Page 53 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

Perhaps it wouldn’t matter either way, because the snake had every likelihood of ending my life before I ever saw Lonnie again.

“Answer me,” the snake demanded. “I am famissshed, ssstarved, Unsatisssfied.”

“We didn’t know of the bargain,” Bael said. “But if we could negotiate the terms, perhaps we can all come away with a boon.”

The snake assessed him, and was silent for a long moment, evidently thinking. “What do you ssseek?”

“The queen who bargained with you…do you know her whereabouts at this very moment?”

The snake cocked its head, looking almost surprised before it replied just as slowly. “Yessss.”

Bael straightened, as if steeling himself. “Tell us, and you can take my blood as payment.”

The snake’s tongue shot out again, whiplike. “The bastard born blood of a lesser prince is hardly a prize.”

“What say you to the blood of two kingdoms?” Bael asked confidently.

I gaped at him. We never spoke of Bael’s parentage, even among ourselves. It was as if to admit it aloud, to acknowledge the unseelie, would be to put power behind it. Of course, for some years now it had been harder and harder to deny who his father was, but suspicions were nothing to confirmations.

“Shut up,” I murmured. “No good can come from this.”

Indeed, Bael didn’t have a chance to answer before my prediction came true. The snake made an angry hissing sound, and thrashed its long tail once again. “I do know of your parentage, Prince Baelfry, but I do not recognize the court of the unseelie, as I was born before their country was ever formed. Your blood, therefore, is only half royal, and would only sssatisfy me if I were to have all of it.”

That settled it.Fuck this.

We’d find another way. Shit, I’d track down my source-forsaken brother if we needed a seer this badly. There was no world in which we’d learn anything useful from this horrible creature.

“Let’s go,” I said, wanting to leave no room for Bael to misunderstand me once more. “We can find her another way.”

The snake bent its enormous head even lower, swaying in front of me so I found my eyes flicking back and forth, trying to hold its gaze. “Go then,” it said. “You might find your wife without my help, King of Elsewhere, but it is unlikely that you will do so.”

My mind went blank, every thought fleeing, as if time around me had come to a screeching halt. Bael whipped around to stare at me, his expression as astonished as my own had to be. I felt my mouth fall open, and heard my own voice as if it came from someone else. “She’s not my wife.”

The snake opened its huge mouth wide, showing rows of razor teeth. I flinched, and it let out another hissing laugh. “You marked her, did you not? Allowed her to claim you in return, and shared blood as well as flesh. Queen Elowyn is your wife in the eyes of this land, and you her king consort.”

My heart raced as I looked at the snake, my mind struggling to comprehend the words it spoke. The fact that it had just uttered her true name—something I’d wanted to know for well over a year—hardly mattered in the face of this new information. Even the fact that the old one had named me king barely registered, my mind too full of the echoing words:my wife, my wife, my wife.

“Take my blood instead, then, in exchange for her whereabouts,” I blurted out.

Flicking its tongue out to taste the air around me, the snake paused, seeming to savor the moment. “A generous offer, King of Elsewhere,” it said, “But perhapsss not a wise one.”

“Wait,” Bael said, seeming as eager to save my life as I’d been to save his. “What if?—”

I cut him off, speaking only to the snake. “Take the offer, for there will not be another.”

“Indeed, I accept your offer.”

I stood perfectly still as the serpent slithered forward, its long, slim body coiled tightly around my torso, and it was nearly impossible not to move or fight it as it let out a sharp hiss.

“Tell us first,” I said. “So I will be awake to hear the answer.”

The snake moved faster, winding around and around as if it meant to squeeze the breath from me before using its long teeth. “The queen is still alive, and journeys by boat to the land of Underneath.”

“Why?” I asked, my breath catching in my throat even as I fixed my gaze on Bael, begging him not to misunderstand what I could not say out loud.

Pain and illusion would not kill instantly, but Bael’s magic could. He was better suited to killing in the short term than I was, and seconds could mean the difference between life and death if the snake decided against a mere taste of blood and intended to eat me whole.

Seeming to understand, my cousin nodded behind the serpent’s huge head, and I gritted my teeth, hoping his aim had improved since the last time I’d seen him use his magic on something of this size.

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