The Silvered Serpents

***The Silvered Serpents*** is the second book of author Roshani Chokshi's YA fantasy series, *The Gilded Wolves* trilogy.

## Overview

*They are each other’s fiercest love, greatest danger, and only hope.*

Séverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but victory came at a terrible cost ― one that still haunts all of them. Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumoured to grant its possessor the power of God.

Their hunt lures them far from Paris, and into icy heart of Russia where crystalline ice animals stalk forgotten mansions, broken goddesses carry deadly secrets, and a string of unsolved murders makes the crew question whether an ancient myth is a myth after all.

As hidden secrets come to the light and the ghosts of the past catch up to them, the crew will discover new dimensions of themselves. But what they find out may lead them down paths they never imagined.

A tale of love and betrayal as the crew risks their lives for one last job.

## Summary

Thirteen years ago, Delphine Desrosiers remembers going to the theater and watching Séverin watch the crowd with awed eyes. She now holds a gift and plans to give it to him. However, she is stopped by Séverin's mother, Kahina. She has something to tell the older woman.

Séverin Montagnet-Alarie leaves the former Seven Sins Garden, heading towards the hotel. A Fallen House member sits before his desk. Séverin poisons the man's drink, and despite the man's protests, interrogates him to get the location of the Tezcat spectacles, rumored to reveal the location of the Fallen House treasury, the Sleeping Palace. The man eventually spits out the informations. Satisfied, he sends out letters to his crew. They will all become gods.

Laila is in bed in the Palais des Rêves with a unknown man when the letter comes. Soon after Séverin broke her heart, she moved out of L'Eden and has been living in the Palais ever since. Laila excuses herself and dresses, leaving the Palais, only to see Hypnos waiting for her. Together, they head towards L'Eden to meet with Séverin.

Enrique Mercado-Lopez is preparing for his Ilustrados presentation. He got a big room and ordered all the drinks, waiting to become the tenth member of the Filipino revolution organization. Enrique receives two letters, one of them telling him the meeting was canceled, much to his disappointment. Then Hypnos Leclair comes in, picking Enrique up and together with Laila, they head towards L'Eden.

Zofia Boguska was staying in Poland with her sick sister, Hela, when she received the letter from Séverin. She wanted to come back to say goodbye, so as to better take care of her sister. She tells Séverin the truth, but he doesn't allow her to leave, instead doubling her wages and promising a letter from her sister each week, to which she agrees.

Séverin enters the stargazing room to find the others already there. Séverin informs them that he wants to find *The Divine Lyrics*, a book with the power to let people connect to God. It believed to be able to be read only by one of the Lost Muses Bloodline. Séverin tells them the Tezcat spectacles that show the location of the Sleeping Palace is with a man named Mikhail Vasiliev, and they split into two teams: one team to steal the spectacles in Vasiliev's home, the other team to get the lens from Vasiliev himself.

Before they head towards Saint Petersburg, Russia, Laila, Enrique, and Zofia are sitting in the stargazing room. Hypnos offers to give them a surprise and leaves the room. When he returns, he pushes in a tray filled with treats that none of the three like, and becomes crestfallen. Laila leaves and meets Séverin, handing him a diamond necklace he is to wear so that she can call him when she needs him.

Enrique and Zofia go into the Chamber of Goddesses under disguise, while Hypnos Leclair is waiting in Zofia's photographing ecquipment. The butler leads them in to the chamber, but they find nothing that might hide the Tezcat spectacles and they have a time limit of twenty minutes. Following instructions, Zofia lights a fire and they see a riddle beneath the frost. Enrique identifies a goddess not of the Nine Muses, and they find a safe hidden inside. Zofia and Enrique use ice to crack the safe, retrieving the frame of the spectacles. Then the door opens and the butler sees them, and they run out of the exit and into a *troika*.

Séverin waits for Laila in Vasiliev's private salon. She finally appears, but without the choker. Vasiliev calls her Madamoiselle L'Enigme, and they precede towards the exit. With the help from a House Nyx guard, Laila takes down Vasiliev. They manage to get him to give them the lens of the Tezcat spectacles, and before he passes out, he tells them that "she will find you", much to Séverin and Laila's confusion.

The *troika* stops before a teahouse and the group get inside. They talk about birthdays and Hypnos asks Laila when her birthday is. Laila tells him it's in eighteen days and he talks about a party. Laila has something to tell them but asks Hypnos to leave. She admits to Enrique and Zofia the truth about her and that she's dying. They tell her they are never going to let that happen. When they go for their *troika*, they scent smoke in the air.

Séverin watches the carriage as it burns, throwing snow onto it to try to save the House Nyx guards burning alive inside, but to no avail. He doesn't want to see those people die like he did with Tristan. Then someone puts out the fire, and the crew sees that it is the matriarch of House Kore, Delphine Desrosiers.

When the others are taken care of, Séverin, Hypnos and the matriarch sit down in a blood Forging den to have a chat. The matriarch informs Séverin that she has to alert House Dazbog on his mission to find the Sleeping Palace. Séverin doesn't want her help, but she says they need her and he consents. Again they meet up, and go to the music room. Séverin finds that the spectacles glow when Hypnos plays the piano. With the planets on the frame, Séverin deduces that the spectacles need a universal tune, the Music of the Spheres. The spectacles are put together and the location is revealed to be in Lake Baikal. Laila tells Séverin that she needs something to call him as his mistress, and he tells her to start wearing her choker.

Enrique is at the meeting place when a man comes in, introducing himself as Ruslan. He comments on Enrique's hair. After he leaves, the other members of the crew arrive, and so does Delphine Desrosiers, the matriarch of House Kore. She asks why they have to go to Lake Baikal, and Enrique says there are ghost stories surrounding girls screaming in the night. Then Ruslan and another girl come in, being introduced as the patriarch of House Dazbog and his cousin, Eva.

Going through the portal roads of Russia, the group split up and finally arrive at Lake Baikal. Zofia finds that her saltpeter has been depleted, and she goes into town with Enrique. Enrique buys some food for her after she got the saltpeter, and Zofia finds herself falling for him. When they return to the site, Zofia gives Séverin inspiration on how to get to the Sleeping Palace, and putting on the Tezcat spectacles and pulling, Séverin summons the Sleeping Palace.

The crew go into the Sleeping Palace, and Eva wants to explore with them. However, Laila objects, and the girl reluctantly steps back. On their way, they see a cave of sleeping animals, and go into a ice grotto. There are statues of girls on the walls, all without their hands. There is a staircase and Séverin goes there, only to be attacked by an ice ball and an ice animal. They manage to disable the mechanism but Séverin is dying. Eva saves him and takes him to the infirmary.

Laila waits outside with the others for Séverin to recover. The matriarch is there too, requesting for entrance. Finally, Laila is allowed to go in after a long wait outside. She sees Séverin in their rooms, but they still sleep seperately, with Laila taking the bed and Séverin not even coming inside and choosing the sleep on the chair.

Before dawn, Séverin ventures out of his and Laila's suite, meeting the matriarch in the doorway. However, he acts coldly towards her and goes for the ice grotto. He throws a lantern down the passageway and sees the mechanism activated. He comes to the conclusion that the Forged offensive mechanism is activated upon sensing heat. Equiped with Eva's boots, the team goes back to the grotto and down the staircase. Suddenly they are attacked by a metal leviathan. It comes out of the pool and stays there, doing nothing, just as Laila touches the statues of the girls. When they are outside, Laila tells all that those aren't statues, but dead girls.

Enrique tries to tell the others about the markings he found on the girls' mouths, but no one listens to him. He decides to go to the library, asking Hypnos to go with him. Hypnos accompanies him to the doorway but refuses to stay and listen to Enrique because Séverin needs him, much to Enrique's dismay and anguish. Ruslan comes into the room, and Enrique tells him that he thinks the girls were used as sacrifices. The markings on the girls' mouths will lead to the ultimate treasure.

Zofia is examining the leviathan. The girls have already been removed from the wall. She discovers markings in the leviathan's mouth and finds a Tezcat door inside. Then Enrique comes in and tries to pull her out. They walk over to the three shields, which are Tezcat entrances as well. Using the picture on top, they find that blood can open the entrance. One opens into a well with "Moshe Horowitz" engraved upon it, one a brick, and one a place with statues of goddesses. Hypnos goes to get the others, but Zofia and Eva walk in, leaving Enrique leaning inside.

Laila sits in a room beside the dead girls. She feels pain for them as she reads the clothes of each and every one of them. One of the girls tells the former patriarch of the Fallen House that she is the daughter of Moshe Horowitz and he will pay handsomely for her release, but the patriarch just carves symbols into her flesh. Another asks why it's them, and the patriarch replies that it's because no one will look for them, leaving Laila chilled to the core. Then Séverin appears in the room, telling her that the others have gone missing.

Enrique leans into the Tezcat entrance, seeing nine statues, the Nine Muses, each with sacrifices of hands at their feet. Then a man appears, his eyes clawed out, telling them not to take anything more, and closing the portal. Under the man's command, the statues advance on the group, and they run out of another Tezcat and into the streets of Istanbul. They finally lose four of the Muses but are met with another five. Enrique and Zofia help Eva run. Enrique offers to stay to distract the Muses so that the girls can flee. Enrique runs towards the lake and across the bridge Eva made and into the other entrance before falling into unconsciousness. Enrique comes to and tells Séverin, Laila, and Ruslan what happened and his belief that the girls were guarding something. Zofia tells them she found more symbols and that using those they can find *The Divine Lyrics*.

Laila goes to get the food, stopping at Eva's room to give her some treats. Then she meets up with her friends and they go on deciphering the marks on the girls' faces and inside the leviathan's mouth. Zofia deduces that each symbol means a English character, and thus they decipher: *The teeth of the devil calls to me.* *I am the devil.*

Zofia, Enrique, and Eva go to the ice grotto to reexamine it. They find the name of Rebekah Horowitz on the well, but the wall also yields words, much to their disbelief. It writes: *To play at God's instrument, will summon the unmaking.*

After finding the letters engraved on the wall, they have a meeting. Séverin and Laila arrive late. They discuss about how in the catacombs Séverin drank the ichor of Roux-Joubert, and he promptly discovers why Laila calls him *majnun*. He hears the story of the *Laila and Majnun*, and leaves for the library to spend the night.

At noon, the leviathan resurfaces from the water, and Séverin and Hypnos prepare to enter. The place inside the beast's mouth is filled with treasures of all kinds, and inside their is *The Divine Lyrics*. While Hypnos is gawking at all the treasure, Séverin finds the book. However, when he opens it, he finds nothing inside, much to his disappointment and dismay.

Laila and Enrique are talking about the Lost Muses Bloodline when Enrique tells her to spit her feelings to Séverin out. Laila, however, doesn't agree and chooses to keep her thoughts to herself. Then Delphine appears, telling them that the boys are back. Laila and Enrique follow her out, and in the ice grotto, they discover the horrible truth: there is no *The Divine Lyrics*.

Enrique is informed by the matriarch that the Order of Babel has come, called by Patriarch Ruslan Goryunov of House Dazbog. He doesn't see Séverin among them so goes to search for him. After seeing the other boy, Enrique asks for the book. Hypnos follows after Séverin as the latter leaves, and Hypnos and Enrique break up. Zofia stays with Enrique, knowing that he wants help searching the library, which is currently holding the treasures of the Fallen House before auction. They see the symbol of a flipped "3", which is actually omega. They know what they are to find, and begin searching the room for things marked with the same symbol.

Zofia and Enrique are working hard looking for the object. However, hours pass and they find nothing. Enrique suggests that someone goes to the ice grotto, and Zofia volunteers. On the way, she meets Hypnos, who has just gotten drunk because of his break-up. Zofia tells him to help delay the Midnight Auction, and goes to the ice grotto. She has just gone into the leviathan's mouth when she is incapacitated by an unknown assailant.

Enrique is still searching the room when Ruslan comes in. The man listens to all Enrique's lectures, even informing the latter that he canceled his own plans with the Ilustrados. Enrique knows it is Séverin, and feels instead very betrayed. He discovers it was never *The Divine Lyrics*, but *The Divine Lyre*, and fits the lyre inside the book. Immediately, he is knocked out.

Laila is in the ballroom when she is approached by Eva Yefremovna. The other girl says her choker's wrong and adjusts it, pricking Laila's neck with the clawed tip of her ring. Then Ruslan appears, telling Laila that he saw her go to Séverin's rooms earlier. Laila, knowing it was Eva, storms off and confronts the girl. Eva runs away and Laila and Séverin have a night of sex. After Laila wakes up, she findes Eva'a ballerina pendant. She reads it, reallizing the other girl is from the Fallen House. Laila ventures outside, but it is too late. She begs Eva, to no avail, and the doctor shows up to collect her.

Séverin wakes up to a cold bed, and realizes something is wrong. He leaves the room and sees all the Order members paralyzed, unable to move. He is attacked by the ice animals, and retreats to the library, jumping in and reuniting with Enrique. However, Enrique is angry at him and Séverin doesn't know what to do. They form a plan and leave the library, dashing for the heat shield. Séverin buys Enrique time but stumbles, and the latter saves him. Together, they rush into safety. Alas, the net soon begins to break.

Zofia wakes up in a holding cell of the Sleeping Palace. Beside her is the body of an ice stag. She looks through the panes, seeing Séverin and Enrique in danger. She tries to light matches, but manages nothing. She then uses the stag to get out, waving a flaming sword. She reunites with her friends, escaping from her prison of ice. But they don't get far before the doctor, Ruslan Goryunov, appears to take them all.

Séverin wakes up inside the belly of the leviathan, Hypnos unconscious beside him. The matriarch of House Kore is there, telling them she saved their lives. Séverin watches helplessly as Ruslan tortures Laila and cuts off Enrique's right ear. The matriarch finally tells Séverin the truth that he is the one of the Lost Muses Bloodline, giving him two choices: to leave in a pod or expose himself. Séverin chooses a third option.

Enrique had been taunted by Ruslan on his way here. The other man continues to torture Laila to get her to play the lyre, which she cannot play. Then Séverin appears, betraying them and going to Ruslan and telling him the truth. He "kills" Zofia and Enrique with Tristan's poisonous dagger.

Laila watches as her friends die. She is angry at Séverin for betraying them. She is screaming, but is then knocked out as the others leave. When she wakes up, she finds a Mnemo butterfly on her body.

Séverin had woken Hypnos and informed him of their plan, with the matriarch adding in pieces. Séverin had used raspberry jam and the paralyzing venom to fake his friends' deaths, believing that they would forgive him. Just before he went out of the leviathan, the matriarch caught up to him, and unable to get back to the pod, she sank together with the mechanic leviathan. Séverin now sits with Ruslan, planning the next step ahead.

Hypnos waits inside the pod. He watches everything taking place outside, waiting for his turn to help with the mission. He will just have to wait one minute.

## Characters

* Séverin Montagnet-Alarie (POV, 11)
* Laila (POV, 10)
* Enrique Mercado-Lopez (POV, 8)
* Zofia Boguska (POV, 7)
* Hypnos Leclair
* Delphine Desrosiers
* Ruslan Goryunov
* Eva Yefremovna
* Mikhail Vasiliev