To Reveal Herself

It was easy, in fact the easiest confrontation she had to encounter since her turning. A few left and rights and all their bodies lay calm and unmoving. The eight of them.

And now she was left with only the beaten boy. His eyes were wide and aloof as he regarded her.

Verona got closer towards him and he moved backwards on his knees, as he hoped for a hole to appear on the walls and swallow him up. Not wasting time, the tall woman crunched down to his left and snatched up his face in a grip.

A whine left his mouth and the fear in his eyes tripled and it was obvious the reason why. The woman holding him has transformed into something strange; her eyes had morphed into something akin to what he only read in books. A black line had cut across the balls in her eyes as if dividing the each into two.

It was a snake.

A creature he had never seen all his life because of the law that banned them from the entire shifter realm. A snake was an abomination; and was deemed evil. So why has the new Queen decided to show him this side to her…What was the motive? The young pup ran through all the questions but none made its way to her lips.

"What's your name?"

"So…so..sorax…Benjamin"

"Sorax…" she pronounced his name as if trying to commit it to memory. Her mannerisms were exactly like a crawling serpent or what it was thought to be.

"Then Sorax…there is only one thing you'll do for me?" she smiled and somehow he saw the tongue flailing inside her mouth. The pup burst into tears at the sight and suddenly her smile faded and got replaced with a flat line.

When he saw the change in her the wolf shut his mouth and tried to shake his head.

"Very good. Then you'll have to take me to your leader Sorax. I would love to meet the one whose command you follow."

At that his own fear got replaced with a bit of anger. a cold hardness got into his eyes as he flatly denied her claims. "I do not know of what you mean…"

"Oh you do…I know it was you." The redhead decided to play his little game.

Sorax stiffened and his eyeballs trembled upon the thought of his secret getting blown. But yet he refused to still divulge.

"I still do not understand you."

"The courtyard…does it ring a bell?" her head was cocked to the side as she waited for his reply. Verona was counting on the patience of her serpent, which was risky but very necessary in getting what she wanted.

"wh—at…what courtyard, I am…I do not…" Sorax was stuttering and that gave him away.

Silence reigned between them as it became a competition to see who would yield. She or him, but it was apparent on who it would be.

"I know it was you. The spy bold enough to mount those heads in broad daylight" her words earned a gasp from the wolf and once again the serpent smiled in triumph.

"Got you!"

***

After interrogating the boy she rushed back into the palace in great haste. Farah had sent her a warning to get back into her room or risk getting discovered. A woman that was thrown out in a rush without letting her know of the danger in particular. The woman didn't linger for her to tell her of the difficulty she faced and now she's stuck.

Verona made efforts to initiate a shift back to her human form but she seemed to have come upon a blockade. There was no change and she's forced to run around with fangs piercing her gums and eyes that would only put her in trouble.

As she tried to hide away her transformed face from the eyes of everyone, it proved to be a difficult task.

For every step she took a hiss would find its way out of her mouth. The serpent had been restrained for long and now refuses to be subdued after her first glimpse of being out in the open.

Her eyes burned and she tripped over her own feet, not once and certainly not twice. Verona prayed to whatever gods the serpents serve to see her through the crowded passageway littered with servants and guards. So far it seemed the gods had listened but as she rounded a corner she almost collided into Asundi who has climbing up the stairs alongside three other women.

Fortunately she was able to get out of the way in time to not be found but even before she could sigh in relief, it occurred to her that the cruel woman was headed towards the direction of her quarters.

It was trouble…big trouble, since the Queen wasn't allowed to roam the grounds alone and unaccompanied. She had managed to receive peace for a few days now, it would be worrisome to cause another stir.

Verona chose the other passageway that would round up to the same direction. It was a circular formation and allowed for to and fro movement. She took off in a race against time to get into her room before the woman gets there before her.

And as expected it proved to be difficult since her legs refused to walk straight and only wobbled like it had not bones.

"Please let me make this…please just one more chance…" she begged no one in particular.

A few times she collided with a few railings and was thankful not to yet have fallen down. It felt like her head was getting submerged in water with no room of escape; that was how difficult breathing became.

All this while her eyes still never left Asundi who kept on walking ahead with purpose. It soon became a torturous game where her eyes moved from the woman to her door. She was so lost in getting to her room that she didn't see the person coming ahead, nor did she notice that Asundi had stopped walking and now had her head bent in greeting.

It had all happened within a twinkle and her eyes had only caught a glimpse of the body before she found herself colliding with it.