Page 8 of Embrace the Serpent

It wasn’t for me to ask. “I apologize.”

“What is your name?” he asked.

“I’m—I’m just the assistant.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” he said, eyes smoldering.

“I’m not for sale.”

“That was just a figure of—never mind.” He reached into his pocket and brought out a small jewel box. “Do you recognize this?”

Nestled in pale silk was a piece I’d finished not a week ago. A bracelet featuring one of my first serpent-head clasps, carved out of the metal orichalcum in the shape of a viper. I had made it for a nobleman’s son who was making his debut this Season. I remembered a bored boy of eighteen with a pretty face and hair worn inthe tight waves popular in the eastern kingdoms.

I gripped it tightly. “How did you get this?”

“Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you think. I paid for it. Much easier, don’t you think?”

“Why do you keep smiling at me like that?”

“Well, it usually works,” he muttered.

“In what way?”

He shifted his weight. “I must talk to Master Galen.”

“He isn’t here.”

“Yes, I figured. Will he be along shortly?”

By the sounds of that party... “Likely not till morning.”

Rane’s expression grew tight. “That’s a little difficult.”

“Can you come back tomorrow?”

Rane crossed the room and peeked out the rounded glass of the shopfront. He’d been keeping to the shadows, I realized. Out of sight of the street.

A rich man with enemies.

“I suppose I’ll have to try.” He paused. “You don’t know anything about his work, do you?”

Grimney rumbled a laugh. I shot him a quelling look. “A little.”

Rane opened the jewel box with the bracelet. “Did Galen truly invent this?”

My heart leapt. I forced a laugh. “Do you think he has a secret jewelsmith working for him in back?”

“No, I mean—he didn’t copy it from someone, somewhere?”

Oh. I relaxed. “No. Master Galen... pours himself into the work. It took a long time to come up with that design, in minutes stolen between all the other commissions a shop like this must take to stayafloat. It’s not easy to coax a jewel to wake and do what you want.”

“Yes,” he said. “That I know.”

“I’m afraid,” I added, “that your money was poorly spent. That bracelet isn’t much use to you, as you’ll never be able to open the clasp. It’s not keyed to you.”

“I noticed that. It bit me.”

I hid my smile.

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