Bloom & Dark by Regina Watts

Author:Regina Watts [Watts, Regina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy harem adventure
Publisher: Painted Blind Publishing
Published: 2021-01-24T16:00:00+00:00

A FOILED ATTEMPT

WHEN I BURST into the bedroom, I could not quite comprehend the scene before me. Valeria’s robed body was wrapped in some kind of green vine that thrashed wildly in the room’s corner, as though one of the plants there had come to life and developed a taste for flesh. Only on closer glance did I recognize this was no plant by any means, but the snake that my lady carried throughout the palace as a pet. The beast had grown to enormous proportions, a pet serpent expanded into a jungle python either in my absence or during the course of the party.

Valeria reached for me, gripping my arm in hopes I might manage to pull her out. Meanwhile the tail of the snake whipped across the floor, its girth bludgeoning me even as I caught it and tried to force it to unwind. It hissed, its great head twisting in my direction and its mouth opening to reveal fangs practically the length of Strife.

“Hold on,” I told my mistress, sprinting back into the sitting room where Strife had been mounted upon the wall during my absence. I tore the blade down and charged back to the source of the commotion: there, the snake had only tightened around Valeria’s body. Her robe had fallen somewhat open and the pressure of each coil gave her flesh the appearance of being ready to burst—more alarmingly, her dark face had adopted a notable purple-crimson hue. My heart surging with passion to protect my mistress, I drew the blade from its scabbard and set against the beast at once.

Such things were easier said than done, however. I swiped at its great head and, as it reared away from me, I realized how easy it would be to hurt Valeria instead of the creature assailing her. Cutting away the coils might endanger her body, and missing the beast’s face might still so aggravate it that it began to bite either Valeria or myself.

Instead, I sank Strife’s blade into the end of the serpent’s tail, cutting the tip clean off while it hissed in terrible agony. The coils tightened further for a few seconds and Valeria gagged sharply, gripping at the one around her throat; then, as the pain passed into the instinct to escape its assailant, the snake unwound from its would-be victim and slithered away to regroup. Valeria gasped sharply, clutching her throat with her ringed hand while I bent over her to inspect her body. The dark shadow of a bruise stretched across her neck and another trailed over her ribs, but she seemed to be breathing steadily.

“Burningsoul,” she rasped, her free hand gesturing behind me.

I whirled to find the snake had gathered its senses and was on the attack once again, rising high above us both and clearly intent on lunging at me. Strife stood between us, my only defense against the monster’s lengthy fangs. When at last the serpent sprang forth to bite, I met its fangs with my cold steel and swore I felt the impact rattle through its skull.

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