I’d barely uncovered the plate when something dark moved across it. My body jerked and I screamed. “Fuck!” I threw the lid across the room, pushing my chair back so fast, I almost fell over.
Slithering up from the center of my dinner plate was a black nahashim—the very same snake that had grown wings and chased me through the skies. The snake that had led me here.
“Don’t be scared,” the Imperator crooned. “He won’t bite you. Unless I ask him to.”
I remained still, not wanting to get near the snake. Imperator Hart made a shushing sound as he stretched his arm across the table. The snake slid across his leather cuff, and wound its way toward his elbow.
“Do you remember him?” he asked, his lips lifting into a curve.
“We met last night, I believe. At least, I saw him last night for the first time,” I said, trying to get my breath under control. “I didn’t realize they could fly.”
He chuckled. “They can do whatever it takes to fulfill their master’s orders. Even …travel. But you knew that.” He eyed my position, far from the table. “Pull your chair in. Now.”
Reluctantly, I obeyed.
“Last night was not the first time you met,” he said. The snake’s shiny black scales stretched and retracted as its body settled over the gryphon etched into the Imperator’s leathered armor. “The first time, he was so tiny that he fit,” he paused, patting his belt below the table’s edge, “right here in my pocket. You remember?”
The nahashim he’d forced me to touch during our dance in Bamaria. My chest tightened.
“I trained him to follow your scent in particular that night.”
My skin crawled. I wanted to bathe, I wanted to erase my scent, and any signs I’d been in the room. His actions that night at the ball had felt devious enough, forcing my hand to touch the snake. But this? Fuck.
“He’s grown since then,” I said through gritted teeth.
“He has. Beautifully. And he will continue to grow. Quite fortunate, don’t you think? All the fully grown nahashim I’d bred and raised since infancy were killed. By you. All nine of them. Back in Korteria.”
My breath caught. Ihadkilled them all in Korteria. The very same day I’d killed Brockton. But he couldn’t know that. It was impossible. No one but Rhyan knew that.
“I don’t … I don’t know what you’re referring to,” I said, my heart hammering. “I was not aware you had nine nahashim, nor was I aware they’d been killed. We were never in Korteria.”
He was silent for a long moment, his eyes raking me up and down.
I could feel my pulse pounding against my skin, threatening to burst out of me.
“You’re quite good. Quite an actress. Though, you have some tells—your eyes. They’ve never been that convincing. Too honest.” He grinned, and leaned his elbows on the table, his fingers steepled beneath his chin. “Let’s play a game, shall we? A game of possibility. I can choose to believe you. Perhaps my nahashim suddenly felt the need to fight each other like Brockton Kormac and his friends. Or,” he raised his voice, anger pulsing through every syllable as he sat up. “Perhaps, you were seen in Korteria by four wolves, including Brockton. Perhaps, they saw you in the very spot where the corpses of my nahashim were found. Perhaps, they saw you kill my pets, the very same day you killed all of them. Perhaps.” Imperator Hart’s aura darkened. “Do you understand what I’m referring to now?” he asked.
I swore I could hear my heart drumming. My blood was now pulsing in my ears. I swallowed roughly.
“I am sorry for your loss, Your Highness. Just as I was … saddened to learn of the soturis’ deaths. It was a terrible tragedy for Ka Kormac. My sympathies go out to Imperator Kormac on the loss of his nephew and the three members of his soturi.”
Imperator Hart held my gaze unblinking across the table. Without losing eye contact, he reached for his wine glass,and took a long sip. “What did the wolves do to you after you killed my nahashim?”
“N-Nothing.” I shook my head. “How could they do anything? We never entered Korteria. Like I told you,” I lied. But I could still feel it. Feel the way the air hit my skin when they’d stripped me. Feel the shame and fear that pulsed through my veins when their eyes were on my bare skin. Remember the threats they uttered through the vadati stone to Rhyan. The disgusting way Brockton’s hand felt as he grabbed my breast.
… we’re going to fuck your girl. We’re going to do it until you get here.
Imperator Hart didn’t respond, just stared at me with this dark look in his eyes that told me I had to go on, that I had to keep explaining.
I continued, “I had only one objective when I left Bamaria: find my sisters. We took the eastern pass from the Elyrian border, heading north.” A truth. “We were never near Ka Kormac’s territory.” A lie. His Godsdamned nahashim drove us there. “I cannot answer any of these allegations.”
Imperator Hart sighed loudly. “Shame. Witnesses say otherwise. You’re lying, Lady Lyriana. I know for a fact that you’re lying. My nahashim tracked you to Korteria, where you were captured by Brockton and brought to Vrukshire for questioning. Imperator Kormac himself reported to me the presence of the nahashim corpses.”
“He … he reported the snakes to you?” I asked, trying to sound interested instead of guilty.
“Oh yes. And so much more. It seems Brockton kept you tied up for the entire day. Sometime after nightfall, there were screams from his bedroom, the sound of glass smashing. The Bastardmaker’s son had an appetite for some, shall we say, less than savory things. He had special locks on his door to protect his … meals. According to my sources, bythe time the servants pried the door open, they found three dead wolves.”
Three? My heart stopped. Three? No. No. No. Not three. There were four.
