With the pile of clothes I’ve already stacked, I briskly walk back to the front of the shop. The owner is standing in his same position, only this time his wrinkled face is red and sweaty. Adrian is waving his hands wildly, explaining how to properly tailor the hem of trousers.
“Like Isaid,boy, a rush order won’t allow for such measures,” the owner huffed.
“We’re paying you extra,” Adrian shoots back. “We’ll paymoreif you can?—”
“The quick alterations are all that’s necessary,” I cut Adrian off before he runs us dry of our allowance before we even leave this store.
Adrian and the owner both frown. I give Adrian a pointed look, not in the fucking mood for his tantrum.
He plops his clothing on side table mutters, “Fine.”
As the owner grabs his measurement material and pins, I stand as far away from Adrian as possible. My mind is a mess right now and the last thing I want is for him to see that. The last thing I want is foranyoneto notice how off I am. Especially Lu.
She has the weight of both kingdoms on her shoulders—she doesn’t need my trauma weighing her down, too.
“You’ve been extra broody lately,” Adrian pipes up, catching me off-guard.
I startle slightly, recovering quick enough to give him a blank stare.
“And you’ve been a spoiled brat,” I throw back.
Adrian grunts, not arguing with me. There’s a familiarity in our bickering, one that feels like how we were back in the castle together when he was just the prince and I was pretending to be human.
He must feel it too because a flicker of sadness flashes across his gaze.
Adrian opens his mouth but closes it before speaking. I try my best to ignore him, but he keeps inching closer to me, fidgeting with various clothing hanging around us. He coughs once, adjusts a crooked shirt, then coughs again.
“Spit it out,” I mutter.
He freezes, half-turned to me.
“Well,” he starts before stopping briefly. I sigh in frustration, watching the tailor tinker around our clothes instead of looking at Adrian. “It’s just that… I think you’re good for her. And that she’s good for you. I see that now.”
My gaze snaps to him, surprise warming my chest.
He doesn’t soundhappyabout it, but he sounds sincere.
“I don’t know what happened to you in that place—I don’t even knowwhatthat place was—but don’t shut her out.” Adrian adds quietly. “It’ll only make it worse. I would know.”
His gaze meets mine and we stare at each for a moment. It’s the first honest words he’s said to me since he found out I wasn’twho I said I was. Adrian’s jaw tenses and he drops his eyes to the top of his muddied boots.
“If you can’t stand to be you right now, be someone else,” he whispers. “Be The Snake.”
I can’t find the words to respond, and he doesn’t bother saying anything else.
Silence stretches between us as the tailor begins making adjustments to Adrian clothing, then to mine.
Be The Snake.
His words echo through my mind on a loop while we finish up at the store. We’re done while the sun still rests high in the sky, and I make a few stops before we go back to the inn.
If I can’t be myself, I’ll just lose myself in being someone else.
Forty-Five
Unakite
It’shard to imagine Graylen and Adrian setting off together to goshopping—especially when they can’t seem to be in the same room together for more than a few seconds. But with the women’s shop on the other end of the town square from the men’s, I have no choice but to hope they don’t kill each other.
