The boy holds his hands in front of his face. “What is all this black goo?”
“Blood,” I reply.
His lid-to-lid black eyes snap to my lid-to-lid black ones. “D-Dhoon?”
I frown. “Yes. Blood.”
His forehead furrows as he looks at Fallon and asks her something in Lucin that includes the word for blood in Shabbin.
“A Serpent…” he breathes. “I’ve transformed into a freaking almighty Serpent!” It is only then that I realize that his lips didn’t move overanyof those words.
He turns his awestruck expression toward me just as a wave froths around his body and completes his shift.
Chapter 30
Zendaya
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to Cathal as he stares at the coiled green monster on the black sand.
“Youmadea serpent, Mádhi.” The wonder in Fallon’s tone feels like iron talons to the heart.
I tremulously tuck my wet hair behind my ears, refusing to let Behati’s vision seep into my thoughts. The Serpent isn’t my mate; the Crow, devoured by gloom, who stands before me is.
“Can you hear him?” The bones in Cathal’s face sharpen as he continues to scrutinize the boy. “Inside your mind”—his pitch is so grave it weighs on my heart—“can you hear him?”
I want to lie. I want to shake my head and pretend like I can’t. Instead, I reach up and cradle his jaw to force his gaze to mine. “Look me. Please look me.”
His eyes twitch.
I’m a Serpent. A freaking Serpent! Son of a biscuit eater.The boy sounds so horribly joyful.
How can he be jubilant? He’ll now be hunted and reviled.
I was a human. The lowest of the lows. You just gave me magic, Princess. Magic!
I don’t realize I’ve covered my ears until Cathal pinches my wrists between his large fingers and carries them away from my face. I steal my wrists from his grip and lace my arms around his torso, wishing there wasn’t so much cloth and metal separating our bodies. “I choose you, Cathal Báeinach.”
With a sigh, he props his chin atop my head and winds his arms around my waist to hold me. Not tightly enough. Not long enough. I burrow my wet cheek against his armor.
What are my odds of surviving Daddy Crow?
I spin around and hiss.Never call him that.
Sorry. I didn’t mean—I won’t. Sorry.A body thumps beside his, sending him recoiling toward the water.
I trail Imogen’s boots to the yellow hair that’s no longer bound in a tail. The captain sputters as he rises onto all fours, and then he blanches as his gaze trawls our loose circle of shifters.
Imogen asks something in Crow. When she gestures toward the Serpent, I imagine it has to do with his presence on the beach. Fallon must explain who he is, because the whites of her eyes expand.
“Is this the male who tried to gore you, Zendaya?” Cathal asks, his voice so dry it strips my blazing lids of moisture.
“Yes.”
“Would your…” His throat bobs. “Would your mate mind if I severed his head?”
My heart shrivels. I suddenly hate the captain as much as my mother, for he’s the reason I’m about to lose my mate. If he hadn’t driven a spear through the boy’s chest…
My lips tingle from Cathal’s hot breaths. “Youare mate. Not he.”
