[Sah’Ruh Village — Continuation — Inside Healer’s Hut — Night]
Moonlight spilled through the narrow windows of the healer’s hut like liquid silver, bathing the quiet room in a gentle glow. The crackling hearth burned softly, and the scent of herbs lingered in the air.
And within that peaceful silence rested a scene that sohow made Levin’s heart ease. Upon a bed of woven blankets lay Asha, sleeping soundly after days of chaos.
Curled comfortably atop her broad back was Lyresaph, his tiny silver-draconic form tucked into himself, blue eyes long closed in sleep. His silver scales shimred faintly beneath the moonlight.
Neither moved and neither stirred.
And nearby... Zerat in his silver serpent form remained coiled around two precious eggs. Ancient runes glowed faintly beneath his scales as warmth continuously flowed from his massive body into the fragile lives resting beneath him.
The future of Zahryssar and their children.
As Levin stepped inside, Iru imdiately rose from his seat. "Malika."
Levin inclined his head and smiled softly, saying, "The eggs have remained stable throughout the evening."
Relief flickered across Levin’s face. "Good."
Iru’s gaze moved briefly toward the sleeping Zerat before returning to Levin, and then warmly he said, "May Lord Urzan bless your sleep tonight, Malika."
Levin nodded, and he bowed once more before quietly departing. The wooden door closed.
Click.
And silence returned.
And the very mont they were alone... Zerat’s massive silver head imdiately turned. Golden eyes locked onto Levin, and the great pri alpha serpent stared.
Then stared harder.
Then—
THUMP.
His enormous snout gently pressed against Levin’s cheek; the force nearly pushed him sideways. Levin laughed softly, and imdiately a deep voice echoed through the air.
"And where exactly has my Moonflower wandered at this hour?"
The possessiveness was imdiate, shaless, and completely unhidden. Levin’s smile widened despite himself; he reached up and stroked the smooth scales near Zerat’s jaw.
"I rely went to see how the village was faring." Then casually he added, "I t Captain Kael."
The reaction was imdiate. Zerat froze completely; even his tail stopped moving, and several long monts passed.
Then slowly...very slowly...the enormous serpent blinked once and twice. Then his head lowered further, and before Levin could react, Zerat hooked his neck beneath Levin’s arm and physically dragged him closer.
Levin stumbled forward. "Zer—"
"At midnight?" The voice sounded dangerously calm. "My Moonflower abandoned his husband...to spend ti talking with so idiot wolf?"
Levin failed to suppress his laughter. "Perhaps."
Silence, an absolute silence. Then the great Pri Alpha serpent dramatically lowered his head onto Levin’s shoulder, and the weight nearly crushed him.
"Cruel." A sigh followed, long, ancient, and heartbroken. "After crossing mountains...after surviving death...this is the fate that awaits ."
Levin chuckled. "You are impossible."
"No."
Zerat imdiately corrected. "I am neglected."
Levin laughed outright; the sound echoed warmly through the hut. For a mont neither spoke, and the fire crackled softly.
Outside the mountain, winds howled, and inside...it felt peaceful. It wasn’t their place, and yet they felt ho. Eventually Levin’s gaze drifted toward the two eggs resting beneath Zerat’s coils.
Moonlight danced across their shells, and his expression softened. Then quietly he asked. "Will it truly take one hundred nights?"
The dramatic serpent instantly disappeared, and a father remained. Zerat’s gaze settled upon the eggs and his voice gentled.
"Most serpent eggs hatch within forty to fifty-five nights." His tail moved protectively around them. "But these little ones are unusual."
Levin listened carefully as Zerat’s golden eyes glowed faintly. "They were conceived between a human and a Pri Alpha; their bodies must beco stronger before they erge."
His gaze lingered upon the silver egg and then the golden one.
"One hundred nights will allow them to fully develop."
Levin nodded slowly, his hand resting upon the nearest shell, warm, alive, and waiting, and then a soft smile appeared.
"I cannot wait to et them."
The words escaped naturally, without thought, without hesitation, and imdiately...the hut beca suspiciously quiet.
Levin blinked, then slowly turned. Zerat was staring very intensely and very accusingly.
Levin frowned. "What?"
Zerat narrowed his eyes. "You cannot wait to et them?"
Levin nodded. "Yes."
More staring, even more accusing staring, and then finally Zerat spoke. "And what of ?"
Levin blinked. "What about you?"
The serpent looked utterly offended as his voice lowered dramatically. "Moonflower...before those eggs...there was . Do not forget it’s because of you bear them inside you."
Levin’s eyes widened with a blush and went completely speechless, and Zerat continued. "I entered your life first. Yet suddenly two eggs appear...and I have been replaced."
Levin could no longer hold back his laughter; he chuckled softly with a blush on his face, and even Asha’s ear twitched in her sleep. "You are jealous of your own children?"
"I am observing a pattern."
Levin laughed harder, and Zerat looked deeply betrayed. Then Levin stepped forward and placed both hands upon the serpent’s face. Imdiately Zerat leaned into the touch like a spoiled creature starved for affection.
"You have beco far too clingy," Levin said.
Zerat closed his eyes, completely unashad, then slowly he rested his head against Levin’s shoulder once more, and this ti gently and tenderly. As though he simply wished to remain there forever.
Outside, the mountains stood cold and endless, empires prepared for war, kings plotted, and storms gathered, but inside the healer’s hut, none of it mattered.
Because for the first ti in many moons...the Silver Serpent was exactly where he wished to be, beside his consort, beside his children and beside his family.
Then quietly, almost like a confession carried by the desert winds themselves, Zerat murmured,
"There is a saying that separation is the cruelest fire ever created." Levin listened silently, and Zerat continued. "It burns without flas. It wounds without claws, and when it finally ends..."
His golden eyes softened as they settled upon Levin.
"The heart no longer knows how to keep its distance."
Levin’s breath caught, and then Zerat lowered his head slightly; a smile touched his voice as his snout gently brushed against Levin’s cheeks.
"Perhaps that is what happened to because every day you were not beside , even when I was unconscious...it only taught how much I love my dear consort."
And for a long mont...neither spoke. The moon watched silently, the fire crackled softly, and within the healer’s hut, beneath the silver glow of the night, a husband, a wife, and two unborn children rested together while the world beyond their walls slowly prepared for war.
***
[Zahryssar — Emperor’s Chamber — The Sa Night]
While far away in a humble healer’s hut, Levin had finally found sothing he never thought he would possess again...his ho.
Within the heart of Zahryssar...another serpent sat alone with his madness. The imperial chamber remained shrouded in darkness, with no servants, no guards, and only silence.
A suffocating...rotting...silence. Moonlight poured through towering arches and spilled across polished obsidian floors. Upon a lower diwan sat Slyvarakh, half-clothed, bare bronze skin illuminated beneath the pale light. His long silver hair cascaded over his shoulders and down his back like liquid moonlight.
One hand lazily held a wine goblet, and the other rested upon an ancient smoking pipe carved from black stone. Streams of smoke curled upward, slowly and patiently like spirits rising from forgotten graves.
The entire chamber slled wrong, not unpleasant, the scent of a dead Alpha. His pheromones lingered throughout the room like invisible poison, like death itself had settled upon the throne of Zahryssar, and he was not alone.
Near the foot of the imperial bed...a body lay sprawled across the floor, broken, bloodied, and unmoving.
And it was Sarash. The white serpent’s pale hair was stained crimson; his eyes remained closed, and countless lashes crossed his back and arms.
Blood had dried upon his skin, yet even now...his wounds were slowly healing because royal serpents were difficult to kill, especially royal serpents who carried ancient blood.
Silence lingered.
Then Slyvarakh slowly lifted the goblet to his lips; his silver eyes drifted toward the bed. Toward the magnificent imperial bed draped in silver silks and embroidered curtains.
He stared for a very long ti, then quietly...almost lovingly...he spoke. "My dear consort...I prepared this room with such care."
A smile appeared, cold, broken, and wrong as his gaze lingered upon the silver curtains.
"I ordered fresh silks from the southern kingdoms. I commissioned new carvings, new decorations, and everything."
Silence.
Then his fingers tightened around the goblet; the golden tal bent slightly. "You were supposed to be here; you were supposed to belong here."
His silver eyes darkened dangerously.
"You were supposed to belong to ."
CRASH!
The goblet exploded against the wall, wine splattered across stone like blood. Fragnts scattered throughout the chamber, rolling, clattering, and echoing.
Then silence returned. Slyvarakh remained seated perfectly still yet sohow far more terrifying.
"You ran; you fled from your emperor, and you fled carrying another alpha’s child."
The smoking pipe cracked beneath his grip, enough to reveal the storm beneath his calm exterior. Then slowly he leaned back; his silver eyes stared toward the moon beyond the window.
Toward distant mountains and toward a place he could not reach yet.
"You shall learn." His voice beca little more than a whisper, a promise, maybe a curse. "You shall learn what it ans to abandon ."
The moonlight reflected within his eyes, making them appear almost lifeless, and then he smiled; sohow that smile felt worse than anger.
"Wounds heal." His fingers tapped against the armrest. "Bones nd, pain fades, but regret...regret remains forever."
Silence.
Then he tilted his head slightly as though listening to voices nobody else could hear, and quietly he continued.
"Every kingdom has a pressure point. Every family has a weakness. Every ruler has sothing they cannot afford to lose, and I know what you cannot afford to lose, my dear consort. Your father shall soon receive the fruits of your rebellion."
The words dripped with certainty. The certainty of an emperor accustod to getting what he wanted sooner or later.
"No wall will protect him; no kingdom will save him, and no distance will keep him beyond my reach." The smoking pipe released another thin trail of smoke as his smile deepened.
"I wonder...will you finally return when everything you cherish begins to crumble?"
Outside, the desert winds howled against the palace walls. Inside...the emperor laughed, softly and quietly. The kind of laughter that belonged inside nightmares.
anwhile...upon the floor...Sarash’s fingers twitched; his wounds had nearly finished healing, consciousness slowly returned, and pain followed imdiately after, but he did not move, did not breathe differently, and did not open his eyes.
Sarash remained motionless, listening, waiting, and enduring as Slyvarakh continued speaking to the empty room...to the absent consort he could not forget... Sarash slowly clenched his fist against the floor.
The movent was so small even a serpent might miss it. Yet inside his chest...sothing burned because Sarash realized sothing terrifying. The Emperor was no longer searching for Levin; he was obsessing over him.
And obsession...was far more dangerous than love.
’I have to do sothing,’ Sarash thought.
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