Page 32 of Fae Crown

I tired before the snake did, so I squeezed my fingers down around it as hard as I dared. Any harder, and I’d kill it.

I should just kill it, shouldn’t I? I pressed harder?—

The snake ceased its desperate jerking. Withoutreleasing my grip, I slid the coverlet out from under me and folded it over its body. I dropped my knife beside me within easy reach and clamped the covers over its head with my now free hand.

The snake stilled completely.

My chest heaved. “For fuck’s sake,” I muttered under my breath. Whoever had sent the snake for me wouldn’t be far.

I was going to kill the snake. I had to. It was the only smart option. I’d kill the snake, find whoever sent it, and kill them too.

And yet, something—a new surge of instincts perhaps—stayed my hand.

An idea took shape in my mind.

That’s fucking nuts, Elowyn, I chided myself.

Even so, the idea only grew firmer, as if some outside force were pushing it to me.

I shook my head in silent protest.Nope.

Yep, my instincts pressed.

“Fuck me,” I murmured, then gripped the snake’s body firmly with one hand … and revealed its head with the other, pressing down on the diamond just above its eyes so it couldn’t strike.

It tried to open its mouth but couldn’t. I attempted to peer into its eyes but it was too dark.

I’m out of my fucking mind.

I sucked in a deep breath and leaned forward.

I must have accidentally loosened my hold on its head a bit because it was able to hiss at me, causing meto jerk back and press down on its head so hard its eyes bulged. That, I couldn’t miss.

“If you bite me, I will kill you,” I whispered to the snake—which couldn’t understand me, surely not. But I continued anyway, my strange instincts leading the way. “I don’t want to kill you,” I went on, pausing to consider whether or not that was the truth. The scary snake, after all, was in my bed for one reason only. “But if you attack, I won’t hesitate. Do you understand me?”

No, Elowyn, the snake doesn’t understand you. Duh.

The snake’s eyes shuttered vertically, and though it was likely a natural function, I thought it was somehow a message.

It was the fever, it had to be. Maybe I was hallucinating the snake in its entirety. Maybe it represented Rush’s dick being used to hurt me.

But an earlier knowing joined the current one. The same intuition that pushed me to bow before the mighty dragons urged me now.

Shaking my head, I refused to let myself hesitate. The sooner I got it done, the sooner I could get the snake out of my bed and have nightmares for a whole new reason.

Firmly gripping the snake now, I lowered my forehead to that diamond marking.

My heartbeat slowed and steadied—unexpected.

the snake spoke into my mind.

The snake spoke … into my fucking mind.

My eyes widened. This close the snake was blurry and I couldn’t make out a thing.

I asked tentatively.

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