Page 91 of The Serpent’s Shadow

NEXT DAY WAS THE FIRSTfull day of classes since my return to Vikingrune Academy. I promised Dagny I’d attend all my classes and wouldn’t skip any.

“Finals are two weeks away, little missy, in case it slipped your mind,” she scolded me from behind the RA counter, wagging her finger.

I lowered my head to hide my smirk, trying to show her an ounce of shame. “Yes, mother. I’m aware.”

“Hey!” she snapped, and my head whipped up with a smile on my face.

“What?” I whined innocently. “You’re the one calling melittle missy. I think I prefer ‘little fox,’ ‘silvermoon,’ ‘little sneak.’Lunis’aiis my favorite. All I’m saying is, you have options, Dag.”

She raised her chin haughtily, crossing her arms. “Yes, well, I’m not trying to . . .”

Trailing off, Dagny found something interesting to look at on the counter—her glasses, which appeared off her face just as often as they were on. She twiddled with the frames, blowing on the spectacles to clean them with her shirt.

“Notwhat, hmm?” I pried, dipping my head forward. Begging for her to say it.

“Not trying to have sex with you,little missy. Like those brutes are.”

I threw my head back and laughed. “You sure?”

Her face went volcano-red, adorably.

“Hey, hey,” I said, reaching out to put a hand on her knuckles. She flinched, which made me feel bad. “I’m just teasing, bestie.”

The fierce blush to her cheeksdidmake me wonder. Trying to distract her from her embarrassment, I said, “Speaking of which, have you, uh, found anyone that’s struck your fancy, Dag? You’ve been here two years.”

She shrugged and put her glasses on, blinking at me. “I’m too busy for that nonsense.”

I imagined Grim pushing me up against a tree. Magnus bending me over the table in Mimir Tomes, or wrapping my thighs around his length. “It’s not nonsense when you’re in the middle of it,” I murmured, and then cleared my throat, which had gone suddenly dry and deep.

Strain built between us, filling the silence.

She flapped her hand at me. “Will you go to your classes? I’m busy here!” She swept her arms out wide to gesture at the counter, filled with textbooks and paperwork.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going,” I drawled.

As I headed out the door of Nottdeen Quarter, I heard her voice. “And will you wear that damn fur coat you bought at Isleton? It’s getting chilly out and you’re gonna catch a cold, girl!”

I snorted. “Yes mommmm!”

Dagny was right. The temperature atop Academy Hill had dropped precipitously since the last time I was here. The chill didn’t reach your bones as badly at the bottom of the mountain, where I’d been staying with the elves.

Up here? It was cold as bog-balls.

My first class, History & Politics with Hersir Thorvi Kardeen, brought me back to the large cliffside auditorium of Dorymir Hall. It was a welcome reunion, stomping down the stairs in the stadium-style building toward the stage.

The windows up top were shuttered to prepare for winter’s bite. I recognized a lot of the faces of students who attended other classes with me. One notable absence, of course, was Astrid Dahlmyrr.

I was still getting snide looks from her friends, who I assumed were plotting my demise. They seemed to blur together, creating a trio of loathing, nameless faces.

Magnus was perched on the far side of the seats, leg crossed over his knee, lounging in his customary longcoat. I sat next to him, and we smiled demurely at each other.

I had a feeling both of us were still thinking of the tawdry situation we’d found ourselves in last night.

Our diminutive professor, Hersir Kardeen, who preferred to be called Thorvi, which weirded out many of the students, arrived on-stage in full splendor—Coke-bottle glasses, frizzy hair sticking out at all ends, black robe swishing behind her.

She had us open our textbooks near page three-hundred, which was a full hundred-fifty pages further than I’d ever read.Shit, I’m really behind. Dag’s right, I’ve got two weeks until finals and alotof catching up to do.

History & Tomes had moved on from the Taldan Wars and was now focusing on the layout and political structures of the Isle in medieval times.

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