Through the doorway, Uruha walked inwards, his movements jerky and halting, the movement of his hair snakes shifting the circlet on his head. Kai started with his mouth agape, stared at slit-pupils set into lovely dark eyes, stared at the tight gown that the attendants had seen fit to dress him in, perfectly hugging every part of his body. Not like he was complaining, though.
The music rose to a crescendo as Uruha approached the altar, almost sliding over the small ramp leading up.
“Kai.” His voice, breathless, high. Kai was too lost in thoughts to respond. Damn, that tail is hot, so strong, he looks so sexy in that outfit the instant we get out of here I’m-
“Crown Prince Kai of the Great Nagah House, Uruha of the Nagah House, would you both please extend your hands outward.”
Oh. Kai turned around, seeing the High Priest of the Snakes slither up the aisle. Seeing Uruha move his hands in his general direction, Kai decided to follow suit. The priest took Uruha’s hands in his own and begun to paint something on them with red ink, swirling designs that resembled scales and the twisted bodies of lesser snakes. He followed on Kai’s hands, before moving away.
“Slither upwards.”
Kai quickly turned around and begun to slither up the short ramp.
“Kai, uh..”
Kai looked back at his soon-to-be husband. “Need help?”
Uruha smiled. “Yeah.”
Kai grabbed Uruha’s hand and helped him up to the top of the ramp (the altar, he reminded himself) before turning to the High Priest. The Priest stared back at him, his eyes like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Uruha squeezed his hand and looked into his eyes. “Blessed be by the powers of the Infinite Heavens, I am grateful for the day that the Crown Prince of the Nagah found me in the forest, and..”
Oh, oh that!
Kai jumped in. “Blessed be by the powers of the Infinite Heavens-”
Uruha abruptly stopped.
Shit! Was I supposed to wait for him?
In the distance, he thought he could hear Ruki grumbling.
Uruha rolled his eyes at him, though not without a smile, and continued.
“I have been blessed by the gods of the Infinite Heavens for allowing me entrance into this bountiful land, and I am humbled to mate your Crown Prince.”
Kai was staring off into space when Uruha finished. Oh, now!
“I am blessed by the Infinite Heavens for you to arrive in our lovely land, and I have chosen you to be my mate. I have granted you the gift of immortality, which you have accepted. I love you.
That last part kind of slipped out, and he could hear some Council members in the background muttering to themselves.
The sirens began to sing again, and the High Priest started talking, but Kai didn’t really care. He was a bit preoccupied with Uruha’s face and the fact that he was married to him. Yes. We’re married. Uruha’s my husband. Husband. Husband!
He was distracted from his thoughts by the sensation of Uruha’s lips on his, his newly forked tongue slipping into his mouth. Kai decided to return the kiss, smiling beneath it. Husband! Married!
“Kai, love, everyone’s leaving for the afterparty.” Uruha pulled away after what seemed like only a few seconds.
“I don’t really want to go. Nothing but fake congratulations from people who would rather be somewhere else.”
“True. But we do kind of have to or everyone will jump on our asses, plus the Aranea ambassador might get shitfaced drunk again.”
Kai rolled his eyes. “Fine. But after that, we are going straight back to our bedchambers and I am going to thoroughly ravish you.”
“Who the hell says ravish these days?” Uruha laughed before slithering off out of the room.
*****************************
It had been three hours into the afterparty and nothing of interest had happened. Kai was aimlessly staring off into the crowd, while Uruha busied himself with the food. To his surprise, the raw meat that was being served was surprisingly tasty. Well, chalk that up to new nagah taste buds. Meanwhile, Kai’s eyes seemed to be focused on one person, in particular, staring at him with a strange intensity.
“Kai, you okay?”
Kai turned around. “Yeah, Uru. I’m fine.”
“Than who’s that?”
He sighed. “Just a-someone I didn’t want to show up. Let’s put it that way.”
Uruha laughed. “What, an evil ex?”
Kai smiled, in a sort of pained way. “No kidding.”
“Wait, really?”
“Yeah.” Kai gestured out towards the crowd, focusing on a guy with curled ram’s horns and bat-like wings. He was kind of attractive, Uruha idly thought.
“Name’s Aoi, of the Shiroyama Brood Most Noble and direct heir to the Throne of Demons, so you could see why my parents might choose to set us up in our youth.”
Uruha took another look. “Soo..”
Kai sighed. “Didn’t work out. We dated for a while, some shit happened, and he called off the engagement. We didn’t really leave off on the best of terms, so to speak.”
“Oh. So, evil ex, then.”
Kai laughed.
*********************************************************************
It had been three? Four? Five hours? God this party just seems to keep going on forever. Uruha was moving throughout the dining hall, attempting to dodge Elders and leaders of other monster races who wanted to congratulate him, tell him he wasn’t good enough for Kai or a strange combination of both.
“Ruki, thank god!”
Ruki turned around. “Uruha! I was wondering when you’d show up.”
“Oh, finally someone sane in this mess.” Uruha slithered up to Ruki’s side.
“You okay?”
“Not really. If I have to listen to one more Eldar tell me about how hot I am ‘for a human’ or another person wanting to passive-aggressively tell me about how I stole their kid’s place to be Kai’s consort, I’m going to explode.”
Ruki sighed in sympathy. “That bad, huh?”
“Yeah. I really should be used-” Someone suddenly tapped Uruha on the shoulder. Uruha turned around to see Aoi.
Ruki glared at him. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Aoi rolled his eyes. “Can’t I come to this historic event without ulterior motives? Or are you just too blinded by hatred to think straight?”
“Kai doesn’t want you here. I don’t want you here. Get. Out.” Ruki glared, fire in his eyes. Uruha idly thought about Medusa, and how Ruki might be glaring hard enough to turn Aoi to stone.
“Honestly, if you think that the Lillim will react well to one of their own being told off so rudely, you have another thing coming. But, I’m not here for you.”
Aoi reached over and grabbed Uruha’s hand. “I want to have a talk .” Wait, what?
He tugged on Uruha’s arm, Uruha being caught along with him in his strangely strong grip.
They eventually arrived at a small, out-of-the-way closet, Uruha’s tail pressing uncomfortably against the door when it was shut. “If you’re just going to lecture me about how I stole Kai from you, keep it brief. I’ve heard that whole song and dance about twenty times now.”
Aoi laughed, brushing some of his hair behind his horns. “Do you honestly take me to be that kind of guy? I’m just here to wish you and Kai the best of luck.”
“Somehow, I don’t believe that.”
“Has Kai been filling your head with lies about me?”
Uruha clenched his fist. “Kai has done nothing of the sort!”
Aoi leaned in closer. “Oh, really? What did he tell you about me?”
“He told me that your parents set you up, you dated, it didn’t go well, you broke up on bad terms.”
The Lillim laughed. “Oh, is that all? Did he not tell you why we broke up?”
“Not really.”
“He dumped me. For you. What the hell do you, a lowly human of poor stock, have that I, the heir to the Throne of Demons does not?”
Oh, shit. “I’m sorry.” Uruha attempted to reach out.
Aoi slapped his hand away. “I don’t need your pity. I just wanted to tell you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Just wanted to see who the human that Kai threw me away for really is.” He cast a sullen look, before walking out the door.
“Wait-” Aoi had already stormed out of the room.
Shit, that was weird.
*************************************************************
Uruha had made it to where Kai had been sitting, only to find the Ambassador to the Strigoi sitting in Kai’s seat.
“Where’s Kai?”
The ambassador, Hayashi-something-or-or-other, glanced at him, seemingly without a care. “How should I know?”
“You’re sitting in his seat.” Uruha’s snakes had started to get agitated. Why the hell am I so worried?
He got up, pushing the chair back “I don’t know where he is.”
Uruha slithered away. It’s nothing. He’s probably chatting with Ruki or something. Or something.
Uruha was making his way down the wide hallways when he almost bumped into someone.
“Oh, shit, sorry, Uruha.”
“Do you know where Kai is?”
Ruki tilted his head. “No. Why, did Aoi say something creepy?”
Uruha shook his head. “He just said some stuff about how Kai’s been filling my head with lies, how he wanted to see the ‘human who Kai left him for’, stuff like that.”
“Human who Kai left him for? I thought the whole negotiation thing just fell through?”
“That’s what Kai said.” Uruha had started moving, where, he didn’t know. He moved throughout the hallways somewhat clumsily, dodging servants and drunk party guests. Oh, there’s the Aranea ambassador. Shouldn’t your husband be taking you back to whatever underground caverns you spend your time in? I think he’d be very happy to have you back. Wait. Uruha suddenly thought of something. Didn’t Kai say that he’d love to ravish me after this is all over?
Uruha suddenly made a beeline for their bedroom, moving as quickly as his relative inexperience with his body allowed him. He reached the door, throwing it open.
The room was dark, with one of the windows being thrown open, blowing wind into the room. Uruha moved inward, his mind racing. Kai, you better not be hiding to jump me! He ran his fingers along the intricate paintings on the wall, the two-dimensional creations coming to life and soaring up the walls, filling the room with light. After Uruha’s eyes adjusted, he noticed three things.
Number 1: The room was in complete disarray, sheets were strewn everywhere and side tables toppled over.
Number 2: Kai was nowhere to be seen, and after calling out, he did not respond.
Number 3: There was a note pinned to the pillow.
Uruha moved over to the bed, sitting on the edge, before unpinning the note and reading the distinctly loopy handwriting.
Uruha,
By the time you read this, I will have left with Aoi for the Nine Hells, as I have decided that he would be the better partner, being my equal in magic and combat. He is also the heir to the Throne of Demons, and this would create a beneficial alliance between our Enclave and the Nine Hells. I hope you understand this, and that there are no hard feelings between us.
Kai, Crown Prince of the Nagah and Consort to the Demon Lord
Uruha put down the note, a deep sigh building in his throat. God, Aoi, you didn’t even try, did you?