9
" I looked to Rei, wondering if his vague answer to Betsy meant he might let me slip away downstairs, but A’isha had once again engaged him, hooking one of the many melos scarves she wore around his waist in an attempt to draw him into the dance.
The crow looked at it with shock. A’isha plucked the scarf away with a flourish.
“No need to be shy, little crow,” A’isha said. “If the gods didn’t want people to admire you, they wouldn’t have made you so stunning.”
I got to see Rei flush for the first time, blood creeping into his tanned skin. A’isha flipped her scarf around his neck.
“One dance,” A’isha implored. “I’m sure Zane would go elsewhere; you would be performing only for the nest.”
“I’m sure Zane would,” Rei said dryly, glancing at me.
I shrugged.
“What is your lady friend going to think, if she hears you are learning to dance but are ashamed to perform?” A’isha goaded the crow.
“One dance,” Rei said, relenting. “And only because I know you’ll never forgive me if I don’t take my opportunity to make a public fool of myself.” He turned to me. “You get out of here and thank A’isha for giving me an excuse to leave you alone.”
I would indeed. "
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes , Snakecharm (The Kiesha'ra, #2)
11
" Danica’s eyes fluttered open the instant I stepped through the door, and she smiled softly. “I was starting to wonder if you were planning on obeying Betsy after all.”
“Never,” I assured her. “Though I’ve promised I will let you get some sleep. How do you feel?”
I went to her side, and Danica hooked and arm across my shoulders to steady herself as she sat up.
Danica winced. “I hurt.” She rolled her shoulders, as if the muscles were sore.
“I’m sure,” I responded sympathetically. Offering the Ahnleh A’isha had given to me, I went on, “This is a congratulatory gift from sha’Mehay.” I explained the significance of the ancient coin and repeated A’isha’s words regarding why she was giving it to Danica.
She took the coin reverently, closing it in her hand for a moment before tying the cord into place. “Thank you,” she said softly, as she snuggled closer. I knew the words were not for me, but for the nest around us.
I began to massage her shoulders, and she closed her eyes and leaned back toward my touch. My fingertips brushed the feathers growing under her hair at the nape of her neck. There was still a moment of hesitation in my mind every time I felt those feathers, a moment when my thoughts protested, remembering so many years of war when this beautiful woman had been my enemy, so hated that when fate crossed our paths there had been no choice but for me to love her.
She met my gaze now without any hint of the fear that had once been there. Cobriana eyes had once been for Danica what her feathers were for me. Avian legend said that a royal cobra’s garnet eyes possessed demonic power, and it had taken a long time for Danica to trust me enough to look into mine. Most avians still shuddered and avoided my gaze.
“I feel…tired, but wonderful. Betsy tells me--” She broke off, words failing her, and then gave up on speech and kissed me.
“I love you,” she whispered--then yawned widely. “Take a nap with me?”
The request, as always, made me smile. When we had first met, the idea of resting with another person was as foreign to the lovely but reserved hawk as the idea of flying was to me.
I was happy that Danica had not yet taken me into the air, but she had grown used to a second heartbeat while she rested. That blessing pleased me almost as much as any could.
I wrapped my arms around milady; Danica sighed, tucking her head down against my chest like a chick in the nest. Having her there calmed my fears and let me drift into sleep. "
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes , Snakecharm (The Kiesha'ra, #2)
12
" We’ll need to speak to Irene, and your mother,” I asserted. “If either one of them rejects this idea, there is no way we will succeed. Any potential heirs to either throne--hawk or cobra--must be raised in the same mixed-blood land, or people will feel they can still choose to be apart.”
Danica nodded, so I continued.
“Then I suppose we seek the approval of our respective courts, and allow the information into the markets. Once we are sure we have support, we can consult with architects, artists, whoever we need to try to bring this place we are imagining to life.”
After that, we ate breakfast in silence, sifting through our thoughts like children going through colored stones--optimistic, because although some were too dark and some were too sharp, many glittered like precious gems. "
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes , Snakecharm (The Kiesha'ra, #2)
13
" I have an excuse to be up at this mad hour.” Irene yawned as we located her in Salem’s nursery. “Why are you looking so bright-eyed?”
As she spoke, she rocked Salem in her arms. The babe kept shifting from boy to cobra, trying to wriggle out of her grip, then turning back to human form to pout when she wouldn’t let him.
“We’re plotting reformation of life as we know it,” I replied, somewhat flippantly.
“Oh, is that all?” she teased. “Why not start with breakfast?”
“Thank you, but no,” I answered. “Danica and I actually wanted your feedback on an idea we had.”
Quickly, we detailed the conception of Wyvern’s Court, from finding the two symbols to getting A’isha’s support. Irene listened quietly, nodding every now and then as she finally managed to settle Salem down.
When we paused for her response, she looked hopefully at the face of her child. “If you can create such a place,” she finally answered, “I would be honored to raise my son there. And I have never seen you two fail to achieve any dream you strive toward. "
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes , Snakecharm (The Kiesha'ra, #2)
15
" The dancers are a crucial part of serpiente culture, not to mention a beautiful addition to any public area.”
“They may be important to the serpiente, but making their performances so accessible to our children just isn’t appropriate,” Lincon said. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for the dancers to remain in their nest, so the more impressionable of our…” He trailed off, because the room had suddenly gone very quiet around him.
A’isha flitted over to the avian man, wrapped in quiet anger. “Have we harmed you in some way while you have been here? Has one of my dancers offended you?”
Lincon pointed out, “It is not your hospitality I question, but your regard for propriety. I was propositioned within moments of entering your nest.”
A’isha chuckled, shaking her head. “You are a pretty man, and you walked in alone.”
Lincon cleared his throat. “I don’t think this is a laughing matter. "
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes , Snakecharm (The Kiesha'ra, #2)
16
" We come from different worlds,” I said, “but each has so much to teach the other. There will be moments of dissonance, when people struggle to understand each other’s ways, but once we get past our misconceptions, imagine the reward.
“The dancers will perform in the market of Wyvern’s Court; they will be beside avian poets, singers, philosophers and storytellers or we cannot hope to succeed. Merchants will haggle prices and barter goods as they have in both our markets throughout history. Scholars will work to impart their valuable knowledge to their students. Artists will create beauty. And our children will grow up together, playing the same games, taught by the same teachers, living side by side until as adults, I pray, they laugh at the petty arguments we had in this nest while we designed their world.”
“And ravens will dance, and serpents will fight for the lives of falcons. "
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes , Snakecharm (The Kiesha'ra, #2)
18
" When I had arrived home and learned of this terrible series of events, I had immediately set out for the Hawk’s Keep. I had started that ride in a fog of denial, refusing to acknowledge that my brother was dead, refusing to believe that the burden of the roal seat had fallen to me so suddenly at the age of sixteen. The hours had turned my thoughts from disbelief to mad fury. I had scaled the walls of the Hawk’s Keep, intent on murder, and stumbled into the room of Danica Shardae.
And there, I think I fell in love. As I beheld the avian princess sleeping so innocently, her cheek marked by a new cut--probably by one of my own people’s blades--my hatred died, leaving only a desperate desire for peace in its wake. When the mad suggestion was made last winter that taking the enemy queen as my mate could end the war, it had almost seemed like fate. It had not been easy to bridge the gaps between us, but together we had managed.
Fate had given me many gifts. Danica Shardae was the one for which I would forever be most grateful. "
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes , Snakecharm (The Kiesha'ra, #2)
19
" You made a good choice for your Naga,” she assured me. “Danica is more graceful on a dais than half the serpents I know.”
“Provided she isn’t blushing too brightly to see,” another quipped. “The first time I saw our queen perform, I thought she was a lost cause--far too uptight, like most avians--but I’m glad to be proved wrong.”
I knew I was grinning. I had never doubted that Danica could learn the serpent art. Much of her loved my world; a part of her craved dance as surely as anyone else in this nest did. Perhaps that thirst came from her time dancing with the currents of air far above where we earthbound creatures roamed, or perhaps it came from the expressive nature her own world forced her to hide.
Similar conversation flowed among us until A’isha’s musical voice commanded me, “Zane, admire your queen.”
The words brought our attention to the back of the room, where Danica had emerged, looking so beautiful that she took my breath away.
In response to her teacher’s words, Danica smiled and shook her head, causing her golden hair to ripple about her face. It made my heart speed and my breath still, as if I was afraid the next movement would shatter the world.
She was a spark of fire in sha’Mehay. The serpiente dress rippled around the hawk’s long legs, the fabric so light it moved with the slightest shift of air. The bodice was burgundy silk; it laced up the front with a black ribbon, and though it was more modest than many dancers’ costumes, it still revealed enough cream-and-roses skin to tantalize the imagination. On Danica’s right temple, A’isha had painted a symbol for courage; beneath her left collarbone lay the symbols for san’Anhamirak, abandon and freedom.
“You dance every day with the wind. This is not so different,” A’isha said encouragingly to Danica. “Now, look at the man you love and dance for him.”
The nest hushed, faces turning to their Naga. Her cheeks held more color than usual, which A’isha addressed with a common dancers’ proverb. “There is no place for shame, Danica. If Anhamirak had not wanted beauty admired, she would not have made our eyes desire it. You are art.”
Danica stepped out of A’isha’s grip. “If my mother could see me now,” she murmured, but she smiled as she said it. "
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes , Snakecharm (The Kiesha'ra, #2)
