Page 32 of Embrace the Serpent

His brow furrowed in focus, and he pressed his thumb to my eyebrow.

A feeling came over me, like warm milk being poured on the crown of my head and trickling down to my feet. The warmth lingered where his thumb had been.

Rane’s lips quirked as his eyes roamed over me. “I’m amazing,” he said. “Let’s go.”

It was midmorning when we rolled down the main road and joined the queue of merchants at the southern gates. We were in a large wagon, the kind that belonged to a moderately successful merchant, but not grand enough to be worthy of note. The inside was stuffed with rolled-up rugs, which felt real enough when I brushed my fingers along them.

We were all changed. Rane had turned himself into a jolly man with a long white beard, and he sat up front, driving oxen that I was fairly certain had been horses not long ago. The Serpent King sat across from me, in the guise of a middle-aged man with a heavy brow and enormous fluffy eyebrows.

He leaned back, arms crossed, eyes shut as if he were asleep. Somehow, he was still terrifying. Was it his size? The way his feet were firmly planted, no matter how the wagon rocked? And about his feet—the stories said he had multiple forms, that his lower bodycould become that of a massive serpent. I couldn’t remember if he could also do the opposite—it seemed unfair if he couldn’t keep human feet but turn his head into a serpent’s—

His eyes were open. He was watching me.

I jumped out of my skin.

A scrawny girl with plaited hair—one of the huntsmen—jumped up on the driver’s bench. “They’re stopping everyone. They’re looking for a girl. A thief. They say she’s Master Galen’s assistant.”

Rane looked over his shoulder. “Bit of an important detail to forget to mention, eh, Saphira?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t think he’d send the guards after me.” As the words left my mouth, a sudden icy shiver ran from my head to my toes. I clapped my hands to my cheeks—the illusion!

Rane laughed. “Yes, that’s what I meant about telling the truth.”

I asked something that had been bothering me. “Isn’t it dangerous to go through the front gates?”

“All the other secret back ways are being watched. We’re less likely to arouse suspicion this way. Now, come here, and let me illuse you.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. His fingers brushed across my cheek, and his thumb found my brow. The warm-milk feeling spread over me.

I opened my mouth.

Rane shushed me. “Better not to talk. Don’t worry. We’ll soon slip through.”

And then we were at the front. A gaggle of guards were inspecting each vehicle thoroughly, making a point to pull aside youngish women of a smallish stature and compare their faces to a scroll.

Rane made small talk up front. The doors of the wagon wereflung open, and two guards peered in.

Too late I noticed Grimney’s head poking out of my pocket. The sudden light glinted off the amethyst in his forehead and I shoved him down.

“What’s that in your pocket, ma’am?”

A lie—I needed a good lie. “My pet mouse.”

“It’s just her hand,” Rane said. “She’s a little touched. Mother dropped her as a babe—”

The guard gestured, and two others poked their heads into our wagon. “Everyone, out.”

I got out first. A guard with a bushy mustache peered at me. “What’s your name?”

“Sa—Sa—” I responded instinctively, then snapped my mouth shut.

“Sasa, you’d better empty your pockets.”

Slowly, I inched my hand into my pocket, craning my hand toward Rane, but he was blocked by the wagon. I pulled Grimney out.

“That’s no mouse,” said the guard.

Another sneered. “No, it ain’t. Been stealing from the jewelsmiths, have you?”

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