Page 52 of Sonnets and Serpents (Casters and Crowns #2)

“Be reckless with it, apta.” Silas smirked.

Eliza met his gaze for a brief moment—accepting the challenge—then closed her eyes. Beneath her touch, the rock wall rippled. Shadows crawled outward, cast by rivers of golden light, leaping forward and twisting in on themselves like snakes.

Words, Silas realized. She was carving words.

An entire book of sonnets, to be precise.

The poetry flowed from her fingers, spilling onto the floor and ceiling, engraving the full cavern and beyond. Perhaps the entire system of tunnels. Flower silhouettes curled across the lines, creating leaves and vines and blossoms. Reflections of light swayed in the water.

Until, finally, the glow faded, lingering only in the copper sparks of Eliza’s opened eyes and a misty haze around the Artifact.

Spots flickered in Silas’s vision like persisting stars.

“I think that’s all the Stone Casting,” she said hesitantly. “Should I . . . try the water?”

Silas almost joked that liquid wouldn’t hold words as well as stone, but as he turned to look at the pool, something launched out of it at him.

A horned viper.

Kerem aimed well. He struck Silas almost exactly where the cobra had, flaring the damaged muscles anew. Even without venom, the bite seared pain all the way to the bone, and Silas dropped to the floor with a cry.

“Silas!” Eliza fumbled the Artifact, and its glow vanished, plunging the cavern into solid black.

But Kerem was still in his snake form, able to navigate the dark.

Eliza screamed, piercing Silas more than any wound could.

With a snarl, he transformed, launching forward even before his senses adjusted, but his jaws closed over nothing but air. Kerem twisted sharply, making a strike of his own that Silas barely reared away from.

They circled as snakes at the edge of the pool, testing each other, fanged mouths snapping.

One bite. That was all Silas needed. One successful strike with venom could paralyze Kerem, and—

Kerem plunged in the other direction, toward Eliza’s colorless, shadowy form.

No! Silas dove to intercept.

Which was exactly what Kerem wanted.

Twisting back, the horned viper sank its fangs into Silas’s neck, just behind his head. No matter how he thrashed, he couldn’t free himself or get off a bite of his own, and his magic drained like blood through a fresh wound.

With no other choice, he turned human, collapsing on the cave floor and gasping through a throat that still felt trapped between jaws. The world tilted, his vision spotted and dizzy.

Kerem turned human as well, his fingers clenched around the Artifact, lighting its glow.

And he rounded on Eliza.

Eliza’s leg throbbed where she’d been bitten, but when Kerem turned toward her, visible at last, she didn’t cower.

She launched herself at him.

She was smaller, but she hit his legs, bringing him to the ground. She tried to wrestle the Artifact from his hands, but he cursed at her and held fast.

The Artifact’s glow flared.

“Eliza, get back!” Silas shouted.

It was too late. She made one last desperate grab.

Kerem shoved her backward, sending her tumbling into the pool of water. She sputtered, shaking water off her face. Before she could do more than that, ice crystals spread throughout the water, freezing over.

Eliza gasped as ice enclosed her hands and feet, trapping her in place. The cold sliced down to her bones.

Without hesitation, Kerem turned on Silas, kicking him before he could transform or retaliate. The professor’s shirt carried a bloodstain on his back, but the dagger was gone. Even as she watched, the wound glowed briefly, halting the bleeding.

Kerem kicked again, knocking Silas against the wall. He fought with a chilling detachment, without words, focused only on the outcome.

She’d never seen someone accustomed to killing before.

He was going to kill Silas.

She struggled, yanking uselessly at her prison. Her skin burned against the ice. Her teeth chattered.

Silas pressed against the wall, trying to rise but only making it halfway.

Artifact glowing, Kerem grabbed him by the throat, and Silas screamed in clear agony.

“S-Stop it!” Eliza shrieked, barely able to manage the words.

She couldn’t help.

She couldn’t move.

Then, new light danced through the tunnel, the bob of an approaching lantern. An eerie chattering of squeaks heralded it, just before a horde of rats burst into view. They swarmed over Kerem, trying to scurry up his body. His hold on Silas slipped, allowing Silas to wrench away.

Gill charged down the tunnel, sword drawn.

He swung at Kerem, and Kerem transformed—not into a snake, but into a large eagle Eliza had seen before.

Stolen magic. He swooped at Gill, but he was limited by the narrow space, and Gill dodged with the reflexes of a swordsman, preventing the eagle from drawing any blood.

Kerem transformed back to avoid running into the wall.

Behind them, Henry held a lantern in the tunnel. When his eyes met Eliza’s, his face set in determined lines. He crouched, setting the lantern down and then vanishing in a burst of brown mist. She could barely track the little rat that scampered between the two figures fighting in the tunnel.

Until, a moment later, Henry reappeared at her side.

“You d-did it,” she managed through chattering teeth, her breath puffing in the air. “Used y-your m-magic.”

“Let’s worry about you instead of me,” he said, trying and failing to lift her from the ice. His expression grew worried, and he looked around as if searching for help.

The army of rats scurried over, surrounding Eliza, little pockets of heat against the cold. They gnawed at the ice, occasionally nipping her skin, which she could only tell from little pinpricks of blood. She’d already gone numb.

Henry grabbed her face between his hands, his touch scorching, his hazel eyes fervent. “Why did you run off like that? You could have been killed!”

Tears stung her eyes, because she couldn’t bring herself to tell Henry the truth. Because I love Silas.

She couldn’t see him past the knight. Had he collapsed? Was he helping Gill?

She heard a shout of pain and prayed it was Kerem’s.