Page 13 of Embrace the Serpent

The crowd thinned as the bulk followed the Serpent King.

I ran.

“Wait!” Rane called.

I dove past a pair of Imperial Guards. He didn’t follow. So hewashiding from them.

Halfway to the Merchant District, I realized his cloak was still wrapped around my shoulders.

At the gates to the Palace Quarter, an attendant checked Galen’s invitation and waved us in.

Galen seemed to have finally gotten distracted from his line of questioning about Rane’s cloak. In my shock, I’d walked into the workshop with it on, and since then it’d beenWhere did you get it? Who were you with? You have a lover, don’t you?

I’d faked a laugh and tucked the cloak away in my room. I didn’twant to tell him about Rane. I knew he’d want to take the job. So I stayed quiet, and when it was time, I put on my servant’s livery and accompanied Galen to his summons.

Galen wore an ostentatious scarlet ensemble, with hints of violet that matched my livery. Poor Grimney had tried on his livery with hope in his eyes. It was three years old now, and Grimney had grown three feet taller and wider. Galen wouldn’t hear of it. I promised to bring Grimney back a select rock or two.

I’d spent the afternoon modifying my mother’s ring with the bands of gold and orichalcum. It was stronger now. Already one chipper young man had walked right into me with a puzzled “What?” and a boisterous matronly woman had stepped on my feet, blinking vaguely in my direction with a “So sorry, didn’t see you.”

Dusk made the shadows thick and violet, and the guests shone like stars in a night sky. Attendants lined the way, directing us to the Rose Palace. It was at full glitter: pink stone walls, a wealth of gleaming glass-paned windows.

A coil tightened in my belly as we entered.

A heady sweet scent enveloped me, of nectar and honey and burnt sugar. It came from the flowers spilling from vases, from sweet resins smoldering in braziers, from the teas and treats that appeared at Galen’s side on trays held by silent-footed attendants.

Someone was playing hand drums. Laughter and conversation floated on the air, along with the tinkling of water. We followed the sound to a central palazzo in all dark green tile, with a fountain that flowed endlessly.

Galen tensed.

Master Vyalis. A thin, unnaturally upright man, with close-cropped hair and fine, small features. His clothes were of an expensive, delicate weave, but without embroidery or ornamentation. His only adornment was extraordinarily thin golden-rimmed spectacles that evoked a jewelsmith’s magnifying glasses. And of course, his signature black gloves. Rumor was that the decades of jewelsmithing had left him with grotesque burns and scars, and his nails and fingertips were charred black and constantly bleeding.

My hands were scarred, but nowhere near that extent. But I hadn’t worked with jewels of the caliber Master Vyalis was no doubt used to.

There were nobles from each of the six kingdoms. As a river swirls and diverts around stones, the flow of people moved around a handful of women and men, each more striking than the last. On each of their chests was the rosette and fire, proudly displayed.

“Master Galen,” a voice called. “Is that you?”

Mirandel. She waved him over. There were rhinestones threaded through her hair and gleaming from a golden waist chain. Her emerald-green top hung off one shoulder, and her skirt was slung low on her hips. Her stomach was all muscle.

I thumbed my mother’s ring and followed at a distance.

“I’ve decided I want a pair of rings made. Wedding rings, with that snake-head clasp. Can you do it so that once it’s on, it can’t be taken off?”

One of her friends laughed. “Bit premature, isn’t it, Mirandel?”

She didn’t bat an eye. “Be prepared for victory, my dear.”

Galen cleared his throat. “I’d be glad to make you anything you wish.”

“The clasp... I want it so that if I place it on his hand, only I can remove it. And I’ll let him have the same power over me. Romantic, yes?”

Her friends made sounds of agreement.

My stomach churned. The serpent-head clasps were supposed to be about safety, security. Not this. Not little prisons.

She held her hand out. “Well, don’t you need my measurements?”

My brows pinched together. There was no need, not right now. We could get her measurements later, both hers and her groom’s, whenever she managed to ensnare one.

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