making all these plans and preparation behind the back of my very soulmate has been agonizing, but I know what he would do. In the Battle of Srrket there was a reason he charged ahead of everyone else. He did not even want other reptiles to be killing, much less putting their lives at risk. I hatched this plan to protect both him and Srrket. Both are all that matter to me.”

Esmal walked across the room and offered his hand, “I don’t doubt your devotion. I know Sisbul adores you, and so I will trust you.”

Zysh took his hand and they shook, “Thank you, Esmal.”

After Zysh left the room Srei and Esmal both sat down on the mattress in the middle of the chamber. Both felt exhausted, having been riddled with nerves the entire meeting. Srei asked quietly, “Did you mean what you said, about trusting him?”

Esmal nodded. “I’m not sure we have much of a choice, Srei.”

“Fine… I will go along with this, but Zairsh and I should be there in case something goes wrong or Zysh thinks to betray you.”

Esmal smiled. “And Behesh?”

“He won’t fit on the roof.”

He snickered. “I suppose that is true.”

“The fall equinox, though…”

“Srei?”

“That means you’ll only be in Srrket for another month before you have to leave.”

Esmal took her hand in his and laced their fingers together. He lifted her knuckles to his lips and kissed them. “Then we need to make the most of this month.”

***

Sisbul sensed Zysh’s approach but let the python slither up behind him. Coils Sisbul knew all his life twined and wrapped round him. He was pulled into a hug; with Zysh practically purring as he nuzzled into the cobra’s hood. Sisbul put down the scrolls he wrote on, laughing.

“What did I do to deserve this?”

“Mmm, what didn’t you do?” Zysh whispered.

Sisbul leaned against his consort and sighed. The python’s fingers traced up and down his torso as he said, “Then was there something you wanted?”

“You’re preparing for the equinox, are you not?”

“Yes, Esmal has been making me put it off, but if I procrastinate any longer we might not have food for the feast.”

“Would be a shame,” Zysh said. “I was thinking of the equinox as I sought you out, you know.”

“Oh?”

Zysh wove his front around to face Sisbul, more and more of their scales sliding pleasurably together. “Yes.”

“Did you want to be part of the planning this year? You usually—”

“Oh love,” Zysh cupped Sisbul’s face and smiled. “I still think the whole thing is a chore.”

Sisbul rolled his eyes, suppressing a grin at the same time. “Tezz and I can handle it, then. What did you want from us?”

“Appoint Esmal to be your partner for the Dance of the Serpent,” Zysh suggested.

Sisbul was, frankly, taken aback. The Dance was a mainstay of the equinox that the steward performed with a consort. “I thought you didn’t want him to be my consort?”

Zysh sighed, “I admit, I was wrong about Esmal. I met with him and Srei to speak to the prince about his commitments to Srrket. I believe him. I believe he will do everything in his power to protect us. And I cannot think of a better way to show you my faith in him than to nominate him for the Dance.”

Sisbul beamed at his beloved before he hugged the python tight. “Oh Zysh… each day you find new ways to bring joy into my life.”

“Hehehe,” the python giggled into Sisbul’s chest. “Let’s just hope Esmal knows how to dance.”

***

“The Dance of the Serpent is the last performance of the Equinox Festival,” Srei said as she walked with Esmal to the palace. The sun cast long shadows across the valley. Reptiles lazed in front of porches and on the rooftops of buildings, conversing languidly and relaxing in the dying heat as the day drew to a close. “It is a dance only a consort or prospective consorts can perform with Sisbul,” Srei added, glancing at Esmal’s clothed shoulder.

“Then he means it as my debut,” Esmal said. “I am not a stranger to dancing, but I doubt something called ‘The Dance of the Serpent’ was made for humans.”

Srei bumped him with her hip. “Lizards can perform the dance as well, you know.”

“Yes, but I’m sure your long tail plays a part in the dance, too.”

“You have a point, but who says you won’t grow one between now and the equinox?”

Esmal touched his stomach. “Just so long as it’s not as hard to remove as the last time.”

Srei cringed. “I’m sure Sisbul will think of an alternative.”

Esmal looked up at the roof of the palace as they walked onto the grounds. “I would rather our magic lessons continue.” Since the disastrous incident with his stomach, Esmal had settled for scrolls he might find in the library, memorizing incantations in Savish so he could later speak them in Srrketch should the need arise. Neither Srei nor Behesh liked that he did it, but Esmal could not shake what Shkhanna told him: “Because, at some point, you will need to embrace this spirit inside you, no matter the cost. And you know now the cost, don’t you?”

“The dance is important also because it signals the beginning of the Revelry.”

Esmal shook his head to clear his thoughts and asked, “Revelry?”

Srei shrugged. “An orgy, essentially, that lasts until dawn.”

“Oh…” a few months ago Esmal might have been flustered or appalled. Now he counted himself unsurprised. How else would a celebration among reptiles end? “I imagine a lot of eggs are laid by the end of the year.”

Srei giggled. “Yes, it is considered good luck to have conceived a child during the equinox.”

“Does that mean Sisbul and I…”

“The Dance culminates with the two of you making love before the audience and once the steward reaches climax the Revelry begins.”

Esmal scoffed. “What about me?”

Srei rolled her eyes. “Since when has a reptile had trouble getting you off?”

They entered the palace proper, walking past the baths and working their way to the receiving hall. Esmal asked, “So the whole valley watches?”

“All eyes will be on the both of you,” Srei said before she spanked him. “But don’t expect me to just let Sisbul have you to himself all night.”

Esmal chuckled. “You know, when I first got here I would think of this as barbaric torture.”

“Now you’re excited to have an audience.”

Esmal pinched index finger and thumb together. “Only a little bit.”

“Slut.”

“I would never have been this way if a stunning beauty hadn’t tempted me first.”

“You never stop.”

Esmal quickly leaned down and pecked her cheek. “With inspiration like you, how could I?”

Srei playfully groaned as they reached the open doors of the receiving hall. Sisbul waited with Tezz, going over a list of scrolls laid out on a table behind the raised dais Sisbul governed from during the day. Tezz perked up and trotted over to meet them while Sisbul rolled up their scrolls.

“Good to see you both!” the drake said. “I must admit I did not expect you to be escorting Esmal, Srei.”

She shrugged. “Behesh told me to have fun.”

“Have fun you say?” Tezz reached them and swerved around both like a cat, only his considerable bulk nearly shoved them when he rubbed his shoulder along their backs. “You know, Srei, I have some free time as well if you are interested…”

“Hehe, we can’t catch up first?” Srei asked.

“Oh I can be quite talkative even when someone is under my tail, I assure you.”

Esmal snickered and said, “I don’t mind you leaving.”

Tezz purred and nuzzled into Srei’s chest. She, laughing, pushed the drake away and said, “Later! You fiend. It’s only been a few weeks since we last—”

“You know that is an eternity for a drake,” Sisbul said as he approached.

Tezz rose up on his hind legs and rested a forepaw on his chest, gasping. “Sisbul, darling dearest, why would you attack me with such hurtful things?”

Grinning, Sibul rose up on his coils to be the same height as the drake. He took both Tezz’s forepaws and said, “I promise, I will take care of you tonight if Srei cannot.”

The drake rumbled with a pouting growl and came down on all fours. “Very well, I will leave you all to it.”

As the drake made to leave, Srei yanked on his tail to get his attention. They both looked over their shoulders, eyes meeting before she winked and said, “Meet me at the baths in ten minutes.”

Tezz flashed a fanged grin and departed.

When Srei turned around she found the prince and steward both giving her looks. She folded her arms over her chest, “What? I don’t need to watch Esmal practice. I came to learn how you planned to do this dance with a human, Sisbul.”

“Admittedly, I would not have considered Esmal until Zysh suggested it to me a few days ago. But we have been planning something, and we have contacted a tailor to come up with a costume that, combined with a small spell, will give the illusion Esmal is one of us.”

Srei said, “What about Esmal’s hair and face?”

Esmal touched the back of his head reflexively and asked, “What about my hair?” Aside from when Srei or Zairsh grabbed it, Esmal rarely thought about his dark curls, which he had let grow out during his time here. Srei helped him manage it, given her prior experience with such things.

Srei gave Esmal an appraising look, “We should do something with it. Also we might try shaving your beard as well.” Another thing Srei helped him keep even and trim. “Perhaps some makeup? Traditional things, like what you use, Sisbul, only toned for Esmal’s skin.”

Esmal looked between them both. “Will that really be necessary?”

“There are traditional garbs and makeups worn for the ceremony,” Sisbul said. “We can overlook them if it would make you uncomfortable.”

“Really I just want to shave the beard to see what you look like without facial hair,” Srei admitted.

“I suppose cutting my hair makes sense as well,” Esmal said, strangely crestfallen at his own suggestion.

“Oh we don’t have to cut it if you don’t want to, dear,” Srei said. She stepped behind Esmal and began combing her fingers through his hair. “It’s grown out enough that I can figure out some kind of bun or braid to put it in. Could simply tie it back as well. I don’t want it to fly into your eyes during the dance.”

Esmal did not want to cut his hair. Not yet, not when he still had time to savor its length before returning to Savish. He said, “A bun might be nice.”

Srei let go of him and said, “We can play around with things back at the library, though, I will need to get us a mirror so you can see what I’m doing to you.”

Sisbul offered Esmal a reassuring smile. “I’m sure you will look stunning.”

***

Esmal, sweating, fell down on his butt, leaning back on his palms. Sisbul wrapped around him, “I did not realize you were so exhausted.”

Esmal shook his head, “Between the late nights with Behesh and the early mornings with Zairsh, my sleep is hardly regular.”

Sisbul offered the prince a hand. He took it and grunted as he was pulled to his feet. “You should talk to one or the other about changing your schedule.”

“I do not want to be a bother—”

“Esmal, you are not in Savish. You do not need to grin and bear your discomfort,” Sisbul reprimanded. “We will stop here tonight.”

Esmal glanced at a long scroll spread out across the dais. “But we barely got through half the steps.”

“You have a month to learn them, and your footwork is not bad.”

“Really Sisbul, I am—”

“Consort Esmal!” Sisbul snapped at him with enough authority Esmal almost stood at attention, a reflex he shoved back down. Sisbul grabbed his shoulders and said, “You have no one you need to please. No favor to win. We will take our time and mastery will come with it.”

Esmal muttered, “Yes, steward.”

Sisbul caressed his cheek, “I am sorry, I do not want to be stern with you. I want you—I need you to care about yourself.”

Esmal sensed Sisbul’s dark red and black banded coils gathering behind him. The prince sat back on them and Sisbul wrapped around him. Esmal considered the steward’s words. He said, very slowly, sensitive to Sisbul’s eyes on him, “I… I do not know what I want. What I want to be, so it’s hard to know what to care for.”

Sisbul rested a hand on Esmal’s thigh. “It is okay not to know. You have been troubled, yes? I’ve sensed it.”

Esmal resisted the urge to become defensive—all that would do was arouse more suspicion. There were many things on his mind. He said, “I am going to take the throne in Savish and right my father’s wrongs. It is… not what I want by any means, but I may be the only person who can do it.”

“But you do not wish to rule?”

“I want to be here, with you and everyone else. But beyond that I am not sure I have any goals in life.”

Sisbul’s tongue flicked in and out while the cobra’s dark eyes studied him. Struggling for words, Sisbul said, “You… damn it—were I able to wield Shkhanna’s powers as she did, I would mend the scars Savish has left across the land. I would do it, not for those people Esmal, but for you—to protect you, to keep you here by my side.”

“S-Sisbul…” Esmal blushed.

The cobra added, “I would not hesitate for you, Esmal. But I want you to know, I do this because I want you.” Sisbul rested his palm on Esmal’s chest. “You have a good heart, my prince, but you are allowed to be selfish. Save what you can, but do not destroy yourself doing it. Too many of us who care for you, who love you, want you to return home. Wherever home might be.”

Esmal grabbed the dark hand and said, “It’s here. I… I am certain of it, Sisbul. I am… there is something I have not told you. Several things.” Trembling a little, with a pit of shame hanging in his chest, Esmal began: “Shkhanna came to me in a dream, but not like the vision you described. She took the guise of Srei and spoke to me, showed me things that happened before I was born, showed me she is the reason I am living at all. I was a stillborn child, and Shkhanna gave me life with her spirit, which is why Srrket felt so… natural to me. It feels like home because it is home.”

Esmal felt Sisbul go slack up and down his coils. The snake remained quiet as Esmal continued, “Shkhanna breathed life into me for a reason, Sisbul. She wants me to stop my father. She has seen what the future holds if he is not killed, and I… she…” Esmal chuckled bitterly, “Sisbul how can I be selfish when such a task was forced onto me?” Sisbul opened his mouth, but Esmal cut him off with, “I’m not… not finished. Please, Sisbul, please understand.” He licked his lips, thinking, struggling with this next part—it scared him to share the whole truth, to share what misery Zysh inflicted on him. So instead he said, “Shkhanna told me Zysh had a plan in case yours failed, and that I should go to him for help. I did. We came to an agreement. He and I contacted my father, offered the bait of this land in a coup to draw him here, and after the fall equinox we plan to bring my father through a portal to here and strike him down.” Esmal shut his eyes and balled his fist. “I’m sorry for keeping this from you. We were just doing what we thought was right.”

He heard Sisbul release a long exhale. “Esmal…” the snake backed away, the coils beneath the prince unwinding and gently depositing him on the ground. When Esmal looked up, Sisbul had his back to him. The cobra faced his dais, his throne. The tapestry of Shkhanna hanging behind it almost leered at them both.

“You were afraid to tell me,” Sisbul said matter-of-fact.

“I… we did not know what you would do.”

“And who is we?” Sisbul asked—tone neutral but cold.

White-hot daggers pierced Esmal’s chest. He could not lie anymore. “Zairsh, Srei, Behesh, Zysh.”

“And Tezz?”

“I don’t think Zysh told him anything.”

“At least one of my consorts hasn’t lied to me.”

“Sisbul please understand, I was given a mission, I was born to—”

“And my birthright is to protecting these lands!” Sisbul snapped. He twisted around and spat venom. It sizzled and smoked on the stone before Esmal’s feet. “My birthright is to protect Zysh and Behesh and Srei and Zairsh. And if what you say is true my birthright is to protect you.” Sisbul towered over him now, voice raising, “What if you open a portal and both of you are met with a phalanx of blood and steel? What if all that comes through are more foolish humans stepping one over another into their deaths—not at your and Zysh’s hands, for you’d both be dead before you knew to call for help, but by mine. I would set every grain of sand in the desert aflame and cast them into comets to burn the world before I let one of my consorts come to harm and this is how you repay me?”

Esmal’s chest hurt—panting and dizzy. He wanted to die. Wanted to shrink from existence—he deserved nothing less for being a lying, cowardly, piece of shit. He did not deserve Sisbul or anyone else—his body felt close to seizing up entirely.

“Sisbul!”

The steward looked up in time to see Zysh standing at the door to the receiving chambers, hand held out and eyes locked with steward’s.

“Love your eyes grow tired, your body weak

Your mind amok with what must not be

Remember not what you now see

In my gaze your memory retreats, retreats.”

“Zysh don’t do this, you mu…st not…” Sisbul eyes, hazy, drifted down to Esmal. A horrible question in them. A horrible pain. A pain Esmal caused. Those eyes drifted closed and Sisbul collapsed on his side.

“Sisbul!” Esmal cried out, moving to the cobra’s side. He shook the naga’s shoulders, heart still hammering and tears rolling down his cheeks. Sisbul still breathed but remained unconscious.

“It is a good thing I never stopped casting my surveillance spell on you,” Zysh said as he slithered across the room to him.

“What did you do?” Esmal snapped, face flushed and humiliated. He kept his back to the python. He never wanted someone like Zysh to see him like this.

“I made him forget your indiscretion,” Zysh said. “I knew he would react this way.” The python grabbed the prince by the shoulder and twisted him around. “Now, the question remains, Esmal, are you still committed to our agreement?”

Esmal shrank from the python. “A-and if I’m not?”

“I will make you forget this night as well.”

Esmal thought of what Shkhanna asked of him. Even if what Sisbul said was true about Imad sending armies through the portal, Zysh was a powerful mage as well. Sisbul’s prone form testified to that, and surely the python might close the portal if things went awry. He still needed to do this. If he could do this—if he could make things right, Sisbul would see—Sisbul would not be mad at him for lying. Esmal could still make this right.

“Can I… um, ask you something Zysh?”

“Go ahead.”

“Sisbul, do you love him?”

“More than anything. Enough that I am willing to do what it takes to protect him even if it means doing this.”

Esmal touched the scar on his shoulder, looked at the similar mark on Zysh. Shkhanna said this was an opportunity. An opportunity to protect Sisbul. Already the goddess got mad at the steward trying to keep magic from Esmal—and not once had Zysh’s actions triggered any reaction from her. She must know what was best… best for Srrket, for Sisbul…

Like he armed himself for battle, Esmal reached inside himself for that coldness he killed with and smoothed out all the terror inside him. He said, “Tonight was a moment of weakness. It will not happen again. I am completely committed to our plan.”

Zysh let him go. “Then this stays between just the two of us.”

Esmal nodded. “Nothing more than a bad dream to forget.”

Tonight was nothing more than a bad dream.

***

What was there to say about Esmal’s final month in Srrket? It passed—joyous and dreadful at once. The weight of his destiny crushed him at times. It felt as though he moved towards the gallows, only the people he loved surrounded him, buoyed him. Esmal could not linger in despair because always others beside him lifted him up. How to describe the feeling of marching to the gallows when dancing the whole way? Always a tension threaded through his every nerve when practicing the dance with Sisbul. The dance they would perform before all of Srrket—even as Esmal knowingly carried a secret that would break Sisbul’s heart.

What was there to say about Esmal’s final month in Srrket? He learned the steps of a dance armed with the same coldness that helped him survive wars, helped him survive his father. Now it helped him survive himself.

Sisbul sensed it, but Esmal wove any excuse to keep the steward distant. It did not feel like love, lying to Sisbul, but it terrified him for Sisbul to know the truth. That Esmal was still a broken coward—no better than when he arrived at Srrket.

What was there to say about Esmal’s final month in Srrket? That the terror did not end at Sisbul, but it grew like a parasite across his other relationships. He had nightmares of Srei and Behesh suddenly seeing the real him. As if just the right angle might reveal Esmal as some monstrous thing of gore and rot and fear. They would feel betrayed. They would not want him to come back.

And even so, Behesh and Srei loved him so unconditionally he thought them mad. On good days they made him forget everything but the smell of their scales, the sound of their laughter, the warmth of their bodies. On bad days he wondered how he had them so fooled. How anyone could love him.

A lie became a terrible thing to hold inside himself. A prophecy of his own undoing. The thought of them angry and mad at him a thing worse than his own death.

What was there to say about Esmal’s final month in Srrket?

He contemplated suicide often, only dissuaded at the thought of what pain it might cause those he loved.

What was there to say about Esmal’s final month in Srrket?

On the night before the fall equinox, the night before Esmal’s banishment, Zairsh came to the library to see him. The nerves of the impending festival and then his confrontation the next night had Esmal pouring through scrolls where he had written down verses and phrases he thought might be spells. He practiced them in Savish, covering a phrase and trying his best to speak the entire thing without looking before moving onto the next.

It was while doing this that Zairsh found him. The lizard grunted to get his attention. Esmal started. “Zairsh! Uh, what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to get you,” Zairsh said. “I want you to spend the night with me.”

Esmal didn’t even know how Zairsh spent his evenings. “Tonight? Now?”

“Yes and yes. Don’t make me drag you back to my home, kid.”

Esmal, honestly, did not know how to react. He said as he rolled up the scroll, “Let me say goodbye to Srei and Behesh so they don’t worry all night, and then we can go.”

“I’ll wait outside,” Zairsh said.

Esmal met the lizard a few minutes later. It was a cloudless night, so the streets of Srrket were lit well enough by moon and starlight. Zairsh’s home was on the southern edge of the city, a small adobe building with a dirt floor. All contained to one room. A garden with ripening peppers and tomatoes grew next to the door.

Two large windows along the southern wall let in some light, enough to make out a wooden table, a rather large bed, several weapons hung along a wall, and some sort of banner Esmal could not make out in the dark.

“What’s that?”

“Souvenir from a kingdom led by a tyrant. I killed him. It was a good memory, and I was young enough to still be sentimental back then.”

They had not spoken once on the walk back to Zairsh’s home. Esmal sensed the lizard mulled something over. He suggested, “Do you want to smoke some pipe?”

“Too late for that. I do have this, though,” and Zairsh retrieved a jar from a corner of the room. He removed the seal and handed it to Esmal.

The prince could tell by the smell it was mezcal. He remembered Sisbul’s lesson to him, feeling a pang as he did—longing for that night of joy again.

As he smelled the rim of the jar, Zairsh growled, “You going to drink that or what?”

“Right,” Esmal took a sip and grimaced. This did not have the same fine notes of Sisbul’s mezcal, and was clearly cut with something as well. He swallowed with a gasp and handed the jar to Zairsh who took a hearty swig.

He set the jar down on the table and said, “I’m sorry I don’t have much else to offer.”

Esmal cleared his throat. “It’s fine. Why did you want me here?”

Zairsh waved to the bed. “Have a seat with me.” Zairsh sat on the mattress cross-legged and Esmal joined him only for him to grab the prince. The big, lizard/drake hybrid tugged Esmal into his lap. “Quit fussing,” he said when Esmal squirmed a little. “I like holding you and I know you like being held.”

Esmal gave up and settled into Zairsh’s lap, leaning his back against that broad chest. “Fine, you going to answer my question now?”

“Hmmph,” Zairsh rumbled, “don’t get cheeky with me. There’s been a lot on my mind, and I don’t really know where to start. But I do know our time to talk is almost up.”

Esmal felt himself getting nervous. He tried to focus on Zairsh’s scent. That enticing, slightly smoky musk. Zairsh’s scales were warm and the night air was actually somewhat cool for once. Esmal, however, could not linger in the silence and spoke up. “I wish I had more time here.”

“Could always just kill that bastard consort and not go through with anything yet.”

“Zairsh!”

“What? I don’t trust that snake.” Zairsh growled and admitted, “Frankly, since Sisbul led me on, I don’t exactly trust either naga.”

Esmal felt strange asking, “You don’t trust Sisbul?” If Zairsh could not trust Sisbul how could he possibly trust Esmal?

“It’s hard to say. I trust him with some things. I’d trust him to have my back in a battle. I’d trust Sisbul to save me or my kin if we were bleeding out. I trust that he lives by his own code, but I don’t trust him to trust me. Make sense?”

Given how Sisbul reacted the night Esmal told the truth, it did. “I suppose so.”

“We call him the steward, so he thinks he needs to take care of everyone. Which is why we ended up ultimately at odds. I’m a caretaker, I need others to protect, and he wouldn’t let me protect him.” Zairsh wrapped his arms around Esmal and hugged him. “This gets at what I wanted to talk about, though. When you leave for Savish, I’m going to go with you.”

Esmal’s jaw dropped. He struggled to understand, and eventually managed to blurt out, “But why?”

“Because to do what you need to do, you will need someone there with you. Someone who can take care of you, Esmal.”

“I… I…” Esmal’s voice cracked, quivered. “I don’t understand why you care for me so much… why anyone does…”

“Heh, fool.” Zairsh kissed the top of his head. “No one needs an excuse to care about you. And I’m not looking for permission—I’m going with you.”

“Zairsh…” Esmal did not know what to say, so he sputtered, “Th-thank you.” All this time Esmal assumed he would return to Savish alone. He considered it a form of punishment—another sacrifice into misery he needed to make to make up for… what, exactly? His father’s actions? No… there was a difference between taking responsibility and self-harm and yet still… still…

“You remind me of someone I used to know, you know,” Zairsh said to break their silence.

“I do?”

“Yes. She was very precious to me.”

“She? It’s hard for me to imagine—”

“She’d take your head off if you weren’t careful,” Zairsh growled. “She had a lot of the same problems you do, and I wasn’t able to help her. Not like I wanted. I only came back to Srrket after I lost her.”

Esmal asked, feeling strange, “Am I your second chance?”

“Second chance?” Zairsh scoffed. “Idiot. I share something about my past and that’s what you think? No, Esmal, you won me over long before I recognized any similarity.”

“Oh, sorry…”

“And stop apologizing, you can’t be saying sorry when you’re ruling Savish.”

“I wouldn’t apologize to court nobles for doing what’s right,” Esmal said. “I can face them.”

“But you can’t face the people you love?”

Esmal cringed.

“If you can’t face them, how can we trust you to do the world right? What if there’s some fool in Savish whose approval starts mattering to you while you’re there? You going to let him rule?”

Esmal felt sick. He snapped, “I get it—fuck.”

“Your lie to Sisbul been tearing you up lately,” Zairsh observed.

“It has. I told him the truth, Zairsh.”

“And Zysh ain’t dead yet?”

“Zysh erased his memory of it with a spell,” Esmal said, “But for this brief moment Sisbul flew into this rage and… I’ve not been that scared in a long time—I’m still scared. I don’t want to hurt him.”

“You’re going to fucking hurt him,” Zairsh growled. “Sisbul’s isn’t delicate, he can take it.”

“But what if he hates me?”

“Then he hates you.” Zairsh touched Esmal’s chin and got him to look up and meet Zairsh’s gaze. “Do you think this is right? Do you think your father must be stopped and do you think this is the best way to do it?”

Something about Zairsh’s presence, his strength and resolve… Esmal drew strength from it in that moment. Enough to say, “I do. If we tried in Savish, I’m not sure we would ever have as good a chance.”

“Then we do this. Sometimes what two people think is right are at odds with each other. You don’t want to lie to Sisbul, it ain’t right to. But if it’s the only way to do what you think needs to get done, then you need to do it.”

“You really think that?”

Zairsh hugged Esmal again. “There will be consequences for it, don’t get me wrong. Sisbul will be hurt, but stand and face him when the time comes. Don’t cower. Don’t let him think you lied because you were scared of him, because it will only hurt him more.”

Esmal reached up and wrapped an arm around Zairsh’s neck to return the embrace. He nuzzled into the lizard’s cheek, fingers running through the white mane of hair that ran in a stripe down his spine. “Thank you, Zairsh… I needed this.”

“Mmmm, I didn’t even call you here to make you feel better.”

“I always feel better when you’re around.”

“Heh, even when I’m beating your ass?”

Esmal smiled and shrugged. “Someone needs to.”

“Hehe, no matter what happens the next few days, Esmal, you are worthy of our love. You’ve proved it time and again—so don’t go calling us liars.”

Esmal quaked. His eyes teared up in the dark, and he held Zairsh tighter. “Thank you, thank you, Zairsh. I love you.”

“Hmph, well of course you do.” Zairsh shoved him off his lap and onto the mattress. The lizard posed, smirking, “How could you not?”

Esmal kicked him in the side. “Oh shut up.”

Zairsh caught his foot and kissed the ankle. He moved on top of Esmal, kissing up the prince’s body. His thin desert garb barely even there against the wet press of those lips. The lizard reached Esmal’s mouth—they shared an uncharacteristically short kiss before Zairsh pulled away. He huffed and said, “I love you, too, Esmal.” Soft, finely scaled lips pressed to Esmal’s again. They lingered this time, not with Zairsh’s usual domineering forcefulness but a tenderness. He tilted his head and his tongue teased into Esmal’s mouth. Esmal welcomed the smoky taste of the hybrid and released a breath. Their tongue’s met, teasing, exploring each other. Esmal’s pushed into Zairsh’s mouth and ran along a sharp fang, in a moment of boldness, he bit and sucked on the older lizard’s bottom lip. Zairsh growled in approval, but broke the kiss to sit up on his knees, straddling Esmal’s waist.

He began to undo his loin cloth and Esmal quickly pulled off his shirt. He reached for the hybrid’s sheath, but Zairsh grabbed his wrist. “Wait, before we go any further, there is something else you need to know.”

“What is it?”

Zairsh rested a palm on Esmal’s stomach and said, “This. The day we got the scales on your stomach off—you ever consider why you had that reaction?”

Esmal rested his hand on Zairsh’s. “My insides had changed, too?”

“Not just changed. The magic added something, Esmal. Only me and Sisbul caught sight of it and I made him promise not to tell you. You had enough on your mind without it.”

Esmal considered what could be added. What Shkhanna told him. Not a spirit from Srrket, but her spirit… “Oh…”

Zairsh nodded, “You were carrying a womb and ovaries inside you. Everything you might need to conceive except what I’m sitting on right now.”

Esmal said, “So if I changed completely I would be… female?”

“What’s in you don’t decide who you are, or did you forget Srei?”

Esmal blushed. “Right, sorry.”

Zairsh sighed and took his hand off Esmal. “You don’t need to apologize. What I need from you to understand is this: these changes with magic, the steward’s vision of you with wings, I don’t know what will happen if you change completely—maybe you’ll just be Esmal in a new body, but… we don’t have to do much guesswork to know whose body you’re going to have.”

“You mean Shkhanna’s?”

“Now you see? May not look like the legends or be the same scale colors, but I think it’s a fair enough guess. And if you change more and we need to change you back, it will let us know what to expect what’s changed beneath those scales.”

Esmal was quiet for some time. He touched the base of his Adonis belt and traced up along a trail of hair to his navel. He whispered, “Would you like that?”

“Like what?”

Esmal took a deep breath, feeling a desire stir in him that he did not even know existed till tonight. “Would you like the chance to breed me?”

“Esmal after everything we talked about are you even going to consider what you want—”

“Zairsh,” Esmal breathed, nervous just saying it, “I would want you to.”

Zairsh bared his teeth and grabbed Esmal by the throat. He held the prince down, leering over him before he growled, “Is that really what you want?”

Gasping, Esmal nodded furiously.

“Drakes are potent creatures. If you let me on top of you even once I’m going to make you carry clutch after clutch.”

“I don’t care,” Esmal rasped.

“Shkhanna’s slit,” Zairsh snarled and released Esmal. “Don’t you dare go changing just so I can knock you up, fool.”

Esmal, panting, said, “I won’t—fuck… but if it happens… would you want to?”

“Of course I would want to!” Zairsh said. He dragged a claw slowly down Esmal’s torso, “I can’t think of a better use of this body than for it to carry its daddy’s seed.”

Esmal shuddered, cock coming to life just at the thought. Zairsh swung off Esmal’s hips and grabbed his pants by the waistband. He tore them in half in a single motion. Esmal’s dick swung up and smacked his belly. Zairsh grabbed him by the thighs and yanked Esmal onto his shoulders, ass dangling in the air before Zairsh’s face. The lizard dragged his long, drake-like tongue down Esmal’s sensitive crack. The prince shuddered and grabbed his dick, not content to lie there as he tried to picture that future.

He saw the figure on the door—tried to imagine it. Imagined himself on his back, Zairsh between his legs. His cock churning up a cunt—messy and inflamed and dripping seed. Brass scales tinted in undertones of red from how flushed his mound was from its breeding. Esmal moaned, stroking his dick furiously. Precum slicked his fingers and rubbed along his glans—foreskin pulled up and down. All while Zairsh’s tongue pushed inside him. Esmal’s tender rim yielded for the familiar kiss. That long tongue dug deep inside the human, made him quiver. Zairsh had a way with it by now. Knew what buttons to press to make Esmal squirm. His dangling legs kicked aimlessly as he moaned.

Zairsh’s tongue dragged up and down his walls. Made Esmal already feel tense with need. But it was the vision that quickly brought him to his climax: not the prince as some reptile, but sitting next to Zairsh, heavy and pregnant. He sucked the lizard’s virile balls, thanking him for the eggs. Drakes could supposedly knock any species up—Esmal wondered, had he been a woman, would he already carry a clutch in his belly?

Yes, how could he deny his daddy?

Esmal groaned and came. His dick throbbed and spilled seed across his face. His pucker clenched down on the muscle invading it, but Zairsh’s tongue kept ploughing him as if nothing at all happened. Well over half a foot of tongue lapped in and out his inflamed entrance. Esmal’s balls clenched each time tongue fucked into him. His orgasm dragged out by Zairsh’s fierce rimming.

The hybrid dropped Esmal right as the last of his load dripped across his neck. Esmal landed on Zairsh’s thighs, a familiar horse-like cock throbbing against the small of his back. Zairsh reached down and scooped up some of Esmal’s spunk. He pushed it to the prince’s lips, and Esmal obediently suckled the digits. Zairsh growled his approval. “Daddy’s slut is needy tonight, huh?”

“Please daddy,” Esmal breathed, “Your cock, I need it.”

“You want me to breed you?”

“Yes…”

“Make you fat with my clutch?”

“Daddy I’ll do anything for it.”

“Heh, I know you will, son. What do you think I’ve been getting you ready for?”

Esmal’s cock ached like he hadn’t just come. He moaned as Zairsh grabbed his legs and pushed his knees back to his shoulders.

“Guide me in,” Zairsh snarled.

Esmal’s palm rubbed against the flat-tip of the cock about to breed him. It came away wet with precum. He led the lewd organ to his prepared entrance and took a deep breath. The next moment Zairsh pushed inside him, and that blissful fullness returned. Both males moaned as cock filled Esmal’s soft, enticing vent. Drool and Zairsh’s productive balls made Esmal nice and slick. In a few swift strokes, Zairsh’s cock pressed in up to his medial ring, that round ring of girth teasing Esmal’s caved-in entrance. The hybrid grunted and pulled back. Esmal braced himself, so when Zairsh ploughed forward he was ready for the sharp and sudden stab. Zairsh’s balls slapped his ass. His tip left an outline in his belly, and that fat shaft crushed his prostate, leaving Esmal’s cock full of pressure and tightness. Zairsh lay over him, panting, belly pushing into Esmal’s balls.

“You always do such a good job taking daddy’s cock.”

Esmal thrived on the praise. It made him feel hot, and he whispered, “It’s because you trained me so well, daddy.”

“Heh, my poor slutty son.” Zairsh leaned in and kissed him, then whispered, “Are you ready for me to breed you? There’s no going back once I start. By tomorrow morning my clutch will be growing inside you.”

Esmal threw his arms around Zairsh’s shoulders and said, “Please daddy, I’ve never wanted anything more.”

“Good boy,” Zairsh cooed as he pulled out. His dick dragged backwards through Esmal’s tunnel. He whimpered, his entrance so spread that Zairsh’s shaft tugged it backwards when he pulled out. The hybrid started fucking him. Esmal yielded to the rut. As Zairsh’s hips pounded his ass he imagined the wet slaps were that of cock splitting cunt. He clenched and squeezed, his body building with heat and pleasure. The tension in his balls grew with each stroke, his passage stimulated and stirred up. A mess of fluids leaked around the dick drilling his abused pussy. His prostate a sharp tight spasm of pleasure Zairsh kept ramming. Esmal moaned and squealed. His back arched along the bed and he held Zairsh tight till the lizard slowed down a little.

His strokes became long and slow. Each inward thrust a satisfying return to numb heat, the drag out a crescendo of anticipation. And Zairsh kissed him. Blushing, tearing up a little, Esmal received the kiss. His mouth filled with Zairsh and he tasted his earthy musk from before. Then that tongue pushed into Esmal’s throat. It dragged and teased Esmal, made sure daddy penetrated his boy from both ends. The prince’s fingernails dragged along the scales of Zairsh’s nape, and he imagined them as claws. He imagined two scaled bodies joined together and he moaned into Zairsh’s lips. He clenched down, but he did not reach a sudden, orgasmic peak. Rather, every thrust in became a slowly rising plateau, each thrust forcing Esmal to cum again. His body quaked. His lower half numb with heat and pleasure. He felt exhausted and overjoyed. Noticed the shudder to Zairsh’s thrust. Felt his daddy breathing faster. The head of the hybrid’s dick flared and simply expanded Esmal’s pleasure. Now every pull backwards was a sharp tug on his entrance, the flare almost daring Esmal to let go of that wonderful breeder. Then fullness. Wholeness. Zairsh slammed inside, groaning through his kiss as he came.

It was a sweeter, quieter ending than most of their lovemaking, but Esmal adored it. His hands roved Zairsh’s body as he clenched and encouraged that shaft. It jerked and throbbed inside him. A familiar flood of virile drake cum filling his belly with a satisfying heat. He felt each spray, every bit of cum sealed inside him as he tried to clench tight. Tried to keep it all inside him as if he might get knocked up that way. He wanted his daddy to breed him more than anything in that moment. Wanted to already be swollen with daddy’s clutch. This new fantasy such a brightly lit desire that Esmal’s body hummed with pleasure while those low hanging, heavy nuts clenched and jumped against his flesh.

Later, when they finished, Zairsh spooned the prince and rubbed his taut stomach. He whispered, “Tomorrow, we will sleep in.”

“No sparring?”

“We can enjoy one morning together. I promise you, Esmal, so long as I draw breath we will always have mornings to spar together.” Zairsh nuzzled into his ear and whispered, “So long as you’ll have this old drake, I’ll stay by your side till the end.”

“Zairsh,” Esmal burrowed backwards into the drake. “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel like I can repay you.”

“There’s nothing that needs repaying.”

“I know, but… I want to do the same for you.”

“You will, kid, I’ve got no doubt.”