Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
Heliotrope
Vidaris holds her arm out, and her ruby-red lips stretch across her face, offset by her pearly teeth.
“I’ve been told you were once called the Prince’s Snake.” Her shrill voice grates against my ears. “A lovely name.”
Unease swirls in my gut as a piercing hissing noise echoes from her body.
With her arm still stretched out, her eyes gleam with pure joy.
The skin of her forearm ripples, and a slithering line winds its way toward her hand—pulsing beneath her flesh.
Once it reaches her palm, a spool of shadows snakes out and spills onto the ground.
They leak out of her as if she opened a faucet in her black and vile soul and was pouring them into this realm.
The hissing grows louder as the shadows morph into something new. They spin together, writhing and pulsating until the shape becomes distinctly animal. My blood runs cold as the last of the shadows clicks into place.
A snake—onyx in color, but with every catch of light, its scales shimmer maroon to match its deep red eyes.
It slithers toward me, slowly growing in size until it’s nearly the length of my body. A forked tongue slips out of its mouth, tasting the air around it.
The unease in my stomach roils into dread.
“It’s been a while since I’ve created something so inspiring, Prince’s Snake.
” She says the name with pure delight, all while her eyes shine like a child about to receive a gift they’ve eyed for winter solstice.
“I wonder how the nickname started.” A sharp smile.
“Sneaking into places you weren’t supposed to, or for the fear you instill in people. ”
Except not all people are afraid of snakes.
Lunaria didn’t cower once she figured out who I was. I’ll never forget the way her eyes sparked with a challenge—fire in her gaze as she lifted her chin and straightened her spine.
She didn’t have to pretend to be strong—she was strong. Is strong. Even with the stories that circulated the castle, she never once showed fear when I was in her presence. Only unyielding defiance.
Snakes are just misunderstood.
I huff out a laugh—one dead of any emotion.
Vidaris pauses. The snake is nearly to my feet.
“Something funny, Aegis?” Her head tilts to the side, assessing me as her grin slowly falls.
My nostrils flare, and I clench my teeth together to stop from flinching as the slimy creature grazes my bare feet—slithering against my ankles in a circle.
“Someone once told me that it’s often the men who flaunt their masculinity the most who are the biggest cowards.” I cling to the memory of her voice as the snake begins to wind up my right leg. “She was right, except next time I see her, I’ll tell her we need to add a goddess to that list.”
Vidaris snarls, her teeth bared at me.
“Do you know what it means to flaunt the power you have?” I hold her gaze as her creature makes its way around my torso, squeezing tighter and tighter as it climbs higher.
Slowly, my airway begins to close off as it reaches my neck, and I rasp, “It means you’re afraid to show how weak you truly are. ”
There’s a brief moment of reprieve from the crushing weight of the snake, its body still wound down my abdomen and right thigh. I find a small victory in the way she screams in frustration—in ruining her satisfaction of this moment.
I don’t know if I’ll ever see Lu again, or if I can even hold on to that hope anymore. But at least I have this.
“Remember,” Vidaris seethes, stalking toward me with her finger pointed. “You brought this upon yourself.”
My muscles tense, bracing for the pain as the hissing amplifies.
From the corner of my eye, I watch as the snake’s head hovers off of my shoulder. There isn’t anything to prepare me for what it does next. In the blink of an eye, it strikes. Razor-sharp teeth clamp down on my neck, and my vision bursts into a searing white nothingness.
Agony ripples through my body as it squeezes tighter, its teeth digging into my throat, compressing itself against me. The world feels as if it’s trapped behind glass—drowned out by the pain pulsating through me.
“Orior.” The moment the word leaves Vidaris’s mouth, the torment dissolves into nothingness. My vision blurs and a delicious heat rolls beneath my skin, cocooning me in sweet oblivion.
“Sweet Aegis.” My brain thrashes against the voice, but my body hums in pleasure at the sound of it. “Won’t you tell me how you’re feeling?”
I want to sneer—to laugh with a bitterness that makes her lip curl up in disgust—but my body doesn’t do that. Instead, I feel my lips pull into a smile. I fight against it, screaming into my mind as confusion and panic begin to set in.
The hissing begins again, whispering a language I can’t understand into my ear.
My smile grows against my will.
“Lucky,” my mouth says. “Blessed to be here with my goddess.”
It’s as if someone else is speaking, my mind caged within while my body moves of its own accord.
The hissing intensifies, and the world slips away as unconsciousness pulls me into the warmth of its arms.