Serpent's Claim (Serpent's Touch 2)

I kept my eyes closed, surprised by his actions. “What’s going on?”

With a finger under my chin, he tilted my head up. “Look at me, Amira.”

Look at him? After he had repeatedly urged me to keep my eyes closed ever since we met?

“Don’t worry,” he assured me. “It’s safe. I tested it on a siren.”

“Tested what?”

“The veil.”

Something light caressed my face, sliding down my bare shoulders with a whisper of a breeze.

“Look at me, Amira. Let me see those gorgeous eyes of yours once again.”

The desire to see him conquered fear. Slowly, I raised my eyelids.

His face was right above me, his golden eyes twinkling with excitement, a smile playing on his lips. But a milky-white haze framed the image.

I touched the side of my face, my fingers coming in contact with a delicate material.

“Spider silk,” Kyllen explained. “All the way from the Sky Kingdom.”

The white, cloud-light veil dropped down to my knees, shrouding me. I touched the circle of the diadem on my head.

“The headband is gorgonian made,” he said. “It’ll stay on your head without falling off or bothering you. You can even sleep with it.”

I turned around, taking in the room I’d spent several days in but hadn’t even taken a look at until now. “I can see.”

The woven-grass rugs on the floor had a beautiful floral pattern. The waterfall and the space around the basin of the pool below were laid with yellow, green, orange, and gray river rock. The bedding on my nest was in pale lavender. And the frame of the silk screen, the door, and the window railing were painted with colorful vines of flowers interwoven with golden swirls.

“I can see.” I turned back to Kyllen. Despite all the beauty of the room, he was the most gorgeous sight of all.

Pride of accomplishment shone in his eyes, weary after his long journey. His senties moved slightly with his barely contained excitement. The lighting in the room highlighted the golden streaks of their dark-green markings.

“Thank you.” I placed my hand on his cheek. “Was that why you were gone? To get the veil for me?”

He nodded. “I wanted you to have it as soon as possible. It couldn’t be fun to have two perfectly good eyes and not be able to use them.”

It hadn’t been fun, but I’d known how it was going to be before I got here.

“I didn’t mind.”

“But that didn’t mean you liked it, right? In this world, you have to use all the eyes you have. I’ll protect you from any known danger, Amira, but you need to watch out for yourself, too.”

“Thank you. I will.” I could neither stop smiling nor stop looking at him.

He stared at me, too. “Oh, I just love seeing your gorgeous eyes again.” He kissed my right eye, then the left one. The veil was so thin, I could barely feel it between his lips and my skin.

“I have a question,” I said as he trailed his kisses down the side of my face to my neck.

“What is it?”

“What happened to the siren you tested the veil on?”

“Oh, he lived,” he dismissed casually, placing another kiss, this one on the corner of my mouth. “That’s how I knew it was safe.”

“But what if he didn’t? You could’ve killed the poor man.”

“If he died, I would’ve gone back to the merchant who sold me the veil and demanded my sword back. Next, I would’ve used that sword to teach the old crook a lesson.”

His tone of voice remained light and casual, but the hard glint in his eyes left no doubt he meant what he said. I was glad the veil turned out to be the real thing, after all, and both the siren and the merchant were still alive.

“You traded a sword for it?”

“Udren let me have my weapon collection back.” He shrugged. “Not that it could be of any use to him anyway, not even when he was younger. Swordplay has never been my brother’s thing.”

A puff of breeze floated from the window. The evening was warm and refreshing. I glanced out at the landscape that until now had been only a picture in my imagination.

As it turned out, the picture didn’t really do justice to the reality. The golden sunset tinted both the lake and the sky in warm sepia colors. The sunlight rippled on the surface of the water, making it look like liquid gold.

A group of large, winged creatures flew across the sky, visible between the branches of the palace's expansive canopy. As high as the creatures were, they still appeared massive.

“What are they? Dragons?” I asked, mesmerized by their majestic forms.

“Gargoyles,” Kyllen replied. “The males can shapeshift into dragons whenever they wish.”

“Are they coming to Lorsan?”

“Not likely. They don’t land here often, for obvious reasons. Gargoyles turn to stone every night, but they have no desire to be put in that form permanently by us. They’re probably just flying to Olathana, to trade with sirens, or maybe to fight them. Gargoyles like a good squabble. They’re often at war either between themselves or with others.”

The creatures slid through the sky, their movements light and graceful despite their size.

Kyllen took his leather satchel off his shoulder. “You look absolutely stunning in that dress, sweet pea. And I’ve spent the past four days mostly on the paddle board or wading through the marsh. I need to take a shower and get changed before we go to dinner.”

“They brought some clothes for you.” I gestured at the stack of gold-trimmed, emerald-colored fabrics on the table.

“Splendid.” He ripped his tunic off over his head, then shoved his pants down on his way to the waterfall. “I’ll be quick.”

I could turn away and give him some privacy. But why would I? He hadn’t asked for it. Now that I could see again, I wished to watch.

He stepped over the edge of the pool into the water that reached just above his knee. Hard muscles rolled under his skin. Fresh air and sun had laid a new layer of bronze glow on his back and arms.

A ribbon of snake-skin pattern ran along his spine. It fanned out over his shoulders just below his neck. The edges of the pattern blended into his skin, only visible if the light fell at the right angle. It looked beautiful, as if etched by light. No painting could ever replicate this.

Kyllen slid his hand up the river rock on the wall next to the waterfall. A spout lowered out of the wall, diverting a portion of the stream over his head like a shower.

Taking a handful of soap paste from the jar on the ledge of the basin, he lathered it between his palms. With the water running over him, he spread the suds all over his torso, arms, and legs.

I followed his hands with my gaze, taking in every dip and curve of his body, learning by sight what I’d loved to learn by touch.