Page 108 of Sonnets and Serpents
It was beautiful. Blue and sparkling with a white haze of promise. Endless.
It was beautiful, and she hated it.
Dropping to the rocky ground, Eliza released a scream, pitiful and swallowed by the vast landscape before her. She bent forward. Inside, she clutched at driftwood and fought the currents, but the water was too strong this time. And she wastired.
It was time to surrender.
It was time to go home.
But for the moment, she sat back on her heels, and she let herself sob for every lost dream.
Silas found there was only one person he could face, so he took an automatic, familiar path, returning through the Yamakaz and climbing the stairs to the third floor. He knocked woodenly at Kerem’s office door, remembering too late that the professor would be with the dean, examining the Artifact.
But just as he started to leave, the door opened.
“Silas!” Kerem peered into the hallway, clearly looking for a girl-shaped shadow.
“Just me,” Silas said quietly.
“You’re always welcome.”
The open door and greeting didn’t heal anything, but it offered a comfort, one Silas didn’t deserve but needed. His leg throbbed after all the stairs, so he lowered himself onto one of the stools beside the desk.
“You’re not with Afshin?” he asked.
Kerem waved a hand. “It’s not my place to overstep, and I don’t envy the dean’s job in circumstances like this.”
“I thought you’d want to evaluate the Artifact at least. When I ran my own tests, I discovered it’s composition warlockry.”Usually, he could drown any emotion in research, and he turned to the tactic once again, opening his journal to his Artifact notes. “I need to turn these over to Afshin, but I was hoping to translate them to an actual essay first.”
“May I?” Kerem extended his hand, and Silas surrendered his journal. The professor pushed his spectacles into his black hair, peering closely at the detailed but chaotic notes. He flipped the pages slowly.
Silas found himself holding his breath, waiting for a grade. Though he was no longer a student, the old habits and mindset came easily. Would that change once he was a professor?
Then again, did he have anyhope of becoming one? The discovery of composition warlockry between three magic types was certainly groundbreaking, but it wasn’t as if he’d created the Artifact himself, and the person whohadwas also on trial for murder. Silas had become nothing but a fringe figure in a complicated situation.
Maybe if he could get Gill to work with him, he could present research on his venom interacting with Fluid Casting. But Gill had only come to convince him to return home—and to escort Eliza. He wouldn’t want an extended stay away from his brothers and fiancée.
“Have you ever been in love?” Silas didn’t mean to ask the question, and his neck heated. But it wasn’t as if he could ask advice from his parents. Yvette and Kerem were the closest he had, and Yvette was ...
“Hmm?” Kerem asked without looking up. He flipped a page. “You mean marriage? No, I never saw the benefit. I imagine my work habits would be a problem for a spouse, and I prefer the freedom to do as I please.”
That answer should have placated Silas. It would have a few weeks ago.
Yet the itch remained.
“I always thought a relationship was just an opportunity for betrayal,” he whispered.
“Considering I was sold into slavery by a friend,” Kerem said bitterly, “I can’t argue.”
How could Silas feelmoremiserable to be agreed with?
He fell silent, trying and failing to direct his mind toward research while it wanted to chase a girl who was already gone.
“This is spectacular,” said Kerem, resting his hand on the open journal. “Working from the outside, given the barest information, and you’ve still managed to deduce so much. I always said you were the brightest mind on campus.” He met Silas’s eyes, and he smiled, though it held a touch of regret, a contradiction to his words.
“Thank you.” Silas’s neck heated again, and he wasn’t sure what else to say. He should have been thrilled at the praise, but his emotions felt dulled, slow to engage. He’d left at least half of himself behind in the library, kissing a princess.
“It’s lucky for me,” Kerem went on, “that you’ve been distracted of late. But I can’t count on that forever. Eventually, your mind will catch up, so it’s better that we navigate this crossroads now.”
