Adder basks in the warmth of the summer sun, smiling in bliss as he listens to the sound of the rushing river. This is his favorite place—his little haven where all his stressful thoughts float away with the roar of the water.

Nearby, Eben is fishing, quietly whistling a tune as he attempts to catch their dinner. Adder watches how the dappled sunlight dances on his partner’s fiery locks, smiling. “Catch anything yet?”

“I know you’ve been staring—you think I could sneak a fish past your keen nose?”

Adder hums, propping himself up on his elbows. “I was hoping you had, I'm hungry.”

Eben laughs, grinning as he reels in his line. “Why don’t you go hunt down a rabbit to swallow, mr.snake? Or are you too lazy to hunt your own food down?”

Adder makes a sound of mock hurt, flopping onto his side as he hugs the egg to his body. “How dare you! Can’t you see I’m with child?!”

“Better not let Demeterra hear you mocking the tribulations of women—I've dealt with enough curses in my lifetime…”

“The Goddess wouldn’t be so petty.”

“I don’t know, I've heard some gruesome stories. Perhaps instead of being the deity of harvests, mothers, and fall, she should be the Goddess of revenge. Giakora got her mean streak from somewhere.”

Adder rolls his eyes at the half-elf’s sacrilege. This was one topic they never could agree on…but Adder is too sleepy to engage right now. “I will debate your heathen ways later. Right now you must be silent—the egg is sleeping.”

“Isn’t it always sleeping? It's an egg!”

“It’s developing rapidly. It’s already begun to react to sounds.”

Eben flushes. “Wait, did it hear us when we…”

“Of all things to be embarrassed about! Go away, I'm too tired for your ridiculousness.”

Eben gives a harrumph, crossing his arms. “Last week you were begging me to stay near, and now you’re sending me away?”

“Yes. I want to ignore you from a safe distance, where I can come to you quickly if needed.”

“As you wish, my gorgon master. I will leave you in peace.”

“Ugh, stop.”

The half-elf begins to walk down the trail, sing-songing his taunts. “Yes, m’lord! I live to serve you!”

Adder huffs, closing his eyes as he listens to the sounds of his lover retreating. Left alone in his happy place, the monster grins. Suddenly, he jumps when he hears a hard thunk from behind the eggshell. There’s an anxious moment where he expects the egg to begin cracking open, but soon calms as nothing but the sounds of nature greets him.

“Are you anxious to get out?” Adder giggles.

He glances at the canopy above him. Though the leaves have yet to shift into their blazing autumn hues, the ever-cooling breeze signals that fall is not too far away. Undoubtedly, the child will arrive in the wintertime…

“You’ll be free soon enough,” Adder whispers.

Still, the harpy shifts around restlessly in its delicate prison, its eagerness to escape still unmitigated by the gorgon’s promises.

Adder smooths a hand over the shell. “It’s okay…go back to sleep.”

He hums a tune, trying to remember a lullaby Helia used to sing. The lyrics are lost to him now, but he remembers the sentiment; a little bird learning how to fly, leaving its mother far behind as it soars over strange new lands. He can’t recall if the song had a happy ending, but he likes to think so. He likes to think the little bird came back one day to tell its mother everywhere it had been.

Suddenly Adder is tearing up, feeling incredibly lonely. This little harpy will leave one day soon, and what reason will it have to come back to him? Once it rejoins its people, it will have everything it needs; community, safety, acceptance—in the face of that, the strange creature which hatched you was of no importance, right?

Adder frowns, regretting sending Eben away. He doesn’t want to be alone anymore…

Scooping the egg up, he makes his way back to the cave. He’s hoping to smell something delicious coming from the kitchen, but before he even makes it anywhere near the entrance, his hackles are immediately raised. There’s a fresh scent of two strangers coming from their home. One of which Adder recognizes as the scent Eben came home covered in the other day.

Quickly, Adder stashes the egg away in a nearby bush, entering his home as quickly as possible. The scent of the strangers becomes stronger as he enters the kitchen. He surveys the space carefully, eyes closed. He senses them both immediately—there in the corner next to the stove, are the two intruders. They’re huddled up together, as if they believe cold iron can hide them from Adder.

It can’t.

“Who are you?” Adder growls, the timber of his voice deepening to a baritone rumble.

The two huddle together more. A whisper, barely audible, breaks the silence. “Just stay still, he can’t see us…”

Adder lets a feral snarl loose. “Idiots! I know exactly where you are! I don’t need my eyes to sense your body heat!”

“Gods…” comes a second, deeper voice.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Get out now, while I still have enough sense to show you mercy.” Adder rumbles, sharp claws digging deep furrows into the table.

“Bring us your mate, then we will go,” the deeper voice demands.

The monster’s patience is waning. His instincts are screaming that these two men are threats to his family…

Adder advances on the duo, baring his fangs. “He said he won’t help you! Now leave!”

“You will bring him or we will find him, monster!”

The rage bubbles over. Adder opens his eyes, ready to end these intruders. He doesn’t need to study them long to know which is his partner's attacker; of the two, one is a very frightened-looking felid and one is an angry-looking human. The human is snarling, hand on his sheathed sword. Adder doesn’t give him any chance to use the weapon, lunging forward and knocking it from his person with a swipe of a claw.

The human cries out in rage, swinging a fist that Adder nimbly dodges. Foolishly, the felid man retaliates with feral growl, catlike ears pinned back as he lunges at Adder. He retaliates with a swing of his tail, causing the felid to fall prone onto the floor. Two green eyes crack open from the force, widening as the enraged vermillion of the gorgon’s irises immediately meets them.

“Edmund—“ the felid cries.

But no pleas will save the man now. Petrification rapidly spreads through his body, leaving nothing but a rigid statue a moment later.

The human must sense something is wrong even with his eyes shut, because his face immediately drops. “Basil! Hey! Say something!

“I have freed you from your curse,” Adder growls, “he has been petrified. Now leave!”

“Turn him back, this isn’t what I wanted!”

But even the man’s pleas seem to infuriate Adder. He lunges again, dodging another pathetic attempt at a punch before pinning the dark-skinned man to the ground. His hand is around the intruder's throat for only a moment when suddenly the air seems to shimmer and dance around them. The rage running haphazardly through Adder is brought to an abrupt halt by a soothing force. It seeps into every inch of his being, blanketing him with calm. He gives a shuddering sigh, eyes drooping as he releases Edmund.

However, Eben doesn’t treat the intruder nearly as gently. The intruder gives a yelp as he’s violently pinned to the wall by the force of the half-elf’s magic. Eben enters the cave, rage seeping from every pore. “You bastard! You ignorant bastard! How did you think this would go?!”

Edmund struggles, panicked. “Let me go!”

“You ask for mercy now? I’m sure my partner already gave you that. Did he tell you to leave?”

“Yes—“

“Then you have made the fatal mistake of believing I am the merciful one. I have killed for much less, fool!”

“Please! At least save Basil—he didn’t even want to come…”

Eben’s eyes dart to the petrified statue. “Adder. What do you want me to do?”

Adder is slumped against the table, exhausted. “Pleassse fix it, Eben. I don’t want to kill them…”

The redhead drops the man, letting him crash to the floor as he directs his magic to the petrified statue. Slowly, stone melts into skin once more, leaving Adder’s victim trembling and gasping on the floor. Edmund immediately runs to his side, lifting him by the arm.

“Basil! Thank the gods—“

“For someone who you hate, you sure do care a lot…” Adder slurs, the intoxicating magic swirling about his mind.

“I wanted him to fuck off, not die!”

Eben steps forward, eyes aglow with a menacing golden hue. “We have shown you mercy, now do not waste it. Leave. Do not disobey the orders of the priestess again.”

“You can’t—“

“Get out!” Eben roars, the force of his magic oppressive and thick in the air.

Pulling the dazed felid by the wrist, Edmund obeys with haste, fleeing the cave. Adder watches them go with a growl. “Don’ come back…”

“Adder, are you okay?”

“M’fine…”

“Where is the egg?”

“Under the rosebush…”

Eben exits the cave with haste, moments later with the egg. He hands it to Adder, who hugs it with a happy hum.

“Adder, I’m going to lift the spell now.”

“Wait…don’t.”

The half-elf’s brow creases. “You don’t want me to?”

“I almost—I almost killed him, Eben. I don’t want to remember what it’s like to kill…”

Eben’s eyes soften. “Adder…”

“It feels nice. Just a bit longer, please…”

“Okay…just relax then.”

Adder nods, slumping further into the table. With swimming vision, he watches his lover. Eben picks up the vegetables he’d dropped at the entrance of the cave, bringing them to the kitchen.

Eben glances at his lover, eyes soulful. “Adder…I’ll make sure you never have to kill again. You know that, right? ”

“Don’ say that, Eben. You don’t know what the future may bring. I might lose control…”

“You wouldn’t have killed him. I know you; you wouldn’t have. And if you did—he would’ve deserved it, he’s a bastard.”

“It doesn’ matter, I might have to protect you one day…”

Eben dusts off his hands, approaching his lover. The half-elf holds the gorgon’s face in his hands, wiping away a stray tear. “Adder, you understand my strength, right?”

“Yes but—“

Eben’s eyes shimmer, the snake on his skin twining around his arm. “Your love has made me stronger than any foe. You will never need to kill while I still breathe.”

Adder closes his eyes, covering Eben’s hands with his own. “What use am I if I’m not protecting you?”

Eben leans over, kissing his partner softly. Adder sighs, flushing. Magic shimmers and twirls iridescent in the air around them, causing a flutter in the egg. “Just keep loving me, that’s how you can protect us.”

“Us?”

“Me and…the little one. We’re all in this together now, right?”

Adder nods, hugging the egg again. He smiles as he feels more movement from within. “It liked that.”Eben snorts, rolling his eyes. “It cannot possibly understand what we are saying.”

“I don’ know,” Adder hums drunkenly.

“That reminds me, I have a present for you…”

Eben heads toward the study, returning a moment later with something in his hands and placing it in Adder’s grip. The gorgon opens his palm to something smooth and cold—it’s a necklace with a carved pendant on the end.

Adder studies the intricately carved details of the pendant, slowly realizing what it is; an ouroboros. “This is your necklace, right? Didn’ Korra's father make it for you?”

“He did. But I’m not giving it to you, not exactly…look.”

Eben cups Adder’s hand with his own. The pendant begins to shimmer and glow with the touch, causing the gorgon’s eyes to widen. “You enchanted it?”

“Yes. So when the little harpy hatches, it’ll be able to meet your gaze, as I do.”

Adder’s voice trembles with emotion. “Oh, Eben…”

The half-elf hugs the gorgon tightly. “I’ll keep us safe. You just worry about keeping us together.”

Adder nods, leaning into the embrace. Never in his life has he been put in this position—a position where his role is to be protected. He savors the feeling…hoping it lasts forever.