Page 56

“Archer, my son. You’ve come home for the Harvest Festival. How… lovely.” His eyes flickered to mine, wavering along my streak of neval. He clicked his tongue. “And you’ve brought North Colindale’s daughter with you. How strange.”

I lowered my chin. “Yes, sir. Your realm is beautiful, and your home is breathtaking,” I stuttered.

He stared at Archer’s hand on me. “Flattery will get you nowhere, darling. Archer, you seem to be leaving. Surely, you can stay one more night for your dear old father.”

My veins chilled under the weight of the Serpent’s voice. He had no idea I was up for taking his title.

I squeezed Archer’s elbow, and he grinned, choking his words in a rush. “Of course, Father.”

To crumble before someone was not weakness; it was suffering, and I wished for a night’s breadth to see fear cling to his eyes. Instead, I saw raw vulnerability when the sun dimmed next.

And so the bat of his father crept past us, welcoming Archer and me into his cave.

The next hour was filled with the sound of silverware on plates as we ate fire-roasted zucchini and sea-salted pork. Their aide kept her head low tonight, hidden in shadows in the corner of the dining room, not daring to speak a word or join us as she had the night before.

A wave of anxiety thrummed through me whenever Victor’s eyes swayed over me. All it would take was one question: “What is your quell?” And he’d know I was a Summer and in line to become his heir. He must suspect.

“I hear your brother is the Malvoria Institute of Guards commander. Charles, right? I was there for three days. Does he ever have those initiations in line?” Victor said between bites of zucchini.

“It’s a shame he never went on to accept the title.

He could have been a Serpent, a powerful one at that. ”

My fork slipped, clanging on the wooden table. “Charles enjoys his career. I’m sure he could have been a great Serpent.” My voice was quiet, and I thought Victor might yell at me to speak louder.

“Well, now that Kian is a Shadow, I must ensure Damien succeeds. I would not want some stranger coming onto my land. I know your father was hopeful at least one of his children would become his heir. You can thank your Scavenger mut of a mother for that. For lack of a better word, her entire bloodline is mud.”

I gripped the knife, contemplating stabbing his throat with it. “Excuse me. How dare—”

Kian’s eyes widened to saucers. “Father, tell me about your latest travels. Malvoria is a long way from here.”

My fingers curled around the dining room table. “If my mother was a scavenger, why did she have a quell?”

“As I said, your mother’s blood was mud. Fallon knew I’d win Serpent our years together. She knew her best bet was to marry whatever man would look at her. Andri was roped into her lies.”

Boiled tears brimmed my heavy lids. I clipped my tongue between my front teeth, biting down to stop the curses I was about to shout.

Then Archer’s shadows bound my wrist to the chair, darkness rippling through my hoarse breath. “Well, my mother seems to live in people’s minds. I suppose she made her mark.”

“Your mother murdered innocents. It is not something to be proud of.”

“That’s—she’s… my mother wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“If I remember correctly, it was twelve lives she took during our Serpent Academy years… including her scavenger parents.”

Victor grinned, leaning back in the golden dining room chair as he crossed an ankle over his knee.

“Not to worry, Severyn. I don’t think any Serpent will have you on their mind during the bid.

Your father owes me something. It’s only a matter of time before that failed bargain catches up to him.

You should be gracious that I never sent the Bribers to retrieve what was owed to me. ”

I seethed through my barred teeth. “What barter did you make?”

Victor snapped his fingers, and the aide rushed to clear the plates. “Perhaps you should ask him yourself,” he hissed, and ocean water flurried as he raised his hand, vanishing before my flame could cinder through Archer’s rope of shadows.

“That didn’t go very well,” I whispered.

“He knows I was shielding you,” said Archer. “But that is all. If we leave tonight, he’ll suspect we’re hiding something.”

I closed my eyes. “Then I suppose we’ll leave at dawn.”

If there were two people I never wanted to have dinner with again, it would be Victor and the king.

After dinner, I sat in the armchair in Archer’s room. Shadows and dark wards swirled across the walls like sentinels.

I didn’t regret coming here—not when I’d seen the beauty of Ravensla and met Kian. I’d protect him next year—if I was still alive.

I curled into the soft fabric of the chair as Archer stepped inside the room after his shower. I forced myself not to stare at the ripple of shadow dripping from his hair. He was something forged in my dreams, and the Serpent of the Shadows held his title well.

And I’d kissed him. Passionately kissed the Serpent of Shadows.

I was still in that slim-fitted red dress when I got up and asked, “Could you undo the zipper for me?” My chin angled toward him as I watched him step toward me from the corner of my eye.

A hand lowered on my neck, fingers dragging down my spine slowly as he undid the zipper .

“Where would you like your serpent mark to be if you had a choice? Perhaps, your shoulder.” His nails dragged against my collarbone and kept sweeping lower.

“Right there,” I said as his fingers paused in the center of my spine. “I’d want it to be on my spine, wrapping along my ribcage.”

He brushed his fingers underneath my gown, dragging the tips of his nails against my ribs, skimming my breastbone. “Right here?” he said, his voice thick and sultry.

I held my shuttered breath inside—fearing shadows would form within my next exhale. He tugged the dress down my shoulder blade, edging his thumb over my bare sternum.

“You never answered my question about bonding,” I whispered into his touch.

Archer chuckled low. “You’re still going on about our rider bond?”

I faced him, the bodice of my gown barely covering my breasts. “Do you trust me?” I whispered.

He nodded. “Trusting you is easier than staying away.”

“Then bond with me,” I said, pressing my palm on his chest.

He leaned into my touch, chuckling. “Not here. Not while my father is under the same roof,” he said. “And I’d rather take it slow to hear every breath owed to me.”

“What happens tomorrow? When we are back at the academy?” I traced the serpent on his neck. “Surely whatever this is can’t exist in light. Damien will see my shadow relic.”

“I don’t give a damn what Damien thinks—not after what he’s put you through. For that matter, I don’t care what anyone thinks. But weeks before the bid, I don’t want anyone believing you made it this far because of me.”

“But I did. Without you, I’d be in Malvoria.” I remembered the moment he said my name at the Rite. The anger I felt not knowing the truth. “You should have sent me to Malvoria during the first week.”

He stifled his choke. “And without you, an entire realm would be ashen, stripped of stars. You didn’t know the weight you held those two years. Perhaps it is you who owns my breaths.”

“I want to see Night,” I said. “Promise you’ll take me there someday.”

“First, you see Ravensla, now you want a taste of the entire Continent?” he mused.

“It is a full day of flying. We’d have to stay in the capital.

A Serpent can stay in a few regions without causing…

political issues. It is more socially acceptable during festivals, and this was my yearly appearance for the Summer civilians. ”

“So high and mighty, planning out your ventures. I’m beginning to think life as a scavenger isn’t so bad. Are they not free to roam wherever?”

Archer shoved a shirt into my chest. “The moment I became a Serpent and had to clean up a hundred years of political mess, I thought the same.”

Shifting out of the dress, I pulled the cotton shirt over my body. “Thank you for letting me come with you. Ravensla is beautiful.”

“I have seen miles and miles of beauty in my lifetime. I walked nearly every stone in Verdonia, but nothing compares to this. They say your home calls to you. They say once you find it, you know.”

I hoped his words were true.

I rested on the end of his bed. “What is beauty to you, Archer?”

He angled his body in front, hands pinned before my knees. “Sunsets. It reminds me I have another day to live, to breathe. It Reminds me of my mum. ”

“Your mother would be proud of you. Being torn between what you’ve grown and your blood must be hard. I feel like I’ve been relearning how to breathe since I got my letter.”

He eyed my wrist where the scorpion had struck and slowly brought my hand to his lips. “I’ve given you my breath to breathe before. And I told you if anyone touches you, I will mark you myself.”

And not a single flame willed within me.

“Can you… tell me about Klaus. The version you knew.”

His brows furrowed. “Klaus was brave. He was the first to raise his hand in Cain’s class, even if he was wrong most of the time.

He could speak about anything, and… we were friends.

The purest form of it. The day he wrote his death, he…

” Archer choked. “He wrote your name. Wrote it with a smile and said I’d find that piece I lost in him… within you.”

“You knew I would come?”

“I knew you’d seize more than a title. Perhaps my breath… perhaps I wished you would hate me. I wanted to be cruel, but I couldn’t.”

And as I searched for the same fork Klaus had used. The same sun rays he had felt… I never knew I’d find my piece of Klaus in the least expected place—hidden in shadows.