A/N: This a slight departure from the usual format as this does not feature The Brood this time. It is also another companion piece to Hunger shall be their Teacher.

Warnings: Cannibalism and gore.

Their Fate

In the light of the setting sun, Heket stared down at her mate, one chosen from her most devout and most loyal followers. Strength was slowly returning to her body after the exertion of laying her eggs. It was her first time, so she had been shaken by just how powerless she had felt in that moment. And if there was one thing she could not abide, it was witnesses to moments of weakness. She hadn't planned for this, not entirely. But she hadn't really thought about how he was going to fit into the picture going forward either.

She gently scooped him up into her arms. "What do you think they'll look like?" He asked as she carried him further into the water. He smiled up at her as he said. "Maybe they'll have your colour. Or your eyes."

She hummed in response; She wondered that herself, but she would find out. "There is one last service I require from you, Tylion."

"Of course. What is it?"

"A sacrifice of the flesh."

The smile vanished off his face as eyes went wide. "W-what… No," his eyes watered and he shook his head. "No, I thought I would be by your side. I thought we would raise them together."

"Tylion, as one of my most devout and most loyal followers, I have chosen you to be the father of my children," were her exact words. That was it, nothing more. She bared her teeth in disapproval. "I made no such promises."

"But-but I want to see them!"

"Silence!" She snarled. "Or your death will be slow!"

He tried to struggle out of her grasp but she held him tight. "No, please-" His begging turned to screams when she sank her teeth into his belly and ripped it away. Blood and entrails dripped from her mouth and into the water. His screams continued as she chose her next bites carefully, so that his suffering was prolonged, and with each bite, his screams grew weaker. "I just… wanted… to be… with you…" Were his last words before finally slipping away. She was unmoved by this confession, and with the crunching of bones and the tearing of flesh, she consumed the rest of him, until there was nothing left.

"How disappointing," she spoke aloud to her nearby eggs. "Your father was revealed to be a coward, but worry not, my children." She smiled as she gently touched them. "This will not reflect on you."

Her second mate had the same initial response. "P-please, Lady Heket," he begged. "Let me live long enough to see them hatch at least."

"Be silent," she snarled. "Or your death will be slow."

Realising she could not persuaded otherwise and that he no choice but to accept his fate, he gave in. "As you command… Lady Heket…"

"Good." She tilted his head back. "Then I will make this quick." She sank her teeth into his neck and tore it out. His body spasmed as blood gushed from his ruined throat, and he gargled as he choked on his own blood. In his last moments, his head flopped to one side and he reached out a hand to the eggs. Then the arm went limp and his eyes glazed over in death.

Her third mate reacted with dignity; His eyes widened briefly before sliding closed in resignation. "As you command… my lady…" Finally, a mate that would shut up and except their fate. She gently tilted his head back and he swallowed, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

"I will make this quick," she told him softly. Before his body could tense up in anticipation, she tore out his throat with her teeth, and he went swiftly into death. When she was finished, she looked upon her eggs and smiled. That he had accepted his death so graciously was surely an auspicious omen, and boded well for the future of this brood; That they would surely prevail this time where her previous two had failed.

She would turn out to be right.

A/N: Tylion's name comes from how follower's names are generated according to the Cult of the Lamb fandom wiki.