Silvius’s lips shape what starts off as ayesbut swiftly becomes ano, because unlike me, he’s not immune to the truth serum.
I run the list of those who tend to the patrons’ livers—the four members of the Amari family and me. And Flora, but I doubt Silvius would stoop as low as a human. I discard Syb and Gia’s parents, since they’re happily married, and myself, since Silvius only wants to desecrate me. Which leaves the sisters. I cannot help wrinkling my nose, because Giana and Sybille would surely rather shave their heads and move to Rax than marry this man.
“Guess it must be salt in my snuffbox after all, Dargento.” My grandfather snaps the lid on his little box closed and slips it back into his trousers.
I almost feel pity for the commander, but he’s a revolting specimen, who’s pinched my ass more times than I can count. Serves him right to be knocked down a peg.
As the color recedes from his cheeks, Silvius straightens his head. “Please, Maezza, may we return to the subject of the girl and her serpent?”
With a great sigh, the king relents. “I suppose we should. My bride-to-be awaits me in Tarespagia for another revel. So, Signorina Rossi, tell me . . . how do you control the beasts?”
“I don’t. I swear upon the Cauldron and upon the Crown that I’m a magicless water-Fae. I have neither control over my element, nor over the animals who dwell in it.”
Silvius inhales a sharp breath. “She’s human! Fully human. That’s how she lies.”
Gods, am I? My worry about being a changeling roars back to life.
“You’re certain she’s of your bloodline, Justus?” the king asks.
“Yes.” There’s no hint of hesitation in Justus’s voice. “I was present when she spilled out of her mother.”
He was? With Nonna? Why didn’t she ever tell me? “Why?”
“Originally, I came to end your life.”
My eyes bulge.
“But Ceres was adamant you be given a chance.”
“So what? You just said . . .okay?”
“No, we struck a bargain. One I’ve yet to collect.” He pats his right biceps. Although the fabric of his jacket is opaque, I picture the glowing band of skin he could call upon with a mere stroke of his finger combined with the mention of Nonna’s full name.
Twenty-two years, and this is the first I hear of it?! How inobservant am I that I never noticed the glowing dot inscribed on Nonna’s chest? The one that’s said to blister the bargainer’s heart from the moment the debt is claimed until its completion. I feel both blindsided and selfish.
“I saw her interact with the beast,” Silvius growls, one-track minded. “Throw her into Mareluce! The serpent will come.”
The commander’s suggestion stills my beating heart, and not because I fear for my life but because I fear for Minimus’s. What if he comes?
What will they do to him?
Twenty-Nine
Ipress my palm to my stomach, which feels as though it’s bursting with juvenile serpents. “I thought this was a hearing, not an execution.”
“An execution?” The king’s amber gaze drapes over me. “Didn’t you say yourself that serpents were harmless, Signorina Rossi?”
This is my punishment for maligning a man in front of his superiors. “I’m not familiar with every serpent in Mareluce, Maezza.”
“So you admit you are familiar with some?”
I’ve just lunged right onto Silvius’s sticky web. Damn him.
Damn him to the Queendom of Shabbe and back.
Actually . . . let him stay there.Castration would be a better vengeance than death.
Since saying no to the king’s question is no longer an option, I tread carefully around the truth. “I often see the same serpents roaming the canals of Tarelexo.”
