He’s the first Serpent shifter I created. You’re the second.
Flick my cheek.
Flick your…?
Flick my cheek. Or pinch me.
Why?
Daya, just do it.
I flick her scaled cheek.
Fuck. I felt that. This is real. I’m a real fucking sea serpent. Fuck.She looks around, sets her gaze on her parents.Poor Mamma. I suppose I’d be bawling my eyes out as well if my daughter shifted into a frightening creature.
She’s crying because your mind is whole again.
Agrippina’s gaze swerves back toward me.Pardon me?
Shift back. We’ve a lot to discuss. If you don’t shift back, we’ll need to go for a swim.
Though she cannot rumple her nose in this form, I sense her grimacing.In the canals bordering Rax? I’d rather chop off the points of my ears.
You already did that.I don’t tell her that I came by this information when I overheard Kanti discussing it with the Akwale. I’d prefer Agrippina not dwell on the fact that her action is public knowledge.
What?Her voice shrills against my thudding skull.
You cleaved off the tips of your ears.
What?
You cleaved off the tips of your ears.
I fucking heard you the first time! Why the Mahananda would I do such an idiotic thing?
I press my lips together.Because I placed my baby inside your womb.
You didwhat?
Is that rhetorical, or do you need me to repeat it?
She dips her head as far as her neck will allow.Your baby’s growing inside of me?
Not anymore.When she remains quiet for a disquieting stretch of time, I say,Please shift back, Agrippina.
How?
I usually visualize legs, and it works.
Whose legs?
I laugh.Usually, my own, but I suppose you could visualize anyone’s.
So fucking weird…she mutters.
My trick must work because, two heartbeats later, she’s back in flesh. She takes in the surrounding world from where she lays, flat on her stomach, the fur collar of her cloak tickling her human jaw. Then she shoves herself up and glowers around her, hands perched on her hips. She hisses something in Lucin that has Reid snorting and Ceres smiling through her tears.
“Our spitfire of a daughter is truly back,” Justus says in Shabbin, giving his head a small shake.
