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Before Nessos arrived, I might have regretted the way things had ended between us. Now, I could only smile. Let them all think what they wanted and whisper about me and Eryx behind our backs. Our bond would endure, and I would protect it.

Nessos’s hoofbeats faded down the path, but my serpents remained stretched toward the gates. I stood beneath the covered passage beside the courtyard. I’d come out when I heard his arrival, expecting a challenge to the truce. Instead, I’d had to listen as he offered to take Thalia away.

A part of me had expected her to agree. I hadn’t given her everything she deserved. And both Nessos and Phaedrus were right about the missing flower mark.

But Thalia had turned him away. And now she was smiling. She was still kneeling on the ground, beautiful and glowing with life, her anger draining away into the soil.

I was glad I’d stayed where I was, though my serpents clearly disagreed.

“We could still catch him,” one suggested, its coils tightening against my shoulder. “He tried to take her away.”

“He failed. He would have, no matter what.”

The centaur had no idea how close I’d come to stepping out into the courtyard. If he’d tried to force the gate open, nothing could have held me back. But I’d wanted to let her speak for herself, and I’d been right. Nessos had heard her answer and left. I wasn’t going to follow him out and break the truce, no matter how much I wanted to.

A bond could have formed between them. She could have gone to him. But she’d chosen me. She wanted to bond with me.

I wanted to kiss her. Gods, I wanted to know how readily she would come to me if I finally reached for her.

“Then why are we still here?” My serpent nudged my jaw. “She’s right there.”

The creature was right. I was being a fool. I had let go of those doubts that night, when we’d stood together near the Blighted Lands.

I’d been so sure I knew what Ianthe needed that I’d ignored what she wanted. Thalia had heard me admit that and stayed beside me anyway. She wasn’t asking me to decide what was best for her. She’d already chosen. She meant every word she’d told Nessos.

Nothing had changed since the bride market. She wasn’t death-touched. She couldn’t truly be the match of an Asphodelian. But if she’d decided she wanted me, who was I to deny her?

Perhaps I hadn’t been woven for her, and she hadn’t been made for me. That didn’t mean we couldn’t choose one another.

I smiled, my decision made. I would embrace the chance I’d been given and court my bride properly. Soon, Thalia wouldn’t have to be the one to ask.

I would show her she had been right to choose me.

9

The Snake’s Touch

Eryx

Several days after Nessos’s visit, Thalia and I walked across the courtyard before supper. Her arm was tucked securely through mine. When we reached the packed-earth path leading back to the manor, her fingers tightened on my sleeve.

“Could we stay out here a little longer?” she asked, her breath misting in the cold air. “The wind finally cleared the smoke from the distant fires. I don’t want to go back inside just yet.”

I turned with her toward the shrine. She settled against my arm again. The heat of her shoulder radiated through my coat. “We can stay as long as you want.”

At this point, there wasn’t much I’d refuse her. I was still preparing myself for a proper claiming night, as she had asked. Bion had told me I was overthinking it, and he was probably right. But I wanted everything to be perfect.

“Please,” a voice echoed across the quiet courtyard. “Is the healer here? I need… I need help.”

A figure stumbled over the stones and collapsed. Thalia and I rushed forward.

He lay right outside the gates, reeking of sweat and sickness, barely clinging to life. I had to stretch my senses to find the failing flutter of his heartbeat.

Thalia dropped to the freezing earth beside him. “Where does it hurt? What happened?”

I knelt on his other side and took his arm. Sweat had soaked straight through his rough linen tunic. The muscle beneath it spasmed against my grip. He was human, and shivering wildly. His pulse faltered again as I lifted him from the stones.

He jerked away, trying to free himself from my grasp. “Not him. Please, keep the Blighted One away. Not him.”