Page 75 of Sonnets and Serpents
“We can’t be separated.” Silas tugged on his right arm, tryingto indicate the bracelet there. “That is, unless you can readily break a Stone Cast.”
Two of the guards examined the bracelets, muttering foully.
“It’s her fault,” Silas added, glancing at Eliza. She rolled her eyes at him, though he could still see her fear in her stiff posture, her trembling arms. “She tried to make me her guard. It didn’t work as planned.”
“It won’t be a problem if I break your wrist,” the guard from earlier said, meeting Silas’s eyes with his narrowed ones. Like a cobra with hood flared.
Instinct told Silas to retreat, to placate. But this wasn’t like the first encounter, where he could walk away.
He drew himself up, puffed snake against puffed snake.
“Two bracelets,” he said. “And if you shatterherwrist, it’ll be your head next. The Nephew King wants to remain on good terms with Loegria, thanks to the new trade agreements. He won’t defend a careless kuveti.”
After a moment of tense silence, the guard barked an order, and both groups moved to the right.
The hallway they entered was lined with barred iron doors, each leading to a tiny, square cell except the one at the end, which opened into a large, rounded room. Although they were not underground, they may as well have been, since none of the cells had windows and the hallway was lit only by infrequent, shabby lanterns. The guards shoved Silas into the cell first, then Eliza.
“Enjoy the accommodations, Your Majesty,” said the leader before locking the door.
Eliza lifted her chin primly. “It’s ‘Your Royal Highness,’ actually.”
Silas shook his head with a smile.
At a command from the main guard, the hallway emptied of allbut one sentry, who took up his post down the hall, leaving Silas and Eliza essentially alone.
“Did I say it right?” she asked.
“Lirinalis a male ‘royal highness.’ You wantedlirina et.”
“Rats.”
“Oh, you saw those too.” Silas pointed at the far side of the cell, where a skinny rat fled through the bars and into the hallway shadows. “This cell could use a snake.”
Even in the dim, windowless light, the princess looked green. “Tell me you don’t eat rats.”
“Not a snake,” he reminded her. In snake form, he didn’t feel the urge to hunt for prey or to mate or anything else. He was himself just in a different form with new senses and awareness and a widened view of the world.
He walked the length of the cell, stooping beneath the low ceiling. Eliza had no such trouble, striding about as if she didn’t even notice the roof pressing down on her head. She hesitantly touched a grimy wall, then shied away, rubbing her fingertips together. The lingering smell was unpleasant, but Silas tried to ignore it. It wasn’t as if he’d be here long. They’d timed things to coincide with the shift change, so they only had to wait for the guard in the hallway to be swapped, and then, after removing the new guard, they’d have plenty of time to search before anyone discovered the attack.
Hopefully.
He picked a reasonably clean spot of stone and sat, tucking his legs beneath him. Eliza continued her anxious pacing.
“In Pravusat,” he said, his eyes following her from one side of the cell to the other, “sonnets are sung, not recited. Did you know?”
Her steps faltered as she frowned at him.
He shrugged. “You said your favorite distraction is music, andit’s taken me all this time to come up with something to say on the topic.”
If he wasn’t mistaken, she relaxed slightly. After a moment of staring at the hallway with its barely visible guard, she came and sat beside him, her knee brushing his so lightly, he shouldn’t have noticed. Except he couldn’t help but notice everything she did.
“I’d love to hear a demonstration,” she said. A challenge.
“You’re out of luck, Highness. I may know the cultural tradition, but that doesn’t mean I have a list of sonnets memorized—though I’m sureyouhave several from your book at the ready.”
“Eliza.” There was something in her tone he couldn’t read. “I wish you’d just call me Eliza.”
That was dangerous ground. It was much easier to keep her at bay if she was a royal.
