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Now I laughed.
“But I’m luckier.” He kissed my shoulder and squeezed me tighter.
“Are you ever serious?”
“Only with you.” His eyes turned hard as he looked at me, blanketing me with that love once again. “You’re a lot more than your looks, baby. I fell in love with this.” His hand moved to my heart. “And this.” He squeezed my biceps. “Everything else is just a bonus.”
My hand rubbed his chest, over the area where his heart would be if it still worked. When I’d pictured what my husband looked like, it wasn’t Cobra. It was an Ethereal, someone who would father my children and help me lead my people. But now Cobra felt like the only choice, the man who was my destiny.
“Are you ready?”
His question brought me back to reality, the next step of this marriage. I needed time to properly come into my new state, so the next few hours were critical for the transformation.
When I didn’t immediately say yes, his eyes shifted back and forth between mine. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, baby. We’ll figure it out.”
“No…I’m ready.”
“You don’t sound ready.”
“It’s a big moment. I just needed a second.”
He continued to regard me, as if he was unsure if he should proceed.
“It’s okay. Really.”
He stared at me for a moment longer before he opened the drawer to his nightstand and pulled out a glass vial. There was a tiny bit of venom at the bottom, mostly clear with a hint of yellow. “Drink this.”
I took the vial and removed the top.
“Once you drink that, there’s no going back. If you don’t turn, the venom may kill you.”
I stared at the liquid inside before I looked at him again. “Alright.” I tilted my head back and got the venom down quickly, coughing the instant I was done because it felt like smoke on my tongue.
Cobra brought his wrist to his mouth and bit himself, piercing his flesh with his fangs. Then he brought it to me to drink, the little drops dripping down his skin and then staining the sheets. Instead of bright red like mine, his blood was black. He didn’t bring himself forward, giving me the power to lean forward when I was ready.
I grabbed his forearm and pulled it to my mouth. My tongue tasted the earthy drop, and then I sucked, pulling his blood into my mouth. The taste was like oil and acid, a taste I’d never experienced in my life.
He watched me, his eyes darkening as he watched me drink his blood.
When I’d had enough, he pulled his wrist away. “Now sleep. When you wake up, you’ll be my wife—and the Queen of the Cobra Vampires.”
29
KINGSNAKE
My father arrived with his army.
The Originals camped out in the field with the Diamondbacks. It’d been a long time since all the vampires had been united against a single foe. Before Larisa came into my life, it’d been several hundred years since the Ethereal attacked us. Every battle ended with loss of life, but neither was ever truly the victor, so those attacks became less frequent.
But now we had a new enemy.
I spotted my father enter Grayson, in the same armor and helmet he wore when he marched on the Ethereals’ borders. A large figure with serious muscle density, he was the man I’d always aspired to be. Thankfully, I’d inherited compassion and sympathy from my mother. Otherwise, I would be the barbaric man he’d become.
His eyes locked on mine before he reached me, and then the long walk that ensued seemed to last an eternity. Even before we reached each other, I knew this conversation would be tense based on that stare.
He came before me and stopped.
As we stared at each other on the battlefield, nothing was said.
