They Said the Serpent Was a Prank, but I Found the Scales This Morning Chapter 02

They Said the Serpent Was a Prank, but I Found the Scales This Morning Chapter 02

I watched him walk away without looking back, and something hollow opened in my chest.

Everett did not know.

This had been the last chance I gave him too.

Along with the bride-gift that had appeared today, there had also been a betrothal letter.

It said that even the Serpent Lord required the bride’s consent.

If I was unwilling, I could ask the person I loved to wash away the serpent mark around my wrist, and the marriage would be refused.

I had been waiting in the chapel as his bride when I unfolded that letter.

That was why I had rushed back through the night.

But the man I loved no longer had me in his heart.

Blinking hard against the tears, I turned away—only for my father to slap me across the face.

“Ungrateful girl! Do you think the Serpent Guardian’s mark is something you can lie about and wash off whenever you like? Are you trying to get everyone in Raven Hollow killed because of your selfishness?”

My mother hurried over to hold me, tears streaming down her face.

“My poor girl, you’re my own flesh and blood. But this concerns everyone in Raven Hollow. Please, just this once, do what we ask. Don’t anger the Serpent Lord. Go back to the chapel and wait for him to take you as his bride.”

My ears rang.

Yet in that moment, I finally understood something.

Tessa’s joke about tricking me was fake.

But my parents truly wanted her to take my place.

On the day the results came out and Everett became the top scholarship recipient in the state, they had once said casually, “If only Tessa had been the one who saved Everett back then.”

Tessa had been frail since birth, but she was clever and quick-witted, the talented darling of every family within miles.

As her older sister, I had none of her gifts. I was slow, quiet, and clumsy, good only for doing laundry, cooking, feeding chickens, and taking care of the pigs.

My parents felt sorry for their delicate younger daughter, and I had always been willing to give way.

The only piece of soft fabric in the house was saved to make Tessa new clothes. The only jar of candy was kept so she could have something sweet after her medicine.

From the time I could remember, I had stood beside that jar and watched it empty, fill, then empty again.

I had never tasted even a single piece.

Until that winter five years ago, when I pulled Everett out of the river.

He did not mind the rough calluses on my palms. He held my hand and taught me, stroke by stroke, how to write.

He never laughed when all I could talk about was cutting feed for the pigs or raising chicks. Instead, he carefully put salve on the wounds I got from chores.

I thought, then, that I had finally tasted the only sweetness I would ever have in this life.

But Tessa had been right.

I really was stupid.

Stupid enough to believe Everett still truly wanted to marry me.

Stupid enough not to realize that perhaps, long ago, Everett had become just like my parents.

Perhaps he also wished Tessa had been the one who saved him that day.

I looked at my parents—one cruel, one gentle, both asking me to disappear for Tessa’s sake—and spoke softly.

“I’ll marry him.”

Relief and approval appeared in their eyes.

I stepped back, pressing my hands to my heart in a silent, final farewell.

After tomorrow’s marriage, I would probably never see my parents again.

My parents still had to prepare for tomorrow’s wedding feast. Once they were reassured, they left in a hurry.

I returned to my room, dipped the brush in ink, and wrote my name carefully on the Serpent Guardian’s betrothal contract.

I had only just finished when Tessa pushed the door open.

“Maren, you’re getting married tomorrow. I made you the bridal honey milk myself. Come try some.”

Looking at her smiling face, I nearly forgot.

In Raven Hollow, every bride drank a bowl of honeyed bridal porridge the night before her wedding, a promise that her married life would be peaceful and sweet.

I took the bowl.

Then I saw the familiar bracelet swaying on Tessa’s wrist.

For a moment, I froze, and pain surged sour and hot in my chest.

That was clearly the only keepsake Everett’s late mother had left behind.

It was also the token he had given me the year I saved his life.

Not long ago, it suddenly disappeared. I thought I had lost it by the river while doing laundry and searched for it for a long time in the freezing water.

I never imagined Everett had taken it and given it to Tessa.

I lowered my eyes and swallowed the honeyed bridal porridge in a few large gulps, along with every explanation I no longer wanted to give.

The instant it touched my tongue, a fishy, bitter taste shot straight through me. Tears sprang to my eyes as I choked, and the bowl slipped from my hand.

It shattered against the floor.

Everett strode in, his face dark, and immediately shielded Tessa, who had cried out in fright.

“You were the one who insisted on calling off the wedding. Why are you taking your anger out on Tessa? She’s the one cleaning up the mess you made.”

I looked at the two of them.

The bitterness on my tongue spread until it numbed my whole mouth.

Every explanation went down with that taste.

“Fine,” I said. “Then from now on, you’d better treat her well.”

He froze.

Then he saw the betrothal contract slip from my sleeve. He snatched it up, and his expression changed.

“What is this?”