Page 122 of Entranced By the Basilisks

The look is sophisticated and simple and doesn’t give me any clue about who she is.

“Sorry for interrupting your prayers,” she says.

“I wasn’t praying.” But I kind of was. I clear my throat. “No, I don’t need anything. Who are you?”

The woman hums. “You may call me Awnti.”

She moves with an otherworldly grace until she’s right in front of me. She’s taller than I am but gives off a comforting air. “I wanted to meet the first Chosen by the Goddess in what feels like an age.”

“Well”—I swallow to wet my dry throat, trying to work through my nerves—“here I am. My name is Emilia. I don’t know why I was chosen.”

Her lips twitch in a smile, but for the life of me, I can’t tell if it’s for a joke at my expense.

“I’ve heard.” Her dark gaze takes in the vipers on my head. They’re calm and mostly curious. “It warms my heart to see the Goddess’s blessing.”

Her eyes are soft but sad.

“Can you tell me what’s going to happen to us?” I ask. “I was told we broke a rule, but it was by accident.”

She inhales and raises her brows. “Well, the Circle will gather within the hour, and the facts will be presented. According to the charges, there were multiple rules broken. The Circle must approve a candidate to become Chosen, yet here you are, a woman who has somehow become Chosen without any ritual from us. That’s only compounded by the very serious crime of being a Chosen’s first bond without Circle approval.”

“Neither of those was done on purpose,” I say. My cheeks burn as I remember how the bonding occurred. “The Circle seems very interested in relationships that don’t concern them.”

“Both instances happened without intention? That is very odd.” Her voice is soft, thoughtful. I can tell she wants to ask me for details but seems to put off her own questions to give me information.

“It’s true that the Circle could be accused of being overinvolved in matters that I’m sure seem very private to you,” she says. “The system was made a long time ago to sift out the bad actors. Overeager serpent kin who wanted young and paid a partner to become Chosen or individuals who would snatch away an unbonded in an attempt to bond with them.”

Those do sound like things that a society would want to avoid.

“By all appearances and rumors,” she continues. “Adder has purposefully kept you hidden and bonded because he assumed he wouldn’t be granted the permissions needed—”

“That’s not what happened!” Panic swells in my chest.

Awnti blinks, surprised as if she’s unused to being interrupted and smiles at her own surprise before becoming grim again. “While that is a relief, he must still face judgment for the bonding. The Circle cannot be lenient and set a harmful precedent for others.”

She presses her lips together as if annoyed. “Of course, he didn’t do himself any favors by keeping you a secret. If you had been presented to the Circle, you would have been educated about prebonding activities. It’s still an anomaly to fully complete a bond without a ritual, but those activities would make it possible.”

“Prebonding activities?”

“Yes, certain intimate acts that would prime you to bond with someone.”

Intimate activities… oh fuck me, the “scent-swapping.”

“I was told about them,” I say.

She arches a brow like she doesn’t believe me.

“He didn’t call it that,” I say. “Ari explained that what we’d do together would connect us and escalate our relationship.”

Awnti rolls her eyes, and the gesture looks completely out of place with her grace. “I did wonder where Zeyad fit into all this.”

Right in the middle, but I don’t want him to get in trouble. That may be unavoidable since he’s such a large part. I close my eyes for a breath. I can’t worry about him right now. Ari had known the rules going into this and while he probably didn’t mean for this to happen how it did, he knew the Circle would need to be handled.

“Do you know if Jasper is okay?” I ask. If they thought he’d forced me to do anything, what would they do to him?

“Adder is being questioned. He will not be harmed until he faces the Circle.”

“Believe it or not, that’s not very comforting.”

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