The Serpent Queen (Wicked Souls #1)

Chapter 1

The Throne Room

“Bring him in.”

The hinges groaned as the blood-red wooden doors swung open, the metal chains of tonight’s entertainment rattling along the white marble floors as my guards escorted him in.

I inhaled deeply, relishing the bitter smell reeking off the disheveled man as he wearily approached my throne.

His movements were sluggish—anyone’s would be after staying a week in my dungeons with no food.

The scent of his fear caused a shiver to run down my spine, and I took another deep breath, craving more of his delicious scent.

His fear was like my own personal drug, making me feel things I’d long forgotten.

It was intoxicating to be the one who elicited fear, instead of the one who lived in its constant shadows.

My guards tugged on the man’s arms, halting him from coming any closer, stopping just short of the six marble steps leading up to my throne.

I looked down my nose at the filthy, pitiful man, my lip curling into the smile I’d mastered throughout the years of being the Serpent Queen.

“Kneel.”

The traitor lifted his pointy chin in defiance, then had the gall to spit on the first step.

Fabulous, it was going to be one of those nights.

One of my guards reacted instantly, using a spiked baton to hit the man in the back of the knees. I offered a nod of approval as a loud crack rang out through the room. My prisoner groaned in agony when his knees crashed into the marble tiles.

What a pleasant sound.

My satisfied hum filled the otherwise silent throne room. “That’s better. Now, state your name.”

A few audience members coughed, clearing their throats in an effort to dispel the tension rising in the air like a burst of heat.

“Are you deaf? I said. State. Your. Name.” Two loud hisses suddenly distracted me from the anger ringing in my ears.

A cool sensation skittered across my skin, and then my snakes were descending my arms, their sights set on the prey before us. As they moved into position, my prisoner finally had the decency to appear frightened, his trembling hands causing his chains to clank irritatingly against the floor.

“T-t-travi-is,” the man stuttered, while trying to hide his quivering hands.

I audibly exhaled, raising my left hand and bringing my scarlet serpent, Ember, to eye level. She stared back at me, her eyes as dark as the night sky. Her tongue flicked once at my face.

Speaking in a hushed tone, I conspired with my snake. “You have first dibs if he doesn’t cooperate.”

A satisfied hiss was her only reply as I rested my arm back on the black wood of my throne. A haughty rattling drew my attention to my right arm, where my black snake furiously gazed at me with his scarlet eyes.

I brought the hissing baby closer to my face. “Don’t worry, Dante. There will be plenty of the pathetic man to go around.” I raised my voice. “I will make sure you get a piece of our prisoner while he is still alive, just as you like.”

Dante let out a small, annoyed hiss, but my words eased him enough to stop his tail from insistently rattling. I straightened, settling my gaze on Travis once more.

His light colored trousers now bore a dark stain right over his crotch, and the smell of urine wafted toward me.

A sinister smile crept along my blood-red lips. “Travis, do you know why you are kneeling before my throne?”

He mumbled in a tone too low to make out, even for an immortal like me who had impeccable hearing.

My guard frowned, disdain further crinkling the fine lines around his eyes. Swiftly, he smacked Travis in the back with his spiked baton. “Speak up when addressing the Queen!”

I nodded at my guard, admiring the brutality behind his strike.

Travis’s eyes pinched with pain, but he was smart enough to raise his voice. “I am here because I broke one of your commandments.”

I bobbed my head with an air of condescension. “Very good! And do you know what happens when we break a commandment, Travis?”

His clinking chains steadied as his gaze dragged off the floor and met mine, his brown eyes filling with anger. “As queen, you are supposed to protect us, not use us purely for your own selfish entertainment.”

Some audience members gasped, while others muttered notions of agreement.

Biting the inside of my cheek, I swallowed my rage at the unrest filtering throughout the room.

Do not let them see any weakness, Seera.

My voice shook the black, stone walls as I stood.

“I can do whatever I please as queen. Does anyone else dare to defy me and join this man?” I pointed a sharp nail at Travis, while scanning the audience for more traitors.

My snakes hissed at the crowd, daring someone to speak out so their meal would double in size.

All murmuring ceased.

I smirked at my people. “That’s what I thought. Remember your place, mortals.”

My heels clacked against the marble stairs as I slowly descended them, my sights set on the easy prey below me.

“You broke commandment five: Thou shalt not worship or pray to any god besides thy Queen.” My tone was tantalizing, like a mother scolding her child.

A tone I was all too familiar with.

I was close enough to see Travis’s nostrils flare. “Maybe your people wouldn’t feel the need to pray to the gods if our Queen wasn’t such a soulless bitch.”

The audience erupted in a chorus of shocked gasps, but, after spearing them with a vicious glare, they snapped their jaws closed.

Rolling my neck side to side, I stopped right in front of my prisoner.

“Oh, Travis.” I knelt lower, bringing my face closer to his. “If only you behaved like a good boy while speaking to your Queen, perhaps I would’ve offered you a kinder death.” I tapped my prisoner’s nose with a finger, pulling a delicious growl from him while he lurched for me.

My guards anticipated his defiance, swiftly yanking him back by his shoulders and ceasing his pathetic attempt to harm me.

I turned on my heel and ascended the marble stairs of the dais, letting the weight of my black dress adorned with a dripping red lace train ground me as I geared up for the climax of tonight’s show.

With a grand spin, I fluffed my dress and sat back on my throne. “Ember, he is all yours.”

Tantalizingly slow, my serpent slithered off my arm, her black eyes locked onto her next meal. Travis attempted to scramble backward, all previous rage washing off his face as his mouth parted. I inhaled fiercely, savoring the bitter taste of his fear.

“Please! I’m sorry!” My prisoner shouted, trying his best to push against my guards, but their shackle-like grip held him still.

As Travis pathetically tried to break free, Ember descended the dais, prompting him to use what was left of his feeble energy on one final shove backward.

One of my guards simply pressed his boot into Travis’s back.

The kick was forceful enough to make him pitch forward, smacking his face hard against the tiles.

A smear of blood shone on the stark white marble, causing a smile to slither across my face.

My throne room was the only room with white floors for this exact reason.

I reveled at the sight of fresh blood spilling at my feet.

Eventually, Travis pulled himself off the floor, only to reveal his nose was jutting sideways at a crooked angle.

It was clearly broken, yet he didn’t cry out in pain.

Instead, it was fear that made him scream as he looked up and saw Ember, now right in front of his face.

Her red tongue darted out as she hissed at him, making tears spill down his grimy face.

“Please,” he whimpered, foolishly hoping to gain sympathy from my scarlet snake.

I sent a command down our mental bond: Finish him.

Without hesitation, Ember lurched forward, quickly coiling herself around Travis’s neck. Her long body easily wrapped around him twice, tightening with terrifying strength, making my prisoner sputter for air.

I turned to Dante, who watched his sister with jealous irritation as Travis’s lips began to turn blue.

“I promised you a piece of him while he was still alive, didn’t I?”

His black head turned toward me. “Go, join your sister, and make sure to give our people a reminder as to why they should never dare to defy us again.”

His red eyes flared with excitement, and he dipped his head in agreement. Dante sprung from the throne, rapidly slithering down the steps to happily join Ember in torturing Travis. Ember glanced at Dante as he approached, and I sent her one more command:

Release your grip a little so your brother can have a piece of him while he is still alive.

Her irritated hiss rattled through my mind, but I saw she obeyed since Travis gulped down a desperate lungful of air. The moment he opened his mouth wide for another sweet bit of oxygen, Dante struck.

He dove headfirst into my prisoner’s mouth, making Travis’s eyes bulge as Dante wiggled further down his throat. A gurgled scream intertwined with the rattling of my serpent’s tail, the bottom half of his long body still poking out of Travis’s mouth.

While Dante slithered further inside the man’s body, a multitude of horrified gasps echoed through the room, one person in the front row even going as far as to retch at the sight of my snakes working together to destroy the traitor.

Ember constricted her body once more around Travis’s neck, causing his eyes to roll to the back of his head. His body went limp, and Ember uncoiled herself from around his neck, her job now finished.

She slithered up the dais, joining me once more on the throne.

A satisfied hum tumbled from my lips when her heavy body slithered over my shoulders, for my snake's heavy weight always grounded me. Ember finished her ascent, resting her head atop one of the sharp branches twined within my black hair—I hated wearing crowns, so this wooden perch designated for my serpents was the closest I’d ever come to wearing any semblance of one.

As I brushed my finger with the grain of my snake’s scales, Ember’s small hiss of delight enveloped me. Our moment of celebration was in direct contrast from the sobs that tore through the audience, yet my people fell silent when they saw movement beneath Travis’s shirt.

The fools probably thought he was still alive, but a serpentine smile spread across my blood-red lips, because I knew what was to come.

Dante shot out of Travis’s abdomen, tearing his flesh along with shirt as his razor-sharp fangs came into view. I breathed in hungrily while screams erupted around me.

Little did my people know, their fear didn’t upset me—it fueled me.

I ravenously gulped down the bitter scent, but I stopped when a twinge of vomit drifted into my nose.

I inwardly groaned at my people’s rather weak stomachs. I never understood why they thought violence was so repulsive.

The chaos filtering through the throne room didn’t phase Dante. He paid them no mind while he continued to eagerly devour the man’s organs.

I pushed off the stone armrest, straightening to tower over my people. I glanced at Dante, who consumed poor Travis as if he hadn’t eaten in days.

Considering I had at least two weekly executions, my snake was being a drama queen.

Dante, come. Leave some of him for the others in the Pit.

I tapped my foot while I waited for Dante to finally acknowledge me.

His scarlet eyes dragged to mine, blood dripping down his chin and coating his tongue as he flicked it out at me.

Regardless of his persistent attitude, he followed my command in the end and ascended the dais.

With him assuming his position on the twin branch atop my head, right beside his sister, tonight’s show was complete.

“This is what happens when you cross your queen and break a commandment.” I pointed at the mutilated body. “Let this serve as a warning to you all.”

With a poised and practiced smile, I waved to my disciples.

“I hope you all enjoyed tonight’s show. You are dismissed. I shall see some of you very soon.” My dress grandly fluttered into the air as I threw the train behind me and turned sharply on my heel.

I opted to descend the stairs at the back of my throne, which provided an easy, quick exit. It was essential to have multiple escape routes when ruling as the Serpent Queen, should my people ever get the foolish urge to try to assassinate me again.

A ghost of a smile danced upon my lips as my guards chanted all hail the Serpent Queen, and I stole one more greedy breath of air on my way out.

As I left Travis’s guts behind for some unfortunate servant to deal with, I let my people’s fear soak into the empty spot in my chest—the exact spot where my soul used to be.