Title: Snake Singer

Authors Notes: Thank you so much to TallemeraRane who helped with the editing of this chapter.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, but the plot belongs to me.

I could tell by the look in his eyes that he already knew what he was going to demand of me – his eyes gleaming in a delightful dance of possibilities. "Danica, my love," he said, approaching me and stroking my cheek with his strong hand, his fingers tracing lines across my face as though I were a canvas to which he painted. "I will release Zane's family, and let them leave here and go wherever they chose with me never bothering them again. But under one condition."

My skin seemed to tighten around my bones and the small hairs on my arm curled up as I said: "I will do whatever you ask of me."

"Very well then" he reassured me. "You will never leave this place without me again, becoming my Tuuli Thea, and ruling here with me as it once should have been. And if you should leave me, if you should go back to that monster, I will make sure that that baby and all of Zane's line are murdered." His voice grew louder, "You know I can do it, you know that I will never stop looking for you if you should leave. I will always haunt you and Zane, always one step behind you. I would follow you to the ends of the earth and to my dieing day if necessary... Is it a deal?"

It sounded more like several conditions, all slightly more excruciating then the last one. "You will leave them alone forever?" I breathed, my voice barely audible over my deep anguish.

"Forever!"

I bit my lip, death to Zane's family, my friends, or a lifetime with Vasili. I swallowed hard, hoping that this entire world would fade suddenly into the bottomless curves of a nightmare that was in no way real. "I agree!" I added, forsaking the rest of my life into the hands of a madman.

"Marvelous!" he yelled, his voice giddy and childish. I was dieing on the inside, and he was ecstatic. "We shall have the commencement ceremony tomorrow. The whole world shall know that the Avian royalty once again rule over this land with authority, and no longer will there be a snake monster on the throne." His voice became more like himself again, dark and thoughtful as if he knew so much more then anyone else. He removed his hand from my features, a movement that flushed my face slightly as he trailed his hand down my body. Lowering from my neck and moving past my breasts and then pulling me close by circling his arm around my waist. I jumped, afraid and confused; he had never behaved so aggressively toward me, not even years ago when I knew him. He looked taken aback by my distance, but then soon his face changed to understanding. "One day Danica, you will embrace me, you will see that I am saving you," he paused. "One day," he reassured me. "Now, why don't you go up to your room and prepare for bed?"

I stood with my mouth slightly open. Did he expect to bed me on this night?