Page 78 of Of Serpents and Ruins
My fingers trembled against his fevered skin. His eyes were wild and feral. Yet behind all that, his eyes were full of that yearning gentleness that was truly him.
"I'm here," I choked out. Some part of me screamed to get away.
Or maybe it was Kine or Candy or Elias.
Brandt's hand found mine, squeezing with desperate strength. Our gazes locked, speaking words we did not have time to say. I was trapped as I leaned over him. Pinned. As incapable of moving away from him as he was incapable of fighting the curse.
The wind howled outside, rattling the very walls and braziers.
His eyes snapped, all traces of my Brandt fading. The panicked struggle to hold fast was replaced with rage and loss.
My stomach sank. The great weight pressed upon me all the harder as tears spilled down my cheeks.
His grip on my hand tightened painfully, his face becoming reptilian as fangs appeared in his mouth. I gasped, trying to pull away, but his preternatural strength held me fast. For half a breath, he glared at me. Then he lunged for my throat, yanking me closer.
Alarm spiked through me. My fists clenched.
I wasnotgoing to die.
Candy and Kine shouted warnings, their voices muffled by the roaring in my ears.
Pain tore through my body but not from fangs. No, it was all over my body. Burning. Tearing. I rose up in the air, everything shrinking down and spiraling away.
Shifting. I was shifting! I was becoming a water serpent!
STELLA
How? How had I turned into a water serpent? Had I triggered a latent memory? Or was there something else at work?
Did it even matter?
The transformation didn’t feel like it was taking focus at all. Scales erupted along my skin as my body elongated into a sleek serpentine form. My vision sharpened, colors becoming more vivid and details leaping into focus. Scents intensified in bursts, filtering through my mouth. So many tastes and scents rolled over my tongue with each new breath. Charred stone. Bitter iron. Tangy soaps. Heavy hair oils. Floral perfumes. Spicy colognes. Citrus, leather, smoke, berries, and so much more. My eyelids jerked shut involuntarily. It was just so much.
Oh. My head.
It was heavy.
Horns.
Right.
I had horns. I remembered now. The whiskers swinging off my snout tickled and made me want to sneeze.
The blue and gold hairs on the right felt heavier than the left. But I was…I was a beautiful water serpent. Rich blue like myhair colored my back with a pearly white belly and speckled gold stripes running down my sides. My jaws itched, and my mouth had become heavy.
"Stella, focus!" Kine’s voice jolted through me.
I took in the entirety of the room once more, my gaze snapping back to Brandt. He had arched away, sleek black and red scales forming along his powerful serpentine body.
Candy struck her hand repeatedly. Her form didn’t change, but blue energy arced over her fingers.
Brandt wasn’t looking at her. His focus was all on me, his hulking reptilian body coiling up to strike. His eyes were devoid of reason, consumed by the curse’s feral bloodlust. He hissed menacingly, baring fangs the size of daggers.
My serpentine body coiled defensively as I swayed back and forth. A shudder rippled down my now-massive spine. I lowered my head. My tongue flicked out, taking more of the rich, bright, and varied scents.
A low growl rumbled from Brandt’s chest. He lunged. His tail caught Candy in the chest and struck her against the wall. She cracked against the interlocking stones like a dry walnut. Blood blossomed from the wound.
I dodged, knocking over several of the low-curved bastion chairs. Wood clattered and snapped against the stone. My smooth scales let me move across the carved stone floor with exceptional ease. I slid beneath the iron table and shot beyond one of the curling columns of magically contained lava.
