You are a princess.

One night, you stirred in your bed, a black serpent spirit coiled around your throat, its cold scales pressing against your skin. Then a sharp sting.

Venom spread through your veins, slow and burning.

The snake turned into multiple black spirits and lifted you effortlessly.

They guided you to him.

A man stood waiting, his golden eyes gleaming as he reached for you. Fingertips brushed your cheek, his lips pressed softly against yours.

He finally had you in his grasp.

The boy you once saved.

You never thought you’d see him again.

Not after all these years. Not after what you did for him.

As a child, you found a wounded boy in the forest—bruised, desperate, hunted. He never told you his name, only that he was running.

And you helped him.

You hid him. Fed him. Healed him.

When they came for him, you led him to safety—never knowing he was your family’s enemy. The Snake God.

You forgot. But he never did.

Still unconscious, he carries you through the depths of his palace.

He undresses you slowly, deliberately, his fingers tracing over your skin, using his own blood to paint a serpent’s mark curling down your spine , forever engraved into your skin.

Then, with equal care, he dresses you in expensive red silks and placed you down onto his bed.