Page 97 of Sonnets and Serpents
Scales itched across his cheekbones, and he closed his eyes before they could turn red. After all the years he’d spent fighting for control, learning to live with things pushed beneath the surface, Eliza swept in like a hurricane to undo it all. She blew away all his certainties and washed the ground from under his feet.
“Looks like they found what they were searching for,” Henry’s voice cut in, grim and low.
Silas blinked, reorienting himself in the room to see the guards filing out. One guard held a leatherbound journal, similar to the one Silas carried in his own bag.
“Excuse me”—he stepped into the guard’s path—“what is that?”
The guard opened the cover, displaying the first page with its messy, uneven scrawl. It wasn’t Iyl Yvette’s handwriting.
In the top left corner was the nameHavva Polat.
The guards left, and Silas remained in place, his insides twisted like a serpent around his spine.
As usual, Eliza broke the silence, hands on her hips and a stubborn frown on her face. “It’s possible they did a research project together. Or someone slipped into her office while she was at lecture, knowing the guards would arrive soon, and left that journal.”
“Eliza ...” Silas whispered, rubbing his hand over his face. He sighed.
“Yvette has always helped you!”
“Like how she helped us know whether Henry was in prison.”
“Yes, exactly! She—”
“With her connections to the kuveti.”
Eliza stopped short, and he could see her mind working frantically to explain it. His own mind was doing the same thing. Because this wasYvette—the woman who’d taught him everything about Pravusat and everything about Stone Casting. The friend who’d always kept an open office door, no matter what he needed, from helping with an experiment to kindness on his birthday.
Could shereallybe a killer?
Silas wanted to say no.
Yvette knew about the venom experiments he did with Iyal Kerem. When they’d found the tunnels, Kerem had recalled her hand in the prison construction. Since Ceyda had known about the tunnels as well, perhaps her father had worked on the prison along with Yvette. Perhaps they’d crafted the tunnels together, the beginning of a collaboration that turned much darker.
In every shadow, he saw a sword.
“I won’t believe it.” Eliza’s chin trembled, but her voice remained fierce. “We have to investigate.”
Silas turned away. “The university guard will conduct an investigation, overseen by Afshin. If she’s guilty, she’ll be removed from the faculty and turned over to the king. If she’s innocent, she’ll be released.”
“Since when is Silas Bennett content to let other people do the research?”
He threw his hands up, displaying a bracelet still attached. “What do you want from me,apta?”
“I want you to be better than this. Be braver. I want you to realize that not everyone betrays—or that, if they do, not all betrayals are the same. Some can be forgiven. Maybe Yvette built secret tunnels, and it was a bad decision someone is taking advantage of. Maybe she has kuveti connections she’s trying to sever. Maybe she’s got secrets that don’t make her a murderer.”
Silas flinched from her words, but inside, they resonated.
No conclusions, his academic side whispered.Just observations.
He didn’t know what the truth was, and that was key. He didn’tknow. Not yet.
But he had the power to find out.
“I can’t go home,” Henry said quietly, breaking the silence. He looked at Eliza, and his furrowed brow spoke to both pain and apology. “Not yet, at least. Not until I figure out ... who I am now. If there’s something to be done here, especially to help someone, I’d like to be part of it.”
An echo of his pain flashed through Eliza’s expression, and she gave a barely perceptible nod.
Then she cleared her throat. “Well,Ibelieve Yvette is innocent, and I’m going to do something to prove it. Silas can be dragged along on a tether. If we need a real snake’s help, I’ll enlist Tulip.”
