Page 43 of Embrace the Serpent

Incarnadine answered in a voice that crackled like woodfire, “You are free. As am I.”

I glanced back, as Incarnadine rose into the air. Mirandel seemed small and forlorn.

My heart twinged at the look on her face, but I had no time to waste. If the Emperor wasn’t already awake, he would be any

second.

I called for the horse, and after a heartbeat, Grimney echoed me.

Out of the mist in the air, the horse materialized. Grimney helped me up—pushing my feet from below, like a highly motivated

footstool—and as soon as I was seated, the horse took off, Grimney holding on to my skirts.

The battlefield was all noise and chaos, and I didn’t understand why this had to be the way people solved their problems.

The scent of blood mingled with the dust and ash that hung in the air.

Screams and the clashing of steel came from every direction, so loud I knew that no one would hear me or be able to obey any

command I gave, even if I could keep holding the tourmaline collar to my neck while on horseback.

The horse did its best to dodge spears and arrows. One clipped its ear, and the ear burst into droplets that splashed my face.

The arrow whistled past, just inches past my head.

The horse reared back, refusing to go toward Rane. There were too many soldiers. We couldn’t get through.

I could’ve wept with frustration, if I weren’t so afraid.

A horn blew—a familiar sound.

Huntsmen. I rode to them, elated, until I noticed they were riding away from the battle. They were splattered in mud and blood, weariness on their faces.

They surrounded me. “My lady, we must retreat!”

“The Serpent King—”

One huntsmen drew close. “He’s gone.”

My heart stopped.

“Nothing can stop him. He doesn’t recognize friend from foe.” He looked to a huntsman who was riding double, his head lolling,

a makeshift bandage around his waist.

“I have his heartstone,” I said, lifting it. “I can turn him back. Please.”

“We can’t lose any more men. We should get home and flee with our families. Does your mother not wait for you?”

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll go alone.”

“My lady!” he called as I urged the horse on, pushing through the huntsmen. He caught up beside me and said, “It’s hopeless.”

“I said fine. Don’t come.”

His mouth snapped shut, and he shook his head. “You are a lot like him.”

He raised the horn to his lips and blew two triumphant notes.

On either side of me, the huntsmen surged forward, weapons raised against the Imperial soldiers, as they cleared a path for

me.

Ahead, amidst the carnage, the Serpent King towered, his massive serpentine body weaving through the throng of soldiers.

His silver scales had grown dim under a layer of dust that mingled with the deep red of what could only be blood.

Spears protruded from his flanks, but he moved with relentless fury, his eyes ablaze.

There was nothing of Rane in them, only pure destruction.

He had lost himself. Without his heart, he was a primal beast driven by vengeance and pain. His tail lashed out, sending soldiers

flying on both sides, his jaws snapping with lethal precision. They fell before him, terror etched on their faces, knowing

they were no match for his size, for his wrath.

My horse surged forward, through the path carved by the huntsmen, and we cut through the chaos. I leaned low over its neck,

urging it on, feeling the rhythmic pounding of its hooves beneath me.

A shadow flickered in the corner of my eye, and something struck us. I crashed to the ground, the horse vanished into mist,

and Grimney tumbled away.

The wind was knocked out of me. I wheezed, scrambling to my feet, half crawling to where the heartstone had fallen. It was

in danger, surrounded by soldiers in metal-tipped shoes, horses with iron hooves. One kicked it, sending it skittering.

Feet stopped before me, clad in platinum shoes, and a deep voice bellowed, “Destroy the stone!”

I looked up. The Emperor, his jeweled armor polished and glinting, set with garnets for strength and jasper for endurance,

his eyes cold, his mouth twisted in fury.

He raised his sword.

A shadow fell over us. The Serpent King, his eyes blazing with a fury that made my blood run cold, loomed above, his massive

form coiling with terrifying grace. His eyes locked on to the Emperor, and for a moment, everything seemed to stop.

His gaze found me, and then shifted to his heart.

“Go—your heart!” I screamed.

The heart was lost in between hooves. A soldier advanced on it, bearing a mace glinting with jewels—he raised it—

Time seemed to slow as the Serpent King faced his choice, his immense eyes flicking from me to the heartstone. The Emperor’s

sword swung down toward me, and I braced.

A roar, so loud the earth trembled, and the serpent lunged toward me, placing himself between me and the blade. I heard the

clang as the sword bit into his scales, but he did not flinch. His massive body coiled protectively around me, his eyes blazing

with defiance.

In the distance, in the direction of the heartstone, came a loud and horrible crack .

“No!” I screamed, from within the embrace of his coils.

The heartstone. His skin was slippery with blood, but I managed to climb out, just as the Serpent King’s tail smacked into

a line of advancing soldiers.

I ducked, falling to my knees, and I crawled to the huddle of soldiers, a glimpse of red at their feet.

A hand closed around my ankle and pulled me back. The Emperor, his eyes wild, a crazed smile on his lips, a curved dagger

in his hand. “Who are you, little girl, to stand against the crown? Do you not know what happens to those who defy me? Their

blood is the fertilizer from which my empire grows.”

I pushed at him, twisting to get away, to get to the heartstone, but he dragged me back.

A sudden surge of heat turned the air scorching and bright, and the Emperor turned to its source. A pillar of red-orange flames, and in their center, a figure of pure white fire.

Her gaze landed on me. “I come to pay two debts. One to the girl who freed me—our bargain was too deeply in my favor—and now

the scales are balanced. And the other...” She turned to the Emperor as I scrambled back, putting distance between me and

them.

“You betray me?” he spat.

Incarnadine laughed, a sound like crackling fire. “A friend betrays. A slave merely rebels.”

The dirt under her feet turned to glass with each step she took toward him.

The Emperor realized his predicament, for he softened his voice. “Y-you were not my slave.” Sweat beaded on his brow. “I—I

loved you. I would have married you, but for the laws.”

“Do you want my love?” Incarnadine said, tilting her head.

His heat-reddened cheeks rounded as he smiled, confident. “Of course.”

She moved like a leaping flame, closing the gap between them, and embraced him. He screamed, thrashing, but she did not let

go. The light grew blinding, and I raised my arm to block it. His screams ended, and then came the scent of burnt flesh.

The light dimmed. Incarnadine made a soft sound, an exhalation of pure relief, and I felt it like a cool wind on my skin.

It was the end of his reign, the end of his Empire, the end of children being stolen from their homes.

My fingers found the mark on my chest, concealed by my clothes.

Nothing remained of the Emperor but ash and a puddle of molten metal. It was over.

She met my gaze, her eyes twin fires, and she rose into the sky with such force that a wall of air slammed into the soldiers on all sides, clearing a circle around me and the serpent. He reared up, his great silver head rising into the sky, his eyes on me.

I scrambled across the steaming dirt, to where a shard glinted red against the earth.

It was lodged in the dirt by the force it had been struck with. I clawed it out with shaking hands, and turned it over, scrubbing

the dirt away.

There was no crack. But I’d heard it—

Some feet away lay the remains of a mace, the metal dented, the handle snapped.

It was impossible. Even a diamond would likely shatter when hammered with such force.

I clutched the heartstone to my chest, and it warmed me like a hug, but something had changed. It was like it had honed itself,

become more itself, and waves of feeling washed over me, so full of emotion and so indescribably, extraordinarily Rane.

It wanted so many things. To protect, to discover, to go home.

I felt the Serpent King’s eyes on me. He held himself still as I approached, the great serpentine coil of his body so taut

that his scales were trembling. The look in his eyes was gentle, fearful.

I held the heartstone out like an offering.

He lowered his head. I stepped closer, feeling the warmth of his scales beneath my fingers, and the heartstone touched his

scales, right over his chest.

With a shuddering gasp, he transformed, his massive body shrinking, the spears plinking to the ground, until Rane stood before me, silver-haired and beautiful. He collapsed to his knees, and I fell beside him, cradling him in my arms, his head coming to rest in the crook of my elbow.

“Forgive me,” he said.

“For what?”

“I never wanted you to see me as a monster.”

Oh, Rane. I cupped his face in my palm. His secret face. “That’s not what I see.”

His eyes opened, clear and amused, but in their depths was a faint flicker of pain.

“You were supposed to go for your heart,” I scolded.

He put a hand to my cheek. “You are my heart.”

My face heated, and I ducked my head. “No, really.” It didn’t make sense. He had been so far gone.

“I told you,” he said. “It’s not just my heart that loves you. My kidneys love you. My tail loves you, even when it’s not

here. Even the points of my fangs love you. Even—”

I put my hand over his lips. “Okay, that’s enough.”

He laughed against my palm, and a glint of gold caught my eye, from the open collar of his shirt. My mother’s ring, tied on

a cord around his neck. He hadn’t taken it off.

I met his laughing eyes, and it felt like all the world was in them. He was mine—he had always been mine—and all the world

was ours. And I was unafraid.

My hand fell to his chest as he rose, sitting up, meeting my gaze.

I wanted him to see me, to read in my eyes what I felt for him. He had loved me as a king, as a servant, as a beast. His love

had changed me, and by loving him back, I had changed myself more.

I kissed him, and when his lips curled in a smile, so did mine.