Page 120 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

“It doesn’t mean her any harm.” Draven waved a hand towards Samara and her new scaly friend. “This isn’t normal behavior for a viper; they’re ambush predators. It was probably coiled up somewhere in the temple and the magic of whatever spell she’s working drew it towards her.”

“I don’t care!” A low, panicked whine underpinned Rynn’s words. “Nowhere in that fucking book did it mentionanythingabout fucking snakes crawling out of the fucking walls!” The viper raised its head from where it had been resting on Samara’s knee and flicked a tongue in Rynn’s direction. “Fuck!” she shrieked and backed up farther on the table.

“Rynn, if you scream one more time, I’m going to strangle you.” Roth stomped into the room, their deep red hair looking a little messy, like they’d been running their hands through it. “I can hear you all the way downstairs. What are you going on about—oh.” They looked at the badlands viper. “Huh. I guess Sam has an affinity with serpents. Or maybe it’s all reptiles. The strikers really like her, and they’re more reptile than bird anyway.”

“Affinity?” Draven glanced at Roth.

They pointed at the stack of discarded books on a nearby table, the ones that didn’t contain information useful for our current problems. “One of those books talks about it. I think it’s a Seelie thing, which makes sense, I guess, since their magic is earth-based. Normally, they are drawn to one type of animal, and those animals are also drawn to them. Maybe the more in touch Samara gets with her Fae magic, the more weird shit like this will happen.”

“You use Fae magic.” I looked at Draven. “This ever happen to you?”

He frowned and started to shake his head, but then his eyes widened. “Weasels. The bold little things often come up to me when I’m camping in the woods. I thought maybe they just smelled my food and wanted to steal it. They’ve never shown an ounce of fear.”

The Moroi Prince was friends with quite possibly the only animals that could be considered adorable in Lunaria.

“If somebody doesn’t—” Rynn growled, only to be cut off when Samara let out a long exhale and said, “Well, that was fucking weird.”

Her beautiful purple eyes glanced down at her lap, and a perplexed expression spread across her face. “Okay. Not what I was expecting. Umm . . . shoo?”

“How are you so calm about a snake in your lap!” Rynn glared at her best friend.

Samara grinned at Draven. “Too bad Kieran isn’t here. He’d have so many jokes.”

“Is that a snake in your dress, or are you just happy to see me?” Draven asked with a completely straight face.

“My snake’s bigger than yours.” Samara impersonated Kieran’s smooth voice.

“Sam!” Rynn barked.

“Oh, fine.” Samara rolled her eyes and gently lifted the viper off her lap like it couldn’t knock her ass out with one bite and wrack her body with seizures for hours until it burned off the venom. “I was just in the mind of a snake—southern tree boa, I think—so my tolerance for strange shit has gone up a bit.”

“Really?” Roth perked up. “What was that like? Did you completely take over its body? Or was it more of a shared consciousness thing?”

“The latter. It was kind of grumpy about the whole affair to be honest.” Samara held the viper up with one hand, letting its body curl around her forearm. “You’re not grumpy though, are you?” she cooed, and then to Rynn’s horror—and mine too, if I was being honest—Samara booped the thing on the nose with her finger. “I canfeelhow content you are right now. Who’s the cutest little viper there ever was? You are!”

Another boop.

“Samara,” Rynn whined pitifully.

“Alright, alright.” She smoothly rolled to her feet. “Just let me go set this pretty girl outside. I think she’s digesting a meal or something. She just wants to find somewhere warm to curl up and rest.”

“Sure. Fine. Whatever.” Rynn pointed to the exit. “Just get it out of here!”

Samara practically flounced out of the room, and only when her footsteps faded did Rynn hop down from the table, grumbling something about smothering Samara in her sleep.

“Where’s the book that has the exact spell?” Roth asked, looking at the glyph on the floor where Samara had been sitting.

Rynn grabbed it off the table and tossed it to them.

“Careful.” Roth snatched the book out of the air and turned to glare at Rynn, eyes flashing orange in warning. “You damage any of these books, and you’ll be the one getting smothered in your sleep.”

The mirror rippled in the corner, and a second later, Alaric and Kieran stepped into the room before freezing.

“Why do I smell Samara’s blood?” Alaric gave me an accusing glare.

“Because Samara decided to use a Fae spell nobody has ever heard of that resulted in her sharing a mind with a snake and talking to a crown that apparently has a soul,” I deadpanned.

Roth snorted. “Succinct but accurate.”

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