She thought about the last few months. And she especially thought about Tandri, and the spartan room upstairs.
Maybe her friend was right. Maybe the shop wasn’t her life. Maybe sheshouldbe prepared to lose it.
Without it, though, what was she, really?
She could only arrive at one answer.
Alone.
23
“He washere?” asked Tandri. “In the middle of thenight?”
They opened late. Tandri insisted. Viv said nothing at first, but the other woman quickly sensed that something was amiss—her innate talents at work—and demanded to know what was wrong.
“He came for the Stone, then. Did he get it?”
“He didn’t.”
The succubus waited for her to elaborate, and when she didn’t, Tandri slapped a palm on the counter, hard. “What happened?Allof it, this time, please.”
So Viv told her in as much detail as she could remember.
“We should find a way to hire the cat, too,” muttered Tandri, when she had finished.
“Leg of lamb in the cold-box, for when she shows up,” said Viv with a faint smile. “She was gone this morning. No idea how she got out.”
“So, this ward that Hemington set. It’s spent now. You’ll need to have him reset it.”
“There’s no point,” said Viv. “Fennus won’t try the same thing twice. It’ll be something else. I don’t know what, but I’ll just have to be wary. I’m pretty good at that… at least, Iusedto be.”
“How far will he go to get it?” asked Tandri, eyes narrowed.
“Honestly? I don’t know. Further than this, though.”
Tandri paced the room, tail whipping from side to side, drumming her fingers against her chin. “The Stone. If itwasgone, what would happen?”
“I’ve been asking myself the same thing. I think we’re at the point of assuming it works. Things have gone sowell, and the Madrigal seemed pretty sure of it, too. It’s not like I have any basis for comparison, but still.”
“What’s the most you could lose?”
Viv stared at Tandri and didn’t voice her first thought.
Instead, she hedged. “I don’t know. Maybe everything? Maybe nothing. Maybe I should stow it somewhere else, just to find out. Maybe I should throw it in the river and forget about it.” She gave an exasperated sigh. “Or, maybe I should sleep next to my sword again.”
“Stop it,” Tandri said sharply. “Self-pity doesn’t look good on you.”
Viv grimaced. “Sorry.”
Tandri stopped pacing and looked suddenly uncomfortable. “And I think it may be aparticularlybad idea to get rid of it, anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
The succubus hummed like she didn’t want to answer, but then she relented. “Well… there’s a concept in Thaumistry. It’s… it’s calledArcane Reciprocity. It’s why Thaumistry is so controlled and why we don’t use it in warfare, at least not to kill.” She sighed. “Are you familiar with the idea that when we treat pain with medicine, we’re really just delaying it? That when the treatment is done, you suddenly feel all that deferred suffering, like it was stored up for later?”
“I’ve heard that, but not sure I believe it. I’ve felt alotof pain,” said Viv with a wry smile.
“So,” continued Tandri, “in Thaumistry, it’s sort of like that, only measurable. An effect caused by arcane power has a reciprocal effect that is…expressedwhen the power is removed. Everything has to balance out. Once the power stops, somethingpushes back.Advanced Thaumistry is all about redirecting the blowback.”
