Page 44 of The Serpent Prince

Zadie scoffed. “We can’t trust her. Not after what happened to the last two whores.”

“Imani is not a whore,” Esa said. Imani felt her heart warm a little at the defensiveness in Esa’s voice.

The pixie continued, “Look, we can trust her enough; she knows more than most and has her own secrets to protect. Make a binding to keep her mouth shut about anything she learns.”

A sigh. “I’ll be honest, after the last mess with the whore and without his cousin or Saevel … he’s been desperate. It’s why we came to you. I’m not strong enough.”

The volume of Esa’s voice was rising. “I will be damned if I’m going to be passed around, giving pieces of my soul to be fed upon like a carcass thrown to a lion.”

A moment of silence passed. Zadie finally broke it.

“It’s not a bad idea—pairing them up for a short time until Kiran is mated, and we can figure out a more powerful memory spell. But she’ll have unprecedented access to things in his mind and soul that no whore has ever experienced.”

“Well, use a binding. That common Norn elf will be under a binding, too, right?”

“Of course,” Zadie snapped. “But we’re still collecting more intelligence and information on her, so it’s too risky until they’re bonded.”

Imani’s limbs stiffened at hearing about Kiran bonding with another Norn. These visceral reactions were getting impossible to control without someone to feed from, and she just hated that fucking imposter elf.

“And Imani? What will she do then?” Esa said softly.

“That’s her own problem to solve when the time comes,” Zadie said, voice cold.

The temperature in the tent dropped as a frigid whip of wind blew through the open flap. A tense quiet fell.

“Your Highness,” Esa and Zadie greeted.

Kiran’s voice was like a razor blade splitting through the tension. “What in the Six Saints is going on with her?”

CHAPTER 16

Ashadow stood over Imani’s body and, while she couldn’t open her eyes, she knew who it belonged to as she breathed him in.

“What the fuck is wrong with her?” His voice was filled with a quiet malice that promised violence if anyone dared placate him.

“You know what’s wrong with her,” Zadie chided him.

Silence fell again. Imani didn’t even hear him move across the room. She groaned in pain and agony, her cheeks wet with tears. With a gasp, she felt Kiran’s warm hand move up and down her chest.

Some sort of soothing magic washed over her. His healing magic? It wouldn’t work on her this time. Not with this problem.

Tilting her head up, she stared at Kiran. Imani thought she might throw up again but held it together as she looked at his beautiful face.

While he still managed to look handsome, he did not look well. Dark circles sat under his eyes, and his skin was more sallow than its typical pale color. Exhausted, his hair was disheveled, and a thicker layer of stubble covered his face.

To Imani’s horror, she whimpered when he stopped rubbing her chest. Her eyes fluttered shut again. “No, please don’t stop,” she breathed. It felt like fire was in her lungs and blood.

“I won’t … I won’t,” he murmured, starting his slow ministrations again.

She felt him move to touch her chest again and press his hand against hers. But not even his healing powers could numb the pain. She fisted his shirt when he tried to turn around.

Beyond feeling any embarrassment, she writhed in his arms, not wanting him to leave her but unable to speak. All she wanted was the pain to stop.

She remembered one of her grandmother’s key lessons: Do what is necessary, even when the choice is hard.

Esa’s voice cut through her thoughts. “How can you be such an asshole to demand—no order—me when this was always an option?” she hissed.

The pain radiated through Imani again as Kiran moved his hand away, but they kept talking in hushed whispers, and she gritted her teeth at the pain.