The Snake's Kiss

The only snake in the world with tear ducts.

She slowly came to her senses and lowered her gaze—

The curved Snake Scales shimmered like double-petaled Red Camellias on a rainy night, lush and coolly beautiful, delicate enough to drip. Compared with the slender tail she remembered from years ago, this one was much 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 her black stocking...

It was hot, like standing close to a fire.

"Miss Bu," Xing Yue said with quiet composure, "it's been a long time."

Her impression of Bu Yao was frozen ten years in the past: a student fresh out of high school who spent all day frowning and throwing little fits. She demanded that Xing Yue take her to and from university, busy or not, and see to her every need. She was always pestering Xing Yue for milk.

What had driven Xing Yue to the brink was that Bu Yao never put on her own shoes. Behind closed doors, Xing Yue could treat helping her as a bit of fun. But even outside, with the door open, Bu Yao still expected her to do it.

Bu Yao had trampled her dignity, her pride, her very face underfoot. She had been worse off than the dog tied 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 had always been summoned and dismissed by her full name.

Only in bed—nowhere but in bed—could Xing Yue reclaim a pitiful scrap of dignity.

Remembering everything the eldest Miss Bu had put her through, Xing Yue shifted her foot and pulled away.

The tail did not follow. It seemed a little dejected as it curled obediently where it was.

"It's been a long time, Xing Yue." The woman's eyes were dazzling, their almond shape catching the faint light.

Her striking cascade of hair was pinned up with a black wooden hairpin, with only one red strand falling over her chest.

It should have been a cool, arresting sight. Instead, Xing Yue had the absurd impression that her ex-wife looked fragile, almost broken. She shuddered and wanted to slap herself twice to snap out of it.

Had this woman not humiliated her enough in the past? Bu Yao was a hot pepper through and through. What about her was fragile? What about her was broken? How could Xing Yue possibly mistake the eldest Miss Bu for someone like that?

Neither of them spoke.

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

The moment should have been awkward, but the red tail behaved nothing like its motionless owner. It crept silently up the steps, drew close to Xing Yue again, then flipped over excitedly to expose its soft underside.

"Ahem."

Xing Yue cleared her throat.

This was courtship behavior...

The scent filling the air was so rich it seemed ready to spill out the window.

Bu Yao was at a loss. This sort of involuntary behavior mostly happened during 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 remained wound tightly around Xing Yue's calf. The fine scales underneath curled frantically, restless and desperate for Xing Yue's touch.

In the silent stairwell, only the faint rustle of Snake Scales could be heard.

Xing Yue was no stranger to this. Bu Yao's tail had always done this, even in the car, with people coming and going just outside...

She had thought Bu Yao's lack of control came from having only recently reached adulthood. Finding that it still happened now took her a little by surprise.

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

Xing Yue watched her sidelong for a while, waiting for her temper to flare. Instead, those ruby eyes gradually filled with tears. The rims turned red, and Bu Yao looked utterly helpless, on the verge of crying.

She was actually crying...

Xing Yue did not react at first. Only when tears completely drowned those ruby eyes and spilled over did she believe that Bu Yao really was crying.

The only Fire Snake in the world with tear ducts was crying right in front of her, so ashamed of her uncontrollable courtship instinct that she was in tears.

Xing Yue: "..."

She was not used to seeing Bu Yao so vulnerable. Something this out of character had to be a trick. This had to be some scheme of Miss Bu, the eldest daughter.

Xing Yue stayed on guard. Just as she was about to ask why Bu Yao had cornered her here, a rush of air swept toward her, and suddenly she had a soft, warm woman in her arms.

So hot. So warm... Xing Yue sighed in comfort. It felt so good that her gaze even grew hazy.

It was in her nature. Her family loved warmth, and she could not defy that instinct. She slipped an arm around the waist of Bu Yao's qipao and thought, The eldest Miss Bu really is too fragile. A light breeze is enough to blow her into my arms.

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

Xing Yue's eyes widened as if she had heard something impossible. What had Bu Yao just called her? Xing Yue?

She froze for two seconds, her forked tongue flicking rapidly through the air. Then she composed herself, turned her face, and kissed Bu Yao's hair, a little entranced.

She's too fragile. I can't pull away now. The eldest Miss Bu needs me tonight.

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

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

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

Xing Yue made up an excuse. "Too much trouble."

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

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

Xing Yue looked at her, unsure what to feel. 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 filled in her ID details with more patience than Xing Yue herself would have shown, getting every field right, 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 pointed chuckle. "You're not luring me somewhere deserted to assassinate me, are you, Miss Bu?"

She still remembered exactly how furious Bu Yao had been when she received the divorce papers, raging as though she wanted to skin Xing Yue alive, declaring outright that she wanted her dead.

In truth, Bu Yao had said something else after those threats. But Xing Yue had walked away too quickly and gone too far to hear it.

Bu Yao did not answer. She had become much more reserved.

The room door had barely closed behind them. Before Xing Yue could even put the key card in the power slot, Bu Yao hooked an arm around her neck and pressed her against the door. Her forked tongue swept urgently over Xing Yue's cheek, urging her on.

Xing Yue parted her red lips. The instant their tongues touched, they both lost themselves in it. Even their breaths turned soft and needy.

A Snake Tongue was the most sensitive part of her body, packed with nerve endings. A snake's kiss could numb much of the pain, letting her forget herself and sink into pleasure governed by instinct alone.

Mating with a Fire Snake took at least fourteen hours. After kissing Bu Yao 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?"

The next moment, Xing Yue could no longer speak. The warm snake tail slipped into her clothes, its Snake Scales caressing her skin, and all reason vanished.