32. Zendaya
Chapter 32
Zendaya
W hen my eyes finally peel open, Enzo is resting beside me at the bottom of the Amkhuti, his green scales flush against my pink ones. My grandmother might not have drained the Amkhuti of water this time, but she’s drained it of sea life. Was she worried fish would pick at our inert bodies and disturb our slumber?
I shift into flesh, then kick my legs to circle around Enzo. The instant my palm grazes his cheek, his eyes snap wide, and then he too morphs into skin. You’re awake!
I smile. Yes, and so are you.
I woke up two days ago, Day. Considering the dark hue staining the skin beneath his eyes, I take it that he hasn’t slept since then.
Two days? How long have I been out?
Almost a week.
As we float to the surface, I reach out and take his hand to give it a squeeze. Thank you for staying with me.
You’re my… You’re like my mother. He manages to redden underwater. Actually, you’re nothing alike, because she wasn’t very nice. But it wasn’t her fault, he’s quick to add. She was overworked.
I know his life story, even though it took him a while to confide in me. At first, I believed it was because he was wary, but later came to understand that he avoided talking of his past because it depressed him.
Enzo’s mother worked in a human brothel—a place where coin is exchanged against sexual favors. He was an undesirable byproduct of her job. Instead of raising him, she sent her baby to live with her father on the other side of Luce. When Enzo was nine, he came home from the market to find his beloved grandfather and house turned to ash. His neighbor was the one to explain that the soldiers had come for the tithe and his grandfather couldn’t pay it.
After sleeping in the streets, he started working on fishing boats to earn coin to pay for a corner of hay inside a barn. I can still remember his look of sheer disbelief the night of our arrival when Asha and I showed him to an apartment in the palace’s guest wing. His eyes had grown so large, I’d worried he would shift right there and then. His quiet wonder had sloughed off a layer of my antipathy. I shed the rest of it like a molting land serpent— all at once —for the boy had done nothing to merit my scorn.
The second our heads break the surface, Asha’s voice detonates through the air with an, “Abrax, she’s up! Go tell the queen.”
I meet my guard’s concerned eyes, catch the bob of his throat before he sprints toward the palace.
Asha is sitting on a sofa I had made for her right on the cliff so she didn’t have to sit on stone while we swam. Her blistered fingers work a strip of green paper into a serpent which she tosses, after completion, into a wicker basket overflowing with multi-hued origami. “Seven days,” she says matter-of-factly. “ Seven. Days .”
“I heard.” I paddle toward the stone edge. “I sense a lecture coming.”
“You’re right, but it won’t be coming from me.” She flicks her gaze in the direction of the palace.
Of course …The queen. I’ve no doubt she’ll have much to say about my extensive convalescence. “They’re both cured, right?”
Asha snatches another strip of paper—orange this time. “Yes.”
“Then it was worth it.” As I grab ahold of the ladder, I press my hair aside, catching the glimmer of the magical band on my bicep. My heart quickens, creating little ripples around my body. “Hey, Asha, how does bargaining work? Does the supernatural being need be present to claim a bargain?”
“Afraid your grandmother’s about to strike one with you to prevent you from healing other birds?”
“Yes,” I lie.
“You should be,” she mumbles while Enzo stares at my arm.
Present from Erwin?
I nod as Asha explains, “Once struck, you can call forth a bargain from anywhere in the realm, so even if you—let’s say—went to Luce to cure the others”—she slants me a look to tell me that yes, she heard me discuss healing them with Erwin —“she could make it impossible for you to dart your tongue out and risk your life.”
Note to self, never strike a bargain with Taytah. “My life wasn’t in danger.”
“Perhaps not, but what of your health? What if this begins to chip away at your body and mind?” Her hands come apart so fast that her serpent-in-progress sails into the pearlescent moat. “Your convalescence took twice as long as last time, Day. Twice. That cannot possibly be a good sign.”
I pinch the miniature paper tusk, tuck it into the top of my bathing suit, then seize the rungs and climb. Asha’s gaze draws up and down my figure. “You’re wasting away.”
My stomach has become a little concave and the bones in my thighs do jut out. Even my breasts seem to have lost some of their bounce. “Nothing a few meals won’t fix. I’m rave…” I frown as my neck tingles from the weight of someone’s gaze. I twist around, coming nose to fabric with a robe that Enzo is holding out to me. When I don’t divest him of it, he takes my hand and guides it through the wide sleeve, then repeats the process with my other arm, before belting it around me with the care of a parent.
A twig snaps. I see nothing yet feel something. Someone. A creature or a human? Both , my mind says.
“You owe me a new uniform, Day. I had to do a ton of stress-eating while I waited on the two of you.” Asha gets to her feet, tugging on the hem of her red tunic that creases around her ample bosom.
Enzo stutters that he thinks she’s never looked more beautiful, which makes a grin reshape her face.
My guard juts her chin toward me. “I’m mad at her. Not at you, abi .”
Again, my nape prickles. I squint over my shoulder but the slap of sandals against stone coupled with the sound of my name being trilled through the brightening air redirects my attention toward the palace path.
My grandmother’s eyes glisten like rubies as she closes in on me, casting her honeysuckle scent far and wide. I’m ready for a sermon but what I receive instead is a silent, bone-crushing hug and a susurrated, “Please don’t do this again, emMoti.”
Once she releases me, she moves to Enzo, frames his face and bends it toward hers. She murmurs a, “Thank you for staying with my child,” then kisses his retracted tusk, a habit she fell into almost naturally.
The queen asks for breakfast to be served immediately, then steals my arm and turns me. But not before I catch a shadow breaking away from a tree and streaking upward before solidifying into a Crow. If my grandmother notices the lurker, she doesn’t mention him or her. Probably Erwin or Imogen come to check whether the slumbering Serpent has risen. Although, wouldn’t Erwin come over and talk to me?
I think of the bargain he owes me and how best to go about collecting it. I realize I could ask him to bring me an almost-dead body, but what if the person doesn’t deserve a second chance at life? Also, Enzo should have a say.
As we walk toward the courtyard, Taytah fills me in on all the unrest in Luce and how the death toll is mounting. She says this with so little emotion that it feels as though the loss of life doesn’t disturb her all that much.
I stop walking. “That’s terrible, Taytah.”
“They had it coming.”
“The Crows were immobilized for five centuries. How exactly did they have it coming?”
“The Fae are the ones dying. They kept humans practically enslaved and treated half-bloods so poorly for so many centuries that it’s only natural revenge is being sought.” She lowers her voice to add, “Some of these attacks are done with the Crows’ consent.”
My eyebrows quirk because, although I don’t doubt the Crows are not fans of all Faeries, last I heard, Lorcan was trying to achieve peace. Encouraging upheavals seems counterintuitive. “And you hold this news from which source? Have you visited Luce while I slept?”
“Kanti arrived two days ago when news reached her of what you’d done and that you weren’t recovering.” She says this sternly, as though to impress upon me her discontent. “She was worried.”
My tail, she was worried. Kanti was probably on the first ship—or Crow—over to check on my vitals. Even when I could barely understand Shabbin, her desire to succeed Priya never eluded me.
Before my grandmother can catch my hostile thoughts, I take her arm and start walking. “Isn’t Justus Rossi a High Fae? Doesn’t the slaughter of pointy-eared people disturb him?”
“He works for Lorcan.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“That a general obeys his ruler, otherwise, they lose their position. Or their life. Fallon may consider Justus a grandfather, but he isn’t. If he doesn’t prove his allegiance to the Crows, his blood will color the canals of Tarecuori just like the former Regio supporters.” She pats my hand. “Order will come, but it will not come overnight. And yes, it will bear a high cost. Such is the fate of a divided empire.”
When we reach the dining table, it’s already laden with every dish imaginable, and set for many. In spite of our dismal conversation, my stomach rumbles. “Are we expecting others, Taytah?”
“Kanti will be joining us.” To a guard, she asks if she’s been awakened. The guard nods.
My appetite dwindles a smidgeon.
Why don’t we like Kanti, Day?
A smile blooms over my wariness at the preposition that Enzo has used— we . We do not like her because she desires the Shabbin crown so much that I sometimes worry how far she’d go to win it.
Minutes later, Behati’s granddaughter joins us. Enzo’s mouth gapes wide at the sight of her, probably stunned by her beauty.
Not why I gaped. Enzo seizes his juice and sips.
I tilt my head, waiting to hear what arrested him if it isn’t her looks.
She swam down toward us yesterday.
“You must be the green Serpent. Enzo, right? I’ve heard so much about you.” Kanti shakes out her napkin and places it on her lap. “How incredible that she made you. You were human before, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Yes, I w-was.”
“And now you’re a shifter. How incredible.”
The weight of Enzo’s quizzical stare leads me to say, She wasn’t a fan of me before, Enzo. I believe having the power to create more Serpents doesn’t please her.
Why?
Either because she believes I’ll use it to create an army of shifters, or because she worries my new “edge” will sway who gets the throne.
You could heal Crows before. That’s quite the edge, no?
A practical power, but not a dangerous one.
Our noiseless conversation doesn’t go unnoticed. At least, not by Asha or Abrax. Kanti, on the other hand, is so busy gushing to the queen about all she’s achieved since reaching Tarespagia that she’s no longer paying attention to the incredible Serpents.
“I planted listening sigils in every dissident hideout. I almost fainted from how much blood I had to part with. Actually, I did swoon a little, but I did that on purpose because that landed me a stay in the governor’s house.” She drops her voice to add, “The male’s no fan of Lorcan or Cathal—for personal reasons.” She slides me a look. “Antoni has a great instinct for people, so consider yourself lucky the Mahananda selected a new mate for you, chacha.”
How odd to hear Kanti call me cousin, when technically, she’s centuries older than I am.
She scoops up a few slices of charred avocado and layers them on a bed of sprouts. “He likes all the other Crows. If it wasn’t for him, they wouldn’t be in power.”
I dip my finger into a dollop of spicy, pureed beans and carry it to my lips, which earns me a grimace from Kanti who doesn’t eat anything without utensils, not even sundried fruit. “What personal reasons made him single out Lorcan and Cathal?”
The explosion of flavor against my palate is so beautiful that I rattle, which deepens the twist of Kanti’s mouth. I know she finds me beastly. I heard her tell Behati when she assumed I was still non-fluent in Shabbin.
“Fallon,” Kanti says.
The name of my daughter halts my rattle.
“Your daughter had Antoni tossed out of the Sky Castle like disloyal scum, even though he risked his life many times over so she could awaken Lorcan.”
I plant my elbows on the table. “My daughter wouldn’t have tossed out an innocent man.”
Kanti’s snort slides under my human skin. “Anyway, thanks to my listening sigils, Antoni and I have managed to squelch six uprisings.”
“However is he faring without you at his side?” I deadpan.
“I know.” Kanti sighs, cutting into her avocado and slipping a piece into her mouth. After she’s swallowed, she says, “It was hard to leave, but when I heard that healing Erwin kept you in scales for so long, I immediately came home to lend Priya strength.” She reaches over and squeezes the queen’s forearm.
The queen stares at Kanti’s slender fingers before moving her arm away. “You shouldn’t stay away from Luce for too long, my dear. You’re obviously greatly needed there.”
Again, Kanti sighs an, “I know.” After another bite of her greens, she adds, “I hope Antoni is the man the Mahananda foresaw me seducing, because he’s delicious. And he would also make a terrific king. You should see the way he governs the west. Unlike the Siorkahd who executes without trial, he gives everyone a fair hearing. The men and women under his command have such respect for him. I can’t wait for you to meet him. I could have him sail over this evening?”
“I met Governor Greco at Fallon’s coronation,” Priya says.
“For like, a second, because Daya couldn’t control her animal.”
Enzo white-knuckles his fork and knife. Is my placid-tempered Serpent picturing planting his utensils inside Kanti? Do love sigils exist? The burst of his voice through the bond combined with the tenure of his question startles a frown onto my face.
Not love sigils, but there exists a seduction sigil. It’ll wear off unless reapplied regularly, though.
Then Kanti is either using those on Antoni or she’s lying about his rapture.
What made you reach this conclusion?
I know Antoni Greco from when he was a boat captain in Tarelexo. He was one of the kindest men I ever worked for. He would always slip me an extra coin and made sure my belly was full when I pretended I wasn’t hungry. He also let me sleep on his fishing boat in the dead of winter when the barn got too cold. Antoni might lay with a woman like Kanti, but he’d never fall for her.
Kanti’s a very powerful woman.
Antoni’s governor now. I doubt he hungers for power.
I hear crowns make people more attractive.
Enzo’s black eyes taper on Kanti’s brow. I don’t see any crown.
She wants one.
Asha said it was yours by birthright. He leans back in his chair.
It may have been destined for me in my past life, but I no longer have blood magic.
Blood magic doesn’t make you Shabbin; it makes you a sorceress. He gestures toward Abrax who stands to the side with three other male guards. Unless you don’t consider the men in the queendom Shabbin?
When did you get so wise, Enzo Fronz?
Not wisdom. Just observational skills. That crown is still yours.
I don’t even know if I want it.
Even if you didn’t, there’s no way the Mahananda will give it to Kanti. I’d stake my ability to shift on that.
I hiss at him. Never make such bets, not even in jest. Please. I care about you far too much now.
A boyish grin seizes his young face. One that grows in intensity when Asha snatches a bowl of fried zucchini blossoms and spoons four onto Enzo’s already heaped plate. Though she moves around the table, holding out the glazed ceramic dish for the rest of us to serve ourselves, her pink gaze sticks to my fellow Serpent’s plate like barnacles on turtle shells.
I smile. You better eat before Asha spoon-feeds you in public.
Enzo grips his fork, hunches over to approach his face to his plate, then begins to shovel food into his mouth. He barely swallows before gulping down the next bite. I sense he isn’t doing it solely for Asha’s sake. I sense he’s starving.
You should’ve eaten while I rested.
I ate some seaweed and cockles.
That isn’t enough for a growing boy.
I’m nineteen. Doubt I’m still growing, Day.
You’re putting on muscle.
I wish, he mumbles.
They will come.
Even though Kanti is talking to my grandmother about Mahananda only knows what, her attention is on Enzo, her nose scrunched in horror. Though Asha has instructed my Serpent on how to hold his fork and knife properly, it isn’t second-nature to him. According to Asha, “old habits die hard.” Every time she utters the phrase, my mind drifts to the woman I was before and I wonder: did she have habits?
I’ve asked Priya, but she doesn’t like speaking about who I was before, reminding me that I’m not her. She’s right. I’m not the princess with the pink eyes and dark hair who resurrected a dormant king before giving birth to a curse-breaker. I’m the hollowed-out shifter with the odd face and odder tongue.
“Easy there, abi .” The queen pats Enzo’s hand, cutting off Kanti midsentence. “We wouldn’t want you to choke.”
He gulps down his mouthful. “S-Sorry, Sumaca.”
“We’ve gone over this. I want you to call me Priya, not Sumaca.”
His head bobs with an abrupt nod.
A nerve jumps in Kanti’s jaw. I don’t have to read her mind to know that she disapproves of the privilege my grandmother has bestowed on my Serpent. “How tight you’ve all gotten in my absence.”
The queen cants her head. “You say this as though it were unfortunate. Were you hoping I wouldn’t appreciate the Mahananda’s choice of mate for my granddaughter?”
Her utterance of the word mate strengthens my desire to call upon Erwin.
After breakfast .
After I speak with Enzo in private.
Kanti shrugs. “You weren’t partial to her last mate. Then again, he’s an uncivilized brute with an ego the size of his spirit animal.”
It isn’t a hiss that flows off my tongue but a rumble, one that makes Kanti roll her eyes and my grandmother narrow hers. I’m guessing she didn’t realize I still had affection for Cathal Báeinach.
“He’s the father of my child, Kanti.” Though my posture is rigid, I square my shoulders some more. “I will not have you—or anyone else—denigrate him. Am I understood?”
Kanti snorts. “Shabbe’s a free world, Daya. Freedom of thought. Freedom of speech. It’s inked in our constitution. Haven’t you read it?” She bites her lip, then leans over the table and drops her voice to add, “That was insensitive of me.”
A frown pleats my brow.
“The queen mentioned that your dearth of reading and writing skills were a sore spot, but here I am, blabbering about them. Please forgive me.” She flings me a smile that is as artificial as her apology.
If only Kanti could go slumber in the Mahananda…
I could push her in, Enzo offers.
No. My sharp interjection has his spine pinching straight. Not only would harm befall you, but a sorceress must also choose death, otherwise the Mahananda will send her right back.
A shame.
Enzo, please be careful with your thoughts. The Mahananda hears all.
If it does, then why isn’t it punishing Kanti?
It sent her away from Shabbe, I find myself thinking. I must think it into the bond because Enzo blinks wide eyes at me.
Admittedly, I never considered her departure a punishment, but what if it was? What if the Mahananda’s intent when sending her to Luce wasn’t only to seduce one of Lorcan’s enemies? How mysterious you are, Mahananda.
Find Agrippina.
I frown at Enzo who is, again, bent over his food. What?
He glances up at me, eyebrows tilted. What? he echoes.
What did you just say?
His frown deepens, but then he says, I asked you why it wasn’t punishing Kanti.
After that.
I didn’t say anything after that.
My skin pebbles for if he didn’t advise me to locate the woman who gave birth to my daughter, then who did? As I stare past Kanti’s shoulder at the source of all magic, the tingling grows so pronounced that I palm my arms. And then I shake my head because I’m obviously losing my mind.
The Mahananda only speaks to the queen, and last I checked, that wasn’t me.
Since Kanti’s back to boxing Priya’s ears with her cleverness, I fathom it’s one of the guards. But which one? And why do they want to find Agrippina? Because the Mahananda is ready to heal her broken mind?