Page 68 of Sonnets and Serpents
“Vipers are. Kerem isn’t.”
He held the door for her again as they exited the Yamakaz, and she waited for the rest, but, for once, he hesitated to elaborate.
Finally, he said, “When Kerem was around our age, he was sold to slavers in Cronith. They kept him as a snake on display. An exotic pet. Whatever they used to control his magic damaged it, so now some of his Affiliate abilities are limited—for example, he can still transform, but he can no longer produce venom.”
Just weeks ago, Eliza never could have imagined pitying a shapeshifter, but thinking about anyone being enslaved made her ill. And she knew well enough how it felt to walk away from a captivity forever changed, even if she was physically unharmed.
“He doesn’t like to talk about it,” Silas said, the request clear.
“I won’t ask,” Eliza promised. But she resolved to think of the professor more kindly.
Yvette finally sent word, and Eliza couldn’t say whether she felt better or worse for it.
There were no Loegrian prisoners being held by the kuveti.
Which meant Henry was still missing, and she didn’t have the first clue what to try next.
While Eliza felt the storm inside threatening again, it was Silas who gave her focus. Rather than seeming discouraged by Yvette’s news, he seemed bolstered by it.
“Every eliminated possibility makes it easier to see the truth,” he said.
“What does that evenmean?” Eliza asked.
“It means as soon as I finish my tasks for Kerem, we’re going to the map room.”
He led her to a new building on campus. This one had a single large dome, surrounded by peaks and steeples. The statues adorning the walls were all engaged in performances of some kind. Eliza would have loved to explore the interior, which had been decorated with maroon tapestries and velvet upholstery, encouraging a rich reverence, but Silas shot straight for the map room like an arrow, speaking only briefly to the archivist before pulling the maps he wanted from various shelves and spreading them over the central table.
“What are you looking for?” she asked.
“Your beloved Henry,” he said. “And the box-holding girl he was last seen with.”
Eliza raised her eyebrows. “If I’d only known they’d be generous enough to mark their position on a map, I’d never have needed you at all.”
She caught his lips twitching, though he tried to conceal it.
Standing on tiptoe, she peered over his arm at the ivory-colored maps. One showed a detailed view of Izili with the largest streets and buildings labeled. The remaining two explored layouts for the palace and the kuveti prison house.
“Yvette said they weren’tin the prison,” she pointed out.
“In,” he repeated, as if that made any sense.
He shifted the maps so the palace rested on top, and Eliza almost barked a laugh. It could hardly be called a map at all. If anything, it was the outline of a building and nothing else.
“Did the king throw the cartographer out?” she asked.
“He doesn’t want anyone too familiar with the layout of his palace.”
“I’ve heard the Pravish kings are paranoid and unreasonable.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t give them too much credit. Kings everywhere are much the same.” Silas glanced at her in challenge, clearly expecting her to deny it.
“At least in Loegria,” she agreed.
Sorry, Father, she added silently,but it’s true.
Silas blinked, and for once, she enjoyed catching him off guard.
“My father set an impossible challenge,” she said. “He forced Henry to take it, pretending it was an honor, and then banished him for failing. I could write Father’s name in the dictionary next to ‘unreasonable.’” Her voice softened. “What’s worse is that the challenge’s reward was marrying Aria, and Father knew how I felt about Henry, but he still went forward.”
