38. Zendaya

Chapter 38

Zendaya

T he soldiers gasp and so does the crowd they're keeping at bay with magic.

I stand. As I approach, her forked black tongue unspools from her mouth, and then she's writhing, banging her tusk into the wall.

I kneel and seize her tusk. Shh, I whisper into her mind. You're all right. I'm right here. Shh.

Her lids come up and down in rapid succession. What's happening to me?

You shifted into a Serpent.

A Serpent? she screeches.

Though I shouldn't smile, I do. "I'm sorry," I murmur out loud. In Serpent, then in Shabbin, and then, in Lucin. I learned the word from Enzo who says it much too often.

Enzo, who isn't my mate.

His hurt face brightens the backs of my lids, injecting my heart with pain. I call to him. When there's only silence down our bond, I assume my voice mustn't carry so far. How far does Lorcan's mind link to his people carry?

Is this a spell? Agrippina asks.

No. Like I said, I can no longer bloodcast. My mother…she ended up killing me and transferring my soul into the womb of a serpent—a real one. I grew up as a serpent. Two lunar cycles ago, I was dipped inside the Mahananda and reborn a woman with the ability to shift.

Her slitted nostrils flare. How much Faerie wine did I ingest?

You aren't inebriated, Agrippina.

Asleep. I must be asleep. This must be a nightmare.

My fingers tumble off the ivory and knock into my knees. Nightmare? Enzo had been so excited. How na?ve I was to assume that becoming a Serpent would thrill everyone.

Who's Enzo?

He's the first Serpent shifter I created. You're the second.

Flick my cheek.

Flick your…?

Flick my cheek. Or pinch me.

Why?

Daya, just do it.

I flick her scaled cheek.

Fuck. I felt that. This is real. I'm a real fucking sea serpent. Fuck. She looks around, sets her gaze on her parents. Poor Mamma. I suppose I'd be bawling my eyes out as well if my daughter shifted into a frightening creature.

She's crying because your mind is whole again.

Agrippina's gaze swerves back toward me. Pardon me?

Shift back. We've a lot to discuss. If you don't shift back, we'll need to go for a swim.

Though she cannot rumple her nose in this form, I sense her grimacing. In the canals bordering Rax? I'd rather chop off the points of my ears.

You already did that. I don't tell her that I came by this information when I overheard Kanti discussing it with the Akwale. I'd prefer Agrippina not dwell on the fact that her action is public knowledge.

What ? Her voice shrills against my thudding skull.

You cleaved off the tips of your ears.

What?

You cleaved off the tips of your ears.

I fucking heard you the first time! Why the Mahananda would I do such an idiotic thing?

I press my lips together. Because I placed my baby inside your womb.

You did what ?

Is that rhetorical, or do you need me to repeat it?

She dips her head as far as her neck will allow. Your baby's growing inside of me?

Not anymore. When she remains quiet for a disquieting stretch of time, I say, Please shift back, Agrippina.

How?

I usually visualize legs, and it works.

Whose legs?

I laugh. Usually, my own, but I suppose you could visualize anyone's.

So fucking weird… she mutters.

My trick must work because, two heartbeats later, she's back in flesh. She takes in the surrounding world from where she lays, flat on her stomach, the fur collar of her cloak tickling her human jaw. Then she shoves herself up and glowers around her, hands perched on her hips. She hisses something in Lucin that has Reid snorting and Ceres smiling through her tears.

"Our spitfire of a daughter is truly back," Justus says in Shabbin, giving his head a small shake.

I suddenly wonder if the whole world stood still, or if I just filtered it out when Agrippina was in scales.

She touches her ears, rubbing their rounded shell, and curses under her breath before cursing once again when she carries a lock of hair in front of her eyes. My hair is blue ?

I don't bother nodding since the hue is evident, even in the faint light afforded by the lantern jutting from the wall at her back.

Agrippina's hand moves off her hair and up to her forehead. When her nails graze her retracted tusk, she shudders, but then she pops her hand off her forehead and holds it in front of her face. I can't call on my Faerie magic…

Just like my blood magic.

"Are you all right, Mádhi? You're looking awfully pale."

I nod to reassure Fallon, even though I don't feel all that grand. "Just a little drained, abi."

Cathal helps me to my feet, locking his arm around my waist. My vision swims and my temples scud.

"Agrippina has no memory of the last two decades," I add quietly to redirect their concern off my sudden feebleness.

Fallon bites her lip. "So she doesn't remember me." With a deep swallow, she's sidestepping us and walking over to Agrippina, squeezing past her Faerie grandparents.

"Two mothers, and both forgot about her," I murmur, pained for Fallon.

"Can you hear her?" Cathal asks.

I want Enzo to hear it from me first. Enzo?

Day… Enzo's voice is no more than a raucous whisper. One that makes my hand crawl up to my breastbone to try and keep my heart from beating out of my chest. I think I'm dying.