A massive cage of black metal filled the space ahead.
Inside it moved something enormous.
A serpent coiled slowly across the stone floor, her body thick with powerful muscle. She was wide enough that I could not have wrapped both arms around even a fraction of her.
Her scales gleamed darkly in the low light, smooth and black as obsidian.
One long neck lifted, rising higher than Bater’s head before the second followed.
Two heads.
One turned toward me first, its eyes a sharp, luminous green. The other followed more slowly, watching with an unblinking violet gaze. A low hiss slipped from both throats, the sound carrying softly through the chamber.
“What is this?” I breathed.
Bater finally halted a few paces ahead of me. He exhaled through his nose before turning back.
“That is Vesuva,” he said. “A two-headed spirit serpent.”
He stepped up beside me, his gaze darkening.
“She was once bonded to a warrior of the Guard. When he died, the bond shattered.” His gaze shifted briefly toward the cage. “That was a century ago. She has been unstable ever since.”
I studied the creature as she shifted within the enclosure, her coils sliding slowly across the stone.
“She is magnificent.”
“Dangerous,” Bater corrected.
I stepped closer before I quite realized I had done so.
Both of Vesuva’s heads followed the movement instantly.
“She is not a pet, Kaelia.”
“I know,” I said, my voice softer now as I looked at her. My hand lifted slightly, my fingertips hovering near the faint shimmer of the barrier surrounding the cage. “But she is hurting.”
Bater caught my wrist and pulled my hand back.
“Do not romanticize her,” he said sharply. “She would tear you apart.”
The moment his hand closed around me, Vesuva reacted.
Both heads lunged forward in a flash of motion, striking the invisible barrier with such force that the metal cage rattled. Her fangs scraped against the unseen wall, venom hissing where it struck the magic.
I stared at her, my heart racing.
“I told you,” he grunted. “Unstable.”
He muttered a curse beneath his breath and released my hand.
“We need to meet Neya, Kaelia,” he said and motioned down the corridor. “We do not want to be late.”
He started forward again, clearly intending not to linger.
But as I followed him down the corridor, I glanced back one last time.
Both of Vesuva’s heads remained pressed close to the barrier, her strange twin gaze fixed steadily on me.