Page 134 of Sonnets and Serpents
“It’s bigger than I expected,” Jenny whispered, peeking out the carriage window at the university campus.
Eliza smiled. At least Jenny had agreed to be her lady-in-waiting. Even as a maid, she’d always been more sister than servant.
“It’s less than half the size of Izili’s,” Eliza said, enjoying the way Jenny’s jaw dropped.
University de Loegria was near the border to Patriamere, surrounded on either side by two wide forks of a river, making it a stranded sailor, huddled on an island, just trying to survive. Unlike Izili’s grand offering, the architecture was nothing to boast about, a collection of square edges in granite blocks, squat and perhaps even dreary. But the campus had wide-open lawns, beautiful gardens, and winding paths, a splash of hopeful paint on an otherwise disappointing canvas.
And the students traversing the paths—rosy-cheeked and puffing clouds of cold air as they laughed—reminded her of the ones in Izili.
She could make this work.
Ignoring the stares she received for her entourage, Eliza walked confidently to the dean’s office, practicing what she would say. If he suggested private tutors, she would argue about the unique experience of a campus environment. If he claimed her status would be a distraction to other students, she would remind him of the benefits of a royal perspective. They’d never had a student like Eliza before, and that came with both good and bad; she had to convince him to focus on the good.
She entered the antechamber outside the dean’s office, a collection of cushioned chairs and plush rugs. There was a refreshment tray set out for guests, a simple arrangement of cucumber sandwiches and mint tea, which permeated the room with a calming scent. Eliza wistfully recalled the healing hall where she’d left Silas.
Then, abruptly, she halted.
Another person had just exited the dean’s office, his hand still on the door, his dark features familiar to her from her dreams, from her nightmares, from every recent memory she both treasured and struggled to forget.
Silas Bennett was standing in Loegria, looking right at her.
And saying, “Disi dokmek.”
For a moment, she couldn’t move. Couldn’t believe the evidence of her eyes. He didn’t look like himself—dressed as a Loegrian noble in a buttoned shirt and vest, dark trousers, dull colors. He could only be an imposter.
He couldn’t behere.
“Eliza—” he started.
The sound of her name from his mouth stoked her fury. To the great concern of Jenny and her guards, Eliza grabbed a sandwichfrom the tray and hurled it at the imposter, who lifted his hand too late and instead got hit in the face by a wad of bread and cucumber.
“Your Highness?” said one of her startled guards, apparently unsure if she needed help or not.
She did not.
“You couldn’t leave!” she shouted at Silas. “Iknewyou couldn’t leave. That was why I cried while you were in the healing hall and why I left you mybookand why I didn’t let myself—”
“You’re not supposed to be here!” he shot back.
“I’mnot supposed to be here?”
He barely ducked the next sandwich.
It hit the dean, who had opened his office door to see what the commotion was.
Eliza spent the next twenty minutes apologizing to a man she’d meant to impress and trying to plead her case while her mind was still in the antechamber where her guards were preventing Silas from slithering away.
Fortunately, the dean was thrilled by the idea of a princess attending his university. He hoped it would set an example and encourage even more children of court to attend. Rather than arguing, he thanked her.
Good. She could save all her arguing for the imposter outside.
“I’ll start on a schedule at once, Your Royal Highness,” the dean promised. “Since it’s variety you want, I’ll make that my priority, and I’m sure you’ll be pleased by the classes we have to offer.”
“One last thing.” Eliza glanced toward the door. “The boy who was in here before me—what did he want?”
“Silas Bennett!” The dean said it with as much pride as if introducing his own son. “The prodigy of Fairfax. I tried recruiting him years ago, but his father insisted he study abroad, something about gaining an appreciation for Loegria.
“Now he’s bringing me a letter of recommendation from the dean of Izili University. Apparently, Izili wants to start an information exchange between our universities, and they want Bennett to run the program.”
