Page 2 of Serpent In White

Gina and her husband, Paul, took me in when my parents died. The four of them had been best friends for years, since Mom and Dad joined The Principality. My parents were young, but Gina and Paul are even younger. In their thirties with a nineteen-year-old…

Don’t feel bad for them. They love me.

I was born on the Expanse. I’ve never been outside our territory, and in all honesty, I wouldn’t want to. The Regnum is my family, the Expanse my home. Even if it took my parents…

I shake myself out of these thoughts. “Hopefully not my father’s overcooking gene.” I smirk at Gina, and she elbows me.

“I don’t know how you eat your bacon like that. It’s basically crumbles!”

“Better than having it still oinking at me,” I tease, and she rolls her eyes. “Paul on hoe duty?”

She puffs out a breath. “Yea, and then he’s pulling a double shift…”

I pause. “Training?” She nods, hesitantly. “Why are they ramping up security? Did something happen?”

Gina shrugs. “All we’ve heard is that this autumn’s yield is the most ambitious anyone’s seen in years. They’re planning the harvest to outweigh what we’re used to, and I guess that calls for an increase in the Tribe.”

Interesting…

I’ve never considered joining the Tribe. Not that I have anything against fighting to protect what’s ours. I’d gladly lay down my life for The Principality, my family… Mother. But they never ask me. I’ve been a Domestic since I was a kid. I suppose my talents are better suited to servehim.

My stomach flips and I distract myself by feeding into our menial conversation. “Are we working together today?”

“Yes indeed, kiddo.” Gina smiles while we walk, soil and rock crunching beneath our steps as we approach the Den. “We’ve got wash for a few hours before break.” She doesn’t miss my sigh. “But if you’d like, I suppose you could take meal prep.”

My face lights up. “Yea?”

“Sure,” she chuckles. “Why not? Seeing how excited you are about it, I’m not sure I could say no.” She pinches my cheeks, and I brush her off.

My face heats a bit, eyes darting toward the giant cabin. “G, I’m not a kid anymore,” I whine, sounding entirely like one in my petulance.

She holds up her hands. “Sorry. I know, you’re aman. Speaking of which, have you seen Kinsey? I know she wanted to ask you to sit with her at the sermon tomorrow…”

I have to fight not to roll my eyes. “She didn’t ask me.” I can’t help it if my response comes out short.

“Well, maybe you should ask her,” Gina says in her prying-while-acting-like-I’m-not, motherly sort of way. I can’t be mad at her for it. “I’m sure she’d love that.”

I swallow. “Maybe I will.”

Tugging her with me, I’m hoping for an end to this conversation. Kinsey is a nice girl. She’s pretty, too. Orfuckhot, as Jordan would say. So I’m sure if I were going to date a girl, she’d be a good choice.

But she doesn’t give me those feelings… You know, the tingly ones.Aren’t you supposed to get those for the person you want to date?

I suppose that’s why I’ve never had a relationship, of any kind. I’m waiting for something that may never come.

As we approach the giant, lavish cabin, known as theDen, my gut twists, and the goosebumps come back. I just pray Gina doesn’t notice them this time…

The Den belongs to the Head Priest of The Principality…Darian. It’s his home. The rest of us live in trailers, but don’t take that to mean anything negative, because they’re really nice.

But he’s in charge. So he gets his own Den.

They built it shortly after The Principality first came to be, which was a few years before I was born. It’s a two-floor mansion that sits on Lake Willow, made creatively of Maple and Douglas firs. There are eight bedrooms, six baths, an office, study, library, home gym, the most fantastic kitchen you could ever imagine, three fireplaces, and a…lounge.

I know, the lounge doesn’t seem as interesting as I just made it sound, but I’ll explain later.

The Den also has its own outdoor greenhouse, and an attached garage that could house at least five cars, not that it does. There are two cars inside, but more ATVs than anything else, which is how we get around the Expanse. We don’t have paved roads, but trails, and we mostly use golf carts and four-wheelers to travel back and forth.

I’ve only been in a car once. Head Priest let me sit inside his Jeep when I was thirteen.