Home > Viper(6)

Viper(6)
Author: Bex Hogan

But the Bronn I grew up with is nothing like the man he has become: a man who can kill with effortless precision, as brilliant in that as in everything else. Of the two children who grew up on the ship, he should have been my father’s heir.

Everything changed after his Initiation. He stopped speaking to me, going out of his way to avoid crossing my path – no easy feat when you live on a ship. The loss of my best friend without explanation cut me deeply, but what happened a few weeks later was so much worse. It took me a long time to recover from his treachery. I had no choice but to harden my heart towards him.

‘I’m not going to jump if that’s what you’re worried about.’ I don’t bother concealing the venom in my voice, because he damn well knows it’s not going to be an issue.

There’s no reaction, though, not even a flinch of guilt as he turns to face me.

‘Will you do it? Marry him?’

‘What makes you think I’m being given a choice?’

We fall silent and, as the light fails, memories of watching the stars with Bronn creep into my mind. There was a time, years ago, when I trusted him with my every secret, including my fear of water. To lessen my dread we would lie under the night sky and he would tell me how the stars were like nautical charts, mirroring the seas we sailed. How if you were ever lost, the stars could guide you home. I had been confused because the Maiden was my home and if I were on it, how could I be lost?

I look up at him again, his betrayal as raw as ever. His face, which was once so open and warm, is now hard and unyielding. And utterly closed to me.

I turn away, pushing the memories back to where they came from. ‘As if you care. Leave me alone, Bronn.’

The familiar thud of boots on wood makes me glance up to see who else has escaped the farce of a celebration. To my surprise Prince Torin has come looking for me. Feeling it’s rude to sit in a heap while addressing royalty, I clamber to my feet, struggling not to trip over my own skirt.

‘Ah, there you are.’ Torin glances over at Bronn. ‘Would you excuse us?’

But rather than leave, Bronn takes a step closer to me. ‘I have orders to stay with her.’

I can’t decide what’s worse: hearing him admit he’s only here at my father’s request, or that he’s dared to defy the Prince.

Torin’s thrown too, I can tell. He didn’t expect to be challenged. ‘She’ll be perfectly safe with me, I can assure you.’

I was perfectly safe without either of them, but they don’t seem too interested in that right now.

Bronn folds his arms. ‘Nevertheless.’

An awkward silence descends as the two men enter a stand-off. I look from Torin to Bronn and bristle with irritation. Who the hell do they think they are?

‘The Viper answers to the King, so I ask again, would you excuse us?’ Torin is polite, but firm, and I find it curious that he doesn’t seem afraid. Especially as his sullen personal guard is nowhere to be seen. The rumour that he’s a coward doesn’t appear to be true.

‘I’m a Snake, not the Viper. And you’re not the King.’

I’ve had enough of this. ‘Bronn, you can go. The Prince and I will be perfectly fine without you.’

Bronn opens his mouth to object, but I get there first.

‘I don’t need you. I want you to go.’ It comes out harsher than I intended, laced with years of bitterness.

For a moment Bronn simply stares at me, expressionless, but then he blinks and nods his head. ‘M’lady.’ The word is dripping with sarcasm and I have to swallow down the retorts I want to fire at his back as he turns and leaves.

Instead I give Torin a weary smile, trying to convey my apologies for Bronn’s behaviour.

Torin raises his eyebrows. ‘That’s your father’s most valuable assassin?’

‘Yes, I think being introduced like that may have gone to his head.’ I’m hoping he might return my smile, but he doesn’t. Like Bronn, he is impossible to read.

The man I’m supposed to marry comes and stands beside me and leans over the railing. Following his lead, I do too, listening to the gentle lapping of waves against the ship. I should probably try to talk to him, but can think of nothing to say.

It turns out I don’t need to, because he speaks first. ‘When the sky is dark, the moon lost to the world, the water lies still. Silent. All magic is paused, frozen, for tonight the Night Hunter hunts.’

He’s quoting one of the stories Grace used to tell me, one of my favourites.

‘His prey: a devil. A vast, fierce devil. And across the waves the raptor roars.’ I finish the passage for him. Perhaps the scholar rumour was right after all.

He nods his head appreciatively. ‘So. We are to be wed.’

My breath catches in my throat. ‘Apparently.’

I raise my head slightly to glance at him, only to find him watching me closely. He really is startlingly handsome, his skin gently sun-kissed so it’s almost as brown as mine. I hold his gaze, and can’t shake the feeling that he’s doing precisely what I am: trying to read his opponent. Mistrust hums in the air between us.

‘Will you miss this?’ he says, gesturing to the ship, the sea, the life I live. ‘Or will the luxury of the palace suit you better?’

There’s almost a hint of contempt in his words and I resent any implication that I’m using him for a more comfortable existence when, as I see it, I’m simply being traded from one prison to another.

Squaring up to him, I say, ‘I think it’s foolish for either of us to pretend that what I want matters in the slightest, don’t you?’

The smallest crease forms across the bridge of his nose as he weighs me up. It seems like he’s about to say something, but then the moment passes as he steps away from me and I realise we are no longer alone. His bodyguards are congregating, as are some of my father’s men.

‘It’s time,’ Torin says to me, and I frown, unsure for a moment what he means. And then it hits me. No. Surely not. With my world capsized I hadn’t even thought about what Viper tradition dictates would happen tonight. I’d always half thought it was a myth, made up to discourage Vipers from putting anything or anyone before their kings. It can’t be real. But for the first time the look on Torin’s face is unmistakable, and I understand he’s been warned. My stomach lurches in terror and I would run if there were anywhere to go.

My father is coming on deck, his cheeks flushed from rum, his eye bloodshot, and he beckons for us to approach him.

There’s nothing to do but obey.

When Torin and I reach him, the crew lock into a circle round us.

The binding ceremony has begun.

I’m not sure where to look, so hoping no one sees the fear spreading across my skin like a rash, I just stare ahead until my eyes water a little from the effort. Because I know what’s coming, and I know I can’t escape, and perhaps my eyes aren’t watering from the strain, but from the tears I’m fighting to hold back. Cleeve is approaching us now, holding a silver platter upon which lies a chain made of many links that glow with heat from the furnace. The very sight of it makes my heart scream with panic.

My father pulls on thick gloves as he asks me to raise my left hand and Torin his right. We press our wrists together and maybe the fact I’d rather run, plunge overboard and die the death I fear above all others than do this is transmitting through my skin, because to my surprise Torin turns to look at me.

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