Page 78 of Embrace the Serpent

His chest rumbled with a laugh. “Youdounderstand me.”

That was the thing. “Why did you do it?”

He looked away. “When I saw the arrow would hit you... I didn’t have a better idea. Honestly, I still think it was a good idea.”

“What about... the serpents?”

His breath hitched.

I went on. “And when you were asleep... your illusion fell.”

“I’ve been able to keep an illusion in my sleep since I was six.”

“Don’t be hard on yourself. You did take an arrow to the chest.”

He gave me a wry look. “Now it feels like you’re enjoying it.”

“Do all serpent people look like you? The silver hair, the silver skin?”

“No,” he breathed. And then, pleadingly, “Saphira...”

“Can all serpent people cast illusions? Or is it just you and the Serpent King?”

“It’s just me.”

His words hung in the air, and slowly registered. Deep down, some part of me knew, had known from the moment the serpents had come.

Rane met my gaze, waiting.

“You’re the Serpent King.”

“Yes.”

“Why did you lie to me?”

“I... wanted to be Rane. I couldn’t move openly in the city, so... and then it was never a good time to tell you. You thought I was a monster. I didn’t want to scare you. It was selfish, too. I didn’t want you to run. I wanted...” He sighed. “I wasn’t supposed to be king, did you know?”

I shook my head.

“My brother was. He was the eldest, and he was made for it. He was noble, right. A swordsman and a scholar. I spent all that time sneaking away and getting into trouble. But then... eventually I had to become what they wanted me to be. I owed it to him. So I craftedthe Serpent King. He’s perfect. And there’s Rane. He’s what... I might have been, if the crown had spared me.”

Rane was how he saw himself. The Serpent King was what he needed everyone to see him as. But the glimpse I’d had of his true face was handsomer than Rane’s, more human than the inhumanly sharp cheekbones the Serpent King sported. I was comparing the two. But the person I had all these feelings for—he didn’t exist.

“Are you very furious?” he asked mildly.

“I just... I liked Rane.”

“Ah. But you can’t feel the same about the monster.” The way his lips twisted atmonster, and the way his wry smile didn’t reach his eyes—there I saw the Serpent King. “You do not condone what I have done, and I understand. I will say this: I have finished every fight that has come to me, but I have never struck first.”

My voice was very quiet. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth now?”

“I swear, on my heart, on my kingdom. I will never lie to you.”

I looked into his illusioned eyes and I wondered.

15

I was once again in my parents’ old rooms. The ocean roar mingled with the blood rushing in my ears. There was a careful path my gaze had to travel, to avoid my mother’s wardrobe, the stain on the carpet, even the lattice screen that shielded the bed, because if I looked there, I could almost see my mother, sitting on the edge of the low bed, combing her long dark hair—

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