Page 7 of A Drop of Venom

She blinked once more, and then her eyes drifted closed.

Her thick, dark lashes mesmerized me. My own eyes did not have lashes. Nor did I have blunt pink nails on my fingers. I had claws—very sharp claws that I must keep retracted at all times when touching my mate.

There were, in fact, many, many differences between our bodies, from her soft, unprotected skin to her slender legs, two little feet, and tiny toes. But I hoped we were not so unalike that she’d find me repulsive.

My hearts, my soul, and all that I owned already belonged to my shelshi, though I did not yet know her name.

More gently than as if I were picking up the finest crystal or spun glass, I scooped up my precious mate, cradled her to my chest, and carried her home.

CHAPTER FOUR

HAZEL

I slept deeply and for a long time, dreaming of softly glowing amber eyes.

A melody kept me company in the darkness—one that soothed my battered heart like a lullaby and spoke of love and an eternity shared together among the stars. Sometimes I heard words, and at other times it was little more than a quiet hum, but the song was always there. It was an anchor, a promise, a reminder that I wasn’t alone.

Pain came and went like gentle tides lapping at the shore, but through it all I was perfectly warm and more content than I could ever remember being. Someone murmured a litany of promises into my ear: I would always be safe, always be sheltered, always be treasured and cared for, and I would never go hungry or be alone again.

Some part of me knew it all was lies and empty promises, of course. This world was never safe for women, especially not women with magic and no powerful family or friends for protection. But for now, while I was warm and the pretty words and gentle song flowed over me like water, I could pretend it was true.

Finally, I surfaced slowly, following the sound of quiet humming like a rope leading me through the deep, dark unknown and into the light.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring at a wall made of damp, mossy stone.

At first, I could only move my eyes enough to see I was in a cave dimly lit by a few lanterns placed in nooks along the walls. I lay on my side, curled up on something dark in color and pleasantly warm.

Someone was humming. The tune was so familiar now I could almost have sung along, except the lyrics were in another language—or at least most of them were. Still, I somehow recognized words like shelshi and athava, though I wasn’t sure how I knew them and I didn’t know their meanings.

My fingers curled just enough to feel that whatever was beneath me was warm, dry, smooth, and firm, like flesh over solid muscle. Though that would hardly be possible, since I was lying on top of it, and no one would be large enough⁠—

The humming stopped. “Shelshi?” a familiar voice asked softly. I sensed movement behind me, as if someone had sat up or leaned forward. “Are you awake, my light?”

The voice brought back a few fractured memories: the guards. Lord Vedast. The ravine. So much pain.

And then, above me, amber eyes. A strange face. And in my peripheral vision, an even stranger body, all red and black, with long, thick coils that had surrounded me.

Fear slammed into me like a runaway horse, stealing my breath and turning my insides to ice.

Don’t move, I told myself, while my lungs seized and my heart tried to hammer its way out of my ribcage. Be still. Be quiet. Don’t act like prey. A whimper tried to escape. I bit my tongue hard to hold it in, drawing blood.

A quiet hiss filled the cavern.

Enormous hands closed firmly but gently around my waist. I was picked up as if I weighed nothing at all and drawn into an embrace against a hard, muscular chest—a bare, muscular, man’s chest, covered in scales so smooth they reminded me of the finest polished saddle leather. And his scent…

He smelled of warm stone, clove, and something that reminded me of sweet wine. Despite the fear still gripping my heart like talons, my fingers curled instinctively against his chest. Before I could think better of it, I pressed my nose into those scales to inhale deeply.

What am I doing?

Carefully—oh so carefully, because despite my hazy condition I well remembered how small I was in comparison to this male—I flattened my hands and pressed against his chest until he let me move back enough to see his face.

Frightened and dazed in equal measures, I blinked at the male who was holding me and gazing into my eyes as if I were the only being in all of the Goddess’s great creation.

His amber eyes had vertical slit pupils that looked like black diamonds in the low light. His hair was black and thick, with silver at his temples, and it had streaks of red that matched his black and crimson scales. Above his eyes where brows would be if he were human was a double-arched row of small rounded points, like tiny horns.

I’d been sleeping, and now was sitting, in the coils of a male with the head and torso of a man, and below where his waist should be, the body of a powerful serpent a great many feet in length.

“Goddess.” The word escaped my lips before I could rein it in. It might have been a prayer, or a curse, or some combination of the two.