Page 59 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

The snakes in her hair swayed toward me as she tucked my hand around her arm. They slithered down her arm, winding themselves around mine and settling across my chest and neck. Gentle, cautious tongues snaked out to touch my skin, scenting me as they got comfortable.

“They like you,” she said, smiling approvingly.

I swallowed, holding out a hand for one of the smallest serpents to curl up in my palm. He snuggled into my touch, leaving me to smile down at him.

The feeling was mutual.

THIRTY-SEVEN

ESTRELLA

Medusa led me through one of the tunnels, the walls spreading farther apart to allow the passage to widen. The purple flowers on the stone walls swayed in a breeze I couldn’t explain, as if something blew through them and them alone. It wasn’t until I stepped closer, running my palm over the surface of one of the petals that I realized the dark things I’d seen between those flowers were not vines at all.

They were the slow-moving tails of snakes, slithering leisurely along the stone walls. Each one was covered with more of them than I dared to count as I swallowed and took a step back. Medusa watched my realization with amusement, her stare alight with humor. The green of them was so close to the eyes I’d had, even born from a mortal woman instead of her. I couldn’t look into my mother’s face and not see the similarities between us. Her skin was a few shades darker than mine, the tone a rich, sepia brown. Her nose was the same shape as mine, her lips slightly puffier.

But the eyes were the same as what I’d grown used to seeing in my own reflection.

“This is a haven for all the serpentine creatures who reside in Tartarus,” she said, encouraging me to continue walking forward. The cave floor at my feet was dry, but up ahead the shimmer of luminescent water reflected on the flowers.

Shimmering white crystals lined the shallow pools of water as we approached, reflecting light from the tiny, glowing faeries in the water, and the snakes that seemed to possess the same pulsing light beneath their dark scales.

I moved through the passage, my feet sinking into the water as Medusa continued on as if it did not faze her to enter the pool. She ran her hands through the water as she walked, allowing the water to sluice over her skin.

I touched a hand to a crystal as I passed, the golden glow emanating from my touch catching me by surprise. “Why was I able to take my power back from Tartarus?” I asked, releasing the crystal to continue on.

“Many have entered into the Trials of the Five Rivers,” she said, looking to the cave ceiling. I followed that gaze, studying the turquoise snakes where they seemed to hang from the ceiling and stretch toward her. “Of those who have dared, none have been born here. You are just as much a part of Tartarus as any who reside here. Perhaps more so. Perhaps this place recognizes you, or perhaps you’re just stubborn enough to dare to try.”

I snorted a laugh, hanging my head forward as the sound bubbled up my throat. “Caldris would say it was the latter,” I answered her, stepping out of the pool as a bridge of land appeared in our way. We climbed the bank, ascending to look down into another cove.

Whereas the others had been littered with snakes, the creatures swimming happily, this felt different. Beside us, snakes slithered over the land, lowering themselves down into the water that was already filled to the brim. I could barely see the sheen of water upon their scales with how tightly they’d packed themselves in.

“Somehow I can imagine why,” Medusa said, watching the rest of the snakes following us slither into the cove.

“What is this?” I asked, trying not to think of what purpose there could be for snakes to overcrowd this severely. They weren’t typically shy about touching one another from what I’d seen, but this seemed extreme.

“This is your birthright,” she said, taking the end of my braid inher fingers. She raised her chin in a gesture, calling my attention to the hill at the other side of the cove. “All Gorgons who wish to marry must descend into the pools and allow their chosen cardinal snake to claim them. You will strip yourself of all mortal belongings and descend into the pool, and when you emerge, if a snake finds you worthy, you will have one of your own to bring with you into your future and your handfasting ceremony. When you’ve been chosen, you will rise and climb to the other side of the partition. We will be waiting to prepare you in the bridal cove,” she said, unwinding my hair and taking the bit of rope that had been used to secure it.

She stripped my swords from my back slowly, placing them upon the ground with a gentleness that brought me comfort. She unlaced the back of my armor, unknotting it so that I could slip the leather from my shoulders and my arms, dropping the top to the ground beside me and trying not to think about my own nudity. It shouldn’t continue to bother me, not when I’d spent a great deal of time naked in front of people since meeting Caldris.

Many had seen me in far more compromising positions, but something about standing nude before the woman who had birthed me felt more vulnerable somehow.

I shifted, peeling the leathers down my legs and tugging off my boots. Medusa gathered my belongings into her arms, stepping back as I turned to look at her over my shoulder. “I’ll see you on the other side, Estrella,” she said, her reassuring smile making me grin as I took a single step forward.

I stepped down, my feet sliding through the clay beneath the thick ferns that covered the floor in this spot. Even if I’d wanted to descend into the snake-filled waters slowly, I wouldn’t have been able to.

My feet hit first, sliding through water as the snakes parted instinctively to allow me to join them. They brushed against me as my body lowered, their scales rubbing on my skin as I fell into the depths.

My face plunged beneath the surface, leaving me sputtering beneath the water. But something touched the bottom of my foot, lifting me when I could not even try to swim for myself. There was nothing but snakes around me, no way for me to tread water. I tried not to think of what was beneath me, the large, scaled surface being thicker than my thigh as it raised me to the surface. I gasped, sucking back air as I broke through and stood still, watching the snakes slitheraround me. They surrounded me completely, rubbing against me as they moved.

Even being on good terms with snakes thanks to my heritage, I swallowed back my unease. They parted in front of me, leaving a gap in the water. I took a half step forward, faltering when the water before me rippled. Snakes pressed against my belly, pinning me still. I ran my hands over each one, the difference in their sizes easier to determine in this way. I could not make out where one ended and the other began, a mixture of colors swimming through the water in an array of purple, blue, green, and black.

Something shifted in the water, somethinglarge, and I attempted to take a step back as it broke through the surface in front of me.

Its head was white, its body a gleaming, shining silver speckled white. With eyes of green, it stared down at me as it raised its massive neck out of the water and curled forward. My eyes widened as I studied the serpent, a thinner, more agile version of the basilisks that had swallowed men whole on my command.

It felt familiar, that stare gleaming down at me. Like something strangely comforting when it had no right to be. I met its gaze as a purple snake slithered up the side of its body, winding itself around to peek over the white snake’s head.

It felt like Medusa, I realized, as I stretched out a hand. The white serpent scented me, leaning forward to touch its nose to my hand as the smaller purple snake slithered over its forehead. The purple one gleamed with specks of gold, the scales shimmering as it touched my fingers and rose up my arm.

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