Chapter 27
The Tumble
Iwas not anticipating the extreme velocity at which the portal spit me into the Emerald Glades.
It was possible this exit felt different from my other experiences because I traveled a much greater distance.
Yet, I cursed the king for not warning me about such a change as I tucked my knees to my chest and barreled into this strange, new realm.
Covering my head, my skirts swirling around me as I tumbled, whipping harshly against my face.
My skin burned as twigs and leaves whipped around me, scattering across the forest floor.
After what felt like a century, I came to a crashing halt, and my body slammed into something solid, making a loud crack ring through the otherwise quiet glade.
Slowly, I lowered my hands from shielding my head, blinking slowly as I tried to comprehend the vast world around me.
Towering high above, there was a tree unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
Its trunk was so large it would be unthinkable to wrap my arms fully around it.
I blinked harder, willing my head to stop spinning.
Since I was far too dizzy to stand without collapsing, I remained lying on the ground, all the while watching an animal drift between the branches high above in the canopy of the jungle. My mind raced as I tried to figure out what animal it was . . .
A monkey! That’s what it was.
Back when I spent my days reading in my tower, there was one story I loved about a princess and a thief. The thief had a monkey as a friend and accomplice. He was my favorite character in the book—such a sassy, scrappy, yet clever little thing.
Gods, why did I ever stop reading?
Staring at the creature, I felt something swirl through my chest, but a nearby rustling had my head swiveling to see what was lurking nearby.
Relief flooded through my veins when I realized it wasn’t a massive predator trying to eat me alive.
Instead, I was greeted by a gorgeous orange snake slithering along a low-hanging tree branch.
Its cerulean blue eyes found mine, and it let out a soft hiss—almost like it was saying hello to me.
My rapidly beating heart calmed upon hearing the familiar sound, my eyes drifting closed to savor the snake’s steady cooing.
Something about this place felt oddly comforting, as if I was carried off to a land I once dreamed of.
Warmth flooded my cheeks, and I cracked an eye open. I was met with a stream of sunlight peeking through the thick canopy of trees. As it danced across my skin, a harmony of happy hisses flooded my mind.
I nearly thanked the gods that my snakes were still with me. Which meant my powers extended across realms. I tucked that very useful bit of knowledge away for later.
A crunching noise, like someone eating, stole my attention back to the lush jungle.
Was that—?
Indeed, a sloth ever so slowly crept along a branch, stopping along the way to munch on leaves.
The furry creature’s claws were exceedingly long, so much so I thought I should feel a twinge of nervousness with it hanging nearby .
. . but how could I fear an animal with such an adorable face?
Its lips were tugged into a lazy, content smile, and a strange urge crashed into me to scoop the fuzzy animal into my arms to cuddle it.
Where the fuck did that come from?
There was that odd sensation from earlier rattling through my chest . . . what was it? Wonder? Awe?
A delirious cackle bubbled from my lips at how insane I must look in this moment, with my limbs tangled around the base of a ginormous tree, my skirts all torn and ruffled, as I contemplated cuddling an animal for the first time in my life.
I was certain I looked nothing like the Serpent Queen, but, in the safety of the solitude of the forest with only the critters as witnesses, I didn’t care.
It was the first time I felt free to just be.
Yet, my jovial mood was short lived when a loud crack split through the air, and I saw the leaves high above furiously shaking. That's when I saw a thick tree branch thrice as long as I was crashing through the canopy . . . and headed straight for me.
I tried to leap to my feet, but something tugged me backward, making me slam back into the dirt floor.
Quickly glancing over my shoulder, I saw what prevented me from escaping—my skirts were tangled within the roots of the tree I crashed into.
Panic speared through my gut when I glanced up and saw the branch had rotated—a point as sharp as an arrow was now facing down while gaining speed.
I yanked my skirts with all my might, but my hands were vehemently shaking from the panic sinking its claws into me.
Every time I pulled on my garments, it was as if they further tangled into the roots, almost like the tree was somehow growing in real time.
The hair on the back of my neck prickled as nausea passed through my gut—it looked like the tree wanted to devour my skirts, like it wanted to consume me.
“What the fuck,” I breathed in disbelief as I saw the roots move, my insane theory becoming reality before my eyes.
I glanced once more above, seeing I was seconds away from finding out if an immortal could survive being speared to death.
I doubted the odds would be on my side, since they rarely were.
For the first time in seventy-five years, I was truly scared.
But maybe, it was time for me to give up on a fight I was never going to win—not only the fight with these stupid tree roots, but the one with my people.
Maybe, this wasn’t such a bad thing, for it was what I deserved after all I had destroyed.
Maybe it was time to retire from my reign as the Serpent Queen and meet whatever lies beyond in the Land of the Wicked.
All my fight left me as I let the darkness I fought to keep at bay everyday invaded my thoughts. My eyes fluttered closed, because I didn’t want to see when the spear-like branch would pierce through my black heart.
Deep down, I knew an immortal couldn’t survive such a fatal wound, so I whispered a prayer.
A final, desperate plea to atone for my sinful life as the Serpent Queen, in hopes there would be one kind god listening. If they were, I hoped they would let whatever shreds of my soul that remained rest when I perished.
I didn’t deserve what I prayed for, but I did so anyway. It provided a false sense of comfort, one thing even a monster craved during their final moments.
As I muttered the last words of my plea and stole a final breath of warm forest air, the sensation of floating came over me. An unforeseeable strength snaked underneath my arms, yanking me backward with a brutal force—it all happened too fast for me to comprehend.
Then, my back was crashing into the hard ground at the same moment an ear-splitting sound shook the forest. The tree branch that was on track to end my life must have reached its final destination.
Slowly, I fluttered my eyes open, still not convinced I survived. Perhaps, I was about to be greeted with the lands where wicked souls went after winking out from existence.
My vision was hazy at first, but then a familiar, lush green canopy of trees blinked into view. The monkeys remained swinging from branch to branch, and birds sang while they flitted between the trees.
I was alive.
Maybe the gods were listening . . .
A groan sounded beneath me, making my breath catch.
Wasn’t I lying on the forest floor, so why did the ground sound like it was moaning?
Slowly, I glanced over my shoulder, preparing myself to be greeted with a magical forest floor that might swallow me whole.
Instead, I was met with piercing green eyes glinting with mischief.
Much to my horror, I was lying directly on top of the Serpent King.