Page 54 of Sonnets and Serpents
You cast the same shadow, said Yvette’s voice in his memory. He and Eliza were both frustrated in their goals, but she was open about hers.
“She has a way to steal magic,” Silas found himself saying. He swallowed heavily.
And he prayed he wouldn’t regret this.
Once committed, he told her everything: his first encounter with the ocean-eyed girl, his agreement with Afshin, and his research thus far. Eliza listened with wide eyes and appropriately timed gasps, but she never interrupted.
Saying it all out loud didn’t give him any more clarity than he’d found in the bath, but it carried a kind of comfort. Most of that came from the girl sitting beside him, focused and nodding along, like she wanted to see him solve this problem.
“One of the experiments I studied used composition warlockry,” Silas said. “The hypothesis was that a Fluid Caster can draw out magic like they can draw out blood, and a Stone Caster can contain it in stasis the way they can hold a person insleep. It was extremely promising, but it failed like all the others, and no one is sure why.
“Maybe if I had years to work, I could find my way to this discovery through experimentation alone, but I haveweeks. I have to get my hands on the magic stealer’s Artifact and reverse engineer it. That’s the only way.”
“Except we can’t find her,” Eliza said, speaking for the first time.
“Except we can’t find her,” he agreed.
To his surprise, the princess laughed. Silas raised an eyebrow. She started sectioning and braiding her hair, a faint smile on her face.
“I’m looking for the boy I want to kiss,” she said. “You’re looking for the girl who kissed you. They’re together. We’re together. You know what this is, right?”
“The third-worst day of my life?” Silas drawled.
“Fate,” said Eliza, grinning.
“There’s no such thing.”
“Obviously you’d say that, because you’re you.”
It was mildly offensive, but at the same time, it summoned a strange tingle in his chest. He wasn’t certain whether she was calling him cynical or delusional or something else, but whatever it was, it wasn’t snake or shapeshifter. She was defining him by some human characteristic.
“And obviously you’d believe in fate,” he returned. “Because you’re you.”
“Because I’m right,” she said primly, pinning her braid with finality. She lowered her arms. “Well, I know one thing—we won’t find either Henry or Lady Magic Stealer lurking in the university library. I think we should go to the market.”
“I have snakes looking,” Silas countered. “And in the meantime, I can still research. Two tasks at once.”
“But your snakes can’t interrogate merchants to find out ifany of them have seen a strange white box with markings. That sounds like something a sharp merchant eye would notice, right? Out of place, possibly valuable?”
In response to Silas’s pause, she grinned, obviously knowing she’d said the right thing.
Perhaps this collaboration could work after all.
“Get your shoes,” Silas said.
Before they went out in the sun again, Silas gave Eliza one of his Artifacts: a square of tanned snakeskin affixed to a leather backing.
“It’ll keep the heat off,” he said.
Half of him expected her to reject it—and she did shiver when touching the snakeskin—but she slipped it in her pocket. When she thanked him, her smile was warm. Although he tried to shrug it off, his steps felt lighter.
They spent all morning interrogating merchants. Most were curt but honest, though a few grew offended when it became clear Silas and Eliza had no intention of purchasing anything. One wrinkled old woman threw her shoe at Silas and then thanked Eliza for retrieving it, leaving the princess laughing.
But none of them claimed to have seen the white box.
Come midday, Silas purchased food at one of the stalls, a bean mash wrapped in flatbread that sent Eliza into a coughing fit. He smirked, warning her too late about the heavy spice. In response, she threatened to throw her shoe at him.
Eliza finished first, wandering the neighboring stalls while Silas purchased and consumed a second flatbread. Just as hewas ready to resume their search, he saw the princess take off running through the crowd.
