Page 15 of Sonnets and Serpents
Though Silas’s insides knotted with anticipation, he kept his tone light. “Knowing history, it can’t be anything good.”
“It seems you have a new monarch on the throne. Queen Aria de Loegria, first of her name.”
Silas blinked. Thatcouldbe good news. He hoped.
“I’m told the transition was something of an upset,” Afshin went on. “How do you think your court will take it?”
Silas’s father would be livid, that was for certain. Lord Bennett practically worshipped the king.
He shifted on his cushion. “Honestly, Iyal, Loegria hasn’t had a real change in centuries. When I spoke to Aria twelve days ago, she claimed she would reverse the laws against magic users, and I imagine it will cause an uproar if she follows through. More likely, she’ll buckle under pressure from tradition and the upper class.”
His throat tightened as he thought of his best friend, whohad fallen in love with the crown princess during all the recent turmoil. Gill Reeves was a smart man, but he was a tenderhearted one, and a magic user in a hostile country.
You could go back and help, said a voice inside. Aria had promised him a pardon, and if she was queen, she could make good on that.
If she’d been sincere to begin with. The only reason Silas had asked her to protect his sister was because of the way he’d seen her defend Gill before the court, but he still wasn’t convinced Aria’s motives were selfless. After all, Gill was the strongest Fluid Caster in Loegria, and for a princess facing conflict with Casters, there was an obvious reason for her to keep him on her side.
The more he thought about it, the more certain he became that his friend was facing betrayal down the road. He felt ill.
The shadows beside Afshin’s bookshelf took on the shape of Silas’s father, looming with a raised sword. He closed his eyes briefly, pushing down the memory.
Afshin clapped his hands together. “This is a wonderful change. I can feel it. Perhaps your country will advance after all. I’d love to welcome more Loegrian students to our campus.”
Silas nodded but pushed eagerly to a new topic. “I hope you’re willing to do more than that. I’m requesting a position as a professor of warlockry.”
The dean frowned, causing Silas to tense. He hadn’t allowed himself to consider the odds of winning in this gamble.
“I can’t offer that,” said Afshin.
“I was top of every class,” Silas protested. “In two years, I did double the studies of any other student, and that was after my delayed start, coming from a countryin the dark ages.”
Afshin raised his hands, offering peace. “No one’s criticizing your work as a student. Surely, no onecould. Your research on both Casters and Affiliates has been exemplary. I know IyalKerem has been staggered by your contributions to his projects. You’re a credit to the field of warlockry.”
Silas heard the caveat coming, and his anxiety manifested in a faint scale pattern across his arms.
“But you’re still years behind any other professor on my staff.”
Slowly, Silas breathed in, then out, calming himself. Afshin waited; he was accustomed to dealing with Affiliates and the accompanying volatile emotions.
Once Silas could speak evenly, he said, “Age shouldn’t hobble education. I know I’m only nineteen, but—”
“This is not about your age of living; this is about your age in the field. In two years, you’ve done twice as much as any student, that’s true, but my professors have ten, fifteen,moreyears of research and discourse beneath them. They have revolutionized this and other countries. Iyl Yvette raised the Great Eastern Wall. Iyal Nikolai restarted a stopped heart. And Iyal Kerem ...”
He didn’t need to finish that comparison. What could Silas offer the university that Kerem didn’t already supply?
Silas clenched his jaw, holding back the fangs threatening to manifest.
“Continue your studies,” Afshin said gently. “Another two years, a sponsorship from another professor to be included in their research, and you will stand shoulder to shoulder with the finest Izili has to offer. Don’t mistake me—Iwantyou on my staff. I’m thrilled at the prospect. But we have rigid standards here, and it serves no one to lower them.”
Silas would love another two years of study, anothertenyears of study, but as he’d told Baris, studying cost money. If the university wouldn’t hire him, Silas would have to take a job wherever he could. Harvesting papayas. Working the docks. He would lose everything he’d ever worked for, and he’d spend his days missing a home that had never loved him. It couldn’t end like that.
For a moment, he remembered Princess Eliza and her words:That isn’t our ending.
Perhaps he wasaptalafter all. Perhaps they were both looking truth in the face and denying it. He scowled at the idea.
“What about my final thesis?” Silas tried. “No one had drawn the correlation between activation age for Casters and subsequent Casting strength.”
“Dvorik and others had established that Casting potential increased in younger subjects.”
