Serpent's Claim (Serpent's Touch 2)

AMIRA

By dinner time, I’d worn myself out with worrisome thoughts. I felt restless, needing to move. Heck, I would even clean something to get rid of the nervous energy that buzzed through me.

Geltar came to help me get dressed for dinner. I needed help, and it wasn’t just because of my forced blindness. Getting into the evening gown that Geltar had brought proved much more difficult than pulling on a t-shirt and a hoodie.

There was no corset, thank goodness. But the double-layered bodice was tight on its own and was laced up the back with a ribbon. The light, flowing skirt had a high slit on the side that exposed my right leg every time I took a step.

My neck, arms, and shoulders remained bare. The breeze from the window chilled the expanse of skin I’d never exposed before.

Geltar circled my upper arms with metal armlets. Long scarfs of the same flowy material as my skirt were attached to them. The light fabric streamed down my arms to the floor.

“What color is this dress, Geltar?” I asked, stroking the soft material of my skirt. Despite its many layers, it felt weightless.

“Oh, it’s the gentlest shade of mint-green,” she cooed. “It tints your skin green a little. So lovely.”

She sounded like she was giving me a compliment.

“Do gorgonians like the color green?”

“Oh yes,” she replied enthusiastically.

I thought of the pattern on Kyllen’s senties.

“Do all gorgonians have green in their coloring?” I asked, trying to imagine the crowd I’d be surrounded by tonight.

“No. Not all.” She helped me into a chair, then started brushing my hair. “Green is beautiful. But it’s usually just displayed in the markings on people’s backs and senties. Our skin comes in many other colors, from pale sand, to reddish clay, to every shade of blue and gray, to beige or bronze. The markings have even more variety—green, burgundy, black, purple, gold, pink… Colors are beautiful—” She cut herself short, possibly realizing that I didn’t have much to boast in terms of color. “Your hair is lovely, my lady. And if you like, I’ll bring you a pallet of powders. We can tint your skin in any color you want. I can also find someone to paint markings on your back. We have many talented artists in Ellohi.”

I untied my blindfold but held it to my eyes while she braided my hair. “Thank you, but that’s all right. I’ll just keep the skin I have, plain as it may be.”

No matter what I did to my appearance, I sensed, it wouldn’t make the Court of Ellohi accept me any faster. For a while yet, I would not feel comfortable in my own skin, regardless of what designs I’d paint on it.

Geltar deftly parted my hair into sections and braided them in plaits. There were twenty-four of them, she said, chatting about how she learned to style hair while growing up in a family of merchants who traveled along the border to trade with sirens and werewolves.

She secured the ends with snake-like clips by twisting them in spirals around each braid, then tied the blindfold back in place for me.

“You look beautiful, my lady.” By the sound of her voice, she appeared to step back, possibly to admire her work.

“Thank you, Geltar.” It was beyond bizarre to have another person dress me and brush my hair when I’d done the same for somebody else all my life. “Would you mind adding this to my hairdo as well, please?”

I handed her the dragonfly barrette, the only thing I’d brought from my old world, not counting the discarded pants and sweater.

“Oh, this is cute.” She took the barrette from me. “Looks rather plain, though. The box with jewelry that the High Lord has sent for you tonight has much better pieces. I can choose—”

“No.” I had enough trinkets decorating my arms, fingers, and neck already. Their cool, hard metal chilled my skin wherever Geltar had placed them. “I just want this one. Please clip it on any of the braids you’ve made.”

She did as I asked, then offered, “Would you like me to take you to the dining room now?”

I shook my head. “I’ll wait for Kyllen.”

“But what if Lord Kyllen is delayed?”

“Then…” The idea of sitting at the High Lord’s dining table alone, surrounded by strangers, terrified me. But I couldn’t continue hiding in this room. Blindfolded or not, I had to keep learning more about my surroundings. “Well, if he’s delayed, then you can come get me just before the dinner starts.”

When Geltar was gone, I sat in one of the chairs at the table and tried to collect my thoughts.

How did one prepare to face a crowd of people they couldn’t actually see? Would all of them be like Lady Igaed, dressing up insults to pass them on as helpful advice? Was my skin thick enough for me to survive it unscathed?

A rustling of leaves and snapping of branches yanked me out of my troubling thoughts. I jumped from my seat and grabbed the first thing I could possibly use as a weapon—the chair I’d been sitting on.

“Who’s there?”

The familiar chuckle reached me from the window.

“Oh, my sweet Amira, how sexy you look brandishing that chair.”

“Kyllen…” I dropped my arms down. The chair slipped from my fingers, hitting the floor with a thud. “You’re back.”

I took a step toward the sound of his voice, and he caught me in his arms. He smelled like forest and the river, and everything wonderful that had ever happened in my life.

I slid my hands up his chest and took his face between my palms. He slunk his senties between my fingers, wrapping them around my wrists to anchor me to him as he kissed me.

“Were you really going to whack me with that chair?” He smiled against my lips.

“I didn’t know it was you.” I snuggled against him. A shiver of pleasure ran through my body at the contact. “Why the window? What’s wrong with the door?”

“I missed you, and it was quicker that way. Besides, you were a true vision with that chair, ready to hurl it at my head.”

I lacked the gorgonian strength to be hurling furniture, but I just shook my head at his teasing. Pure happiness spread through me at having his arms around me once again. I’d missed him, too. So much.

“You scared me.” I pressed my nose to the tunic on his chest, breathing in his familiar scent.

“I didn’t mean to.” He kissed my hair. “I missed you so much for the past four days. I really couldn’t wait another minute. Do you believe me?”

“I do.”

He exhaled a laugh. “But you see, I can’t believe it myself. No one has ever had this hold over me before, Amira. I couldn’t care less about being away from the palace. But I couldn’t stand being away from you.”

Not many people remembered him in this world. Kyllen and I had some shared history that would forever connect us. But I sensed there was more than that. I hoped there was.

I wrapped my arms tighter around him, leaning closer. I wished to align every part of myself with every part of him, and just stay like this—warm, comfy, and at peace.

“It’s so good to have you back,” I murmured into his chest. “Where have you been?”

“Oh, right.” He stepped out of my embrace. “I’ve got something for you.” There was a rustle of fabric; he must be rummaging in the travel bag he had slung over his shoulder.

“What is it? Another present?” Anticipation fizzed inside me with warm effervescence. “You know you risk spoiling me.”

“You’re long overdue for some gifts and pampering, my sweet pea. But this is not just a frivolous gift.” Pride rang in his voice. “I wanted to get it for you the moment we were back in Lorsan, and now I did. Here.”

He placed something on my head. It felt like a circle, firm but flexible enough to fit snugly around the crown of my head.

“Now let me take this off.” He untied my blindfold.