Page 83 of The Serpent’s Shadow

A small smile played near the corner of his lips. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand what Magnus found amusing about this situation or about what I’d said.

Maybe it was the fire I exhibited that titillated him, because it brought the fire out of him too.

He scooted forward, legs crossing as we sat face to face on the bed. My fingers threaded with his, between us.

And he murmured the first words of our rebellion:

“Tell me how you think we should begin, silvermoon.”

Chapter 25

Ravinica

WE WOULD NEED HELP. Two initiates did not a rebellion make.

But it was a start. Aspark.

Before leaving, I asked, “Do you plan on making the last class of the afternoon, now that you’re, uh, feeling better?”

I gave his nude, tattooed, studded body a once-over, lips wryly curling.

“Stealth & Interrogation with Hersir Kelvar?” He scoffed and shook his head. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of him soon enough. I’ll continue resting.”

My smirk vanished, frowning. “Why? Is he in charge of the . . . what do you even call it when they steal your blood?”

“I call it leeching.”

“Sounds apropos.”

“I’m sure he has a hand in it. He’s the Whisperer, the academy’s spy master, after all.”

“You don’t sound certain though.”

He shrugged, sitting up in bed with the covers lazily draped over his lap and thighs. It made my mouth water.

“I’m not,” he said. “When I show up at Fort Woden, they put a hood over my head before walking me to the laboratory. The acolytes and doctors are also masked.”

I palmed my forehead, incredulous. “Loki’s shadowy taint, Magnus. That’s despicable. I’m so sorry.”

He put a hand up. “I’ll be fine, lass. It won’t last forever.”

You sure about that?I wasn’t. Magnus didn’t strike me as a glass-half-full kind of guy.

I didn’t want to keep prodding him about it—the leeching must have been a horrible source of trauma. During our talk of revolution, we’d brought up a way to circumvent his every-other-day meetings with the doctors, or even use it to our advantage.

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