Original subtitles

I'm pregnant.

The baby's other mother is a snake woman.

She bound me and held me captive, raping me ten times each day. You can't run

from me.

You're mine.

I taught her how to flirt.

She thought I was proposing, so she took me. I was so naive.

The strongest, most beautiful snake woman on Snake Island. How could she

fail to find a mate? She could constrict prey, weighing hundreds of pounds.

Yet she'd never once attended a snake folk courtship gathering. I thought she

was just a poor snake folk who had grown up alone with no elder to teach her. So

I used a speaker to teach her the courtship song, then put on a prosthetic

serpent tail and showed her how to perform the courtship dance in the hot

spring. She learned it almost instantly and danced it right back at me.

I was thrilled. I recorded the whole thing and sent it to my advisor to show

off. You idiot. Can't you see the venomous fangs? The black and gold tail?

The living snakes moving through her hair? She's no snake folk. She sounds

like a Medusa from the ancient texts. One bite could poison you, and her tail

could crush every bone in your body. Creatures like her court the way they

hunt. They drag their mate back to the nest and hide them away until you're

carrying her eggs.

Get out of there! Now!

Too late! She's coming towards me!

Two months ago, a snake woman arrived deep on Snake Island and settled alone

on the far side.

Snake folk live in family clans, but young ones sometimes leave the clan that

raised them to find love and join another.

Unlike the soft features of ordinary snake folk, this snake woman was all

sharp angles, venomous fangs, a black and gold tail, measuring six and a half

feet from head to tail, with enough strength to overpower every other snake

folk. She carried the oldest bloodline in the serpent domain.

yet she had left her homeland alone to seek a mate on snake island i watched

her through an infrared camera she moved through the forest with lethal grace

chasing a giant horned deer that could hit forty-five miles an hour brought it

down with a sweep of her tail and drove her fangs into its throat. The smell of

blood drew monitor lizards and a pack of crocodiles, but none of them dared come

near her. She was the undisputed ruler of the serpent domain.

She dragged the deer, still weighing hundreds of pounds, past my observation

post without a care. I couldn't help but say, You're incredible.

Of course, the snakefolk language had nothing in common with human speech.

She probably couldn't understand me.

There had been a brief craze for snakefolk research.

But once studies showed ordinary snakefeck were barely smarter than

monitor lizards, and couldn't breed with humans, the funding dried up.

Most researchers moved on to beastfolk.

I had been planning to do the same.

Isabella, too many of this year's thesis proposals are about beastfolk, and none

of them are original. Stay on Snake Island and keep studying snakefolk.

You're my best student. I know you'll find something new.

Fine. If you'd called one day later, I probably would have been off Snake

Island by now. The second I said it, the snake woman's cold, gold-green slit

pupils locked on me.

I was safe inside the observation post, but a chill crawled up my spine.

With surgical precision, she sliced the choicest cut from the deer and tossed it

through my window.

A snakefolk had just fed me.

Maybe she really was different, intelligent, and powerful.

Staying to study snakefolk might not be such bad luck after all. If I made a

breakthrough, it could land me a research position after graduation.

But to study this clever snakewoman properly, I first had to help her find a

mate during courtship season.

Only then would she stay.

By next spring, there could be two or three bright, powerful little snakelets,

and I'd get to study inherited traits across different snakefolk bloodlines.

I named the snake woman Christine.

Snakefolk courtship season only lasts three months, and two were already gone.

She still hadn't found a mate. Every day, she brought down some enormous

beast, and often tossed the best cuts to me.

She ate only a small bite from its belly and throw the rest away.

Young snakefolk would sneak off with the discarded meat and present it to the

ones they were courting. Christine had accidentally played matchmake for

several couples, but this fool wouldn't share food with another snakefolk, and

she'd never even attended a courtship gathering.

I asked my advisor.

He said snakefolk are social animals, and if there's an exception, she was

most likely separated from her clan or abandoned. That explained her hunting

skills, too. With no clan to protect her, she had to become stronger just to

survive. It also meant no one had ever taught her the courtship song or dance.

Without completing the ritual, no other snakefolk would even know she was

courting them. No wonder she couldn't find a mate. Once breeding season ended,

Christine would leave Snake Island with nothing to show for it, and my thesis

would go up in smoke. I had to do something.

It was one song and one dance.

I'd just teach her myself.

I pulled up the recording of the snakefolk courtship song and waited on

the observation deck. Christine arrived again, dragging a giant horned deer that

weighed hundreds of pounds.

Several small snakes gleamed gold at the edges of her silver-black hair in the

sunset, and the warm light softened her cold features.

Christine. That's the name I'm giving you. Say it.

Christine. Christine. She could talk, and her pronunciation was crystal clear.

Data on ancient snake women was almost inexistent. Maybe certain snake folk

bloodlines were capable of language. If this was real, my paper would shake the

entire field. I pointed at her, then at myself.

Isabella. Call me Isabella.

Isabella?

She's brilliant.

I opened the speaker and played the Snakefolk courtship song.

I'm going to teach you a courtship song.

Once you learn it, you can sing it to the mate you choose.

She looked confused.

I thought she hadn't heard me, so I picked up the speaker and moved closer.

I had to admit it. The Snakefolk song was beautiful.

Then Christine's expression changed.

Her claws punched straight through the speaker.

I bolted. If her claws could destroy a spaker that easily, they could crack my

skull just as fast. When she saw me run, she lunged for me and nearly caught the

hem of my shirt. I looked back and saw her chase after me, trying to cut me

off, but her serpent body moved too slowly on the ground to catch me.

Isabella! Isabella! Her voice was mournful, bleeding. No wonder my advisor

always said creatures like her were experts at lure prey. Right now, she

sounded exactly like she was trying to coax me back.

The next day, I found a roasted game leg on the observation deck with the speaker

beside it.

pieced back together as carefully as she could manage. Christine stayed a hundred

yards away, neither approaching nor leaving, just watching me. Seeing how

pitiful she looked, I started to feel like I'd overreacted. Christine had

probably just been startled by the song coming out of the speaker.

I waved her over. She slid dozens of yards closer through the grass, waited

to see if I'd run, then cautiously closed another dozen yards.

It took several minutes before she came within a few yards. I felt even worse,

and softened my tone.

Did the speaker scare you yesterday?

I'm sorry.

I won't do it again.

To make it up to you, how about I teach you to sing myself?

She nodded. Could she actually understand human speech?

I'd been listening in on that group of snakefolk singing the courtship song. I

already knew it by heart. I sang the first line.

The moment Christine heard me, her slit pupils suddenly lit up. She repeated the

line after me. By the time I finished the song, she'd sung it back from

beginning to end. I figured it would take a dozen tries.

Instead, she completed the entire courtship song perfectly on the first

try. She just stared at me without blinking.

It was a little unsettling, but I didn't think much of it. I simply praised her.

Christine! You're way too smart. Next time you meet a snakefolk you like, you

can sing it to her. I accepted the game leg she brought me. Consider this your

tuition. Late that night, a familiar song woke me.

I opened the window, furious, and met Christine's eyes a few dozen yards away

as she sang.

Shut up! Do you have any idea what time it is?

Christine stopped.

She looked a little hurt, but I slept like a baby.

A few days later, though, I realized she still hadn't found a mate, even after

learning the song.

Why? Was I seriously going to have to teach her the dance, too?

I'm great in the wild, and I'm an excellent climber. When I was little, my

parents brought me to Snake Island.

After visiting a snakefolk settlement in the shallow valley, we drove to the edge

of the Chiss to look for traces of ancient snakefolk. But that day, a storm

hit the valley, and I accidentally fell into an underground cavern. More than

ten days later, my parents found me unconscious near the riverbank with a

raging fever.

The fever wiped out my memories from that time. Everyone assumed the

snakefolk had saved me. After that, my parents signed me up for climbing and

wilderness survival lessons.

Ten years later, life brought me right back to Snake Island, and climbing

finally came in handy.

When you meet a snakefolk you like, do you sing her the courtship song?

What the hell?

You sang it and still got rejected?

Those snakefolk have terrible taste!

You're the most beautiful snake woman alive!

She tilted her head, confused.

I moved closer and asked her, Do you know the snake folk courtship dance?

She shook her head.

Fine. For the sake of my thesis, I'd do it. I went back inside, grabbed the

prosthetic serpent tail, and climbed the rock face to her cave entrance for the

first time. I put on the tail and began to dance, mimicking the courtship

movements. Christine's eyes grew brighter with every motion. She watched

me without blinking.

I like it.

She spoke again.

It was the first word she'd said besides my name. If she liked it, she had to

learn the dance. I was already looking forward to studying her little snakelets

next year. When the dance ended, Christine pulled me into her arms.

She retracted her claws, held my waist carefully, and rested her head on my

shoulder. Our hair tangled together, the little snakes in her hair nuggled my

ear, and our serpent tails pressed tightly together. I like it.

Isabella. Then she let go of my waist. She sang the courtship song I had taught

her. Her voice was haunting and beautiful.

Her face was impossibly perfect, like something divine.

Spellbound, I moved closer, wanting to kiss and dance with her. But the moment

our lips touched, I snapped out of it.

I've lost my mind! I'm actually dancing with a snake woman! Fled in a panic.

Behind me, Christine let her hand fall, watching me leave.

I'd just peeled off the prosthetic serpent tail when my advisor's call came

through. He was furious.

You idiot!

You told me you found an ancient snake woman?

Didn't you see the venomous fangs? The black and gold tail? The living snakes

in her hair? That's no ordinary snake folk. She sounds like the Medusa of

myth. One bite could poison you, and her tail could crush every bone in your

body. Creatures like her court the way they hunt. They drag their mate back to

the nest and hide them where no one can find them until you're carrying her

eggs. Get out of there! Get out! Get out now!

So my instincts had been right all along.

She wasn't an ordinary snake volt. She was an ancient species, and incredibly

dangerous. Which meant the poorly defended Snake Island Research Station

was a death trap.

Until my advisor secured funding to fortify it, I had to evacuate

immediately, grab the essentials, and started the off-road vehicle.

Only after I'd driven off Snake Island did I dare to breathe.

I hadn't even said goodbye.

Whatever she was, she'd never hurt me. My advisor called again to make sure I'd

gotten away.

Don't worry. I'm already miles from Snake Island. Good. I'd rather not

attend the funeral of a student who hasn't even graduated.

But I wasn't in the mood for jokes.

Professor! She's coming!

She caught up with the off-road vehicle in seconds.

I had never seen her expression so cold.

I told myself I was safe. The vehicle was reinforced.

An instant later, her claws punched through the frame. I was thrown out of

the vehicle and hit the ground.

I stared at her in terror.

As her serpent tail split apart and shifted into human legs, she came toward

me like a monster crawling out of a nightmare.

Only then did I truly understand.

She was dangerous, and she was calculating.

Who said you could run? From the beginning, her clumsiness and kindness

had all been an act. If she wanted, she could pull me on a whim, or slaughter

the entire Snakefolk settlement.

Her face closed in on mine, eyes locked on me. Then she kissed me.

The kiss was fierce and hungry.

Her body pressed tight against mine until I couldn't breathe.

I tried to escape, but she forced a black and gold serpent soul pearl from

her mouth down my throat.

You can't escape now, my mate.

The next second, I lost consciousness.

Christine took me like prey.

Back in her serpent form, she coiled her tail around me and sped through an

underground river. I had no idea where we were going. My phone fell to the

ground, my advisor's voice still coming through.

Isabella, are you alright?

Answer me. I opened my eyes and found metal chains around my wrists and

ankles. It was a serpent nest deep in the chasm.

The only exit was submerged in an underground hot spring, and there was no

telling how deep the passage went.

Even if I managed to swim out, I'd face sheer cliffs and poisonous mist that

never cleared. A few yards away, Christine silently sliced an antelope

into chunks.

Blood ran through cracks in the stone into the hot pring, and the smell

reached me.

It looked like a scene from a slasher movie. Was I next?

I was shaking so hard the chains rattled. Christine looked up.

Her expression was even colder than before.

Try to run, liar.

See what happens.

What exactly did I lie about?

Her expression turned more furious.

You recorded me first.

I answered you, and then you tried to run.

You lied to me.

I had sung her the courtship song, and danced the courtship dance. In her mind,

I'd courted her, and she'd accepted.

This is all a misunderstanding.

I thought you were a snakefolk, looking for a mate but didn't know how, so I was

teaching you.

Shut up!

You think I'd court one of those stupid, weak snakefolk?

It took her a long time to calm down.

When she finally spoke, her voice was calm and completely unhinged. It doesn't

matter. Only weak snakefolk court like that.

My kind court by dragging our mate back to the nest and keeping them coiled

close until they carry our eggs.

So my advisor had been right. Why didn't he say so sooner?

She held a slice of raw meat to my mouth.

Eat. I was about to refuse when a savage hunger hit me.

Suddenly, I wanted that meat with an intensity I couldn't explain.

I devoured more than ten pounds of it.

Christine looked satisfied.

Like she'd known exactly what would happen.

After I ate, exhaustion crashed over me and I passed out.

I woke to Christine slicing meat again. I ate even more. It took several days

for the hunger and drowsiness to fade. I confronted her. What did you do to me?

She took my hand and guided it behind my ear.

Hard, fine serpent scales had grown on both sides.

My skin felt closer to something cold-blooded, too.

I might be able to stay underwater in the hot spring for hours now. It was

that serpent soul pearl you forced me to swallow.

That's why this is happening.

What am I turning into?

A monster like you?

She stared for a moment, then answered slowly.

Yes. You'll become a monster just like me.

You'll never go back to the human world.

I'd turn into a monster with a serpent tail.

I'd never see my family or friends again.

I'd spend the rest of my life with this monster.

I screamed every insult I could think of at her.

Monster, even if I stop being human, I'll never be with you.

I hate you.

I'd rather spend my life with a clan of snakefolk.

My words made her furious and wounded her.

Then I'll keep you chained forever.

You won't see another human.

You won't even see another snakefolk.

From that day on, my body changed more and more.

Scales spread from the two patches behind my ears down the sides of my

neck.

I stopped speaking to Christine.

The chain was long enough to reach the cave mouth.

I tried soaking in the underground hot spring for hours, until I heard

Christine return.

If I could just get the chain off.

I could escape.

That day, Christine dragged in an antelope weighing only a few dozen

pounds, but there was a long wound across her black and gold tail.

Iridescent scales flaked off with every movement.

She was hurt, too weak even to hide her tail and swift into legs.

She simply lay down and closed her eyes.

I walked over and checked whether she was breathing.

Without opening her eyes, she caught my arm.

Too bad I didn't die.

You must be disappointed.

Of course.

I'd love to see you dead.

What happened to you?

She opened her eyes and smiled.

Then her forked tongue lightly brushed the back of my hand.

Don't do that.

She laughed and let me go.

A pack of giant monitor lizards. About thirty of them. They tried to take my

territory.

I won, of course.

Just a scratch.

Giant monitor lizards, bloodthirsty predators, and she'd won. I felt

despair. I'd really provoked a terrifying monster.

I kicked the carcass she'd brought back into the hot spring.

I don't want antelope. I want mountain goat.

She sighed.

Can we have it tomorrow?

No. I want it today, you useless snake.

If you can't provide for a mate, then either let me go,

Or get back out there and hunt. She forced herself up and slid out of the

cave again. I don't know how long it took, but she eventually returned with

several mountain goats.

The wound on her tail had gone pale from soaking in the hot spring.

Changed my mind.

I don't want mountain goat.

Too rich.

I want something lighter.

Pheasant.

She dragged her injured tail out again to catch pheasant.

When she brought one back...

I hadn't even spoken before she collapsed heavily onto the ground and

passed out.

With her eyes closed, she looked harmless.

Her wound was waterlogged and rotting.

I cleaned it.

I sat beside her and closed my eyes too.

I was supposed to hate her.

After I swallowed the serpent's soul pearl, some of the old injuries in my

body healed. The calluses on my hands vanished.

Even my terrible nearsightedness was gone.

I was floating in warm mist, but I knew I was dreaming.

I was ten again.

I saw a girl about my age.

Her silver-black hair was alive with snakes, and it was beautiful.

Was I hallucinating?

I reached out to her.

Please, help me.

She slid towards me, and I saw a long serpent tail below her waist.

A snakefolk.

She saved me, laid me on a warm rock, and hunted for me. A good snakefolk.

I wanted her to take me back to where people were. My parents would be

worried. But she couldn't understand me, so I taught her to speak.

One word at a time. She was smart.

After about ten days, we could hold basic conversations.

That was when I learned she wasn't an ordinary snakefolk.

She was the terrifying Medusa of legend.

I was so innocent as a child, innocent enough to be cruel.

So you don't have any family?

No friends?

You are always alone.

Doesn't it make you lonely?

She looked confused.

What is lonely?

It's when there's no one like me to play with you.

or talk to you. No one to miss you, she seemed to understand.

I didn't know what lonely was before, so I wasn't lonely.

Sadness filled her face.

I'll be lonely now.

I realized I'd hurt my friend and hurried to comfort her.

I'm sorry.

After I go home, I'll come back every summer to play with you and

talk to you. I'll miss you too.

I held up my pinky. We'll make a pinky promise.

I swear.

She copied the gesture, solemnly lifting her pinky and being careful not to

scratch me with her claws.

We hooked our fingers together.

No take-backs for a hundred years.

We're best friends.

I'll never forget you.

Her smile was beautiful.

Best friends.

I'd planned to stay a few more days, then have her take me home.

But day after day in the valley wind, and with the same bland food, I got

sick.

A fever burned through me, leaving me dazed. This is my fault.

She was terrified.

You don't belong in the underground valley.

I'll take you somewhere humans can help.

She carried me through the valley on her small back, shielding my hair from the

dew as best she could.

When she finally laid me by the riverbank, I touched my pinky to her

tail. When I'm better, I'll come back for you. She nodded.

Isabella, I'll wait for you.

She returned to the depths of the chasm.

She stayed until someone found me and carried me away. Only then did that tiny

figure in the distance slip away.

But I broke my promise.

I forgot everything.

If I hadn't been reassigned to my current advisor, ten years later, I

might never have returned to Snake Island.

Christine hadn't come to Snake Island for the snake folk.

She came for me.

And what had I done?

I let her believe I was courting her.

She accepted.

Then I ran.

She thought I'd lied to her twice. In her fury, she took me and called me a

liar. But even then, she couldn't bear to hurt me. And I told her I hated her.

I called her a monster and swore I'd never be with her.

Christine healed incredibly fast.

Within hours, the gruesome wound had closed.

Christine opened her eyes, saw me still chained and obedient and relaxed.

Christine, you're awake.

Are you hurt anywhere else? She looked at me in surprise.

Even if you're changing tactics to win me over, and make me drop my guard, I'm

not letting you go.

I rushed to explain. I'd forgotten our promise, and that everything on Snake

Island had been a misunderstanding.

She didn't believe a word.

Liar. Don't think sweet talk is going to get you out of here.

But I wasn't afraid of her.

She'd always been all ice on the outside, and soft underneath when it

came to people she cared about.

And that hadn't changed.

My goal wasn't freedom.

It was to comfort this poor serpent who had been neglected for more than ten

years. I don't want to leave anymore.

I'll stay here with you.

Christine stared at me, then suddenly smiled.

Then you'll be my mate.

Soon, this will be full of serpent eggs.

Isn't that what you wanted?

To study my offspring?

Isabella? Why don't you carry them yourself?

I got nervous.

We're both women. You swallowed my serpent soul, Pearl. Your body has been

changed enough to carry my offspring.

It wasn't that I couldn't accept her. Marriage laws between humans and Beast

Vic had already passed.

But two women having a child together was still a little too far outside my

world vibe.

We can date first.

Keep it emotional.

That only made her angrier.

You really were lying to me.

I'll never trust you again.

Still, when I begged her for a longer chain so I could play in the hot spring,

she agreed.

Tough talk, soft heart, and impossible to sweet talk.

While Christine was out hunting, I slipped into the cave mouth and found

beautiful glowing fruit beside the hot spring.

I picked a few and ate them like snacks.

By the time I climbed out, my body was burning.

I tried to relieve it for what felt like forever, but nothing helped.

Then Christine came back from hunting and found the leftover glowing fruit.

Those are an aphrodisiac fruit snakefolk eat before mating.

You ate them?

Why the hell did the valley have something like that?

Humans clearly hadn't studied Snake Island nearly enough. The ache grew

worse. I reached for Christine.

Please, help me.

Christine.

She just stood there, watching me calmly. You hate me.

When you come to your senses, you'll want to kill me.

My voice broke.

I like you.

Help me.

Liar. You promised you'd come back for me. You courted me first.

You were the one who begged me like this.

Then, despair heavy in her voice.

Tomorrow, you'll hate me again.

In the end, I begged her to stop, sopping. But she ignored me until I had

no strength left. Only then did she let me go.

The next morning, I woke up and realized I'd slept with a snake woman.

And it had felt good.

Maybe I really had fallen for Christine.

When Christine saw I was awake, she handed me a dagger.

You hate me even more now.

I forced you last night.

I was the one on the bottom, but I knew exactly who had done the persuading. You

must hate me. I removed your chains. Use this to pierce my heart, then leave.

Go back to the human world and never come back.

And then what? Was I supposed to leave with her corpse?

She was a hopeless romantic with a soft heart, and she had to go and copy

someone's imprisonment routine.

I really do like you.

If you don't believe me, we can do it again.

After that, it happened again and again, in the serpent nest, in the hot spring.

But she still didn't believe me.

She thought I was only trying to make her drop her guard, so I could escape.

So I told her over and over that I loved her, that I wanted her to meet my

parents, that I wanted to marry her.

She only looked at me with sorrow. Is that why you want to lure me to the

human world?

So they can capture me and study me?

Is your thesis really so important that you'd endure this place?

Seduce me?

Just to finish it? I had no way to defend myself, so I seduced her for real

and made sure she didn't have time to be heartbroken.

Then one day, I couldn't stop vomiting.

The color drained from my face.

Christine panicked. She remembered the night ten years ago when I nearly died

of fever.

I'm taking you back to where humans can help you.

After that, you'll never see me again.

I caught her arm.

Didn't you say I would turn into a Medusa like you?

She kissed me in despair.

That was a lie. The serpent's soul pearl only changes a mate's body enough to

survive long periods in the cold. Enough to bear me and carry my eggs.

But you're still human.

I know you've wanted to leave all along.

I was the one who imprisoned you.

You must hate me.

Just like ten years before, Christine carried me through the valley like a

black wind.

Until the research station on Snake Island came into view. The station had

been rebuilt, transformed beyond recognition.

She set me down at the exit, looked at me one last time, then turned to leave.

I called her back. An instant later, a metal cage dropped from above and

trapped the powerful serpent inside.

I stared at her without expression.

Who said you could leave, specimen?

Christine looked back at me like something inside her had died.

Was this your plan all along? You seduced me and made me drop my guard,

all so you could capture me for your research and your paper. You win.

That's right.

I was exactly the kind of person who would sacrifice anything to graduate.

Once the ancient species was confirmed, my advisor secured major funding.

The Snake Island Research Station was expanded several times over. More

researchers were brought in, and my advisor moved there permanently as

project lead. He chewed me out for hours, but he had no choice except to

clean up my mess.

But Christine refused to cooperate with any of our experiments.

She stopped eating and drinking. She stopped speaking.

She was so aggressive that no researcher could collect her blood or scales.

In the end, I went alone to the cage holding Christine.

You will die if you don't eat or drink.

It would be a shame if all you got to study was a corpse.

I touched the slight screll of my belly. Don't worry.

We'll still have a living snakelet right here. Her eyes went wide.

You're carrying my child.

But she's your child, too.

You want to use her? Do you hate me that much?

You'll never find out how I study this child. Just pretend you don't know. Her

face went ascal.

You can have my venom, my scales, even my serpent tail, anything you want.

But you can't hurt our child.

From that day on, Christine stopped her hunger strike and cooperated fully with

the project. Intelligence tests, language tests, blood and scale samples,

all of it. Three months later, the paper changed everything.

Humans had discovered a being from ancient legend, the Medusa.

She had the upper body of a human and the latter body of a serpent,

intelligence comparable to humans, advanced language ability, incredible

physical strength, and lethal combat power.

Everyone left Snake Island to celebrate.

I went to the lab alone.

The imprisoned Christine opened her eyes, empty of sorrow and joy alike.

You imprisoned me once, I imprisoned you once.

I'd say we're even.

For the first time, a flicker moved through her calm eyes.

So, my dear credited, can I go now? Of course.

You are now recognized by the Stellar Alliance as a super species.

You can apply for legal status equal to a human's and marry any humanoid

intelligent species.

She stared at me, confused, as if she didn't understand a word. Christine,

you've never believed that I love you.

But I'm still going to propose.

I used some extreme methods to keep you here.

I learned them from you. Will you marry me? You don't want our little snakelet

to be born out of wedge, do you? Her eyes went wide.

Isabella, are you proposing to me?

Everything you said before that you liked me, was it true?

I angrily lit into her.

If I didn't love you, why would I sleep with you? Why would I carry your eggs

and want to keep them? We only took your blood once, and the only reason was to

see which drugs would work on you, not for illegal research.

If you hadn't decided to put on some tragic little act, convinced yourself I

hated you, and tried to leave forever, I'd have taken you to meet my parents

and friends the next day. We'd have been married within a month. You idiot.

You forced me to lock you up so you wouldn't leave. Then I started laughing.

I'm an idiot, too. I taught you a courtship dance and told you to use it

on snake folk.

She stayed frozen for a long time.

When she didn't answer, panic swallowed me, and I started to cry.

Of course, if you don't like me anymore, if you still hate me, if you're going to

blame someone, can you blame only me? A second later, Christine silenced me with

a kiss. I closed my eyes and kissed her back.

After a long time, she finally spoke.

Isabella. From the moment I found you again, there hasn't been a single moment

when I didn't love you.

That flimsy cage never had a chance of holding me.

If I wanted to leave, I'd have left long ago. The only reason I stayed was you.

Even when I thought you hated me and saw me as nothing but an experiment, I still

loved you. I refused to eat because I wanted to see you. You used our child to

threaten me. And even then, I couldn't hate you.

The serpent egg grew inside me for months.

When the baby was born, she was wrapped in a translucent membrane, a human

-looking child with black hair and round ears.

She had the same gold-green slit peoples as Christine, but other than that, she

looked nothing like a Medusa.

Is this really our child?

Could someone have switched her?

I looked at the little baby with worry.

A second later, Christine casually placed the baby in the hot spring.

I nearly killed her.

What are you doing?

What kind of mother are you?

The baby rolled happily through the water, and her legs shifted into a

golden serpent tail.

So she really was a cute little snakelet after all, Christine said carelessly.

Good. We can throw her outside and let her fend for herself.

I pounded Christine without mercy.

My little snakelet is going to be the happiest little snakelet in the world.

She has two moms, grandparents on my side, and she's going to preschool and

making lots of friends.

And you want me to throw her outside?

You have a death wish.

Christine drooped under my beating like a kicked puppy.

But that's how I grew up.

I never met my parents, let alone grandparents.

My only friend was you.

And you never came back.

I waited for you at the place we said goodbye for more than ten years.

I pulled the poor big snake into a hug.

There, there.

You have my love now.

You're already the happiest snake in the world.

I was too busy comforting her to notice the triumphant look on her face.

Then tonight, we're leaving the baby with my parents.

It's been too long since we had time alone.

I agreed and kissed her first.

Again and again.