A Single Kindness
Seophokram helps Solomon, because he knows what it's like to be a large scaled creature desperately trying to protect your emotional little fleshbag of a mate.
“You cannot deny him any longer, you know,” Seophokram said, breaking the silence as they read.
“Deny who?” Solomon asked, not looking up.
“Your ‘René’ or perhaps Lys, now. Don’t deny him again,” the serpent said, looking up from his book. Solomon met his gaze, confused.
“What do you care?” the oracle said, already defensive.
“You are happier with him. But, consider it a kindness on my part,” Seophokram offered, though it wasn’t truly an explanation.
“It’d be the only one between us,” Solomon observed, going back to his book. He didn’t see the serpent’s nod, and nothing more was said between them.
-
When they’d parted, Matanbuchus came to the serpent as they always did, though this time it was in tears – having only just learned of the plot Seophokram had known for decades.
“Timaern, he-“ the devil was shushed, trusting their mate as they always did.
“I know; I’ve made it right. I told Solomon he could not deny him again; Solomon will not,” the serpent said. They spoke nothing further, both knowing that the human’s eternal servitude would be lightened by Solomon’s intervention. Timaern would not deny Solomon the right to his spouse; Lys’s suffering would be lessened by a single visit – let alone as many as Solomon would desire; Solomon’s guilt would not eat at him for having accepted Lys’s love instead of turning him away.