Page 7 of Once a Villain
“We’re a couple of minutes from the Serpentine Inn,” Ruthreassured him. “If—” She hesitated, but Joan heard the unsaid part.If it’s still here.Liu territory had changed, and so had Covent Garden. It was possible that the Serpentine didn’t exist anymore.
But when they turned into Bow Street, a vast stone building loomed out of the evening, carved lettering in the stone readingSerpentine Inn. Around the letters, snakes projected from the eaves like gargoyles, fangs bared.
“It’s bigger in this timeline,” Joan said, awed. The last time she’d been here, the inn had been meek, hidden in an alley and enclosed by high walls. Now it stood in plain sight on the street.
“When wereyouever at the Serpentine?” Ruth made it sound like the shadiest place she could imagine.
“Me and Aaron came here once.”
Aaron’s head turned at that, and Joan’s chest constricted with the strange ache of remembering things that other people didn’t. She and Aaron had fled here from Nick—when Nick had been a monster slayer.
Only Joan remembered that timeline now, but it was still so vivid to her.
Aaron had brought her to a nondescript door in a narrow passage between buildings.Is this your first time in a monster place?he’d asked. He’d known she was scared, and he’d tried to reassure her.Dragons need not fear other dragons.
Another gust of wind came, chilling Joan to the bone. The inn was huge now—a floor taller than its neighbors. The message couldn’t have been clearer. Monsters didn’t need to hide anymore.
Joan stepped into a fug of warmth and woodsmoke. The flagstone floor was strewn with herbs, and the scent of crushed mint, thyme, and lavender rose as she walked, mingling with the smoke.
The place was crammed with tables full of people drinking ale and eating stew with thick slices of brown bread. Coins and cards were piled beside empty glasses stained with froth.
As Joan and the others shuffled in, heads turned, expressions ranging from hostile to predatory.
“Well, this is even more awful than usual,” Aaron muttered under his breath.
“It wasyouridea to come here,” Ruth pointed out.
“Because people don’t ask questions at the Serpentine.”
“Yeah, they’ll mug us, no questions asked.”
“They’re not going to mug us,” Nick murmured. He’d come in last, and now he closed the door with a solidthunk, cutting off the cold stream of air at Joan’s back. Ruth seemed doubtful. But the patrons were already turning away; they’d sized Nick up—with his broad shoulders and muscled frame—and decided it wouldn’t be worth it.
Joan released a breath. The dangerous undercurrent wasn’t the only difference since last time. The back wall had once been a beautiful stained-glass window, with mythical sea creatures swimming in a rippling blue ocean.
The window was still here, but in place of a sea theme, there was a hunt. People, armed with bows and arrows, chasing deer and boar and hare and lions. And... other people. Humans?
Joan tore her gaze away, only to find a sign posted between two of the windows, a royal seal pressed into red wax.
By order of Her Majesty, Queen Eleanor
Humans are confined to their place of residence: sunset to sunrise
Shift workers excepted (must present permit on request)
Joan shuddered.We’re sisters, Eleanor had told her when they’d last met.We grew up together in the original timeline.Joan hadn’t believed her at first—she couldn’t remember Eleanor or their family at all.
According to Eleanor, Joan and Nick had tried to foster peace between humans and monsters in that original timeline. They’d convinced the Graves to stop taking human life.
When the King had learned of it, he’d punished the whole family by erasing them from history. Only Joan and Eleanor’s line had survived. And Eleanor had sought retribution against them all—the King, Joan, Nick...
This started with you and Nick seeking peace, Eleanor had told Joan.So I turned you against each other. I made him into a slayer because you loved him and he loved you. Because if he killed the people you loved most, you’d never trust him again. Because when he fought back, he’d see you for the monster you are. He’d never trustyou.And it worked, didn’t it? You’ll never feel the same about each other again.
Joan felt a presence at her back. She turned and found Nick examining the sign, his mouth a flat line.
It worked, didn’t it?Eleanor had made them forget each other; had set them up to hurt each other over and over. And yet... Joan’s chest clenched painfully. All it took was for him to step into her space, and she was his. It was a terminal condition—she knew that now. She’d love him like this until she was dead.
“What if I ripped that sign off the wall?” Nick murmured.
