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I wanted to cry, but I would hide the tears until he was gone.
“It wasn’t an easy decision.”
I didn’t look at Fang either, avoiding both of their gazes.
“I couldn’t let you die.”
Heat seared my throat. Despair flooded my lungs. My mind, body, and soul had been irrevocably changed—and I couldn’t change it back. Now I was a cold-blooded animal, no different from a snake.
His voice was heavy like rainfall. “I can see that I made the wrong decision.”
If I spoke, I would cry. I held my silence like my life depended on it…even though I no longer possessed life. Nor could I create life.
Kingsnake left the bed and walked out.
The instant the door clicked back into place, my chest heaved and I cried.
I cried for my soul.
I cried for the children I would never have.
I cried for the decision I wasn’t given the opportunity to make for myself.
3
KINGSNAKE
I lay on the couch in my study, my bare feet propped on the armrest. The fire started to burn low in the hearth, but I was out of wood. The coffee table held decanters of gin and scotch that were nearly empty. Booze didn’t affect me the way it had when I was human. Now it took so much more just to get a buzz.
Another thing Larisa would discover.
The door to my study opened, and someone walked inside. They didn’t see me because the back of the couch obscured me. Viper moved to the front of the desk and searched through my pile of scrolls and maps until he found whatever he was looking for. When he turned back around, he gave a slight jump.
“You’re the general of Grayson,” I said in a bored voice. “And you had no idea I was here? The fire didn’t tip you off?”
Viper returned the map to the desk. “Why do you look like shit?”
“Probably because of the headache.”
My brother glanced at all the empty bottles. “You’d be dead right now if you weren’t already dead.” He moved to the opposite couch and sat down. “I’m guessing Larisa is unhappy with the decision you made?”
I sat up, grabbed one of the bottles, and took a big drink.
“Got it.”
I chucked the empty bottle into the fire and made the flames leap a little higher.
“In her defense, she just woke up and received a lot of information.”
I slouched sideways and propped my head against my closed knuckles. “What the fuck’s wrong with me?”
Viper stared at me.
“I could have any woman I want, but I always choose the ones who don’t want me.”
“Did Larisa say that?”
“You should have seen her face…”
