Page 14 of Embrace the Serpent

“You insult my bride,” the Serpent King said. “But perhaps you do not understand love?”

I flinched at the look in Incarnadine’s eyes. The Serpent King was lashing out with no regard for how dangerous Incarnadine

could be, nor how outnumbered and outclassed we were.

“No.” Incarnadine’s voice was decisive. “It seems that Master Galen needs his assistant. Perhaps in a few years, when he can

spare her...”

The ringing in my ears drowned everything out.

Galen was grinning.

The Serpent King was squeezing my hand like his life depended on it.

“I am,” I said, so softly that no one heard me. And then, louder, “I am an Imperial Ward.”

Everyone was looking at me. Galen’s face was turning red.

I twisted my mother’s ring around my finger, and despite the crack, it still gave me a whisper of strength. “I bear the brand.

By the laws of the Empire, it would be illegal for him to shelter me.”

The full brunt of Lady Incarnadine’s attention was on me. “Is that so?”

She didn’t believe me.

“You killed my mother before my eyes, my lady. And then you brought me here.” My hands were sweating, my face was sweating.

She might kill me right here. I didn’t know if I cared.

I had the crowd’s attention. A staccato murmur rose from them, a pitying one, a believing one.

Incarnadine’s eyes narrowed. “I would speak to your bride. Alone. If you would be so kind.”

“My lady,” Galen began, “I must insist—”

She raised a quelling hand. Her gaze was fixed on the Serpent King.

The Serpent King inclined his head to her. He then drew me close, a pretend embrace, and murmured in my ear, “Keep your wits.

My people will be with you.”

He let me go. I willed my feet to move, counting my steps because I couldn’t bear to look up at Incarnadine. One... Two

...

“Allow me, my lady.” Mirandel’s voice. Her eyes were narrowed, fixed on me. Incarnadine bent her head and whispered something

into Mirandel’s ear.

Mirandel nodded and crossed to me. Her hand wrapped around my arm, and I kept pace with her so she wouldn’t get the satisfaction

of dragging me out of the pavilion and through the gardens.

She was seething, gnashing her teeth, and for a second, I saw in her face the girl I once knew. It didn’t calm me. She had

been dangerous even then.

The Rose Palace loomed over us. In the light of day, it was all pink and emerald hallways, gilded and curved ceilings, delicate

furniture inlaid with bone. An atmosphere of immaculate design. And a seductively sweet aroma hung on the air, a strangely

personal scent, like someone confident and beautiful had swept by and left a cloud of fragrance behind.

Mirandel brought me to the baths. Steam hung like a cloud, and the large arched rooms were reduced to only the vaguest shapes. The moisture in the air hugged my skin and dampened my clothes.

She barked orders into the steam, and a pair of girls with their hair wrapped in cloth began filling a copper tub.

As the sound of pouring water echoed on the tile, Mirandel rounded on me with a furious whisper. “I can’t believe you. I try

to help you, and you betray me like this?”

I matched her tone. “Help me? When have you ever helped me?”

“I was getting you away from that boor. I saw how scared you looked—what was he doing to you?”

I stared at her. Laughter burst out of me, and I couldn’t stop it, not till tears were running down my face. “Mirandel. I

was fine. I was safe. And you ruined it.”

She reared back like I’d slapped her and turned her face away. One of the girls was pouring oil into the copper tub. “No,

not that one,” Mirandel said. “Let’s find something... expensive. That one, the red bottle.”

She trailed her hand through the water. “You ruined my life, too. Everyone knows I failed to get the Serpent King. What kind

of life will I lead now?” She flicked a droplet from her finger. “I thought you’d died, you know. I was so jealous of you,

and then after... I thought they’d killed you, because of me. I’d been carrying this guilt for so long. But it turns out

there was no need. You didn’t need my help with anything. I ruined your life. And I guess I was right to be jealous, then.

You got the prize.”

I bit down on the inside of my cheek. I wanted to shake her.

Why did she of all people have to see through my mother’s ring?

She had everything she ever wanted, and yet had the gall to pity herself, to be jealous of me?

And to call the Serpent King a prize , as if we were in some kind of competition, as if this was all a game.

I couldn’t look at her. On the floor, something caught my eye, a bit of shine against the deep green tile. A small silver

serpent. One of the huntsmen in disguise? My face warmed, imagining dark amused eyes.

“Come here,” Mirandel said, gesturing at the tub. “It’s ready.”

“I’m not bathing in front of you.”

“Lady Incarnadine’s orders,” she said. When I hesitated, she smirked. “I assure you, you can have nothing under your clothes

that I have not seen.”

I crossed my arms.

Footsteps approached, the delicate clink-clink of metal soles on tile grew louder and louder.

Through the steam, a figure appeared. Tall, striking, garbed in white. Lady Incarnadine looked me over from head to foot.

“You intrigue me.”

“My lady?”

Lady Incarnadine circled me. “I would like to keep Master Galen happy, now that he has revealed to us the genius that he kept

so well hidden. He may be the making of this Empire.” She drew a golden claw-tipped finger along my jaw. “Does the Serpent

King want you because you know something of Master Galen’s work?”

I needed to lie and lie well. “I—I’m an assistant. I ready his materials, I sweep and dust.... If I could do what he does,

wouldn’t he have made me an apprentice?”

She let me go. “I have prepared several of the Emperor’s wards for the role you have stolen from them. My dear Mirandel is a beauty and master of all the seductive arts. Capable of leading an army, of negotiating treaties, of running kingdoms. So why is the Serpent King so interested in you?”

“He, uh, loves me?” It sounded unconvincing even to my ears. “At least, he thinks he does.”

“And you?”

My mouth was dry. “Me? Yes, of course.”

A cynical smile came across her lips. “No. No love on your end, is there? You think you have secured yourself a grand marriage.

A king and a life of luxury. Oh, don’t look so shocked. Countless men and women have done the same, and they will go on doing

so until the end of time.”

There was a darkness in her, and I didn’t know what to say to make sure she didn’t turn on me. “Well?” she said. “Go on. Bathe.

Mirandel will help prepare you. One must be beautiful on their wedding day.”

This time, I didn’t protest. If I went along with it, maybe it’d be over faster. The two attendants helped me out of my dress,

and I dove into the bath.

From behind me came a clink-clink and the scent of resinous smoke as Incarnadine came closer. She came to the tub’s edge, and her gaze went to my brand. “So

you spoke the truth. What is that on your finger?”

My mother’s ring.

She pulled it from my finger. “I see. I remember your mother. An insignificant woman belonging to an insignificant holding. The duchess Nepheline, wasn’t it?”

I flinched, and that made Incarnadine smile.

“You will help me, won’t you?” She paused. “What is your name?”

I hesitated.

“Saphira,” Mirandel offered.

“Saphira. You will help me, and it will cost you nothing. I must find the way into the Serpent King’s lands. His is the last

kingdom I have to conquer. The seventh kingdom. Then the Empire will be complete, and I...” Her gaze had gone hard and

distant.

“Why would I help you?” I didn’t mean to ask it, but the way she was carelessly twirling my mother’s ring made me spit out

the words.

“Oh, there are so many reasons. Your life is already forfeit, for being a runaway ward, and it is only my mercy that keeps

you from the executioner. Or I could stop this marriage. I can give you back to Galen. You wouldn’t like that, would you?”

Incarnadine’s lips twisted. “Your mother was brave but not clever. You must now learn to be clever, for the Serpent King is

crueler than I am.”

With her gold-tipped fingers, she uncorked a pink glass bottle and poured its contents into my bath.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked.

“I will let you go. My people will follow you. The Serpent King already assumes this, I am sure. I will leave you with a bag

of stones. Leave a trail for my people. And when you enter into his kingdom, take note of how it is done. For that information...

well, you need only name your price.”

Mirandel started. “My lady—you need not offer payment. She should be honored to do that for you—”

Lady Incarnadine was charmed; she cupped Mirandel’s cheek. “If only the Serpent King had chosen you. But we must make do.

Saphira, will you do what I ask?”

“Yes,” I lied.

In return, Incarnadine dropped my mother’s ring onto my palm. It was warm, almost enough to hurt. I held tight until she disappeared

into the steam, and only then did my shoulders loosen. I’d faced Incarnadine, and unlike my mother, I’d come out alive.

The hairs on my neck prickled. Camouflaged by the pattern on the tiles, the little serpent watched me.

I felt like I was floating above my body, watching myself walk up the promenade to the White Temple, the oldest and holiest

place in the city. I was draped in pale pink silk embroidered all over in gold thread, wrapped and tied in place. A dress

Lady Incarnadine had chosen that was not unlike the style she favored for herself. My eyes were lined in kohl, my lips reddened

with carmine, which Mirandel had chosen for me, painting my face until I grabbed her wrist and said, “ Enough. ” She responded by asking if I had thought about my wedding night, if I knew how to please a man. She’d laughed at my expression.

I supposed it was her little revenge on me.

I walked past the priestesses into the cool interior of the temple. The huntsmen were waiting.

One of them coughed, tugging open his jacket. Grimney waved at me, his little eyes worried, but I couldn’t speak to him. Not

here.

I hadn’t chosen my dress. I hadn’t chosen this temple. I hadn’t chosen my groom, who waited for me at the altar. A thin circlet sat on his brow, a concession to his rank.

I met his eyes, and I thought, This isn’t my life.

My life, my real life, would begin once I finished the job for the Serpent King and Rane paid me in a perfect new identity.

I wanted one wholly different from me. Maybe an older woman. Plain-looking, the kind that was safe from second glances. I’d

lay my shop out differently, with the forge entirely separate from the showroom. Maybe I didn’t need a showroom. Maybe, once

I’d established myself, I’d only make what I wanted, and people would buy it if they liked it. I’d change my name again, of

course. A new name...

I didn’t listen to the droning of the priests and priestesses.

The Serpent King took my hand. His fingers were inhumanly long—and the silver scales grew smaller and smaller as they reached

his fingertips, glinting like diamonds.

A fire was lit.

Seven times we circled it.

We were promised to each other.

It’s not real, I told myself. It’s not real.