In a Brave New World (Brave New World Book 5)

Chapter 2

Ris

The King's smile faltered a bit before he put a hand on my shoulder. "As rarely as you speak, Ris, you are more considerate than any of my warriors."

"The Queen is still unwell?" My tail sagged at the thought.

She had my deepest respect and I had missed her presence at the war councils in the past days. Before her arrival, we had never had a female in the war room with us, but now she was an inseparable part of this place, the sight of her curvy frame in my liege's lap as natural as if she had always sat there.

"No, she is actually almost fully healed," my liege admitted, stepping away to pace beside the long table, as he always did when in thought. "That cream she came up with to preserve the healing properties of our kind's saliva, actually healed her burns and wounds very quickly. Compared to what state she was in five days ago..."

His tail curling inwards, he carried on. "She even wanted to get out of bed and attend today's meeting. I only managed to dissuade her because I promised to consider letting her take part in the battle tomorrow. Which I will not do, and she knows it. My little blessing knows me too well."

"But she stayed in bed?"

"Only because she needs time alone to destroy the lock on the door to our chambers, ensuring I won't be able to lock her in tomorrow." My liege sighed. "She knows there are no locks on the other doors in the palace, Ris. I must think of something else."

I grunted instead of wasting time to say I sympathized with him and the difficult task that awaited him. My Queen just wouldn't understand that my liege was already going beyond our kind's rules by letting her leave the safety of this homecloud so often. Females were too precious to be risked in that way, let alone mated females.

My Deidre, the trained warrior that she was, was not having any of these 'idiotic beliefs of gargoyles', either. My first and last attempt to keep her away from a battle had resulted in no claimings for three days. And she had threatened to never return to this homecloud with me once I had taken her to her kindgom for our weekly visit there.

The thought of living without her made me ignore my kind's rules applicable to all females, human and gargoyle alike. Deidre was, after all, neither of the two. My mate was unique. A second silver moon casting her beautiful light over my homecloud in the night and–

My liege patted my shoulder. "Forgive me for keeping you away from your mate with my problems."

"No, my liege! Apologies, I got distracted. Your problems worry me. But... I lack advice."

He shook his head with a smile. "You should be distracted, Ris. Otherwise, I would get worried you are too focused on my anima."

I grunted in shock. I would never...

"I know, I know, jealousy has no place here. But my mating bond is acting up, you know how it is."

Oh, yes, I did. Although I knew Prince Karim was mated and expecting a pip already, I still felt a pang of jealousy that made my tail snappy every time I saw him talking with my Deidre. I knew they were close friends, but my mate had been in love with him once, before his current mate and I had come along. So it was hard to keep my claws to myself in such moments.

To my liege, I only rumbled in confirmation. Talking always wasted precious time, and words were laced with power that couldn't be as easily misinterpreted as my sounds were. "I am keeping you. My Queen surely misses you."

He frowned. "I have some doubts about that. My worries over her during her recovery have made her tell me to 'go to hell' and 'stay the hell out' more than once."

I grumbled in disapproval. "Your place is beside her. My Queen knows. Pain makes females snappy."

I should know: the Gods had protected my Deidre from injury until now, but I had not been protected from her temper during her two monthly cycles. Menstrual pain made her so grumpy that she pulled at my hair daily for no reason. Spooning and my hands warming her tummy did help.

Though, that touch of mine always made me think of how her tummy would fill up once she was carrying our pip. My Deidre having told me she wanted at least five pips, was to blame for those thoughts of mine. My mate was a demanding female, and I hoped I could deliver.

"The problem, Ris, is that my anima would not be in so much pain had she listened to me and not flown that metal bird." My liege's tone of voice revealed how guilty over the accident he felt.

I decided not to remind him that my Queen's help days ago had ensured our victory. Had she not taken down the small metal birds of the aliens, me and my brethren wouldn't have been able to reach the mothership and use the pixie dust on its engines. My liege was wise and knew all this: he had been there, after all.

A king that never missed a battle was a king I would follow anywhere.

"Go now, Ris," he prompted, probably having realized I could offer no reply to his statement. "Enjoy the company of your mate before you two fly down to her kingdom this evening. I am sure down there you cannot claim her properly, with all those prudish elves hearing the echo in the caves?"

"Indeed not, my liege." Actually, the problem wasn't the echo of Deidre's cries of pleasure but the fact that she still kept our mated status a secret from her queen. I couldn't even kiss her in that kingdom. Prudes, all of them.

"Better get going, then." He nodded in a polite goodbye and took flight. "I'm going to surprise my little human by entering our chambers through the balcony. A good scare should get a laugh out of my anima."

I grunted in full approval and went up in the air myself. "My liege."

No more formalities needed – he was a grounded king, yet another reason why I was proud to serve him. My mother always told me a pure-blooded gargoyle like myself deserved to be king, but I knew I wasn't meant for this position. Too much talking was involved, for one thing. And I lacked the wisdom necessary, the vision.

I was a warrior. Born and bred. I wanted nothing but the glory of battle and my mate by my side, and the Gods had already provided me with both. I was a happy gargoyle.

Now, I just had to make sure my Deidre was as happy as myself–

"Yo, watch it!"

I switched directions just in time to avoid colliding with Rasvix upon flying over the palace's protective wall. How had I lost track of my surroundings to such an extent?

"Apologies," I called back before focusing on my flight path home.