My heart begins to sprint. “I wasn’t wondering.”
“Sure you weren’t.”
I pitch off my nightgown and replace it with a yellow dress that slips over my skin like sunshine but ripples like water, what with my heart beating as briskly as it is.
“I’m guessing he didn’t jump to the same conclusion as I did about you having two mates.”
I drop down on the pouf in the middle of my dressing chamber to lace up a pair of golden sandals. “How did he find out about my mind link to Agrippina? Did she tell him?”
“Was it supposed to be a secret?”
“I suppose not.” I secure the laces with a double-knot.
“What are you going to do?”
“About?”
“His hopes and dreams of rekindling your old romance?”
“Nothing.” At least, not for now. “I have a new Serpent to train.”
“Your grandmother saw to her training. She can now shift in and out of scales at will.”
“Has Enzo introduced himself?”
“He’s been wallowing, remember?”
“In the Amkhuti?”
“The Akwale have shut off all accesses to the Sahklare and dropped the waterline to avoid a repeat of the other night. Though truth be told, I think Enzo has learned his lesson.”
Enzo?No answer.Agrippina?
Her voice crackles through my mind almost immediately.Present, my queen.
No need for titles. I’m not your queen.
Shall I call you Maker? Or Mother of Serpents?
I snort.Daya will be just fine.
You’re lucky we were really close friends back in the day.
Why’s that?
Because if I didn’t remember liking you so much, I would’ve had a bone to pick with the woman who used my body as a hatchery. You gave me fucking stretchmarks.
I’m not sure what those are.
Fallon,ourdaughter—I can feel hersmile and realize, for the first time, that the usual wave of jealousy doesn’t dash against me—was kind enough to work her magic on them. Hopefully a few more sessions of blood therapy will have my body good as new.
I massage my throbbing temples.Were you always so talkative?
Always.
And we truly were friends?
You stuck a baby inside of me, so yes, Daya. We were friends.After a beat, she asks,You really have no memory of your past life?
