To Cage a Fawn, To Free a Serpent
His tail was wrapped around my waist when he asked the question, his voice a low rumble against my chest.
What are your roommate and his… person doing?
Kissing, I said, covering his eyes with my hand. Don't look.
Can I kiss you?
No. I'm a guy.
But they're both guys, Cian countered, his logic infuriatingly simple. "And they're kissing."
"They're beasts," I grumbled, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.
That night, Cian slithered into my bed, his serpentine tail coiling possessively around my hips.
"I'm a beast, too," he whispered, his emerald eyes glowing in the dark. "And I want to kiss you."
§01
It started with a night hike in Knotwood Wilds and a snake I found dying on a tree branch.
It was pathetic, really.
A sliver of emerald green, curled tightly against the oppressive dark, its body so still it seemed to have surrendered to the night.
It looked like it had stopped breathing.
Something sharp and sudden, a need I couldn't name, pierced through my usual apathy.
I had to save it.
Without a second thought, I plucked it from the branch and took it with me.
When I got back to my dorm at Briarcliff University, my roommate, Milo Jennings, was in the middle of a screaming match with his boyfriend.
"I swear to God, Garrick, if you want to break up, just do it! I'm so fucking tired of this."
"You're a control freak! You track how many calories I eat! If I actually cheated on you with a guy, would you literally hunt me down and kill me?"
The moment he saw me, he snapped the call shut.
"My roommate's back, gotta go!"
He bounded over, his eyes landing on the tiny green creature in my hands.
"Whoa, pretty snake. You buy him?"
I shook my head, finding an old t-shirt and fashioning a makeshift nest inside a shoebox.
I placed the snake inside, then immediately ordered a heat lamp and other supplies on my phone.
Milo, seemingly oblivious to my cold shoulder, kept chattering. "Wait, Emrys, don't tell me you found it on your hike?"
This time, I nodded.
He opened his mouth to say more, but I cut him off.
"Don't stand so close to me," I said, my voice flat. "I don't want your boyfriend showing up here again to interrogate me."
"I don't like it."
That finally shut him up.
The realization dawned on his face, the reason for my months of distance.
He grabbed his phone and stormed out. "That bastard, Garrick. He's really crossed the line this time."
With Milo gone, it was just me and the snake.
The warmth of the room must have done something, because it stirred.
Its tail, no thicker than a pencil, gently wrapped around my wrist.
A strange, tingling warmth spread up my arm.
Under the dim yellow glow of my desk lamp, I tried to study, a glass of water beside me.
My throat was dry.
I picked up the glass, took a sip, and nearly choked when I saw a tiny, emerald body submerged inside.
It had fallen straight into my water glass.
Idiot.
I fished it out, and it nudged my hand before obediently coiling back around my wrist, a silent, living bracelet, as I returned to my books.
§02
On Monday, Milo limped back into the room, a thunderous expression on his face and a distinct bruise on his jaw.
He saw me carefully feeding the snake a bit of egg yolk from my fingertip.
His smart mouth, as always, couldn't resist.
"Treating him like a prince. You sure you didn't bring home a boyfriend?"
A familiar, cold disgust washed over me.
Everyone at Briarcliff knew I had issues with… that.
Seeing my expression, Milo immediately backpedaled. "Shit, Em, sorry. I forgot. My bad."
"Don't worry," he added quickly. "I took care of Garrick. He won't bother you again."
Garrick had cornered me once, his eyes burning with jealousy, demanding to know if I had a thing for Milo.
He'd told me to stop "luring" his boyfriend away.
It was absurd. I told him I was straight and had a phobia of guys hitting on me.
He'd left, but the suspicion never really left his eyes.
It wasn't a lie, though.
My phone buzzed.
A message from my stepbrother, Dorian Crestwood.
【S: Emrys. Are you coming home this weekend?】
I took a deep breath, my fingers hovering over the screen.
【No. I have to study in the library. Preparing for my grad school applications.】
【S: Don’t work yourself to death. Your grades are more than enough to get a recommendation.】
【S: Come home this weekend. I’ll handle it for you.】
I hesitated, my stomach twisting.
But I agreed.
He always had a way of getting what he wanted, of luring me back into his perfectly constructed cage to satisfy his own twisted desires.
§03
The snake, my little emerald companion, seemed to have recovered.
It was time to let him go.
He didn't understand, of course.
He just knew I wasn't studying, that I was playing with him.
He hissed with delight, slithering up and down my arm.
For a split second, I wondered.
What if I kept him?
Maybe then I wouldn't be so alone.
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