Chapter 56: The Jealous Viper’s Trap

Ren stood frozen, clutching the giant, waxy leaf to her chest like a shield. Water dripped from her hair, running down her back and legs, pooling on the stone floor.

“You shouldn’t be in there,” Lyssa repeated, her voice dripping with false concern that barely masked the venom beneath.

“The girls told me this was the bathhouse,” Ren said, her teeth starting to chatter as the cool air hit her wet skin.

Lyssa let out a sharp, incredulous laugh. “And you believed them? This is the Sacred Source. It is for the King alone. To bathe here is to soil his holy water.”

Ren’s stomach dropped. ’Of course.’ It was a setup. The harem hadn’t just been mean; they had been trying to get her executed.

“Well, joke’s on them,” Ren muttered, shivering. “Syris was just here. He saw me. And as you can see, he didn’t skin me alive.”

Lyssa’s eyes narrowed into slits.

That was exactly the problem. Syris had seen her. Lyssa had watched him from the shadows of the hallway. She had seen the way the King stood there, paralyzed, gripping the stone archway. She had seen the hunger in his eyes—a raw, primal heat he had never directed at her in five years of mating.

He should have been furious. He should have been disgusted by the hairless, soft-skinned mammal polluting his sanctuary. Instead, he looked like he wanted to dive in and join her.

Jealousy, hot and acidic, clawed at Lyssa’s insides. She looked at Ren’s small, curved waist, her pale skin, her fragile neck. She wanted to ruin it. She wanted to scratch that pretty face until the King couldn’t bear to look at it anymore.

But she couldn’t do it herself. Syris still had a sickness for this pet. If Lyssa harmed her directly, she would lose her position.

But the swamp… the swamp was full of accidents.

“He didn’t reprimand you,” Lyssa hissed, stepping closer, “because he could not bear the sight of you. He fled in disgust. He sent me to handle the trash.”

Ren winced. The words hit a bruised spot in her heart.

’He fled because I’m gross to him?’ Ren thought, her shoulders slumping. ’Right. I almost forgot he hates me now.’

“So what now?” Ren asked, trying to summon some dignity despite being naked and holding a leaf. “Back to the dungeon?”

“No,” Lyssa smiled. It was a terrifying smile. “The King is hungry. He is tired of eels, and he is tired of rats.”

She circled Ren, looking her up and down with disdain.

“He wants something different, something rare. So, you will procure a delicacy worthy of his palate. For lunch, the King desires River Rubies.”

Ren blinked. “River Rubies?”

“They are red, glowing spheres,” Lyssa explained vaguely. “They grow in the deep clusters of the underwater roots in Razor-Fin Cove. They pop in the mouth. Savory. Salty. Rare.”

She leaned in, her voice smooth as silk. “They are incredibly fragile. My claws are too sharp; they burst instantly. But your soft, useless paws? They are perfect for plucking the pearls from the roots without damaging them.”

Ren’s eyes lit up with recognition. ’Red glowing spheres? Underwater? Salty? Fragile membrane?’

That sounded exactly like Imperial Red Caviar. In her world, it was incredibly expensive, harvested from rare sturgeon. Here, it was found on roots in the shallow waters of the swamp.

’Caviar?’ Ren thought, her chef brain instantly overriding her survival instincts. ’I can get caviar. That’s easy. Just scoop and go. If I present Syris with high-grade caviar, maybe he’ll forget about the fire…forget about everything. Maybe he’ll forgive me.’

She didn’t know why they were called River Rubies. She didn’t know that in the Beast World, they were the eggs of the parasitic leech-fish.

And she certainly didn’t know that Razor-Fin Cove was the nesting ground for the Shredder fish—a species of piranha the size of bulldogs that could strip a buffalo to the bone in thirty seconds.

“Fine,” Ren said, relieved. “I get the fancy fish eggs, and I’m off the hook?”

“If you bring them,” Lyssa said, examining her fingernails, “perhaps the King will forgive your trespassing.”

’Or perhaps you will be fish food, and I will be the only one left to comfort him in his grief,’ Lyssa thought gleefully.

She snapped her fingers at Viper.

“Viper. Escort the Mammal to the Cove. Ensure she does not return until she has a full basket.”

Viper shifted uncomfortably. The large snake guard kept his yellow eyes strictly fixed on the stalactites on the ceiling, refusing to look down at Ren, but his tail twitched nervously on the stone.

He knew what lived in Razor-Fin Cove. He knew that sending a fleshy, defenseless mammal there was essentially feeding the wildlife. He opened his mouth as if to speak, to warn the cook who made the delicious crispy bird, but Lyssa shot him a glare so venomous it could have killed a mammoth.

’Silence, fool,’ her eyes screamed. ’Or you join her.’

Viper clamped his jaw shut, swallowing his guilt. He reached out a massive hand and grabbed Ren’s upper arm. His scales were cold against her warm, damp skin.

“Wait!” Ren squeaked, clutching her leaf. “Can I at least get dressed first? I can’t go foraging in the nude! The mosquitoes will eat me alive!”

Lyssa looked at her with a sneer. “Do not worry about the mosquitoes. They are the least of your problems.”

She waved a dismissive hand.

“Go. Put on your rags. But be quick. The King’s appetite does not wait.”

Lyssa turned on her heel, her silk robes swishing around her ankles. She had better things to do—like preparing her mourning face for when the news came back that the little mammal had been shredded.

She paused at the archway, glancing back one last time with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Good luck, Mammal,” Lyssa called out, her voice echoing off the cavern walls with a chilling finality.

“You’re going to need it.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep