The LEVELER King ✔

BOOK 2: CHAPTER 8

All but too happy to be away from the Queen, Indel paced back and forth as an elder saw to Nala whose body twisted and writhed as she sneezed.

Running a gilmont branch along Nala's thrashing body, the doctor chanted.

His efforts proved fruitless.

Indel growled. "Leave us, you idiots!"

The nest emptied but Sessel remained.

Sessel did something unexpected, she approached the bed of moss, took Nala's right hand in hers, and whispered something.

Indel watched with relief when Nala's body calmed, each twitching muscle seeming to melt of all tension.

"What have you done, Sessel? Is she ill? Are we both ill?" Indel asked.

"Come here, my lord," Sessel said, standing. "All will be well if you embrace. Of that I'm very sure."

Indel felt unsteady as he approached the moss. Still dressed in nothing but his mating robes, Indel eased himself closer to Nala. The Summoner turned to put her face against Indel's neck.

Nala rarely showed weakness. Today it occurred to Indel just how much he depended on his Summoner's inner strength in all things.

Indel's own tail twitched; he didn't excuse it. He was pleased to see Nala so calm. The ardent body was a comfort. Without thinking, Indel reached around for Nala's stubble tail and tugged on it. At this, Indel could react. The Summoner's weak claws digging into his back told him Nala was all right.

"This is the consequence of spoiling the favored," Sessel said, remaining in the shadows.

"I do not spoil her," Indel replied.

"Strict tradition dictates that she returns to the first stage and remains by your side quietly until you have need for her again after the mating spell. Each time you complete a cycle, Daga, you lessen your years. All of us are born with a set amount of cycles. You, too have a set amount, yet you course through them again and again carelessly for this wretch."

Running his hands up and down Nala's body led to an unpleasant discovery. The grooves on Nala's back weren't ones Indel was familiar with. He could only imagine that someone had taken a whip to her. No one but Sessel would dare injure the king's favored.

"For her to remain in this third stage constantly is vulgar. It's sending people to panic as they see their king shifting back and forth. Unrest and worry will plague us if we do not return to the proper traditions."

Gathering Nala close to him, Indel asked, "Is she ill?"

"She is not ill, and neither are you. Your mother suffered the same sneezing fits when your father had to make you. As her pods were too weak to bring forth a king, he had to seek out a stronger mate. The seizures lasted for day until a king was selected, that mate was put out from his bed and she could resume her place as his favored."

Indel had no experience of his own with which to compare it.

"It is simple jealousy, a selfish jealousy and it will pass. I've seen human melt into fits of rage. Some would experience it so strongly that their eyes burned and watered, and hideous sounds came from their mouths." Sessel let out a sigh. "She is so human in ways. She even wears the third stage and engages in mating with you for sport."

"It is not sport," Indel muttered. "She must find satisfaction a time or two lest the secretions poison her. She's only surviving. At least now she has me to help."

Sessel shot from the shadows. "Do not say such a thing! Do not let anyone know what you do with this Summoner. A Summoner who shows her tail to you in public for sport. And if she's complained about the whipping then I hope she told you why. When you stood from the window, I went to close it only to find her tail pointing up at me. And because I knew you would not punish in accord, I had to make that sacrifice. I ask that you get from this bed, you engage the queen again tonight, and you do so quickly before your mood changes. Once you've succeeded in one batch, the second should come faster."