THE APPLE OF SNAKES

xxiv. smart

Nerluce turned the page of the book with a yawn.

Being a second-year disciple... was even more brutal than being a first year. Nerluce rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on the words in front of him. But the longer he stared, the more it seemed to all blur together. He pushed his hair from his eyes, glancing at the candle. He had extended its light through a good portion of the night - dimming it so it just barely gave him enough light to read by.

Honestly, Nerluce should probably be working more with his fire. He could already feel himself getting behind because he needed to focus on his academic studies or risk getting kicked out. Apparently, Seraphs needed some base level of intelligence.

Unfortunately, Nerluce didn't have that. He kept squinting at the page but none of the words processed. It was math. He thought it was math. He was usually fine in math but recently they'd started doing problems that required... a lot of thought. They were less math and more riddles. Nerluce couldn't just make calculations anymore, now he had to figure out what the calculations meant.

And Nerluce really, really, didn't like reading.

This wasn't working. Nerluce rubbed his eyes. He needed to get this down but he just couldn't concentrate. Maybe he should go on a late-night run? That might clear his head enough to focus. But if he left the candle, it would burn out and Nerluce wouldn't be able to light it again until morning. So... he'd run with the candle. And maybe he should take the book with him too in case reading was easier when he was moving like magick was. And maybe...

The door creaked open. Nothing about the room was new and the door had a tendency to creak, even when one was trying to be quiet. Nerluce knew well enough from experience. He'd accidentally woken Jurine up coming back from a late-night run - but really it was because she was an insanely light sleeper - and she'd glared daggers at him the entire next day.

Nerluce turned his head, watching as Corbett flinched with the creaking door. And then flinched again when he saw Nerluce sitting there.

They didn't have much time to stare at one another because Hamelin pushed the door the rest of the way open, regardless of the noise. Corbett's arm was wrapped around Hamelin's shoulders and he seemed to stagger as Hamelin took him to his futon. Nerluce couldn't make Corbett's face out very well in the poor lighting but he was pretty sure it was flushed.

"What's wrong with him?" Nerluce asked, walking over to look at Corbett. "Is he sick? Should I get Taayir?"

"No," Hamelin said.

Jurine sat up. Whether it had been the creaky door or Nerluce's whispered questions, she'd apparently woken. And now she was glaring at the three of them, despite it not being Nerluce's fault in the slightest.

She wrinkled her nose. "He reeks of liquor. What did you two do?"

"Went down the mountain," Corbett said, his words coming out slurred. "Been a while since... since I got this drunk."

"He's drunk?" Nerluce asked, poking him with a finger. "Is this what people look like when they're drunk?"

"Have you seriously never seen a drunk person before, Nerluce?" Jurine asked, crawling out from beneath her blankets to come closer. "What type of noble were you?"

Nerluce made a face. "The one getting drunk?"

Jurine scoffed and laid her hand on Corbett's head. "Well, he doesn't seem to be running a fever. Get a bucket for him and a glass of water." Hamelin gave a dip of his head and stood up to fetch the requested items from downstairs. "Bastard is lucky I don't report both of them. They could be kicked out for this."