Her face turned purple, voice shook, as she questioned, "How can my fragile daughter steer through the storms those people will brew for her?! They are dragons, not our kind! While we prefer peace, they take pleasure in conflicts! For my princess, I wanted nothing more than a monogamous prince from one of the kingdoms!"

Queen Irene dropped to the bed, unable to remain standing anymore. Anxiety gripped her lungs, preventing it from filling itself with air. Even the night breeze blowing inside could do the least to dispose of the sweat beading on her forehead.

How could she send the daughter, she yearned nearly for six hundred years to have, to the lap of death-dealer?!

Her heart sank every time when a simple ouch of pain left her daughter's mouth, for Eliana was the fruit of her long perseverance.

Birth of a female child was an extremely rare occurrence in Wingland's royal bloodline. In the line of hereditary rulers of this land, none could make the grade in procreating a princess in the previous five generations.

Eliana was born after her seven brothers, in the five-hundred eighth year of the reigning King and Queen's marriage. The fact, no one in the royal family sired a female offspring in the last fifteen millenniums naturally made everyone set great store on her.

Hermes turned around. He clasped his hands behind his back, shoulders straight and slightly pushed back, with head held high and chest puffed up—employing the stance of a king he was.

"I exhausted all my power requesting a wedding ceremony from him. He won't send eunuchs to take Eliana as his concubine, rather he will marry her as his consort in the land of fairy. He gave us a face, on account of the fact that how cherished and precious our girl is to Wingland. Now, the only thing we can do is pray for Eliana's happiness."

Irene didn't pass any comment this time, silently weeping in her own agony. She sensed the place beside her sink on the bed, but didn't tilt her head.

"Our daughter is endowed with both wit and maturity, Irene. Not to mention, she is also a Grand Mage. A fifth stage mana augmenter in both fire and water element; with her wind and earth respectively in third and fourth stage. The number of magicians with all four elemental affinity are countable in the fingers of a hand, and our daughter is the only female in this list. It's only a matter of time until she equals herself with Hades and ascends heaven. Till then, her intelligence and sensibility alone will guide her to flow with the tide and help her adjust herself to their liking—for her own benefits."

At that moment, an eunuch opened the door and bowed his head slightly, before announcing, "Your Majesty, Her Highness, Princess Eliana has requested an audience."

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Hermes patted Irene's back, prompting her to wipe her tear-stained cheeks. "Permission granted."

….

Eliana crouched down; one knee touching the ground and the other one facing skyward; she crossed her fisted arms in front of her bosom. Two curly wings of long and thick eyelashes fell earthward, concealing the precious green gems embedded in the white of her large eyes.

Her moist pink lips mouthed an incantation, causing greenish smoke to emit from her body, and golden luminescence outlining the cycloid style scales appeared on her face, neck and arms.

Ensuring that, the gorgeous green scales, way more precious than jewels, broke out from her immaculate white skin, overlapping one another. They glistened gold when moonlight played across them.

Beating even the wheel of time, just akin to the bat of hell, Eliana's human form was gone; and, replacing it, coiled a beauteous dark green serpent with a neon belly.

The green iris that adorned her wide set tranquil eyes, were now glowing gold ethereally, representing the fire of revenge burning through her.

The celestial body overhead attached with the vault of heaven enlarged in size, seemingly widening itself in surprise at the sight below; and the blowing crispy breeze started howling, running around crazily to gather people so that they could take delight at the scenario with him.

But, as usual, none came, for it was mute. Heaven bestowed them omni presence with eyes and ears, but not the liberty of tongue.

Eliana lifted her head six meters off the ground, almost touching the high-ceiling carved with intricate designs, and flattened her neck into a gorgeous hood, revealing a beautiful fairy design on the spread hood.

It was a tiny fairy sitting on a light green rose stalk armed with sharp-pointed thorns and three dark green leaves; the receptacle in its one end was attached with a flower. Down in the dumps, the miniature figure of her fairy form sat there, spreading her huge wings in the air, hugging a clock to the chest.

Well, it wasn't her but the heaven that tattooed her hood, reminding her the purpose of rebirth and the fixed time she had been granted to accomplish her goal.

This major blow would have put the royals of Wingland to the ground, let alone the subjects, had they learnt about her biggest secret—her identity! For she wasn't any fairy—but a shape shifting serpent—the Goddess of Serpents!

Regarding the question, how could a serpent be born, no reborn to be exact, to a fairy couple was a conundrum to herself as well.

But, that was her reality—such a reality, she held very close to her heart like the treasure of ghosts—very loving parents and seven dotting elder brothers. Her people whom she called home.

Eliana stared at the orb of night.

That night, the sky was blessed with the full moon's appearance, and it was the time when all the serpents shed their old skin and gathered in a place to enjoy the moon's beauty with their new shell.

Eliana lowered her head, and made a start on scraping it with a rectangular decorative rock placed under the round clay flower pots with blooming plants.

Not long after, due to the uneven surfaces of the rock, the skin on her head was ripped off into a few tears, preparing her for the next step.

She began wriggling against the flagstone floor of the balcony, loosening her skin, before slipping right out of it, leaving an inside-out transparent skin on the ground. The glitters on the beautiful patterns sparkled, emanating a bewitching fragrance from the skin.

The fact, she reached the length of thirty feet with the width of thirty-six centimeters at the tender age of a hundred, made the process a bit laborious, to say the least.

Swiftly, Eliana folded and hid the sparkling skin that came off in one piece, under one of the pots. Then, she climbed down the railings of the balcony, slithering on the thick stone wall--off to her next destination.

Empire of Venomblood. It was located in the earth realm, separated from Wingland by twelve more kingdoms in between. A place, which was abundant in expensive, and rarest gemstones of all kinds.

To an extent, gold laid there just beneath a thin sheen of earthen ground; even children used to end up digging them out with shovels on a regular basis in their playtime.