Bait for the Serpent King - Chapter 3

I dared not answer.

My body had gone weak. My legs trembled so hard I could barely stand, and I had to lean against the side of the spring.

I had been reborn. This was an entirely new body. So why…

Why did his approach still send my heart into turmoil?

His intimate touches instantly awakened memories I could never forget.

When I first entered the serpent palace in my previous life, the king was in seclusion, shedding his skin.

The serpent women in his harem thought me pretty enough to become a threat. Afraid he might favor me alone, they decided to get rid of me first.

They ordered me to bring him restorative medicine, mixing into it an incense that would drive him mad.

The scent sent his serpentine instincts raging. He dragged me into the ice cave.

Losing all control of his strength, he flung me into the freezing pool.

The water pierced me to the bone. It was colder even than the night I had knelt before Mother and begged her not to give me to the Serpent King.

My awareness began to fade.

On the brink of death, I felt a breath of air pass between my lips.

A cold tongue swept across the roof of my mouth, chased mine, then slyly licked my lips.

Once he had teased me enough, he let go again.

The urge to survive surged through me. With all my strength, I tried to cling to his powerful shoulders.

But my hands slipped over the smooth surface beneath them, finding no purchase.

I kept sinking.

Just as I thought I would suffocate, something thick coiled firmly around my waist and carried me ashore.

I gulped fresh air.

When I recovered enough to take in my surroundings, every hair on my body stood on end.

Under the moonlight, a great serpent lay beside the pool, newly shed. He was white from head to tail, like silk glowing softly.

His sharp scales gleamed, washed in moonlight like fragments of silver.

He was terror and beauty joined at their most extreme.

He looked like a snake, and yet like a dragon.

His hidden fangs and the supple strength of his body both spoke of sheer power.

His eyes were half shut. I felt that the instant he opened them, he could crush my throat in his jaws and swallow me alive.

As warmth returned to my limbs, I edged backward, trying to escape the immense creature before me.

Then I stepped on a fallen leaf.

Its faint crunch woke the resting king.

His scarlet eyes flew open, dark and menacing, and his gaze roamed over me.

I scrambled away in panic, but his icy tail caught my ankle and dragged me back.

The giant serpent curled me against him, nuzzling me repeatedly as though trying to please me. His eyes darkened further.

I nearly fainted with terror.

White mist rose, and the coils holding me vanished.

The silver serpent became a man of unearthly beauty.

Silver hair, blood-red eyes, exquisite lines at their corners.

He held me tight, covering me with fierce, demanding kisses.

For the next three days and nights, I never left that cave.

The king delighted in teasing me in different forms. Whenever I thought I would suffocate, he would tenderly give me the life-sustaining nectar that kept me going.

The serpent women believed the frenzied king had devoured me, leaving nothing to bury. They were already celebrating.

Instead, he carried me out of the cave in his arms.

Horrified, they prostrated themselves and congratulated him in unison on weathering his tribulation, shedding his skin, and ascending.

None dared look at his naked body.

Or at the mortifying scratches covering it.

Every last surviving scrap of cloth from the cave was draped over my weakened form.

From then on, the king favored me alone.

In the serpent palace, I stood beneath one serpent and above all the rest.

But that snake wanted far too much. I could barely endure him.

I had never imagined that even rebirth would fail to free me.

He had actually dared to follow me into the human imperial palace!

The force beneath the water pulled me deeper and deeper.

The spring was hot, while what gripped me was slippery and cold. Heat and ice assaulted me together.

His relentless entanglement stirred memories of our past intimacy.

I lost control, whimpering and pleading, but the thing beneath the water only wound tighter.

As if terrified I might leave.

I lost consciousness completely.