I cast one more glance over my shoulder before I approach the tent. There’s no way to knock, so I clear my throat loudly at the entrance.
Kadru sticks her head through the flap of the tent. “Marinda?” she says. Her voice still sounds like warm honey, all soft and inviting. “It’s been so long. Come in.” I step over the threshold and go rigid. White snakes are everywhere—dangling from bamboo poles, coiled under tables, lounging on the sumptuous furniture. Some of them are small and some are as thick as small tree trunks. I feel as if a giant hand has reached through my chest and squeezed my lungs together. I can’t pull in enough air. My heart is slamming against my rib cage and my whole body has gone cold.
Kadru laughs. “Oh, darling, relax. They won’t strike unless I tell them to.” But I don’t think I can take another step forward. I feel like I’m five years old again and too small to run. I squeeze my eyes closed. I can do this. I can. I just have to go somewhere else in my mind; it’s the same way I cope after a kill—don’t think about the boy. Don’t think about the snakes.
I open my eyes and keep my gaze glued to Kadru. She is dressed in white from head to toe. Her bodice is embellished with tiny pearls and small mirrors, and her flowing skirt just brushes the tops of her ankles. Shells are woven through her hair. Her feet and her midriff are both bare. The pale clothing against her dark skin is stunning. She doesn’t look a day older than the first time I saw her. If anything, she is even more beautiful than I remembered.
“What can I do for you?” Kadru asks. Her expression is a mixture of amusement and curiosity. I try to keep my gaze on her face, try to ignore the snakes, but I’m still having trouble breathing.
“I need venom,” I say finally. She laughs.
“Oh, darling. You’re the last person in the entire kingdom who needs venom. You’re positively overflowing with it.”
I shake my head. “Not for me.” I suck in a breath. I can’t get out more than a few words at a time. “For someone else. I need to make him immune.”
She arches her eyebrows. “How interesting. Well, now you have my attention.” She saunters to an oversized chair and sits, tucking her feet underneath her. She snaps her fingers, and a large white snake drops from overhead and slinks its way around her shoulders. She often wears them like scarves. A shiver runs through me.
“Can you help me?” I ask, though I know she can. She made Gopal immune before she ever made me deadly. Gopal often reminds me that he is dangerous to me, but not the other way around.
Kadru runs her index finger over her bottom lip like she’s considering. “Venom isn’t cheap.”
“I have money,” I tell her. And it’s true. I save almost everything Gopal gives me. Her eyes harden and the snake around her shoulders stops moving.
“You know it’s not money I want.”
If not money, then what? She must see the confusion on my face because her eyes widen. “Did Gopal never tell you the payment?” She laughs again, but there’s a cruel edge to it. “The old man is even more depraved than I gave him credit for.”
I think back to all the times I’ve been here before and try to remember a payment ever changing hands or a price ever being discussed, but I don’t remember anything except pain and fear and dread.
“What is the payment?”
“Years,” she answers.
At first I think I’ve misheard her. “Years?” I ask.
She nods but doesn’t speak.
“What do you mean? It takes years to make a payment? I have to work for you for years?”
“Years off your life.”
I have no response for this. I’m not sure what she means and I can tell from her expression she’s waiting for me to ask. She’s enjoying this.
“Does ingesting the toxin take years off your life?” I ask. If that’s true…I shudder. I have so much venom running through my veins that I won’t live to see adulthood.
“Of course not,” Kadru says. She snaps her fingers again and the snake slithers off her shoulders and disappears behind the chair. She walks over to me, slow and catlike, and runs the back of her hand across my cheek. “Gopal would never do anything to shorten your life, darling. Not the way he adores you.” I blink. Gopal doesn’t adore me; he needs me, and that’s not the same thing.
Kadru leans forward and kisses me on the cheek. “But you may make a different choice if you wish. The price for one vial of venom is five years from your life.”
This pulls me up short. I can’t imagine what she means. “I don’t understand.”
She smiles. “How old do you think I am?”
I haven’t ever thought about this before. Kadru simply was, and I avoided thinking about her whenever possible. But now as I study her face, I realize she has an ageless quality. Her skin is smooth and supple, but she doesn’t exactly look young either. “I’m not sure,” I tell her.
“The truth is, I’ve lost count. But it’s at least two hundred.”