Page 12 of Courting Envy
If I was going to make this work, I needed information.
“I want to see my realm. If I’m to be queen here, I’d like to know what exactly that means.”
He dipped his head, his tail flicking to the side as he did. “As you wish.” His eyes met mine again, and a smile played on his lips. “But first, I think we need to do something about…” He cocked his head to one side. “Not everyone knows you are here, and until you’ve come to your full power, it’s best that we keep it that way. For your own safety, of course.”
I pursed my lips, not liking that ‘of course’ at the end. It almost always meant there was something else at play, a game I wasn’t party to. I knew that I’d be second guessing everything that was said to me, or around me, until I found my feet in this place.
A tremble of power thrummed in my left hand then, a reminder that I did have strength here. If someone showed themselves to be a threat, I could do something about it.
Which was so much more than I could back on Earth.
“And what do you suggest?” I asked, keeping my voice measured.
“As much as it pains me to suggest we cover your beauty, I think a veil would ensure your safety.” He moved then, his coils unwinding, his body and tail seeming to shrink a little. No longer taking up so much space. He circled me, his tail trailing behind him until it made a loop all the way around my body without touching me. He was closer now and I could smell green on him, damp moss, fresh soap, somehow caught in the ruffle of his brown hair.
He was younger looking than I had initially thought, and like this, he didn’t seem as threatening as he had to begin with.
Maybe that was his intention. Scare me first, then lull me into security from there.
Reon twisted away from me, reaching for one of the gossamer thin curtains and yanking it from the bed. The fabric was a rich gold color, speckled with something that sparkled in the dim light. Not exactly what I’d expected to wear on my first day as a queen, but then, I had no idea what queens wore in the underworld.
I had no idea of anything.
“May I?” he asked, holding the flimsy fabric between us. I nodded, swallowing hard as his body coiled closer, as his darkened fingers reached towards me and gently placed the fabric over my head before tugging it this way and that, ensuring that I was fully covered.
I felt like doing a little curtsy, but I’d bow to no one now. I knew that. Stay strong. Be the Queen.
“Will I do?” I asked, trying to inject some humor into my voice.
“More than,” he murmured, and I caught a whiff of some new scent. The way his eyes searched for mine beneath the fabric made me wonder if he found me attractive.
If he elicited some kind of pheromone because of that.
“If you follow me, my queen, I’ll escort you to view the circle.” He dipped his head again and then slithered toward the door, holding it open as I passed through.
We emerged into a huge corridor, the height of it giving me some inkling as to just how grand this space was. The room I’d been in before was meagre by comparison, and I could only assume that it was a resting place, rather than the quarters of their supposed queen.
I waited for Reon to take the lead, and he did, moving to the left. The corridor continued, light coming in through large windows. But it wasn’t like the light back on earth, no, this seemed filtered through vines or leaves, as if we were in some kind of underground grotto rather than open air.
Reon turned and I followed him up a curving flight of stairs. I hoped there weren’t too many floors to climb because my feet were sore and they ached from the scratch of the cobbles beneath my feet. Yet I didn’t want to complain about it; wasn’t sure how it all worked. I knew, theoretically, that I was royalty, but I didn’t feel it. Didn’t really believe it either. The power of Envy might flow through my veins, but I was still a basic human woman on the inside.
“Not far to go now,” Reon said, his soft sibilant words flowing down the stairs towards me.
“Thank you for this,” I said, hoping my words came out firm, but kind. This was all freaking alien to me, and I felt like I was floating above my body, watching this strange procession from above. The snake man and the Queen of Envy, climbing stairs to some destination unknown to me.
He dipped his head in response, and I wondered if that was normal here. Or maybe he was just a snake-man of few words.
A choked laugh escaped my lips at that thought, and Reon glanced back at me, a concerned expression on his face.
“Is everything well?”
“Yes, yeah, it’s fine. I’m fine.” I laughed again, realizing that there was every chance this being had no idea that ‘fine’ in human women meant anything but.
“Very good. If you come this way, you will see your domain.” He gestured just ahead of him to where the stairs opened up onto a balcony. Thick columns shaped like the coils of a snake held a curved ceiling aloft. There was a wall behind us with a double set of doors, but no windows, so I couldn’t see what lay behind them. Which was fine, because what was in front of me took my breath away.
It was a huge freaking swamp.
Everything was twisted roots and patches of green water, moss draping from the trees that I could see. In the distance, houses dotted a road that led away from what I assumed was the castle, and as I stepped towards the railing of the balcony and looked down, I could see that beneath the walls of this place were more buildings, homes and shops, I could only assume. A whole city.
