"Reject me," he whispered. I almost didn’t hear him.
"Excuse me?"
"Reject me," he repeated, louder this time. He refused to look at me, and I realized how much effort he was putting into saying this, "I failed to breed you, so I failed as a male. I don’t deserve to live."
"Do I look that merciful to you?"
His body slumped as if he couldn’t believe I wanted to fight over killing him, since I was always so keen on doing so. "End me."
I opened my mouth and pointed at my tongue, showing off his handiwork, "Do I die when you die now?"
Ignored.
"Can you remove this mark?"
He looked away.
"Does it have any special abilities?"
Ignored again.
"Your ancestors must be so proud of you. You managed to mate with a female without getting rejected, but we all know Nivi wouldn’t have rejected you in the first place either, would she?"
He finally reacted.
"My ancestors hate me. Too picky, too proud, they say," Kurus’ eyes were unfocused, his thoughts lost in his past lives, "Nivi is perfect...You are defected... like me."
He closed his eyes, seemingly bracing for my next insult, "I don’t like to talk, but you make me talk too much, too much to think. It’s like... I’m back to being a cub. Mating... becomes the last thing on my mind. Staying alive is.."
He kept going about how he never met a female who made him feel like he needed to survive more than he needed to mate. He didn’t choose Nivi because he liked his freedom to choose his fate more than his instincts to breed. After all, he did stay a virgin for almost fifty years.
"So you are saying I killed your mating drive?" I summarized.
He nodded.
To him, I was not a female. I was a source of a newfound instinct that was different from what he knew. And he had no name for it.
Nivi taught him about love and friendship, but it was clear he rejected the very notion of both. Warmblooded beastmen could love and have friendships, but not coldblooded ones.
How did he come to love the heroine then? I assumed his descendant evolved, became smart enough to adapt to the world and the female he wanted to stay with. Survival led to love in the end.
"Are you succumbing to a stronger opponent?" I asked. His life wasn’t in danger. He could still slither away if he wanted to.
"The strong should eat the weak," he quoted, what I assumed as his ancestor’s words.
"You told Nivi a different thing. You said you grew fond of me because I was willing to die for her."
"That’s what a warm-blooded would say. She was happy when I praised you and upset when I badmouthed you. Upset females are annoying."
I laughed. His ancestors killed kidnapped females after mating with them, whether by choice or lack of control, it didn’t matter. They also ended their own lives after that.
Traditions were hard to break, and more than often, they were above the heart’s desires. Kurus had a chance to start a new life with Nivi. To be loved, to find happiness. He didn’t need to continue the cycle of misery, the path of his ancestors. But who was I to tell him that?
"So? Why did you mark me? Did your ancestors whisper to you to do it?"
The answer was already there, on his face. A smile, so faint and delicate, as if afraid it would disappear if he acknowledged it. "Mm. We were supposed to die. Together."
He did use his deadly poison on me, get me into a coma, impregnate me, have me give birth and then kill himself. I didn’t drink the antidote (his blood). He just didn’t expect me to be in such a bad state that he would have to use a miracle core to heal me.
"You are immune to my poison," he noted, "You are awake. I am alive. I don’t know what to do now." He looked at me with those red, red eyes, "You tricked me again."
I stretched, enjoying the full range of my movements. The miracle core had done a great job. "How loyal are you to me now? My mate? Does the mate bond compel you to do something?"
There must be a reason why they kill the females they mated with. Something dark about the nature of their bond. I wanted to know what it was.