Page 66 of Season of Naga: Volume 2
I recount our treacherous path through the hidden tunnel beneath our house, how Lurok's strength failed, and I used the cook’s kitchen wagon to drag him through the passage, taking the right tunnel at the fork. I describe our capture, waking to find myself chained to a wall in a shallow alcove, and no Lurok.
"That's when I met Severa," I continue. "She gave me the key to my shackles and said she owed you a debt for saving Varok when you burned a man to ash.”
"Severa," Leira repeats, her expression unreadable. "Varok's den keeper for decades. I suspected her as my enemy all along, but to be TrueCoil… Varok is devastated. Then what happened?” she prompts. “Lurok has been most vague in his retelling.”
“Then I found Lurok. The TrueCoil treated his injuries, saving his life, and we fled through more tunnels until we eventually emerged aboveground in the Ashlands." I feel heat rising to my cheeks, deliberately skipping over our time in the grotto where we shared more than just a swim.
"And then you fell into an ash pit," Leira finishes, her voice tight with remembered fear.
"Yes," I whisper, the memory of suffocating darkness rising unbidden. "The ground just... dissolved beneath me."
Leira's grip on my hand tightens painfully. "When Lurok told us what happened. How close you came to—" She breaksoff, swallowing hard. "I should have been there. I should have protected you."
"You couldn't have," I say gently. "And besides, I'm here now. Safe." I glance around the chamber, its alien beauty still startling to my human eyes. "What is this place like for you? Being Varok's mate?"
The abrupt change of subject takes her by surprise, but I see relief in her eyes at moving away from darker topics. "Currently, we are in the Flame room inside the Temple of Threads. Vessan-Kar is... not what I expected," she admits. "When I volunteered to take your place, I thought I was walking to my execution, or at best, a life of captivity."
"And instead?" I prompt when she falls silent.
"Instead, I found... belonging." The word seems to surprise her as much as it does me. "Don't misunderstand, there were terrible moments. Fear, distrust, danger. But also wonder, Serin. The naga have built a magical world beneath the mountains that defies description. Their culture, their traditions. They're an ancient species. Complex and beautiful."
I watch my sister's face transform as she speaks, a light entering her eyes that I've never seen before. Gone is the restless, sharp-edged woman who chafed against our father's restrictions. In her place sits someone grounded, purposeful.
"And Varok?" I ask softly.
A smile curves her lips, private and genuine. "He is... not what I expected either. Fierce, yes. Stubborn, absolutely. But also honorable in ways I never imagined possible. He sees me, Serin, and not as a diplomatic token or a human curiosity, but as an equal." She touches the glowing stone at her throat. "This bond between us... It's unlike anything I could have imagined."
"You love him," I say. Not a question.
She nods, a simple acknowledgment of truth. "I do. And he loves me. Through all the violence and history between ourkinds, we found each other." Her gaze meets mine, suddenly sharp. "Rather like you and Lurok, I suspect."
Heat rushes to my cheeks. "That's—it's not?—"
"Isn't it?" Leira challenges gently. "I see how he looks at you. How he barely left your side these past days until Varok ordered him to the war chamber. That's not the behavior of a warrior who merely feels obligated to his charge."
My heart stutters at her words. I remember Lurok's hand holding mine as consciousness faded, the intensity in his pale eyes when I whispered those three dangerous words. Had he responded? I can't recall; the memory slipping away like sand through a sieve.
I open my mouth, close it. Heat crawls up my neck as I recall the grotto, his hands, his mouth, things I cannot possibly tell my sister. "I..." My voice falters. I shouldn't have whispered those three words in my weakened state. His face had remained so unreadable, those pale eyes revealing nothing. "It's complicated," I finally say, swallowing the tangle of hope and fear lodged in my throat. An understatement so vast it borders on absurdity.
"Love usually is," Leira says with surprising gentleness. "Especially when prophecies and politics become entangled with it."
"I'm worried, Leira," I admit, my voice dropping lower. "About Father, about Halvane and Thorne. They won't stop just because one plan failed. And then there's the TrueCoil, the worms... enemies all around.”
"I know," she says, her expression growing serious. "But we're stronger together. You, me, Varok, Lurok, even Severa, it seems. We have allies where we least expected them."
We fall silent for a moment, the weight of all we've discussed settling between us. Finally, I reach for her hand. "You lookhappy," I say softly. "Despite everything, you look more at peace than I've ever seen you."
Leira's smile is small but genuine. "I am. For the first time in my life, I know exactly where I belong and what I'm fighting for." She squeezes my fingers. "I just wish it hadn't taken nearly losing you to bring us back together."
"We're together now," I say, feeling sleep beginning to pull at my edges once more. "And I'm not going anywhere."
"Good," she says fiercely. "Because I'm not letting you out of my sight until you're fully healed. Varok has assigned you a chamber in the palace near ours, for when you're strong enough to leave the Flame room.”
Before Leira can say more, a soft rustling comes from the chamber entrance. We both turn to see a small figure hovering at the threshold, her delicate upper body swaying with nervous energy while her lavender-white scales shimmer in the firelight.
"Zara!" Leira's face lights up. "Come in. There's someone I want you to meet."
The young naga female glides into the room, her movements fluid yet hesitant. She can't be more than twelve or thirteen in human years, with wide violet-gray eyes that seem too knowing for her childlike face. In her small hands, she clutches a bundle of bioluminescent flowers, their petals glowing with soft blue light.
