Page 14 of The Royal’s Bumblebee (Operation Colonise #2)
Royal summons
Billie.
Today is Saturday.
That doesn’t mean very much for the Thelian work week, but for me, that means I’m not working.
Normally I still find work to do, or I play some of my favourite RPGs, since my favourite MMO’s don’t work out here…yet.
On my current project, I’m working on getting a global satellite system up and running so we can establish a non-invasive intranet.
One thing that the Thelian tribes did not approve of, was digging up their land to install any sort of cabling.
They already had their own version of plumbing, and their technology tended to use gems with curious energy storage capabilities.
I’ve already tinkered with my com-gem and I grin as I’ve done so without any sort of detection.
It does far more than make calls and translate human to Thelian now…
That was last Saturdays project.
My original plan was to play some RPGs and write some coding.
With a blush I have to admit I was looking forward to sitting on Izule’s lazily coiled lap as he read to me from one of his books.
His voice is so deep and rumbly that I end up curling up and going to sleep with a smile on my face after an hour or two.
When I wake up we’re in his nest of soft cushions and his warm scales surround me.
It’s quickly becoming my favourite place to be.
That’s why I’m waking up, Saturday morning, in the safe warmth of Izule’s coil.
Flashback.
I awake panting, my heart racing, and my eyes watering.
I just had a terrible nightmare.
I’m not a child.
I know that nightmares aren’t real, and I should just roll over and go back to sleep…but last night I dreamt that Hannah went back to Earth without me.
I ran after her in my dream, but she threw me away from her and said she was going back to have a normal life without me.
A life free of me, her burden, so she could finally be happy.
I know Hannah would never do that to me.
She’d never say that to me.
She’s my rock.
I know it was a nightmare, but my mind kept replaying it in my head over and over again.
Every time I tried to go back to sleep, boom, I’d see Hannah throwing me to the ground and walking away from me again.
I shuffled in the dark up the stairs to the hygiene level to use the facilities and wash my face.
To wash away the worry.
Just like Hannah taught me.
“Billie?”
Izule hung down from the upper tier and his yellow eyes seemed to catch the moonlight focus my timid stare.
“Are you alright?”
No.
I wasn’t.
I was tired and sad and past being able to articulate what I was feeling.
I dropped the towel I was using to dry my face and walked toward him.
He watched me as I walked up the stairs to his level, and he wound his body out of the way to not hinder my journey.
He watched me like he was looking for a clue as to why I was up at this time.
I wanted to tell him, but at the same time, I was embarrassed to say that I had a nightmare and couldn’t stop thinking about it.
The longer I stood in the dark with him staring at me, the more anxious I became.
My thumbs and middle fingers started tapping, and he canted his head as he noticed this. “Whatever you need, I will provide. It is yours.”
I felt reassured that he wouldn’t make me go back downstairs.
I shuffled a step towards his bed.
I saw the dark outline of his hooded head as he darted his gaze towards my target, and then back to me.
“Do you wish to nest down together?”
I didn’t even nod.
I took his question like permission and scrambled into the middle of his cushions, wriggling and adjusting until I was comfortable.
Seconds later I felt the warmth of his scales as his tail tangled around me.
His chest pressed like a shield to my back, his right arm lowered over my waist, and his long brown and cream tail created a 3D cage around me and the cushions until I felt incredibly safe.
Sheltered within my mountain.
End flashback.
Waking up this morning in this warm safe space was something I didn’t want to end.
I was smiling and cuddling his tail to my chest, with the rest vanishing beneath the cushion my left cheek was snuggled to.
I swept my eyes downward and realised, with a deep blush, that the warm bulk of tail I was holding spooned my entire body.
Like in my sleep he’d slipped it between my legs to hold me even closer.
This was probably a sweet gesture, or a subconscious one when we were asleep, but now I’m very aware of having his muscular tail pressed between my thighs.
Just as I was contemplating how I was going to untangle myself, Izule awoke with a mighty yawn.
I tipped my head on the cushion to look up and over my right shoulder a the adorable display.
His jaws opened so wide I saw the membranes hinging at his jaws.
His forked tongue flicked out a few times as he smacked his lips shut, and then his yellow eyes focused on me with fat black slitted pupils. His hood widened and I felt his chest puff out against my back.
“Good morning.”
He rumbled deeply, not only from only just waking, but because his voice is very baritone.
I like the way it vibrates against my back and I giggle.
“I trust you slept well?”
“Yes.”
I nodded and wriggled onto my back to look up at him.
He also readjusted in our tangle, as he calls it, and I blushed as his tail slid down my body.
Seconds later he used his right arm to tip my front against his, and he held my hip to keep me close.
I turned my head and watched as the rest of his tail seemed to crate a secret cage within the cushions around us.
“I slept well too.”
Izule’s throat scales darkened and his tongue flicked at the end of my nose, making me tense, but smile.
“Ucfeni usually nest together like this.”
His right hand on my hip patted me once.
“Together.
To share heat, safety and comfort.
It’s not sexual.”
He added quickly.
“I enjoy when you nest-down with me.
Would you…consider it? Nesting with me every night?”
He swallowed thickly and I watched the undulation of his creamy scales at his throat.
Otherwise he remained still, patiently waiting for me to decide if I should accept or not.
I close my eyes and snuggle closer to press my forehead to his creamy chest.
I feel his breathing and he starts to ululate for me, deep and soft to soothe me.
I smile at him.
I like this.
I used to like sharing a bed with Hannah when I was little, and he did say it wasn’t sexual.
I’ve also read enough about Ucfeni culture that I know he’s right.
That’s why a three-tier system works for their average homes.
One bedroom for everyone to sleep in a tangle.
One massive hygiene level for everyone to bathe together. The living area on the bottom level was where personal items tended to be kept. Recreation tended to be had outside of the home at designated establishments. Games tiers, repositories, and a place called the Aqua strip seemed to house the Thelian version of nightclubs and bars. Beneath Orna was a series of pits, where peacekeepers met, and there were hospitals made of many tiers throughout the three tiers of the city. Of which, the bottom tier seemed to be for the poorer and working-class caste, whereas the middle tier of the city seemed to be for the professionals and wealthy. Only the top tier housed the Royal Palace. Filled with Royals. And me.
I was very grateful not to be living in the vibrant palace.
It was the hub of Orna’s royal council, and therefore their government, as well as extravagant gatherings.
All of which sounded like far too much stimulus for me.
This outer nest Izule had built custom for his hunting trips, but then for becoming a sponsor, was perfect.
It was safe, well-stocked, and no one was allowed to come inside without Izule’s expressed permission.
Of which he denied in a heartbeat with one look from me.
He really made me feel like I came first.
He always puts me first.
In the month and a half since I first arrived in his nest, Izule barely leaves my side. Only when I’m working does he slither away to go hunting, and even then he always comes back with his arms full of food for me. I can’t convince him to let me watch him eat, but he does happily share baths with me now.
Would it really be such a stretch to share a bed too? We share a home, we share baths, and I end up here often enough when I’m triggered or scared.
This is where I feel the safest.
Communal sleeping is normal for Ucfeni.
If anything, it must be strange for him to be all alone at night…because of me…
“Okay.”
I whisper and wrap my arms around his waist to hold him close.
Like I’m afraid he’ll change his mind and throw me out of the nest.
Instead, he balls in even more around me and his ululation grew deeper.
“Thank you.”
His ululations sound like a happy tiger purring and his tongue tastes at my brow, making me giggle.
I’ve grown so used to his touches, that I enjoy them now.
What is it about Izule that makes me so comfortable? He’s an alien species, resembles a King Cobra Naga, and yet he’s so…gentle.
Warm.
Kind.
Strong.
“It’s still early.
Can we stay like this for a while longer?”
“It’s Saturday.”
I mumble and smile.
“We don’t have to go anywhere.”
“…for a while…”
I furrowed my brow.
I don’t like the sound of that.
I lifted my head up to look at his mouth and waited for an explanation.
“Well, I’ve…been summoned.”
He grumbled unhappily.
“My father commands I come to the palace for a festival, but you don’t have to come.”
“…a…”
I gulp and take a moment to wriggle back enough to look at him more comfortably.
Not in his eyes, of course, but without having to crick my neck to look at his mouth.
“…a festival?”
“Yes.”
He didn’t seem all that excited about it.
If anything, the Prince was grumbling at the inconvenience of it.
“We have five seasons on Thelia.
Broka, the time of slumber when it becomes cooler.
Tokesh, the warming season, Kelka, the rainy season, then Hokesh, the second warming season, and then…Gcorket.
The season of heat.”
Billie relaxed, enjoying whenever he taught her something new about Ucfeni culture.
It sounded similar to the four seasons on Earth caused by the orbit and axis of the planet around the sun, and of course which hemisphere your continent resided in.
On Thelia they had five seasons.
The cooler season must be their version of winter.
Then they have spring, the rainy season is their version of autumn I guess, then another spring? Is the season of heat their version of summer?
“What season are we currently in?”
“Hokesh, though, we are about to enter Gcorket.”
The thumb on Izule’s right hand on my hip started to absently draw circles into my hip.
It was distracting…but also pleasant.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted him to stop talking so I could focus on his hand, or stop his hand so I could focus on his talking.
“Each season has a festival to celebrate the transition from one to the next, and Gcorket is the grandest.
Festivities will take place across all of Thelia, and the largest spectacle of which takes place in the palace.”
I decided I want to focus on his words, so I move my left hand to take his right off my hip, and hold it between us.
His throat scales darken again, but I’m trying to focus on what he’s telling me, so I ignore that distraction as well.
For now, I’m managing it.
“And it’s this festival that your father has summoned you for?”
“Yes.”
Izule used the hand I held to bring mine closer for him to taste with the end of his tongue.
I felt the brief contact of his forked tongue with my knuckles.
“I am the biggest and strongest of all the Royals.
During the festival, there is a wrestling bout.
I am undefeated and many will gather at viewing stations to watch me defeat any and all challengers.
My presence is required for this purpose.”
“Oh.
So you have to go?”
“Yes.
I have no choice.”
“Oh.”
I frown.
I can’t decide why I’m sad.
Is it because he’s going to leave me alone for a portion of the day? Or because it hasn’t occurred to him to as-
“I’d love for you to come with me, but I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”
I snap my head up to briefly look him in his yellow eyes, before refocusing on his mouth.
“It’s going to be busy and loud.
I know you don’t enjoy too much stimulus.
I mean, I’d really like you to meet my family.
I tell them about you all the time when I go hunting.”
I blush.
I had assumed he went hunting on his own.
It hadn’t occurred to me he would talk to other Ucfeni about me.
My mind became a whirlwind of questions I was too scared to ask.
What did he say about me? What did they think about me?