“I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier, Fallon,” I murmur as she pillows her head against my arm.
“Please. You were at your wit’s end.” She squeezes my arm. “Anyway, do you want to hear a fun fact I learned tonight?”
“Always. I love yourfun facts.”
“Agrippina can hear Mádhi…and Mádhi can hear her.”
My heart pulses out so many beats that it alters the cycle of my breaths and cramps my lungs.
Enzo isn’t her mate, I think, before remembering,You aren’t either.
Chapter 40
Zendaya
Healing Agrippina and Enzo drained me. Though I surfaced in skin from the Amkhuti, I’m not entirely certain how I got from the Amkhuti to my bed. I assume someone carried me. I also assume that this someone may have been winged.
I wake to fingers of light scraping against my lids. For a moment, I just lay there and reflect on everything that’s happened. It feels like a dream. I suddenly worry that it was and sit up brusquely.
“Easy there, imNaage.” Asha clucks her tongue at me.
“ImNaage?”Mother of Serpents?
“Well, you’re now the proud owner oftwoSerpents.”
“One does not own people, Asha.” I flop back onto my mattress with a sigh. “Right?”
“Slavery isn’t a thing in Shabbe.”
“But it is in other places?”
“Yes and no. Faeries insist they pay each one of their servants, but it’s such a pittance that it probably feels like slavery to the humans in their employ. I request a change of topic. Notonly because the other pisses me off, but because…you havetwomates?”
“What?”
“Agrippina, who is, um, a surprisingly vivacious woman, claims that she can hear you.” Asha hops stomach-first onto my bed, sending my mattress rippling. She props herself onto her elbows and cups her round cheeks. “Can she?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t make her my mate.”
Asha frowns. “I thought?—”
“Lorcan shares a mind link with all his Crows. I believe that my type of shifter works the same way. It’s why I went to Luce in the first place.”
“Well that explains Enzo’s grouchiness. Do you know that he’s stayed in his beast form for the last two days? Refuses to eat anything. I thought it was sympathy pains for his mate, but I think he may be depressed. He really likes you.”
“He likes me because I saved his life and gave him magic.”
“No, Daya. Hereallylikes you.”
“He’s a child.”
She rolls onto her back and stretches out. “He’s nineteen.”
“So I’ve been convalescing for two days?” I ask, not feeling like discussing Enzo’s crush. “Tell me all that’s been happening.”
“Ceres and your new Serpent have taken residence in Enzo’s wing. Fallon has been making many roundtrips between Luce and Shabbe to check on you and bring news from Luce. Your little stint has disquieted quite a few Lucins.” She smirks.
“Is Lorcan very angry with me?”
