Page 7 of Snake

Her voice—the name she calls me—cuts me like a knife. The fucking bitch! How dare she speak to me? Just because I breathe the same air as Knox and Mason more often than not, that apparently lands me on her revenge radar.

I don’t speed up, and that’s my mistake. Instead of letting rabies-infested dogs lie, she hurries up to me.

“Hey, coal miner,” she says, a vindictive little smile on her mouth.

“Fuck off, Jackson.”

“Now why are you being all sour? It was the coal dust that killed your daddy, not me.”

She’s fucking baiting me but I don’t know why. It takes considerable effort, but I manage not to rip out her throat. She obviously didn’t think I had it in me to control myself, because there’s the briefest pout on her mouth before she changes tactics.

“Heard you’re taking Nim to the dance,” Eliza says. “Guess yours will be the best carving of all, won’t it? You must have had practice there in Jackleg. I heard all you people do all day is carve coal. Guess it’s always Feast of Ashes in your house.”

I try to ignore her, but students stop to stare. She’s still skipping in front of me, her voice going louder and louder.

“I can’t wait to see Nim’s face on Friday,” Eliza says through a grin. “I bet she’ll be all over you when you arrive by cab in your Rent-A-Tux. If I were you, I’d save myself the embarrassment. Unless you and your fucking serpent friends have plans to kidnap some other girl from the dance.”

The world blurs around me. When it solidifies again, I have Eliza pinned against the wall with my hand locked around her throat, squeezing.

Her eyes glitter. “Do it,” she wheezes, showing me her teeth. “One fucking bruise and I’ll have your ass thrown in Lavender Glen so fast, your head will spin when you get there.”

I lean in close. Behind me somewhere, someone calls my name.

No, not someone. Nim.

But she’s too far away to stop me, even if she wanted to.

Even if I wanted to let her.

And then I realize I do. I want Nim to stop me. I don’t want to be the guy who Eliza fucking Jackson broke. But I don’t have the strength to unwrap my fingers.

“What’s wrong, Miner? Did you think about your future and realize you don’t have one? There’s nothing you can give her. Nothing she’d even want from you.” Eliza smirks. “Nim will never be your queen, Silas…and you’ll never be anyone’s king.”

A stronger hand than Nim’s grabs my arm and yanks. Eliza breaks free with barely a cough, although I was already choking her.

Fucking bitch is like a cockroach.

She laughs, pushing me out of the way and sauntering down the hallway like she has the upper hand.

Fuck it, I guess she does.

“Get off,” I mutter, throwing Dearth a glare as I tear my arm out of his hand.

“You’re going to get kicked out,” Jude says, his eyes level with mine, commanding as mine. Years ago, I’d have had to bow my head to him. But times have changed. Sometimes it’s not about who you are, but about who you know.

“They wouldn’t dare let their grade average suffer,” I say. “This school needs me.”

Jude lifts his hands, face blank but mouth in a tight line. “Whatever, man.”

When I turn, Nim is standing behind me. This time my body doesn’t react the same way. There’s no tightness in my chest, no sudden pump of my heart.

“Silas, are you okay?”

“Get the fuck out of my way,” I mutter, shoving her aside.

I glimpse a hurt expression on her face before I’m swallowed by the crowd.

Fuck knows why, but that look makes my stomach twist.

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