He steadied her.“Careful.”
“How?No one can!But I do not think you would lie… How?”
“You know how glamours work, yes?”
“Of course.Our bodies produce so much magic, it must be used, so we expel it by casting glamours.I found a biology text in my uncle’s library after his death.It said the magic is carried in our blood, and that we must be careful of potion mistresses because they are likely to drain our bodies of our blood to get at our magic.I think that’s a bunch of nonsense, though.Lady Guinevere does not seem the sort to go about”—she shivered—“draining blood from bodies.It also does not fit with common medical practices.Why would leeches be an excellent means of healing illnesses if loss of our blood is harmful?”
He laughed.“That’s nothing but a story.”Propaganda.“No science there.And I don’t trust leeches, either.”
“Hm.I read another book.”
“Naturally.”
“This one some time ago.I was not supposed to have it, you know.Quite a scandalous text.”
“Naturally.”
“It posited that”—she lowered her voice—“transcendent magic comes from a goddess and not from Merlin at all.”God, her eyes were gorgeous shining like that.“Belisama is her name.It meansbrightnessorshining.There is not much information about her, but glamours shine, do they not?I cannot see through them, but there is a… trick to knowing them.They seem to glow about the edges.A glamoured flower burns brighter about the edges than a real one.An ethereal, unreal light.The author argued that the ability to cast glamours was a gift from Belisama, goddess of brightness and shining things.”
“I’ve never heard that.But it’s fitting for what I do know.”
“Tell me.”Such excited fever in her voice.It infected him.
He used his hands to talk, her passion bubbling up in his chest.“All magic is pulled from the world.Potions use plants.Alchemists use metals.And transcendents…”
She leaned closer.If he paused longer, would she lean so close, she’d finally touch him?So very tempting to try it.
And then—her hand on his forearm, shaking it.“Oh, do tell.You are perplexingly frustrating sometimes.”
She’d reached out, moved that desired inch, and touched him first.A surge of victory stretched his smile.
Not that she noticed.“Here, I’ll give you a bit more advice on how to behave amongst the ton, and you give me your secret.Hm.”She tapped her chin, studied him.“Ah, yes.Do not appear so commanding.The ton will accept you more if you appear smaller, if you appear awed by them instead of disgusted.”
“You want me to lie.”
She nodded.“First rule of survival in my world.Lie often and lie well.”
He grunted.“I’m not good at lying.”
“Practice, Lord Knightly.”Said like an accomplished pianist to a reluctant student.“Now.Your turn.”
He laughed.“Very well.Transcendents pull from the air, the water in it, the light, too.”
He shouldn’t, but he did because her hand still rested on his forearm—he curled her arm with his own and pulled her down the street at a comfortable pace, their steps locking into a shared rhythm.
“But I’ve never heard of that before, and… and how can you be sure?”
“I’m not.My father taught me the importance of studying all magic, understanding how it works even if it is not mine to manipulate.We prefer to walk in the light instead of in shadows.My father and I, we think secrecy and separation is holding us back.”That one reason Temple had taken the secret steam engine part to the king.If only the other alchemists shared his perspective, he’d not be exiled from their society.
“Us?”
“Alchemists, transcendents, everyone.Look at the immense pace of technological advancement.We are speeding ahead, but if we worked together, we could travel even faster.”
“Work… together?”She laughed.“Transcendents do notwork.”
He shrugged.“Yet they benefit from my labor.”He pulled the stone from his pocket.It was always there.Dead now, but this morning it had been shining bright.Flickered on the minute his arse had hit the chair at the breakfast table.“This very morning, the king ordered me to investigate the creation of a device that would communicate beyond the grave.”
“Beyond… that’s not possible.”
