Page 76 of Snake

Nim

I’m still busy wiping lipstick from my forehead when Romi comes inside the bathroom. The instant she sees me, she hurries over to my side and turns me to face her. “Eliza?”

It’s not really a question. Romi takes the tissue paper from my hand and starts wiping at my forehead. “I’m sorry Nim, I should have come with you.”

I’m not mad at her—I’m pissed off at myself. But that doesn’t translate well when I push her away from me and snatch the tissue back. “I can look after myself,” I mutter, turning back to the mirror. “I’m not a kid anymore.”

Romi should have been insulted. She should have called me a bitch and stormed out of the bathroom.

But she simply watches my reflection with a resigned look on her face, like she’s waiting for me to get it all off my chest. That pisses me off even more, but somehow I rein myself in. I close my eyes, dropping my head between my arms as I lean forward and let out a ragged sigh. “I can’t believe someone I barely know hates me so much.”

“Let’s go.” At first I think she means leaving the bathroom, but when I catch sight of her face, I realize she wants to leave the dance.

I’m fucking tempted. Heaven knows I don’t want to face Eliza again. I know she’ll gloat. But then that anger comes back like acid reflux. “Fuck it.” I stand up tall. “That’s exactly what Eliza wants. She wants me to run away like a terrified little mouse. No, Romi, I’m staying. I’m staying, and I’m going to dance with every single one of the Serpents, and I’m going to enjoy myself, because I won’t be bullied by the likes of her.”

There’s a moment’s silence. Hushed. Reflective. I know what Romi’s going to say before she opens her mouth. “So just the Serpents, then?”

I push back my shoulders and square off with my reflection. “I’m not taking their shit either.”

Romi’s grinning now. Wide, proud. And that fills me with pride.

Then my roommate’s expression falters. Shetouches the side of her face. “Did she hit you? It looks puffy.”

I cringe. “Is it bad?”

She shrugs. “Maybe let your hair down. It’ll hide it some.”

“Are you kidding? Knox will kill me.” When I hear my words, I look at her in the mirror and laugh. After a second, Romi joins in.

* * *

By the time we leave the bathroom, a DJ has replaced the orchestra and most of the older townsfolk have left and twenty-somethings crowd the dance floor. When I glance up, I see the balcony is empty. I find the Serpents in an alcove beside the dance floor. It’s just the three of them, and they look grim as fuck. Mason still has a smudge of ash on his forehead.

Knox gives me an interrogatory inspection when I come to stand nearby with Romi. “What took so long?”

“Back off. We were touching up our makeup,” Romi says before I can even open my mouth.

Knox frowns at her, and then extends his hand to me. “May I have this dance?”

Even though I knew it was coming, my stomach still flutters at his question. Or maybe it’s the sudden intensity in his eyes, like he’s weighing up our entire relationship as he waits for my response.

I nod and take his hand. Behind us, Silas says, “Magnus came looking for you, Romi. He had some family shit to deal with, so he couldn’t get here earlier.”

Romi makes a strangled sound, and then coughs and asks calmly, “Is that so? Well, I don’t know if I want to see him right now.”

I smile to myself as Knox leads us out of earshot. She can pretend all she wants, but I feel that in all her grooming and stalking over the years, she’s fallen pretty damn hard for Magnus Wren. He seems like a bit of a loose cannon, so he’d better not jerk her around.

Guys around here seem to take some strange pride in their assholery.They should have another crown—King of Asses.

Knox spins me around as the song changes. My steps falter, but he puts a hand to the small of my back and urges me against him as the first chords of Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” streams out through the audio system.

“I can’t do this,” I tell him, my voice coagulating in my throat.

“It’s easy,” he murmurs, dropping his mouth to my ear. “I lead, you follow.”

I press my face into his chest, and he stiffens. He brings up a hand and gently lays it over my ear, holding me close as we shuffle in a slow circle. His smell envelops me—clean, fresh, and oddly comforting.

He doesn’t understand what I mean, and I’m too choked up to explain.

This was my parents’ wedding song. They used to play it all the time, and then they’d disappear into their bedroom for an hour or two. Like I didn’t know what they were doing in there. If I’d heard this song on the radio a few months ago, I’d have turned it off.

Now? Now it puts a fucking lump in my throat and makes tears prick at my eyelids. Suddenly, every line has hidden meaning.

How often would they lie together, forgetting the world?

Forgetting me.

I scrunch up tighter against Knox, trying to burrow into the heat of his body. He wraps his arms around me, suffocating me.

Even as I struggle to breathe, I don’t want him to let go.

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