“You say that, and yet rumor tells me that you have made every effort to set your youngest to inherit in my stead,” Veral replied sharply. “Even mating him prior to age of maturity. Do the members of the mother-line know this, or has all they heard been your talk of my mate and offspring… my female offspring, a daughter of the line.”
A heavy silence fell, and Terri wasn’t sure who everyone was staring at more: her or the horror that broke through the cold indifference that Featha wore until that point. The female had half-stood at the announcement but slowly let herself fall into her throne as the family murmured around them.
Featha’s throat worked and her claws, which had sprung from her fingertips, dug into the armrests. Her head dropped, and something like misery crossed the female’s face.
“A half-breed is not worthy of our line,” she choked out. A shudder of what Terri assumed was disgust ran through her. “You are correct in your surmise. I had hoped that your shame would keep your taint away from the household, unmated and without claim to the head seat. When I heard from Kaylar that you mated an offworlder, I foresaw this probability. I hid nothing speaking my concerns—each is valid—but I have been hastening to mate Dreth in hopes that the household would uphold his pure progeny instead of a half-breed offspring of a deformed castoff,” she added, her gaze zeroing in on his damaged vibrissae.
Veral nodded stiffly. “That comes to an end now. The seat is mine.” His eyes narrowed. “Remove yourself, mother-kin.”
His aunt’s jaw tightened, but her face was otherwise inscrutable once more as she regally rose. Her voice trembled only slightly as she spoke, doubtlessly with restrained fury.
“Monushava line initiate transference of lineage authority from Featha’monushava’katala to Veral’monushava’skahalur. Code 67369.”
Eyes flashed brightly at the transference, and Featha stepped away with dignity from the throne to stand at its right. Terri wondered if that had any meaning, but she wasn’t given a chance to think much about it. Veral lightly took her arm and he strode up to it. He released her long enough to seat himself before drawing her into his lap. Terri flushed at the way everyone stared at his proprietorial action. Several of the females exchanged looks that made her even more uncomfortable. Even Navesha’s eyes widened, and somehow her demeanor seemed to stiffen even more.
A sharp dragging sound at her right caught her attention, and she smiled in thanks to Dreth as he slid a heavy stone chair beside the throne. The male’s vibrissae puffed and flattened with mild discomfort as he dropped his head in a jerky nod and stepped back once more to his place.
* * *
Veral scowled at the chair. He understood why Dreth brought it and was thankful that the male thought to provide it, but it rankled that he would have to release her from his protective embrace. Although Terri had the symbiont, her control of it was still imperfect. Even with it, she was smaller and more delicate than even the smallest adult among his mother-kin.
He debated tightening his arms around her and refusing to let go, but his eyes slid over to his family, and the shock and censure on their faces made him reconsider. Even Navesha was scrutinizing his action.
He bristled. He knew that they were looking on his mate now as if she were weak… less than them. This would not help their efforts.
With an irritated rattle-click of his mandibles, he reluctantly allowed Terri to slide out of his lap and take a seat at his side. A hiss from Dreth’s vibrissae signaled his watchful guard and Veral relaxed. Nothing was going to happen to his mate. Drawing in a deep breath, Veral settled back in the throne and narrowed his eyes on his mother-kin as he drummed his claws on the armrest. He glanced at his cousin, meeting the younger male’s hopeful gaze.
“My first address as head of household is this,” he growled, “Dreth’monushava’kavath, approach.” The male strode over to stand before Veral. Head held high, the male regarded him with a mask of solemnity from where he stood. Veral resisted the urge to smile at the front the male so effectively put up. “Dreth’monushava’kavath, initiate Monushava line programming code 894, authorization Veral’monushava’skahalur.” The male’s eyes brightened, indicating the programming was now open. “At your request, and my agreement for the violations of the laws of majority, I place upon you the ganshar.” He ignored the gasps that filled the room and Featha’s shriek of denial as he continued to speak. “You will take no mate from this planet, and you will not sire any young on any Argurma female,” he pronounced. “Confirm.”
There was more to the sentencing, but Veral stopped there. He would not influence his mother-kin’s programming to condemn the male to a life without a mate—even if he had to seek it with another species. Dreth paused. His cousin knew that there should have been more but did not argue. Instead, he inclined his head respectfully.
“Confirmed,” Dreth rasped, his eyes brightening a fraction more before returning to their normal brilliance.
He turned to return to his place, but his mother snapped a hand around his forearm, her vibrissae rattling angrily.
“Why do you dishonor me this way?” she snarled.
Dreth glared back at Featha, eyes lit with anger as he wrenched free from her hold.
“Because I refuse to be your tool to control the Monushava line. It was the only way to be free of your attempts to mate me… and your plan to accomplish it. I do not wish a forced, unnatural mating and now I do not have to suffer one,” he snarled.
“Idiot child!” she shrieked. “Now you will have nothing at all. No inheritance, no mate, and no young.”
“I will have peace!” he bellowed back.
His breath heaved in and out for a moment as he worked to compose himself before he turned away from his mother to bow his head to Veral once more.
“I have concluded my necessary disruption,” he said coolly.
Veral inclined his head and turned his head away to look down at his mate fondly as she gave him a wide grin and lifted her thumb in her human manner of encouragement. He resisted the urge to vibrate his mandibles as he used the moment to give Dreth the opportunity to walk away with his dignity intact as he returned to his position. Once he was certain that his cousin was no longer the center of attention, he glanced back out among his mother-kin. There was a watchfulness and uncertainty as they met his gaze from where they stood and were seated.
“I understand that this is a new challenge—a new change for our line,” he said with a clear, even voice. “An interspecies offspring was unheard of among our kind until now, and for this reason we have come. Only among my mother-kin did I feel that there was a worthy sanctuary and medic for the arrival of our young.”
That had their attention. A rolling rattle of vibrissae rose with the murmur of approval from among the males and females of the Monushava line.
“This is not without danger. Our household must be prepared to deflect interest away from our complex at this time until we can secure her safety.”
“You speak of going against the laws of the council, Veral,” another female said quietly.