42. Zendaya

Chapter 42

Zendaya

" E nzo?"

My Serpent startles, his fingers slipping off the knot of the belt he wears to keep his trousers up. Clearly, he's not here for me. He makes this all the more evident when he turns and pounds farther down the ridge.

I miss you.

He flinches.

Please talk to me.

He doesn't.

I stand and start toward him. Enough! You've pouted long enough.

He glares, but then his eyes widen as he notes that I'm closing in on him. He must decide that damp fabric beats a conversation with me because he dives in, fully clothed.

You kissed me without my consent, Enzo, which gives me every right to be angry, but I'm not, because your act wasn't born from malice but from misplaced desire.

Though he sinks deep and doesn't respond, I know he can hear me.

You know who else has a right to be angry? Cathal. For I was his mate, once upon a time. His true mate. But I'm not his anymore. I belong to no one, Enzo, not to you and not to him. However, you belong to me . You are my Serpent, whether you want it or not. And not just any Serpent, but my first. That makes you special.

Still, I'm not your son, he hisses.

I might not have given birth to your human body but I did give birth to your Serpent one.

I would never have kissed my own mother. That's revolting.

I catch the gleam of green scales beneath the limpid surface that glitters as though tiled with the same tiny, convex mirrors that adorn my ceilings.

What do you think of Agrippina?

She talks a lot. The corners of my mouth begin to flip up until he adds, And she's related to Justus Rossi.

The mention of the man I await flattens the curve.

Why do you await him?

Enzo's question makes my pulse falter. I should've kept his name from my mind.

The chuff of air on the Amkhuti's surface draws my gaze low. I'm not special enough to know your secrets? I thought we were one big happy… den . Especially now that his daughter is part of it.

Tears brim on my lash line that he's crumbled the wall he erected between us.

I'm still angry that you went to Luce without me. And that you picked Agrippina, he adds with a grumble.

I smile.

I get to pick our next denmate without veto.

Yes. You have my word that our fourth Serpent is yours to choose.

Good. Now why is Justus Rossi on his way?

If I tell you, you must promise not to tell Taytah. I know the two of you are close.

There's a beat of awkward silence. She…told you?

Tell me what?

Nothing.

Obviously, it's not nothing .

My loyalty lies with you, Day. If you don't believe me, then I'll swear an oath ? —

I trust you. And so I tell him about my conversation with the Mahananda and of its advice to find Meriam. I also explain that it led me to Agrippina.

The Mahananda told you to make her a Serpent?

It told me to find her, but yes, I imagine it intended for me to save her life by transforming her into a Serpent.

Well, fuck me…

While Enzo whirls on himself at the sound of Agrippina's voice, I fall silent and hunt the Amkhuti for blue scales.

You can hear us? he exclaims.

Yes, Seaweed. I can hear you just fine. No need to shriek.

I was right. My Serpents' minds are all linked when in scales.

Enzo grumbles beneath his breath. How long have you been eavesdropping?

I wasn't eavesdropping. I went for a swim and happened on your little exchange. Trust me, I'm as surprised as you are that we're conversing right now.

How much have you heard, Agrippina? I ask, putting an end to their bickering.

Just that you called my father so that he can lead you to Meriam because she's the key to our immortality.

To Day's immortality, Enzo says.

Though she has no shoulder to shrug, I can picture her shrugging. I imagine that once our maker's immortal, we will be as well, since that's what happened to the Crows.

I ferry the question to the Mahananda, but it affords me no answer.

I must miss a part of their conversation because Agrippina is hissing at Enzo that if he ever calls her Pee again, she will throttle him with her tail to which he says, You call me Seaweed. Only fair you get a horrid nickname.

And then he shoots off and she gives chase, and although they're acting like wayward children, a sense of serenity drapes over me. One that falters when I spy the large black bird cresting the glittery fortifications, an orange-haired rider on its back.

My Serpents must sense my elevated pulse through our bond because they're suddenly both surfacing and shifting, both carving across the dawn-lit water toward the vine ladder. Enzo flicks his head at Agrippina to go first, then climbs up after her. Wet fabric, turned sheer from their swim, clings to their skin. Where Enzo nervously wrings out the hem of his tunic and draws it over the bulge between his legs, Agrippina doesn't bother plucking the fabric off her slender curves, not even when she catches his gaze on her peaked nipples.

"See something you like?" she taunts him.

"Go-Gods, how old are y-you?" He shakes his head, springing droplets off his green hair that has grown the length of a knuckle since he first arrived in Shabbe.

"Almost two centuries older that you are, Seaweed."

He glowers at her and crosses his arms before muttering into my mind, Does Justus know what he's coming to Shabbe to do?

Yes. To Agrippina, I repeat Enzo's question and my subsequent answer, followed by a command not to speak of anything out loud. Anything you both want to say, you speak it into my mind from this moment forward. Nod if you both heard me.

They nod. Though repeating everything individually wouldn't have been the end of the world, my voice broadcasting into both their minds at once is a boon.

The Crow's broad shadow drapes over us as it swoops low. Though my entire focus should be on Justus and where he's about to lead me, it isn't; it's on the male who carried him here. He may still be in feathers, but I'd recognize Cathal Báeinach anywhere.