Page 16 of Embrace the Serpent

Before he could answer, the carriage door opened, and the Serpent King got in.

He shut his eyes, leaned back, and the carriage rumbled to a roll. We were off.

From atop a steep hill, Cobalt Town jutted toward the sky. It was a fortress town, with thick walls that made it look like

the hill was wearing a crown.

The gates creaked open as we neared. Heavy stone gates, emblazoned with a seal painted cobalt blue.

“Welcome,” said a barrel-chested man, striding toward us. “I am Selmy, Lord of Cobalt Town. Forgive us the weakness of our

number—I’m afraid Lady Cobalt and our son are in the city for the Season.”

Lord Cobalt had unlined skin, but gray in his hair and beard. He wore loose silken pants and an embroidered jacket that was

open to his chest, so all could see the crown and fire brand on his chest. He puffed up his chest when he saw me looking at

his brand. Great. This town might as well be an extension of the Rose Palace.

He talked as we walked. Our guards would stay with the town’s soldiers in the barracks, but we were welcome to his humble

home. The humble home turned out to be a grand manor with diamond-paned windows, all of which were a deep blue.

“Cobalt glass,” he said, catching me looking. “Keeps us nice and cool, and of course, it kills insects that try to fly in

on the wind.”

Cobalt was a silvery metal that needed careful refinement to turn it into pigment. The tricky thing about mining it was that the ore always contained arsenic. As we entered the manor, the air felt very still, as if it too had been killed.

I grew more careful about what I let my gaze linger on. Lord Cobalt was paying very close attention, though he acted the part

of a rich buffoon well. He showed us into a grand room with a cobalt window that was twice the height of a man, where a table

was set for three.

The minute we took our seats, servants appeared and filled our goblets with wine.

The Serpent King was reserved but chattier than he had been in the carriage. He neatly parried questions about our destination,

our travel plans, and our presumed love story.

Upon my plate were piled saffron rice and spiced potatoes and pumpkin dal. I ate it all, with bites of herbs and yogurt that

cooled me down from the inside. The wine went down sweet and easy, until I realized it had gone straight to my head.

Lord Cobalt was laughing. “...and so I told him to make nice with the Basalts because I knew Sandhya when she was twelve

and cut off the nose of that pretty girl—oh, I’ve forgotten her name—she came from some insignificant holding—and anyway,

I told him he’d better give up that land and thank the gods she didn’t take his nose as well.”

“The Basalts sent ten thousand men to the Emperor’s armies, did they not?” the Serpent King asked, smiling in a way that showed

his fangs.

“Oh, I wouldn’t know,” Lord Cobalt said. “I hear you were wed at the White Temple. That’s where Lady Cobalt and I were wed.

Charming little temple, isn’t it? Though we stayed in the Rose Palace for our wedding night—well, it took us a few days to

emerge from our bedchamber!”

I nearly spat out my wine, and he noticed. “You must be very happy,” I said.

He laughed and laughed, and then leaned in with a wry look in his eyes. “She is very happy with me, and that is what matters,

isn’t it?”

My heart hurt. Pity for him, maybe.

He laughed again at whatever he saw in my face. “I have prepared our finest suite for you both. One’s wedding night should

be special, should it not? After all, you can’t say you are properly married till the deed is done.”

The Serpent King cut in. “Is Lady Incarnadine so interested?”

“Ah,” said Lord Cobalt, for the first time at a loss for words. “How direct.”

The Serpent King raised a brow.

Lord Cobalt conceded. “She does like to know what is happening.”

“She will have no reason to doubt us,” the Serpent King said, and I wondered exactly what he meant.

“That certainly makes my life easier. You’ll stay for a few days, won’t you?”

“We will leave at dawn,” the Serpent King said. “We will not impose on your hospitality.”

“Oh, what a pity,” Lord Cobalt said brightly. “Well, let’s have dessert.”

Pistachio cakes and dates with honey. I nibbled at them, but my stomach was turning. The minute dinner was over, there would

be nothing but the night. I could almost hear Mirandel laughing at me.

I got up so fast my chair screeched. “Pardon me. I’m afraid—I’ll turn in early.”

As I left the dining room, I heard Lord Cobalt say, “My, she is rather an innocent, isn’t she?”

I came out into a hallway and picked a direction at random. The hallways were all darkly illuminated. From behind me came

the pitter-patter of small feet, and a boy in a blue vest skidded to a halt before me. He dropped into a bow. “It is my honor

to show you to your room, my lady.”

I followed him up a set of stone stairs, past patrolling guards, to a vast room with a balcony that overlooked the sands.

Sheer drapes blew in the wind, and I breathed in the fresh air. The boy left me.

Incarnadine’s spies—the handmaidens—had been here. A sheer bit of cloth was laid out on the back of a chair, along with some

silken ribbons. Ribbons for what?

A knock came at the door. A girl my age poked her head in. “I’m here to help you dress, my lady.”

“I’ll manage,” I said.

She hesitated. “You don’t want me to dress your hair?”

I eyed the ribbons. “No.”

She winced. “My lady—”

“Many thanks,” I said, smiling vaguely in her direction until she shut the door and left me alone.

A pitcher of warm water sat beside a basin, and I washed some of the sweat from my skin. There was a polished silver mirror,

and it showed me a peaky girl with large circles under her eyes and a mass of wavy hair that was escaping its braid. An unreal

woman.

I dug through the trunk and unearthed a gray traveling dress. I changed quickly, ignoring the sheer thing laid out for me.

A thump came from another trunk—the Serpent King’s trunk—and I opened it to find Grimney.

“You’d better not have eaten the jewels from his clothes,” I scolded.

Grimney shrugged.

A knock came at the door. A deep voice said, “I am coming in.”

Grimney hid back in the trunk. I shut it and stepped away. I didn’t want to seem like I was waiting for him—my hand found

a ribbon, and I gathered my hair to plait it. My heart was beating fast, readying me to run.

The Serpent King entered and shut the door behind him. I was getting used to all the silver, but I was struck by his size.

He seemed designed to intimidate, to be the focal point in any room he entered.

Without looking at me, he crossed to the basin, took a washcloth and wetted it with water from the pitcher, and wiped his

neck and face. On him, the act seemed strangely human. A drop of water traced his throat.

His silver eyes rested on me. “Are you all right?”

I nodded, which was a lie. The ribbon slipped through my hands.

He came closer. “Are you angry?”

“You asked me not to talk,” I said.

“Forgive me,” he said. “I was not myself.”

He picked the ribbon from where it had fallen beside my feet and handed it to me. Our fingers brushed, and I jerked my hand

back.

We lapsed into silence. He moved away, shaking out his jacket and unlacing the sash at his waist that held a dagger and a

small sword. He set everything aside.

“I—” I started.

The Serpent King turned to regard me. “Yes?”

I didn’t know what to say. My heart was thudding, and I didn’t know if it wanted me to leap off the balcony or stay where I was. “I just—how are the huntsmen?”

His brows pinched together.

“I mean—did they eat? I just wondered. I was just—well, Rane...” I trailed off. My face was radiating heat.

“I’m sure they ate,” the Serpent King said. “You needn’t take particular interest in Rane.”

“He’s been nice to me,” I said.

The Serpent King’s lips pulled into a sardonic smile. His voice was low. “Should I be jealous that you show such interest

in another man on our wedding night?”

I was suddenly certain that the Serpent King knew every detail of what happens on a wedding night. I dropped my gaze to the

collar of his shirt. “But this isn’t a marriage. It’s just a business proposition.”

He crossed to me in a single stride, and his hand covered my mouth. He breathed, “Do not speak of that here.”

He stopped a hairsbreadth from me, but I felt his body as if the space between us was charged with lightning. If I moved at

all, I would touch him. I stood very, very still.

My lips tingled as he pulled his hand away. I glanced at the door. Was someone listening?

He met my gaze and gave a single nod.

I wrapped my arms around me.

The Serpent King moved slowly, like he was afraid I would shout something incriminating, and he made a circuit of the room,

blowing out candles and oil lanterns.

The last candle went out, and he was painted by the light of the low, flickering fire in the grate. A shaft of silver moonlight

cut through the sheer drapes and lent the room a soft glow.

He stood by the bed. “Come here,” he said.

I took a step, and then he pulled back the coverlet. I stopped, a strange fluttery terror building within me.

“Come,” he said.

I took another step. He reached out and took my hand. He tugged me close, standing by my side.

“This will hurt a little,” he said. Something silver flashed in his hand.

A tiny pinprick of pain blossomed at the tip of my pointer finger. A single drop of blood rose. He turned my hand, and the

drop fell onto the white sheets.

“There,” he said. “Was that so bad?” There was a glint of humor in his eyes, like he knew I’d been terrified.

“No.” I licked the blood from my finger. “I hardly felt anything.”

He dragged his gaze from my finger and blinked. A wry twist came to his lips. “Another thing no man wishes to hear on his

wedding night.” He turned his back to me. “Take the bed,” he said. “I don’t intend to sleep.”

Only when he had moved far enough away, slinkily settling into a chair by the fire, did I dare sit on the bed. I watched him,

sitting still, a severe look on his face as he gazed into the fire. I didn’t know whether I felt relieved or not. I fell asleep

while I was deciding. The first time I woke, a blanket was covering me, and the Serpent King was out on the balcony, bathed

in silver moonlight. I woke again and again, but the Serpent King kept his word. He never slept and never once looked in my

direction.