Page 113 of Scorching the Alien Empire (The Klendathian Cycle #7)

“You speak of our rights?” Big Belly tuts—like a disappointed grandfather Buddha—and it scrapes against my nerves. “An outsider who knows little of our ways? Krogoth invoked the right of Krak-Tok. By conquest, he earned the mantle.”

“The same challenge he now refuses?” I snap, arms folding across my chest. “How... hypocritical and convenient.” I shake my head, scowling.

“You saw what Krogoth can do. How is that fair? Where’s the so-called honor when you flush your enemy down a cosmic toilet?

” I lean in, voice sharp as broken glass.

“Seems like a big, fat cheater move to me.”

“Gorexius was corrupted by Scythian technology. More machine than warrior. Those who witnessed it swear so on their honor.” Big Belly breathes deep, studying the runic tattoos etched across his colossal hands.

“In truth, I held no love for Gorexius. He abandoned our traditions, forsook the Gods. Tore our society apart. It did not surprise me to hear that in his quest for power he betrayed what it meant to be Klendathian.”

Brilliant, I’m barking up the wrong damn tree. And the forest is rapidly burning down around me.

“Dracoth isn’t like his father,” I insist, forcing my voice into a low, passionate growl.

“He honors the Gods. We both do. He’s the leader Gorexius should have been.

With Arawnoth’s divine fire, he resisted the Voidbringers’ corruption.

He rescued the Revered Mothers. He crushed the murder-bots.

He’s rebuilding everything Gorexius and the Scythians tried to destroy.

Unlike Krogoth and Rocks, who just want to run away and bury their scarred heads in the sand. ”

I wince, already regretting my poor choice of words.

Gods. Dammit, Lexie.

Big Belly’s eyes snap to mine. “And where are your scars? The living runes of your heroic deeds carved into flesh and bone?” His gaze drags across my glowing, flawless skin, and I feel naked in a way even my sexy robes can’t fix.

“Chieftainess Rocks earned hers completing the Proving. The first off-worlder to do so. She bears them proudly—as she should.”

He leans back. “And you?” he asks, voice low, almost pitying. “Have you achieved the same?”

His pale green eyes narrow further, slicing me down.

Typical. Only in this backward, bone-through-the-nose culture would fabulous be considered a flaw. I should’ve come in full Freddy Krueger cosplay—maybe then they’d actually take me seriously.

“... I’ve not had time to—” I start.

“A Chieftainess who hasn’t completed the Proving,” he interrupts, folding his enormous arms across his equally enormous belly. “An untested child. A leader of a clan.” He shakes his head, snow-white braids jingling with fangs like a judgmental wind chime. “Such a thing should be rejected .”

My nails dig into my palms so hard I half expect to bleed. “I’ve more than proved myself—” I snarl.

“That cloak.” He jabs a thick finger at my Sock-Chair mantle like he’s pointing at a war crime. I brace myself for the next incoming slap, wondering whose cosmic mocha I pissed in to become this guy’s personal punching bag.

“The scales of a sneachir, if I’m not mistaken,” he drawls.

“The mightiest beast from my homelands of Aroth. Please,” he crooks a patronizing eyebrow, “do regale me with the glorious tale of your hunt. I’m greatly intrigued by how an unproven alien female could match a full team of my best hunters? ”

The eyebrow wiggles. Smug. Condescending. I want to slap it right off his stupid, judgmental face.

“I couldn’t possibly,” I snap, face burning. “You keep interrupting me every two seconds!”

“Go on,” he purrs, leaning back like he’s settling in for bedtime story hour. “I won’t interrupt your... epic saga , little female.”

Little female. Me. A puppy. Yelping for his amusement. Woof. Woof.

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?” I shriek.

Chaste-Lexie dies a violent, fiery death—murdered before her time.

“ Todd and I do not have to take this abuse !” I howl, chest heaving.

“Do you have any idea who I am? What I’ve done?

” I launch myself upright like an overstuffed turkey rolling off a countertop.

“I’m not some doll for your amusement! I’m the fucking Divine Daughter !

The one who shielded the Revered Mothers.

The one who saved all you bone-through-the-noses from bashing each other over the head during the battle!

So maybe don’t sit there acting like a judgmental Big Belly Buddha, because let me tell you— that’s not very Zen, is it? ! ”

My glare could melt steel. I dig into him with my silver-scorched eyes, willing him to feel the fury burning inside me. If I had Mr. Frowny Face’s murder bond juice, I’d squish his brain into jelly by now. But there’s nothing. Just me. Alone in my mercurial inferno, blazing in the void.

Big Belly blinks, stunned. Hit by the full, unfiltered force of Lexie’s Thousand Stylish Handbags of Justice. I seethe, waiting for him to open his stupid mouth so I can give him a taste of his own stinky medicine.

“I think you should—”

“ I’ve been to your precious Aroth, ” I cut him off, grinning savagely. “A giant freaking freezer that nearly killed me.” His mouth clicks shut. “That’s where I had a vision of the Gods. Arawnoth himself came to me then. He saved me from icy death. Marked me.”

I trace my fingers over the scorched runes seared across my chest and throat. They flare like stoked embers under my touch, the divine fire answering my rage.

“That’s my scars, Chieftain,” I snarl. “ This is my Proving. Not some ugly beast scratches. But runes scribed by the Gods themselves. ”

His pale green eyes widen in delicious shock as he traces the glowing words. “The cycle burns eternal...” he murmurs, voice cracking like dry hair.

“Touch it,” I command, seizing his massive hand and dragging it toward my chest.

His fingers hover for a heartbeat—then hiss as they meet my scorched flesh. He jerks, gasping at the heat.

“It burns,” he chokes, awe dawning on his face beneath the rising steam. “It actually burns.”

I step back, grimacing as the pain flares sharper. “ That’s enough Divine boobie time ,” I grunt, massaging the tender skin. “What are you made of? Icicle knives?”

Big Belly shakes out his scorched fingers like he just yanked them out of an oven baking cookies, staring at me like he’s seeing the sunrise for the first time.

“Aenarael’s love flows strongly in my veins,” he murmurs, sucking the ends of his scorched fingers as his gaze drifts off. “Ever since I was a boy, I felt her frozen touch caressing my heart.”

“Divine Mother isn’t Frosty the Snowwoman,” I snort, amused. “She’s liquid mercury ,” I purr, lowering my gaze with reverent mischief. “Want to see for yourself?”

I reach back carefully, untangling Todd’s plumpness from my shoulder. He stirs, blinking one groggy black eye open. His gaze flicks between me and Big Belly. His spindly legs twitch, clearly gearing up for a mad, chunky dash across the room.

“Don’t you dare , mister!” I hiss, tightening my grip around his rubbery body. “He’s a guest. So. No. Pooping.” His mandibles clack in response. The meaning is clear: You’re the best mother ever.

He’s the sweetest.

I clear my throat and thrust Todd forward like he’s the Crown Jewels. “Behold! The Divine Cherub.”

Big Belly leans in, not with awe—but with wary suspicion. “I remember this... cyloillar... from the summit,” he rumbles. “Where it glowed. Did it not?”

“He’s not just a fashionable nightlight,” I grin, tracing the faint silver rune engraved on Todd’s plump back. “This word: Mirror. Etched by Goddess Aenarael’s own hands.”

Okay, maybe not literally her hands. But close enough for sales purposes.

Big Belly snatches the fluttering Todd, wide green eyes locking onto Chug Bug’s enormous oblivious orb. “It cannot be,” he mutters, flipping Todd upside down to inspect the softly pulsing rune.

“You remember when Rocks tried to silence me?” I roll my eyes dramatically. “And then she couldn’t speak? Yeah, that was her power being reflected by Divine Mother’s blessing through Todd. Told me herself.” I nod sagely, vindicated.

“Aenarael,” Big Belly breathes, voice gone hollow, like a zombie mumbling brains. He strokes the rune reverently, like he’s half-expecting Aenarael to reach through and give him a fist bump. “Unbelievable.” He stares at Todd like he’s a winning lottery ticket bundled inside a supermodel.

“You... you have spoken to Aenarael?” he asks, finally dragging his eyes away from Todd.

“Oh yes!” I giggle, scooping my Chug Bug back protectively.

“Crazy story, really. First, she pretended to be my basic mother—ugh, that part sucked. Then she turned me into a Lexie-Moth—kinda fun until Dracoth showed up.” I frown, remembering.

“He was a big red dragon who ate me. Then we fought Aenarael after she turned into a silver dragon...”

I trail off, noticing Big Belly blinking at me like I’m speaking ancient dolphin.

“Anyway!” I plow ahead. “She told me we would stop the Voidbringer. That I was her daughter. That she was proud of me,” I mutter, biting my lip, blinking fast. The memory still brings tears to my eyes.

Big Belly’s deep voice cuts through with barely contained desperation. “And what of us? The Virennix—her most devoted children?”

She didn’t mention them. But I can’t say that! That’s like telling little Timmy there’s no Santa, then lighting his Christmas tree on fire.

“She said you are each her beloved children. That only together can the cycle continue,” I reply smoothly, heart pounding, impressed by quick thinking.

“The Gods walk among us...” He nods slowly, his eyes glistening. Then, quieter. “I see now. Krogoth and Rocks must be blessed by the other Gods. But who is correct?” His gaze falls downward.

He looks lost. Small. I lean in, voice soft, deadly sweet.

“Really? Do the Gods speak to them? Do they bear the runes upon divine flesh?” I lift my chin, drawing his gaze back to my glowing runes.

“Aenarael loves you,” I whisper. “She needs your devotion. She needs your faith. I’m her Divine Daughter, brought here to guide your people back to her grace. ”

I wrap my arms around his broad frame, feeling him stiffen under the weight of hope and overdue recognition. “You’ve all fought so hard. Suffered so long. Just a little more faith, and it’ll all be better. You’ll see. I promise. We love you. Aenarael loves you with all her heart.”

Gently, I dip into my pouch and smear a circle of ash over his bowed head. “Scourge the weak,” I murmur, the words flowing out like molten silver. “Embrace strength. Let the vanquished be reborn in her divine image.”

A little ad-lib never hurt anyone.

Big Belly shudders with quiet, gut-wrenching sobs. “Leave me, Divine Daughter,” he sniffles wetly, wiping tears on the back of his massive hand. “I cannot bear the shame.”

“You bear no shame, Chieftain,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to his forehead, cementing the blessing.

Then I turn, steps light and bouncy, practically skipping with triumph.

“To think,” I call breezily over my shoulder, “that I met such a devoted son of the Divine Mother. It warms my heart.”

One down and one to go. I skip away, victorious.

And if my chest aches a little, well. That’s between me, Todd, and the Gods.