Chapter 38 - Human Relationships [Part 2]
Seraphina plastered a warm smile on her face. “Eloise…” she began, placing one hand lightly on the girl’s shoulder while offering a handkerchief with the other.
She would explain Desdemona’s erratic behavior later; for now, the doll-like girl needed comfort, not excuses or explanations. Seraphina gave her a few minutes to collect herself.
“Oh, Lady Seraphina, I’m just so sorry. I don’t know what came over me,” Eloise muttered, her eyes a painful shade of red. “I’m just so sorry.”
“Now, now, darling. Don’t say that,” Seraphina soothed, running a hand through Eloise’s hair. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
“Just… Sir Gravens said so many sweet things, and I thought he meant them. Then seeing him with… her… with that—”
Seraphina shook her head, meeting her friend’s gaze. “Don’t say something you’ll regret—no, especially here, where she can neither hear nor see you. You are not such a petty soul. Desdemona is your friend, and even you can see she isn’t quite herself.”
“Then what was… that?” Eloise hissed.
“Will you truly let a boy come between you two?”
“No, but… Gravens. I’m not a greedy girl, yet Desdemona can get any boy she wants—”
Seraphina laid a finger on Eloise’s lips. “Desdemona wasn’t herself. I know it, but I cannot tell you her secret—that is simply not my place—but let us just say that she was not fully in control of her faculties. Perhaps one day she will explain it to you herself if you can manage to forgive her.”
The blonde girl gave her a weak smile. “And Eloise, we’re all slaves to our desires, whatever they may be, but we cannot let them master us all the time. Desdemona was at her limit; it was a miracle she controlled herself as well as she did.”
Eloise snorted. “Gravens is handsome, but he’s not that handsome… Still, if what you say is true, then Desdemona really likes him. Deep inside that is.”
“Eloise, my dear—half the first-year girls, and quite a few seniors, like Gravens,” Seraphina said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “I’m attracted to him, too. But would it help to know that in that moment literally anyone else would have done, and Sir Gravens just happened to be closest?”
“Really… then it’s not entirely Sir Gravens’s fault?”
This conversation wasn’t going quite as Seraphina intended; she didn’t want to defend Gravens, only to prevent future friction between Desdemona and Eloise—Desdemona’s family was powerful.
“Well… you could say that, but it definitely wasn’t Desdemona’s fault.”
“But all I can see is Desdemona kissing him!”
“Then file that image deep in the back of your mind. Forgive her. Extreme, life-and-death moments affect people strangely. Frest loses himself in his cups, and Milly goes off somewhere to sulk for a long time. Now, Desdemona’s expression is simply more carnal than most, that’s all.”
“But… do I have to forgive Sir Gravens, too?” Eloise asked weakly, dabbing her eyes with the handkerchief.
“That’s entirely up to you, my dear. Still, it’s rather telling that he didn’t chase after you…” Seraphina added, prompting another burst of tears.
Of course, she omitted the fact that she had ordered everyone to wait in her dormitory’s common room. That’s right—join yourself to me, the de Sariens girl thought darkly. When the time is right, I’ll choose your future partner to suit my needs. You are wasted on a mere household Knight.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Seraphina hugged Eloise and patted her shoulder, holding her until the sniffles subsided.
“Now then, it’s been a long day for all of us. I think a cup of tea is in order!” she said brightly.
“As long as it isn’t Desdemona’s,” Eloise retorted.
The heir to the Duchy of Sariens gave her lady-in-waiting a mischievous smile. “Oh, don’t worry about her—I’ve sent her to her room for her bad behavior.”
The girls laughed together, sharing a private moment.
“I do hope you’ve made sure she isn’t missing dinner, too,” Eloise said cheekily.
Seraphina’s smile softened. “I’m sure, darling, that can be arranged.”
***
Time had indeed flowed much slower inside the Trial of the Goddess, Seraphina decided as she finally collapsed onto her canopied bed. The silk coverlet rustled as she slipped in beneath the covers. There was still a tension about her shoulders, and her brain hummed with leftover adrenaline. Across the room, Eloise was already fast asleep, but in her dreams, the poor girl tossed and turned, her dark hair fanning over the pillows like a splash of ink.
Seraphina sighed; debriefing her followers after the Trial had been a quite the chore. Each of them had insisted that the Goddess herself had “blessed” them—NPC speak for basically saying that they had gotten stronger.
A hiss announced Cornelia’s arrival. The massive white serpent slid from beneath the bedframe, scales glimmering opalescent in the crystal light. She lifted her wedge-shaped head and rested it on Seraphina’s stomach with a possessive weight. Seraphina stroked the broad skull, fingertips bumping over bone ridges.
“You are getting far too big,” she muttered, voice rough with fatigue. “And lazy.”
Not lazy, Cornelia replied, the words slithering straight into Seraphina’s mind like cool water. Just hungry.
“And greedy to boot.” Despite herself, Seraphina smiled. “But I wouldn’t trade you for all the crowns in Aranthia. Eat, grow—give me more serpent to love.”
The forked tongue flicked, tasting the air, brushing her cheek with ticklish affection. Only then did Seraphina notice a knobby white bump down Cornelia’s neck—the telltale sign of an approaching growth stage. Wonderful; everything and everyone around her was really growing up.
Womanhood had come late to this body, but it had come in full force nonetheless. Seraphina replayed Desdemona’s passionate kiss in her mind, imagining guiltily what it would have felt like if it had been her. She would have probably slapped Gravens for his temerity, she decided.
With a groan, she slid the Serpent’s Coilband from her wrist. She rather liked the magical object, not for its inherent power, but its rather plain and understated elegance. Still, she had to do this. Gripping the band with her fingers, she forced it wider—magical metal protesting, then yielding—until it was just large enough to slip over the serpent’s neck. It settled snugly against the scales.
Sir Gravens, at least, had been well compensated for his small part—his new shield was a powerful magical defence. Seraphina could not help wondering, a stab of envy twisting in her gut, what prize Desdemona herself had received for slaying Lord Ma. Probably something ridiculous—something Seraphina herself could have used. But that had been the plan: let Desdemona top the loot table so Seraphina could bank on second place to get the Serpent’s Coilband. In hindsight, she could have simply negotiated a trade or demanded it from her afterward. Oh well, too late now.
What’s this? Cornelia asked, coiling around to touch the band.
It is something that will let me take you everywhere, Seraphina answered through the link, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand.
How do I eat it?
You don’t, you ridiculous creature. Don’t even think about it!
The serpent tried to retreat, feigning innocence, but Seraphina caught her behind the jaw. “Oh no, you don’t.” She exhaled sharply, pinning stray hair behind her ear. “All right, let’s at least test the thing. Try to be—oh, I don’t know—be smaller.”
Cornelia coiled tighter, looping herself into a spiraling knot. Seraphina opened her mouth to clarify—then froze. The Coilband glimmered, arcs of faint golden light sinking into glossy scales. Inch by inch, Cornelia’s massive body compacted, shrinking like cloth in scalding water.
Everything’s bigger! the serpent announced, astonished.
“That’s not it, you silly snake.” Seraphina scooped the newly miniaturized reptile to her chest, the weight now scarcely no longer than a half a pace. “You’ve gotten smaller, that’s all.”
Yet in that moment, as she cradled the pulsing coil of scales to her chest, some of the day’s exhaustion finally melted—a brief, quiet victory.
