Chapter 21 The Snake
THE SNAKE
When I evaluate applications, I look for the dichotomy between grace and ruthlessness. The strongest scholars are those with both heart and teeth.
High Sage Gieffroy Triche
PROTECT ME FROM HIM.
That’s what Odette’s entry says.
From whom? Lamour? Cassius? It has to be one of them, and Claudia is sufficiently tangled with both.
“What do I do, Bishop?” she groans while dangling a dead roach above him. He snatches it and swallows fast.
“You have such a way with words,” she says before kissing him on the head. Slipping off her robe and chemise, she pulls on a nightdress and crawls into bed. The debate is in two days, and she desperately needs a good, long sleep.
But when she opens her eyes to the Realm of Nightmares, she knows she won’t get it.
She doesn’t know why she’s here. Sure, she was anxious, but not truly afraid. She didn’t conjure a Doorway. She has no want or reason to be here tonight.
Standing before a snowy clearing, she sees a shadow stretch out before her. Someone—no, something—approaches from behind. The shadow is not human; it’s massive and angular with unsettling, fluid movements.
Hot air burns at her back. Warmth, and then it’s gone. Over and over, like something is breathing on her.
“You need to wake up, Claudia,” a woman’s voice says. If she didn’t know better, she’d think it was her mother, but she knows it’s not, and that makes it all the more terrifying.
Her heart lurches as fear needles through her veins. Slowly, she looks back over her shoulder, careful not to jump at whatever may be looking back.
She meets a pair of glowing violet eyes, cut with a black slit, unmistakably reptilian and monstrous. The eyes are as big as her head, and it’s too dark to see anything else. Claudia’s blood is freezing solid in her skin, holding her completely still.
The monster is a snake, and it’s at least three times her size.
It’s only a nightmare, but she remembers the marks on her lips from where Dorian kissed her; the bite marks on her neck; the slice along her palm that’s still there. She can get hurt here.
Like Dorian said, she can get killed here.
“Dorian,” she whispers, eyeing the sky. “Help.”
Slowly, she steps back, careful of the crunch beneath her feet.
A haunting hiss slides through the snake’s teeth.
The trees around her shiver, dropping snow from the branches.
The snake leans in and flicks its tongue, sniffing her and releasing a growl that ticks like a bomb.
Claudia needs to run, but it’s like she’s forgotten how.
In two steps, her back is turned to the snake.
In five steps, she is far enough that she can’t feel its breath anymore.
In ten, she can hardly hear its hiss. In twenty, warmth returns to her legs and she remembers how to run.
Her feet beat at the path, slamming and sliding across black ice.
She collides with dozens of trees but never stops. Never, ever stops.
After running for what feels like an eternity, Claudia reaches what she can only assume is the edge of the entire realm.
There’s a steep snowy ledge hanging over a black blur of nothingness.
She almost falls, but she catches her balance and steps back, turning just in time to see the snake twist out from the trees. It slithers forward.
Claudia swallows hard when the snake’s violet eyes fall back on her. It angles its head low, ready to charge. This close, the freezing temperature of the air heightens the intensity of the snake’s hot breath.
The snake lurches forward, tearing through the cold air between them.
Claudia leaps back just in time to avoid the killing bite.
They’re now caught in a tense dance between life and death as they circle the snowy clearing as if it’s an arena.
Even from this distance, the heat of its breath makes her sweat.
Her eyes dart around, finding no sign of salvation.
The snake cuts through the snow until it passes her. Then it turns, letting the intimidating length of its body circle around Claudia so that she’s trapped before its jaws. Venom drips down its fangs.
Just before the monster takes her into its mouth, the sky makes a shattering sound as if it were made of glass.
The darkness cleaves itself in two, exposing a chasm of swirling light.
The force of it knocks her backward, and she falls on her back into a heap of snow.
Above her, striking greens and lavenders twist into one another and become outstretched arms, reaching down.
Warmth washes over Claudia, melting away all memory of the cold that sank into her bones.
Dorian comes from nowhere, appearing suddenly with his back to her.
He is all that stands between her and the snake.
At his command, the light in the sky reaches forward and wraps around the snake, plucking it from the world as if it never existed at all.
As quickly as the snake appeared, it’s gone, and the sky stitches itself back together like lips closing over a bite.
He turns to her. Those green eyes meet hers once again, and her terror becomes a long-distant memory.
“Dorian,” she whispers with relief.
“Hello, Starling,” he says, reaching for her.
Body trembling, she stands before him and throws her arms around his neck. His scent—mint and ice and ash—envelops her when she crumples in his arms from exhaustion and adrenaline.
“What happened? I wasn’t trying to come here. I didn’t—”
“I brought you here.” His tone is light, playful.
She pulls back, eyeing him with suspicion. “Why?”
He holds her by the waist and smiles. “Dance with me.” Her brow furrows when his hand slides to hers, and he takes her into a waltz, gliding through snow.
They dance to the beat of the wind, nose to nose.
An aura of intoxicating magic radiates from him.
With every inhale, she gets a taste of what waits for her just behind his lips.
Power.
His mouth hovers just above hers, breathing hints of magic into her when he speaks. “What did I tell you, Starling?”
“What do you mean?”
His grip tightens, and his claws dig into her skin. “I told you to stay away from Cassius MacLeod.”
She stiffens, struggling to follow his lead. “I know that, but we’re—”
“You broke your word.”
“He’s my debate partner. I can’t avoid him altogether.”
He jerks her forward, grazing her neck with his sharp teeth. “But did you have to get on your knees for him?”
Her pulse throbs in her throat. “You saw that?”
She tries to escape his grasp, but he only holds her tighter, closer, refusing to let her step out of their dance. His hand squeezes hers too hard. Her knuckles crunch, and she whimpers.
“Stop. You’re hurting me,” she snaps.
He laughs. “I haven’t even started.”
There’s something new—dark and menacing—in his glare, and it chills Claudia to her core. Her breathing becomes short and stuttering. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs.
Shadows lash out from his body and wrap around her throat. “You are lying.”
“No, I’m not.” Her voice struggles against his strong hold on her neck. “I’m sorry I had to break my promise. I didn’t think—”
“No, you did not.” A low growl rumbles in his throat. His eyes are cold and violently bright. He spins her too close to the ledge. She almost loses her balance.
“You’re getting distracted,” he scolds. “Need I remind you of your debt? You have to uphold your end of our bargain at all costs, above all else. Otherwise, I can’t let you stay at Cygnus.”
“What?” she cries. If she left Cygnus, she would lose everything—her magic, her chance at getting the blessing, her entire future.
He dips her low so that she’s hovering over the ledge. Below her is nothing but black.
“I could send you back to scrub your father’s blood from your floor. To marry that old man you despise. I could take everything back.”
She claws her way up his arm and wraps her arms around his back to keep from falling. It feels like her heart is leaking, like every bad feeling is pumping through every vein. Her jaw drops. Her eyes well with ice-cold tears, but she refuses to let them fall.
“No, you can’t.” She hates how soft and shaky her voice sounds.
“Of course I can. Make no mistake. I got you here, and I could just as easily take you away.”
Her body feels boneless. Spineless. Weak. “Why are you being so cruel?”
“Because this realm made me a monster, and you’re supposed to free me.
But instead of focusing on that, you’re fooling around with a MacLeod.
” He draws his mouth back in a snarl. “You need to be reminded. I own you, Claudia Jolicoeur. Not him. Me. And you will do what I say, or you will suffer the consequences.” When he cups her cheek, she’s sickened by his touch, but she can’t move.
She’s in his world now. Here, there is nowhere to run.
“I gave you so much. I got you into Cygnus. I gave you the key to this realm. I blessed you with power that should have stayed beyond your reach, and this is how you thank me? Crawling to another man while I rot here? I will give you nothing else. Until I decide otherwise, you will not see me again.”
“But what if I need you? What about the killer? You’re supposed to keep me safe.”
“You’re supposed to keep your promises.”
Her voice shakes when she says, “You can’t leave me to face everything alone.”
“Oh, Starling. Don’t you understand? My side of the bargain is fulfilled. I owe you nothing.” He grips her by the shoulders.
“You owe me everything,” he growls, and then he pushes her off the ledge.
When Claudia opens her eyes, she’s not in her bed.
She’s standing on the ledge of her balcony, toes curling over the balustrade.
Frigid wind snakes around her limbs, pulling her down.
Her hair whips in the wind like a torn flag.
When she realizes her position, her gasp is so forceful that she loses her footing, and with a night-piercing scream, she falls.