Page 25 of Embrace the Serpent

“We could—” My mouth was so dry. I swallowed. “We could run away. Go to a different town, far away. Start over.”

Galen sighed. From below, someone yelled his name, and Galen went to the door and yelled back, “We’re coming! One moment.” When he turned back, his expression was calm, patient. “Saphira. There is no place you can go that Lady Incarnadine won’t find you. No one can even leave the city without her knowing. And even if we did, we’d leave everything we worked for. There are no jewelsmiths outside the city. We could go to some backward village and do what? Remember: I have a purpose on this earth—and you are here to help accomplish it.”

I was shaking. I had to get ahold of myself, but I couldn’t think. There were tricks to being invisible—I knew them all—but I didn’t know how to disappear entirely.

A flicker of impatience in his eyes. “Have I ever hurt you?”

“N-no,” I said.

“Then do as I say.” His hand closed around my arm, and he pulledme toward the lilac dress. “Put this on, and let’s go downstairs. They’re waiting.”

His hand tightened. I yanked myself free. A ripping sound—my sleeve tore at the shoulder. The tear went across to my collarbone, and cold air brushed my skin.

The back of my legs hit my worktable. My fingers brushed a handle—I gripped it.

Galen’s voice was like ice. “What are you going to do with that?”

I raised it between us. A tiny hammer. “You’re scaring me.”

“You’re being extremely ridiculous, Saphira.” He reached for me—

I swung the hammer. It caught his cheek. Not very hard, but enough. Enough for darkness to enter his eyes.

He grabbed my wrist and brought it down hard on my worktable. Once—twice—I let go of the hammer—and again—

Something cracked.

My mother’s ring.

And then Galen was rising into the air. Grimney lifted him by the scruff of his neck, and Galen’s eyes widened with fear. “Put me down.”

Grimney looked to me.

Galen twisted in the air, swinging his fists. He shouted, “Put me down!”

Still Grimney waited for me. “Grzzy?”

Galen shouted louder, “Youobey me. I paid for you.You belong to me.”

“Galen,” I said. “Please. I don’t want to get married.”

There was a look in his eyes I’d never seen before. Dark, cold,possessive. “You don’t have a choice.” He took a deep breath and shouted, “Guards!”

Grimney hit him. Galen’s eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the floor.

I dropped to my knees, but it was okay. Galen was still breathing.

Slowly, I got to my feet. My vision blurred with tears. I hated myself for crying. It was one of the oldest lessons I’d learned: people don’t notice what they don’t want to notice. Galen had never cared about me, not me, not truly. I worked so hard for him, because... because... I wanted to believe he treasured me. Because he saved me from Lady Incarnadine. But now I had to save myself.

A commotion came from downstairs. Footfalls on the stairs, growing closer. A male voice called, “Galen?”

“We’re all right,” I shouted, wiping my face. “He’s, uh, helping me get dressed.”

The voice came. “Who called for the guards? Where is he?”

Crud. I met Grimney’s gaze. We were doomed.

I flew into action. The biggest bag I owned—I dumped out the measuring rings, the odds and ends, and filled it quickly with whatever I could reach. My tools. A change of clothes. The lilac dress? I could sell it.

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