Page 99 of Embrace the Serpent

“Like a dungeon?”

“We’re far too civilized to have a dungeon,” he said. “It’s a perfectly humane holding room.”

“She deserves a dungeon,” I said.

He didn’t disagree. But he was avoiding my gaze.

He spoke to his huntsmen, and the word went out, and the machinery of his kingdom began to turn.

The watchtower sent a report confirming Mirandel’s story. From their position at the lake’s edge, they could see lights at the border, smoke from fires.

One of the eagle folk had flown as close as she dared, and before the soldiers had chased her away with arrows, she had counted a dozen command tents being set up and had glimpsed flags being hoisted. The Emperor’s standard flew, bearing his crown.

I touched my chest, over my scar.

Only the soldiers from the Imperial City used that flag. But the scout reported other flags, from the five garrisons closest to the borders of the Serpent Kingdom. They had once been the armies of the neighboring lands, until they were conquered. Their parents or grandparents had fought against the Emperor, and now they fought alongside him.

My nails bit into my palms. I knew what was coming: the report mentioned a flag bearing the crown and flames of Lady Incarnadine.

She was here. It was the Emperor’s army in name, but she was the one who led them, who swept through kingdoms and stole their children.

The troops were making no effort to hide their presence. They were confident.

We had less than a full night to prepare for war.

I slipped out of my thoughts and caught the last of Rane’s words. “...Vanon was the best at locating the cracks in the border. He must’ve shown Mirandel. But the cracks are not wide. It will take time for the bulk of the armies to enter the kingdom. We must stay calm and prepare.”

He parceled out his orders to the huntsmen. “Send word to the watchtower that we need an idea for how many soldiers there are, and how fast they’re coming through. The town must be evacuated at once, and all the townspeople brought here.”

“They won’t want to leave,” one of the huntsmen said.

“You must convince them. Their lives are what matter now.” Rane steeled himself. “And send word to the heads of the families. I will meet with them in a half hour’s time.”

He had never seemed so kingly, so much the Serpent King, and so little like Rane.

The huntsmen dispersed to carry out their orders, and Rane came to me, at last meeting my eyes. “How long would it take you to do what you needed to do?”

“A year,” I whispered.

“There’s no choice, then.”

“Rane.”

“How does it work, exactly? When my heart is put in, the borders will be fixed.”

“Yes.”

“What about the soldiers already inside?”

I thought back to what I had read in the design. “The heartstone grants permission to enter. And each person who is granted permission can share it by claiming another as theirs, like you did to me when you, uh”—I glanced over my shoulder and lowered my voice—“bit me.”

His lips quirked into the tiniest of smiles.

I continued, “With a new heartstone, the permissions would be redone. You would grant permission to whomever you wanted, and... you may be able to revoke permission to anyone inside the borders.”

“They would be forced out?”

I hesitated to confirm, to give him another reason to give up his heart. “I’d have to double-check.”