Page 52 of Sonnets and Serpents
Silas tensed, but before he could retreat, she gave the dagger a decisive kick, sending it spinning across the floor. It disappeared beneath the bed.
For a long moment, Silas stared after it. Then he said, “I can’t do the same with my fangs, sorry.”
Eliza puffed a laugh. She shook her head, because it didn’t matter. She was choosing to trust.
“What’s the word?” she asked. “The one for you. Not shapeshifter. It’s ...”
“Affiliate,” he said. “Animal Affiliate.”
“Affiliate,” she repeated, like she was practicing Pravish again. She managed a faint smile.
In return, Silas gave her a smirk and settled back onto the bed.
They didn’t speak again, but Eliza’s tears dried, giving way to a calming sleep.
Rather than heading directly to the library the next morning, Silas introduced the princess to the campus bathhouse. And he enjoyed the way she blushed once she realized the function of the building.
When had he started enjoying her easy blush?
Unlike most of the buildings on campus, the bathhouse carried accents of color reminiscent of Izili proper—stripes of warm pink on the pillars and cheerful orange on the sloping roof. A few exquisitely detailed mermaid statues pointed the way to the entrance. Inside was a central corridor of polished wood, gleaming in the light of a large fireplace at the end of the hall. The rest of the space was sectioned into private areas, curtained off from one another.
“I’ve never been to a public bathhouse!” Eliza hissed.
“If you wanted to be treated like a royal,” Silas drawled, “then I suppose you shouldn’t have left the palace.”
She’d realize soon enough—the university bathhouse practically was royal treatment. The stalls were private, and at the moment, Silas desperately needed some privacy. As much as he could get with the Cast in place.
The previous night was still haunting him. He’d told himself to ignore the princess’s plight, but instead, he’d grown more tangled in it. He could still see her tears in the moonlight, could hear himself confessing things he’d never intended to tellher. He’d been a fool to talk about his first transformation.
And yet, he was still thinking about the way she’d looked at him. The way she’d surrendered her weapon even when he couldn’t do the same.
He was still thinking about her soft voice whispering,Affiliate.Like a truce. Like a peace offering.
“Two baths?” asked the woman at the front desk, leaning forward in her cushioned chair.
Silas shook himself back to the moment. He paid for two stalls, which the woman recorded in her ledger before ringing one silver bell and one golden, the chimes harmonizing as they echoed down the hallway.
One male attendant and one female opened stalls, and Silas ducked into his without a backward glance at Eliza. Warm steam swirled against his skin with a sleepy, comforting weight, and a light floral scent wafted through the air.
The stall interior was small enough he didn’t have to worry about being yanked around by his bracelet, but all the same, he was annoyingly aware of Eliza’s presence just one stall over, like a ghost he couldn’t be rid of. It didn’t help that she whispered in awe at every feature, asking questions about the pipes and the domed ceiling dotted with holes to let in the sunlight.
His attendant stepped around the tub—a hollow depression cut into the floor itself—and crouched by the wall. He was a Fluid Casting student, as they all were in the bathhouse, and would be on rotation, offering volunteer hours to practice Casting. Within moments, he’d called steaming water from a pipe in the wall, filling the bath. He left a basket of soaps and a bell Silas could ring if he needed a temperature adjustment or anything else.
Alone at last, Silas breathed for a few moments. It felt like so long since he’d had solitude.
Yet, even now,someonekept intruding on his thoughts.
“This is amazing!” Eliza was still loud and energetic even in a whisper.
Her attendant giggled, her reply an indistinct murmur.
Silas ordered his thoughts to his research. He stripped, climbed in the tub, and dunked his head underwater to plug his ears.
Truthfully, the research was half his frustration. His discovery at the Sarazan tabernacle should have thrilled him—he’d found evidence of his magic stealer. But it was only unnerving, because it wasn’t as if he’d caught a glimpse of her on a city street. She’d been in the company of another Loegrian.Shipwreckedwith one.
After trying to steal Silas’s magic, had she followed him back to Loegria? If so, why hadn’t she finished the theft she’d begun?
Perhaps she’d been unable to find him in his homeland. Most of his brief trip had been spent either with Maggie or Gill. Perhaps the strict regulations had made her realize Loegria was the most unideal hunting grounds for magic stealing, and she’d returned home.
