Page 41 of A Serpent in the Garden

He’s trying to sully my host, It said, with an air of feigned innocence.

You don’t play innocent very well.

I don’t, It agreed. I didn’t have as pure an upbringing as Saint Serich. Running out of steam if he’s down to the calf.

Serich’s hand paused as he shifted against the tree bark, his heart thudding against my back. I felt It heave himself upright with bated breath.

“My fingers are stiff.” Serich clenched and unclenched his hand as he withdrew it. “The cold has teeth tonight.”

You are the smarmiest thing I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting, I said at the smug chuckle echoing in my head.

You realize I hear all your thoughts, you know. You tell me one thing but your thoughts say something different.

Serich tucked his arms around my waist when I thanked him for his efforts, his fists buried in his sleeves for warmth. What little light streaming through the cracks was rapidly fading to black. “We should sleep in shifts. You go first. I can’t see myself drifting off for a while yet.”

Don’t argue, It said, because I’d been about to. Anything that might be lurking is barely rousing. They’ll have more energy in a few hours and I don’t want you sleeping through their active periods.

So I dragged on every piece of clothing I had with me, burrowed against Serich’s chest beneath both our blankets, and hoped I wouldn’t freeze in my sleep.

Freezing isn’t a sudden death, It said wryly, as my head found its usual comfortable spot against Serich’s neck. It’ll take you slowly over hours at this temperature. If you believe your bloodrose, that isn’t how you’ll go out.

I found that oddly comforting.

Serich ran his hands up and down my back to wake me sometime later, his lips brushing my forehead as he whispered my name into the dark. I found It alert and waiting, the drumming of a bored talon echoing through my mind. The darkness within this hollow tree was as thick as the silence in the wood.

“It’s been quiet out there.” Serich tightened the blankets around us. “Too quiet. I heard some crows singing a while ago, but nothing since.”

“Everything is quiet here.” I felt around for the side of his face to give it a reassuring pat. My thumb skimmed his mouth, which he caught in his hand and kissed with chilled lips.

He tucked my hand into his. “I still don’t like it.” He was the only solid thing in all this darkness, so I clung to him. The rumble of his voice, the throbbing of his heart, the rhythm of his slow breathing, his arms locking me against his chest. “I keep feeling eyes out there. Like they’re biding their time.”

“We met nothing but that demon along the way,” I said, just to soothe him. “And he can’t leave the water.”

He didn’t seem convinced as he rested his chin on my shoulder and let loose a sigh. “I won’t be able to sleep. I’m wound too tightly.”

I shifted on his lap, groping for the back of his neck. Livvy’s siblings had trouble sleeping some nights, but they never lasted long when I ran my fingers through their hair, let my nails drift along their scalp.

Serich shuddered beneath my touch as he pulled me closer. “You’re only succeeding in making me shiver.”

“Just give it a minute.”

“You have evil, magic fingers.” His lips brushed my neck, gooseflesh rising in their wake.

“It helps the children drift off. They find it comforting.”

I felt a groan building in his throat, a firm hand at my waist. “I’m not a child.”

“Do you want me to stop?” I asked, as if I didn’t already know the answer.

He shook his head, his face buried against my throat.

See? You appreciate responses, too, It said, because it had been too much to hope for that he wouldn’t notice the slickness building between my thighs at Serich’s soft little groans, at how stiff he was growing beneath me. Suddenly I knew he wouldn’t refuse it if I dipped my head to kiss him, but I’d barely found his lips when from out behind the blockade of boulders, I heard a muffled rustle.

I jerked upright.

A rabbit, I think, It offered. Or something that moves like one.

Looking for its lair?