Page 30 of Bite The Terror That Feeds

I wanted to grin, but that would be a deadly mistake.

“We can accomplish much if we work together,” she said. “But we must work together. If you know where we can find Golden Serpents, it’s in your best interest to share that information with us.”

He was quiet for a long time. His stare was locked on her face, probably furious that someone so far beneath him had the balls to speak to him that way. “The only reason you still breathe is because you’re useful. But once you’re no longer useful, then that pretty head of yours will be mounted on the wall with the others.”

“Excuse me?” she snapped.

Bassstard.

“Father.” I didn’t yell, but I was about to. “As my prey, she’s untouchable. Any threat you make to her is a threat you make to me.”

Now he looked at me and clearly hated me more than he did before. “If you want her to stay alive, you better shut her mouth.”

“How about I shut your mouth—”

“Larisa.” I grabbed her arm and squeezed.

Touch her. See what happensss.

“Let’s get back on track here.” I loosened my grip on her arm when I realized she would stay quiet. “Do you know a place where Golden Serpents continue to live?”

His dark eyes stared at me, furious. “The Golden Serpents are for the Originals. Why are you convinced they’re the solution to this sickness?”

“Because Larisa was bitten by a Golden Serpent when she was a child,” I said. “That’s why she’s immune.”

“If we distribute the venom to the humans, they could all become Originals,” he said. “Did you think of that?”

“They don’t need to know what it is. They don’t even need to know it’s venom. Without that knowledge, they’ll never know they’re halfway to immortality.”

He stared.

“It’s our only option,” I said. “If we could defeat the Ethereal on our own, we would have done it already.”

“I told you we eradicated the Golden Serpents long ago,” he said.

“But they survive—because they bit Larisa.”

“Maybe a few survived. Maybe they’ve bred. But there are still so few that you couldn’t accomplish this.”

The very news I didn’t want to hear. “I see.”

“Your only option is to leave these shores and travel east.”

My eyes narrowed on his face. “East?”

“To visit the Teeth. If Golden Serpents reside in their lands, they’ll know about it.”

That was not the answer I was expecting. To go to them was such a long journey, and it wouldn’t require me to leave my kingdom for a couple of days, but a couple of weeks instead. I’d known this would be a pain in the ass, but I hadn’t realized it would be this much of a pain in the ass. “That’s one hell of a journey.”

“Nothing worthwhile is easy,” my father said.

“It would be easy if you hadn’t killed them all.”

Sssnake killer.

His eyes remained as hard as ever. “The rarer something is, the more valuable it becomes.” He turned to Aurelias. “Your brother will join you in this endeavor. He’s had dealings with them before.”

I looked at my brother, a man I’d become estranged from over the years.

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