The skies of Sadesth were as black as they ever were, the storm clouds looming ominously over the small world of the unwanted. Queen Ethelinda was sitting with her husband, Hebi, at the long table in the royal dining room, along with two women and their son, Apep.

“Son, you and General Xiuhcoatl have been spending quite a bit of time together recently, have you come to accept your fate then?” his mother asked, flicking her forked tongue out between every few words. Apep glared at her with his slit, yellow eyes.

“As I have voiced before, I do not wish to rule this wasteland of a nation, and no naga or nagini in Sadesth could force me to,” he replied, hissing viciously at her mere suggestion of the concept, “I have been around Xiu because we have become close acquaintances.”

Tanith, one of the women sitting at the table, smiled lightly, “Oh, so you like him then?” she asked sweetly, putting her rough hand over King Hebi’s hand in a gesture of romance, “Isn’t it sweet Hebi?”

“I do not like him Tanith, he is a friend of mine and nothing more,” Apep said, the anger in his voice rising with each word and hiss. Malinda, the final woman at the table, snickered and hissed at the humor of the situation, eventually breaking out into a cackle-like laughter.

“Ethe, love, your son is in more denial then you were,” she said jokingly, her purple tail whipping back and forth behind her in her moment of hysterics. Ethelinda sighed, continuing to eat her dinner as if she never brought the matter up.

“Very well son, but do remember, if you do not find yourself a bride soon, you will be wed to the elven princess, and I know you despise her so…”

“I do not despise the woman, I merely have no interest in her, nor do I want her to suffer the same fate as our kind by joining me in wedlock,” he hissed at his mother, “I also have spoken to her recently, and I know she has feeling for another, as you did Ethelinda.”

“Apep! I have told you never to refer to me or your father by their given names; it shows a lack of respect for the ones who gave you life.”

“Hn, why should I respect my parents who were never in love when they gave birth to me, you only had me so that you could fulfill your duty as royalty, not because you were in love – and now you are forced together despite the fact that you’ve found the ones who hold your hearts. I will never succumb myself to that fate.”

Ethe looked down at her plate, now unthinkingly moving her rodent meat around the plate in a circle, thinking it better to ignore her son’s words, “Before you ask, you are excused…”

Apep scowled, slithered out of the room, whipping his tail viciously as he did so as he mumbled something crude about his parents.

Hebi hissed lightly at Apep’s behavior, picking up his dinner and sinking his fangs into it for a moment, before swallowing the small rodent whole. He took Tanith’s hand, glaring at his wife for a moment, before speaking.

“Apep will rule Sadesth when he is older, but I am not old and I have no intention of dying any time in the near future, so I see no reason for us to discuss this now. When he is ready, he will accept what can not be stopped.” With that, he slid out of the room with Tanith, leaving the queen and Malinda alone.

“Does the royal decree say anything about the wedded being a man?” Mali asked, moving a cluster of black hair out of her eyes, smiling lightly. Ethe smirked a bit at her comment, picking up the rat on her plate and gulping it down, “It never said anything against it.”

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Black claws scraped across the darkened metal of Apep’s flute as he sat in a cave by the royal palace of Sadesth, lifting the mouthpiece of the instrument to his mouth and blowing lightly, playing a soft, maudlin song that echoed off the cave’s walls. He realized that he was probably crying, but he really didn’t care at this point.

“Apep,” an older voice spoke - in a much deeper tone then the prince did – causing Apep to turn around abruptly, “You play wonderfully, you know.”

“General Xiuhcoatl, may I inquire what you are doing here?”

“I do not refer to you as Prince Apep, so I must insist you drop the General,” Xiu replied, gliding across the rocky floor over to the prince, “Although I probably know the answer already, could I know why you are upset, Apep?”

“My mother continues to persist that I marry the elven princess, despite that it would not only curse the young girl, but I also have no desire to wed, or bed, her… I am prince of these forsaken lands, but I want nothing more then the command, the monarchy – my own family, to fall.

“I do not love them, but they act as though I should… I don’t understand why I cannot feel anything for my mother, father, or their lovers – yet it’s my duty too; they did not love each other, but they were wed and slept together despite this; yet I refuse to. What does that make me, Xiu?”

Xiu looked at the distressed naga prince, wrapping an arm around him in an attempt to comfort him, “You are a powerful naga, Apep – and if this is truly how you feel… then I have something I would like you to know.”