Chapter 8 - Plans Within Plans

"She played her hand,

but I was already five steps ahead.

This was my victory."

-Nest Of Serpests

by E.S.Mare

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Vilas had vanished.

When the prince and I stepped outside, only Black and White Snake soldiers swarmed the grounds. The sight almost made me laugh—just weeks ago, these divided bloodlines had been at each other’s throats. Now, side by side, they hunted a common enemy. Given time, their unity would fracture; old blood remembers.

The escape route would not resemble an assassination attempt, as the prince suspected—because I would not die.

The ones said to have attacked me would never be found within these walls.

I would not die.

I would disappear.

I would flee.

The snakes would be thrown back into the brink of war—but not yet. Not before my disappearance was tied to King Siles, not before confusion was allowed to bloom.

The prince would not give up the hunt. I was his wife now—and more than that, the blade he would raise against the White Snake Kingdom. Of course he would search for me. But he would not dare strike King Siles while the belief remained that I was held in his grasp.

Not until he lost hope.

Perhaps weeks.

Perhaps months.

Perhaps far sooner.

My dear father would do well to think of something before that moment arrived—because his daughter would only think of herself from now on.

Her mother had ordered it so.

When the prince realized the supposed attackers had escaped, rage overtook him. He beat several of his own soldiers with such fury— It became my burden to calm him—as his wife, and the only one he would still heed. I had intended to vanish in the midst of the chaos. But he wouldn’t let me leave his sight. So I adjusted the rhythm of my escape to his fury.

The prince’s breath was sharp and angry beside me as we walked in silence toward the serpent’s den beside the palace.

I had spent countless hours there once—alone, unnoticed, free. Now, I was walking toward it with a husband I had never planned to have.

When we reached the threshold, I placed my hands on his arms and stopped him. His eyes met mine—finally seeing me, not just the fury clouding his thoughts.

“You must calm yourself.”

“Calm?” he growled, dark laughter curling from his lips. “If your father had succeeded, do you know what would have become of my kingdom?”

When Vilas and I forged this plan, years ago, kingdoms and princes were the last things on our minds.

We simply prepared for what we always feared—that things would go wrong.

The only true escape was through the chaos of a prison break.

Vilas hadn’t acted alone, of course. The prisoners helped.

It was the price of their freedom—and one they were more than willing to pay.

In truth, they gained more than freedom.

They tasted vengeance against the kingdom that had caged them.

A fair bargain.

And with the wedding and the attack overlapping, the prisoners had been all but forgotten.

Most guards likely reassigned.

No one alive knew the hidden passages like Vilas and I.

The plan had always been elegant in its simplicity.

“But it didn’t work,” I murmured, trying to steady him. His fury still crackled just beneath his skin. “Think, my prince. I lived within the White Kingdom's palace walls. I listened. I watched. I grew up among them—who else knows their secrets better than I?”

I smiled, slow and sly. “And now, I am with you. If even my father—my blood—has cast me out, why should I remain loyal to them?”

I stepped closer, resting my hands on his chest. My touch held him—taut, but unwilling to break. “I belong to you. You said it yourself. Then everything I carry—every secret, every memory—belongs to you as well.”

He seized my wrists and pulled me into him.

His eyes devoured mine, yet doubt shadowed the hunger.

“You’re dangerous,” he murmured. “Too dangerous, perhaps.”

Dangerous?

That word was far too soft.

“It depends,” I said, smiling. “On who stands before me.”

He leaned in, ready to claim a kiss.

I stopped him.

“My father,” I said, voice cold enough to still him.

Otherwise, I might have vomited on his boots.

“King Siles despises me,” I said. “Because the queen’s hatred for him deepened with my birth.”

At my words, his attention immediately shattered. His gaze shifted, no longer focused on me, but on the weight of what I had said.

“Explain yourself,” he said, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

“Teressa,” I whispered. “She is no daughter of Queen Kalissia.”

He blinked. “What are you saying?”

“She is the king’s child, born of a prostitute. They hid the truth from the court, claimed she was the king and queen’s child, born out of wedlock. She was never truly a princess—but by protecting the illusion, they shielded her. No one dared speak against her. Then Drassa and I were born. When my illness came to light, the queen called it the price of the king’s sins. I don’t believe they ever loved each other. But after my illness, they became sworn enemies. The king blamed me—and never once himself. He hated me. And the queen hated him.”

The prince’s silence told me he was listening—but not without doubt.

“She agreed to this?” he asked. “The queen? She would never bow to such humiliation.”

I took his arm and led him deeper into the pit. The guards had cleared the way.

He followed, motioning his men to remain behind. A mistake he would regret.

“Twenty years ago, the Black and White Snakes fractured. War followed. Teressa was born in the bloodiest days of that war. What would it have meant if the queen had exposed the king? Rejected him before the people?” I tilted my head. “They were already weary. Exhausted by war. Imagine: their king, rutting with whores, dragging bastard children into the palace, while his queen paid the price with her own child’s suffering.”

I looked him in the eye. “If trust in the kingdom crumbles—who then would raise a sword to defend it?”

“Interesting information,” he said, smiling.

I pursed my lips. “There’s much more. But I wonder... did Queen Kalissia never tell you any of this?”

His gaze snapped back to mine.

“The tale you spun, my prince,” I said, “it was well-crafted. But you didn’t stumble into that tavern and recognize me by chance. You already knew me. You trailed my shadow.”

He was uneasy.

He had always known I was clever, but not this clever.

“Your mother wanted me to choose you,” he said, masking the tension in his voice. “She had told me when I first came to you, to the White Snake Palace, under the banner of peace. When she said, ‘If you want a queen, I’ll give her to you,’ I didn’t understand. And when she gave me your name, I laughed. A sickly princess… I thought the queen had lost her mind. But that day, she showed you to me.”

My brows drew together. “You saw me? Where?”

“You were training with that soldier, the one you were with at the tavern,” he said, lips finally curling into a smile. “You were… breathtaking.”

I looked deeper into the snake’s den.

A cave of stone and earth, riddled with holes both wide and narrow. It continued to the right in shadow. I let out a dry laugh as he directed the prince that way.

“And why would she do that?”

“She planned to overthrow the king one day. But she never told me why you were hidden or why she despised him. She spoke endlessly of how our paths would serve each other, and that when the day came, true peace would be born.”

“I suppose you don’t believe that,” I said coolly.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“How long can a kingdom last without a king?” he replied with a dismissive flick of his hand. “The queen wants to sit alone on the throne. Fine. I’ll give her that. Such was our pact. And I keep what I vow. But I made no promises beyond that.”

“You’ll hand her the throne and take the kingdom from her,” I said, the realization striking me at last.

A wicked smile twisted his mouth.

“Well... I could tell him everything you told me. How can you trust me?”

He paused, eyes following a grey snake slithering near our feet. When he turned to me again, pride gleamed in his face. “My dear wife,” he said, baring sharp teeth. “The ceremony is done. You are mine now. In a few hours, we will return to the Black Snake Kingdom. Whether or not the queen discovers my true plan no longer matters. She has probably already guessed it—she's a clever one. Yet, her arrogance has blinded her. She believes no one can topple her once she takes the throne.”

“No wise ruler believes such a thing. A true queen knows danger always lingers, and prepares for it. In fact—”

“I told you. She’s arrogant. And arrogance... It sinks its teeth into the mind and drains it dry. It sends the head spinning with delight—”

He struck the earth with a violent stomp, as if silencing the thought mid-sentence.

I looked down.

He had crushed the grey snake’s skull. Something dark stirred in me.

“—until someone comes and crushes that head.”

He spoke of arrogance even as it poisoned his own mind.

He was one of those whose heads spun with delight.

Until someone came and crushed that head...

Suddenly, I screamed.

His brows furrowed. He didn’t even have time to turn.

He collapsed beside the snake, the weight of his fall shaking the ground.

I screamed again.

And from their burrows, as if summoned by my voice, the snakes slithered out.

“Stop!” Vilas shouted. He flung the rock in his hand into a corner. “Have you lost your mind?”

The smile I had been hiding slid into place.

“I’ll kill you!”

“Later,” he snapped. “Move!”

He turned to run through the winding corridors of the den, but I grabbed his arm.

“Wait!”

He glared at me. “What now?”

Plans, my friend. Always plans...

I let the breath build in my lungs before I screamed. Then I screamed with all the voice I had: “Help! Someone—someone help me!”

Vilas stared at me as if I’d lost my senses.

I kicked the prince lying motionless at our feet.

He spoke of arrogance—

and fell prey to it.

“Let me go! Help!”

“What are you doing?” Vilas asked, aghast.

There were shouts from beyond the cave.

Finally...

“Run!” I hissed to Vilas.

Before he could react, I drew my sword from his waist and took his arm.

Then we ran.

Through the curving tunnels like a snake’s coiled body.

The voices behind us grew louder.

We ran without breath, and Vilas cursed at every step.

Most of the curses, of course, were meant for me.

“Have you no sense?” he bellowed. “We could’ve just slipped out quietly—”

“Silence—or I’ll curse you with a kiss.”

“You’ve lost your wits.”

The corridor finally ended.

Vilas doubled over, gasping, hands on his knees.

The shouting soldiers grew closer.

“Open it!” he said, hoarse.

I stared at the three-headed snake carving towering before us.

Kaliss.

Its monstrous body loomed over the three-meter wall. The right and left heads bowed downward, but the one in the center rose upright, ominous and cold. Every scale was perfectly etched, no line astray.

Where the left eye of each head should’ve been, there was a nest. But never—not once—had I seen a snake enter them.

I stepped to the downward-facing head on the right. The left head had long since proven useless. I always went for the right—

But this time, I looked to the nest in the middle.

The voices came nearer.

I raised my sword.

“Don’t!” Vilas hissed.

I grinned.

And jumped.

I plunged the blade into the left eye of Kaliss’s middle head.

The steel sank, then sprang back.

As I caught it, the ground shuddered beneath us.

Vilas cursed as a thick slab of stone slid aside.

And before his curse could finish—

We fell.

Down we plunged, colliding, spinning through the slick, narrow shaft.

We fell for so long Vilas had time to invent new insults.

He hit the bottom with a crash.

I landed on top of him.

His scream and my grin happened in the same breath.

“By the Sovereigns…”

“Look at us—how poetic. Shall we kiss and dance?...”

He shoved me off, hard.

I rolled, groaning.

“Remind me never to trust your sense of direction,” he growled.

The right eye always led to a safer path.

We had used it once, long ago..

But not this time...

I sat up, ignoring the bones—human and animal—scattered around us.

I dusted off my dress.

My white wedding gown was smeared with soot and dirt.

I still hated it—but strangely, I found the dirt and soot on it somewhat pleasing now.

Vilas rose with a groan, brushing the dust off his clothes in quick, angry strokes.

"Do you know how long I wandered, waiting for you?" he snapped. "Wandering off with that prince who looks like snake filth? And right in the middle of the escape route? Screaming for help like that—Are you mad?"

I stepped toward him.

"I’ll explain," I said, shaking my head. My eyes wandered again, catching on the massive snake skeleton nearby. I moved to it and laid a hand on its great, curved skull. When Vilas first saw it, he’d hurled it at me like a joke, calling it my new protector. Now I had two. One of them was already dead.

I grabbed the skull and tried to throw it at him. It barely lifted and crashed down a single step in front of me, onto the dirt floor.

“But if you ever call my husband snake filth again, and you’ll be lying next to this pile of bones—just as dead, just as forgotten.”

"What?" His brows drew tight, his face a tangle of confusion.

"My husband," I repeated, walking up to him. I raised my wrist. The faint twin bite marks were still there. When he saw them, all color drained from his face. His gaze crept up from my wrist to my eyes, stunned.

"I..." he stammered, barely breathing. "I can’t be late—"

I punched him. Hard. He hit the ground.

“Late? You’re late, is that it?” My voice broke into a shout. “I married that snake filth!”

“And you just called him snake filth,” he muttered, rubbing his jaw.

“He’s my husband. I’ve earned the right to insult him.”

He scowled. “I knocked your husband out cold. I apologize, Princess.”

I kicked his leg, hard. He let out a choked grunt but clenched his teeth.

“I didn’t say snake filth!” he added quickly.

I stepped forward to kick him again, but tripped over my skirt and landed beside him. A hiss of frustration escaped my lips. When I glanced over, he was holding back laughter, lips pressed tight.

“If you laugh…”

He burst into it.

He lay sprawled on the ground, laughing louder than I’d ever heard him.

And I couldn’t help it. I joined him. My laughter rose to meet his, and I let myself fall back beside him. A dry skull rested near my shoulder, almost as if it were laughing too.

“We’re in deep trouble,” I said.

“Absolutely,” he wheezed through a chuckle.

“But we’re free.”

“We’re fugitives,” he corrected. “And I’ve abandoned my oath.”

“And I’m married.”

He nudged me with his elbow. “Forgive me for ruining your first dance.”

“Oh, it wouldn’t have mattered. I’m a dreadful dancer.”

“Liar. If the prince had seen you dance, he’d have been bewitched.”

I was a good dancer—at least in my room. Sometimes with Vilas. He, of course, was awful. Always stepping on my feet.

“I’ve already bewitched that snake enough times. But… don’t scare my husband like that again. It won’t end well.”

“I swear, Princess. Next time I see your husband, I’ll kill him before he has the chance to be scared.”

Laughter faded quickly into silence. The ceiling above us was rough stone, uneven and jagged. The passage had brought us into the cave beneath the Lesster Mountains, hidden behind the palace. We’d found this place—and its exits—after many long days of searching. The other passage, closer to the palace, had always been my favorite: easier to climb, fewer bones. But that path was no longer ours to take. King Siles had found it. The soldiers must’ve been swarming there for the wedding.

The mountain path would lead us to the White Snake Valleys by a hidden route. A few White Snake villages lay scattered there, but if we stuck to the forest, we could pass unseen.

“Where do we go from here?” Vilas asked.

If we stayed in the woods, we would have three paths. To the south were the Scorpions. They hated snakes. Southeast, we might run into Lions. They wouldn’t just kill us—they’d eat what was left. East were the Eagles. They wouldn’t bother chewing.

“Think we could go north?”

He frowned. “We’d have to cross both Black and White Snake lands. What’s even left up north? Just the ash and stone of the fallen Dragon Kingdom.”

“You’re right,” I sighed. “What about the Sea Kingdoms?”

“The Sea Kingdoms?”

“I heard the Crocodiles like us.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Crocodiles only love gold and meat.”

“We’ve got no gold,” I muttered.

“You’ve got no meat either,” Vilas said flatly. “You’re not even worth eating.”

“You’re cruel,” I said. “But I still love you.”

“Thank you. But married women don’t tempt me.”

I turned my head toward him, raising an eyebrow.

“So you were tempted before I got married.”

He gave a crooked smile. “You’ll never know.”

“Oh, just admit it and spare us both.”

“Shut up.”

I frowned. “You would’ve confessed in a heartbeat if it were Missla.”

“Missla’s not married.”

“I wasn’t married either, in case you forgot!” I shouted. “And you did just admit you liked Missla.”

He rose and shrugged. “Doesn’t matter now. No point pretending. I’m happy where I am. Never dreamed of marrying a princess anyway.”

I got up too, rested my hand on his shoulder, gave it a soft squeeze.

“Don’t be sad,” I said with a false, bitter smile. “I’ll marry you.”

He gave me a scornful look. “You’re already married.”

I clenched a fist and struck the palm of my other hand.

“Exactly. It’ll be such a beautiful, forbidden love.”

He stood there, breathing deep and slow. When I reached out, he took my hand and pulled me up.

Then his eyes dropped to my wrist again.

Two teeth marks...

“Assra...” he whispered. “I’m sorry.” He looked straight into me. “You deserve to marry someone you truly love. I wish you had.”

I pulled my hand back and shrugged.

“I won’t fall in love, so...” I looked at the marks. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve got more important things to worry about than love or marriage.”

He was quiet for a long moment.

“So where are we going now?” he finally asked.

“To where we always planned,” I said. “The Neutral Lands.”

The Neutral Lands were the only place untouched by any kingdom. I didn’t know much about them—only stories. They said a council ruled there, and all races lived side by side in peace.

Free.

That was all I wanted.

Even if it was only a rumor, it was worth chasing.

Vilas swept back his hair, thinking aloud. “So it’s your call—Lions or Scorpions?”

The Neutral Lands lay directly beneath the territories of both races, and we had to pass through the borders of one.

“You choose,” I said. “You're the soldier.”

He licked his lips, lost in thought, before his expression twisted in disgust. “Not the Lions.”

“The Lions? Of course not.”

“We’ll cut through the Black Dream Forest and head toward the Scorpion border. I know a way.”

“Do you speak their tongue? Because I must’ve skipped that lesson.”

“Is language the only thing that concerns you?” He shot me a look, half-disappointed. “We’re not planning to make conversation. We’re fugitives.”

“And besides, you’re a Serpent.”

“We are Serpents,” he corrected.

“So you know?”

“Of course I know, Assra,” he barked. “Don’t play dumb.”

I loved riling him up.

“Of course you know, my valiant soldier.”

“If we’re caught,” he added, “I’ll say I caught you trying to flee. And I’ll say you're a princess—the bride of the Black Serpent Prince.”

I shoved him hard. He stumbled and fell to the side, laughing. He’d never laughed so much in his life. Eventually, the laughter faded. He looked at me.

“A new life,” he said.

I smiled despite everything.

He stared at me for a long while, eyes distant. “No one knows us. No one, Assra.”

Vilas had a way of saying strange things with strange tones. I was already convinced that a few planks in his mind had come loose in battle.

“But I’ll always remind you that I’m a princess,” I teased him.

He turned away and lay back down, eyes on the cracked ceiling. “No one will know.”