Page 12 of Queen of Serpents and Shadows

Kabir walked over to where Laera was sitting and he took her hand, lifting it to his lips. I stared in shock as he kissed her hand. “I’ll call you anything you want me to, your highness.”

Laera’s cheeks flushed and her lips parted. For a long moment, she was speechless. Then she seemed to collect herself and tugged her hand away. “Now, how hard was that? Why can’t the rest of you behave that way?”

“Because you’re more likely to rip someone’s arm off, then allow them to touch you,” Vanth supplied.

Laera glared at him.

“Well, you seem to be feeling much better, brother,” Bahar said.

“I should be able to join you if you’re just crawling around some tunnels,” he said.

I lifted a skeptical brow. He was limping. We couldall see that.

“We’ll discuss that before we leave,” Bahar said.

“What was that about dead?” Kabir asked, returning us to the original conversation.

“The Princess of Konos can see things,” the woman from earlier explained. “She said the entire council is dead and Tatiana is a prisoner.”

Kabir paled, then he turned to Laera. “Is she alright? Have they harmed her?”

Laera shook her head. “The princess is unharmed for now. But I don’t think they like keeping her around. She’s almost escaped twice. She’s going to get herself killed.”

Kabir growled and his eyes flashed dangerously. It was the first time I saw that he was just as deadly as his brother and all the other warriors around us. His playfulness was gone.

“We’re going to get her out,” the woman said.

“Yes, we will.” Kabir looked at his brother. “Any word on Zayn? Is he also a prisoner?”

“I haven’t seen anything about the prince,” Laera replied.

“He would have tried to fight, but it’s possible he got out,” Bahar said. “We’ll find him,” he slapped his brother on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll get both of them to safety.”

6

Ara

The tunnels were worsethan I expected. Laera and Ryvin sent fae lights ahead, illuminating the crumbling path, but it only highlighted the instability of the dirt around us.

Holes had been eaten into the tunnels, burrows and nests for various creatures that I didn’t want to think about. Something crunched under my sandal and I looked down before I could think better of it, wincing when I realized I’d crushed a small skull.

“Are there any animals we should be mindful of meeting?” I asked, trying not to think of the massive serpent that almost killed me.

“It shouldn’t be anything dangerous,” Bahar said.

“We encountered a few angry badgers,” Kabir said.

I noticed he was walking more naturally now. I had to admit, dragons really did heal quickly.

“You forgot the part about how we were poking their homes with sticks,” Bahar added.

“Yeah, but we didn’t do anything to upset the bats. Or that lynx,” Kabir added.

“That was one time,” Bahar defended.

“I think we could handle some badgers or a lynx,” Vanth said under his breath.

“With all this chatter, we’ll tip off my father’s men before we even arrive,” Laera hissed.

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