The Snake's Kiss

The only snake in the world with tear ducts.

She collected herself a little and lowered her eyes—

The curved Snake Scales shimmered in and out of the dim light. Like a double-petaled Red Camellia on a rainy night, they were lush, coolly beautiful, and dewy with tenderness. Compared with the green tail she remembered from years ago, this one had grown fuller and more mature.

It was wrapped around her foot now, pressed against her boot. It coiled twice more up her leg, its pointed tip brushing against her black stockings...

It was hot, like standing close to a fire.

"Miss Bu," Xing Yue said mildly, giving nothing away. "It's been a long time."

Her impression of Bu Yao was frozen ten years in the past, when Bu Yao had just started university. She spent her days frowning and throwing little fits, demanding that Xing Yue take her to and from school no matter how busy she was. Xing Yue had to attend to her every whim, and Bu Yao was forever asking her for milk.

What drove Xing Yue mad most of all was that Bu Yao never put on her own shoes. Behind closed doors, she made Xing Yue do it, and Xing Yue could take that as a bit of intimacy. But even outside, with the door open, Bu Yao still expected her to put them on.

Bu Yao had trampled her pride, her dignity, and her reputation. Xing Yue had ranked below the dog chained up in the Bu Family courtyard. When Bu Yao was pleased, she would at least toss the dog a couple of bones and call it by its pet name. Xing Yue got nothing but her full name, barked whenever Bu Yao wanted her.

Only in bed, and nowhere but in bed, had Xing Yue managed to recover one pitiful shred of dignity.

Remembering how Miss Bu had tormented her, Xing Yue shifted her foot and pulled away.

The tail did not follow. It seemed a little disappointed and curled up obediently where it was.

"Long time no see, Xing Yue." The woman's pupils glittered; her almond-shaped eyes caught the faint light.

Her striking mane of long hair was pinned up with a black wooden hairpin, leaving just one red strand hanging over her chest.

It was such a cool, arresting sight, yet Xing Yue had the absurd impression that her ex-wife looked fragile, almost broken. She shuddered and wanted to slap herself twice to wake up.

Hadn't this woman humiliated her enough in the past? Bu Yao was a little spitfire through and through. What was fragile about her? What was broken? How could Xing Yue get Miss Bu so wrong?

Neither spoke.

Xing Yue refused to be the first to back down. She neither left nor asked a question, standing on the steps with her straight legs slightly crossed, her upper body leaning against the handrail.

The moment should have been awkward. But the red tail, unlike its motionless owner, crept silently up the steps toward Xing Yue again. It rolled over excitedly, exposing its soft underside.

"Ahem."

Xing Yue cleared her throat.

That was courtship behavior...

The scent in the air had grown so rich it seemed about to spill out the window.

Bu Yao was at a loss. This kind of uncontrollable behavior mostly happened in adolescence. Adult snakes could control themselves, and she was already twenty-eight.

Even though she was so embarrassed she wanted to crawl into a crack in the floor, her tail stayed firmly wrapped around Xing Yue's calf. The fine scales underneath curled restlessly, desperate for Xing Yue's touch.

In the quiet stairwell, the only sound was the rustle of Snake Scales.

Xing Yue knew this all too well. Bu Yao's tail had always behaved like this, sometimes even in the car, with people coming and going right outside...

She had assumed Bu Yao couldn't control herself because she had only recently reached adulthood. Finding that she was still like this came as a small surprise.

By rights, Bu Yao should have whipped her with her tail first, then blamed Xing Yue in a fit of embarrassment for making her red tail behave so strangely.

Xing Yue watched her sidelong for a while, waiting for the temper that never came. Instead, those ruby eyes gradually filled with tears. Her eyelids reddened, and she looked helpless, on the verge of crying.

She was actually crying...

Xing Yue did not react at first. Only when tears flooded those ruby eyes and spilled over did she realize Bu Yao really was crying.

The only Fire Snake in the world with tear ducts was crying right in front of her, ashamed to tears by her own uncontrollable courtship behavior.

Xing Yue: "..."

She was not used to such a vulnerable Bu Yao. Something was off; this had to be one of Miss Bu's schemes.

Xing Yue stayed on guard. She was about to ask why Bu Yao had cornered her here when a gust of wind swept toward her, and suddenly a warm, soft body was in her arms.

So hot. So warm... Xing Yue sighed with pleasure. It felt so good that her gaze even turned hazy.

Her family loved heat by nature, and she could not defy hers. She slipped an arm around the waist of Bu Yao's qipao and thought Miss Bu really was terribly fragile tonight. Even a light breeze could blow her into Xing Yue's arms.

Perhaps Xing Yue's response eased the tension. Bu Yao leaned against her chest and said sadly, "I missed you so much, sis."

Xing Yue could hardly believe what she had heard. Her eyes widened. What had Bu Yao called her? Sis?

For two stunned seconds, her Snake Tongue flicked rapidly through the air. Then she recovered her usual composure, turned her face, and kissed Bu Yao's hair, a little entranced.

Bu Yao was too fragile. Xing Yue could not walk away from her now. Miss Bu needed her tonight.

Dazed by the scent from the red tail, Xing Yue slipped out of the palace's back door with Bu Yao and headed straight for a hotel.

The air outside dispersed the rich, sweet fragrance, and Xing Yue abruptly came to her senses. She glanced at the strangely unfamiliar Bu Yao beside her and blurted, "I didn't bring my ID..."

The hotel receptionist smiled warmly. "You can scan the code to set up a digital ID."

"That sounds like too much trouble," Xing Yue said, grabbing at an excuse.

She turned to leave. If this had been another woman, she would not have minded meeting up a few more times after the divorce. But this woman was Bu Yao. Xing Yue could not afford to get involved with her again.

Someone caught her arm. Xing Yue looked back to find Bu Yao taking her phone. Bu Yao looked up at her for permission. "It won't take long. I'll do it for you."

Xing Yue looked at her face, unable to name what she felt. Bu Yao had never treated her this well before.

As if in a trance, she unlocked her phone and let Bu Yao scan the code. Bu Yao opened the page and entered her ID information with more patience than Xing Yue would have had, filling in every field correctly, from her date of birth to the address on her ID.

Their room was on the eleventh floor. As the elevator rose, Xing Yue gave a knowing little laugh. "Miss Bu, you aren't luring me somewhere deserted to murder me, are you?"

She still remembered how Bu Yao had flown into a rage when she received the divorce papers all those years ago. She had looked ready to skin Xing Yue alive and had said outright that she wanted her dead.

Actually, Bu Yao had said something else after those two threats. But Xing Yue had walked away too quickly and gotten too far to hear it.

Bu Yao did not answer. She was much more reserved now.

They opened the door with the key card. It had barely shut behind them, and Xing Yue had not even put the card in the power slot, when Bu Yao hooked an arm around her neck and pressed her against the door. Her Snake Tongue flicked urgently across Xing Yue's cheek, urging her on.

Xing Yue parted her red lips. The moment their tongues touched, both of them were swept away; even their breathing turned breathless and sweet.

A snake's tongue was the most sensitive part of her body, packed with nerve endings. A snake kiss could numb so much pain, making her forget herself and sink into a pleasure governed by nothing but instinct.

Mating with a Fire Snake took at least fourteen hours. After kissing her for a while, Xing Yue managed to recover a sliver of reason. There were things she wanted to ask first.

She eased Bu Yao back by the shoulders and asked between breaths, "What's going on with you?"

A moment later, Xing Yue could no longer speak. A warm snake tail slipped inside her clothes, its scales soothing against her skin, and all reason vanished.