She opened it and something slapped her in the face.“What…” It was a… a branch, green and soft and flexible.“Is this a plant?”She reached into the bag and pulled it out.“It’s a potted plant!”And the long, slender branches were familiar.“It’s like the one you brought to treat my palms at Lady Guinevere’s shop.”
He sat up taller, unrolling his shirtsleeves and donning his jacket, his chin held high.“His name is Governor Grimm, and he’s terribly useful in any number of situations.You’ll be glad I brought him along at some point.”
“You named your plant Governor Grimm?Wait…” She held it up to look at the pot.It was bright yellow, very much like the ones in Lady Guinevere’s shop.“Did you nameLady Guinevere’splant Governor Grimm?”She raised a brow.
He shrugged.“She wasn’t using it.”
“I guarantee you she was.”
“Well not at the precise moment I stole it.Don’t look like that.We need it more than she does.”
“I should lecture you.Or rap your hand with a ruler.”
He held his hand out for her.“I’ll take my punishment with a courageous spirit.”
“I don’t have a ruler.”
“A shame.I’m sure I am in need some sort of consequence for my actions.”A sly grin, warm blue eyes that flashed almost golden.She’d never seen blue eyes like his.
“Transcendents,” she said.“Tell me something I do not know about them.”
He dropped his hand to the seat.“We’re almost to the coaching yard.”
“Then make it quick.”
He ran the tip of his tongue across his top front teeth, thinking.“We don’t study like your lot does.Talent, glamours—it’s not something we train.It’s something that wedo.”
“So you have no formal education in casting glamours?”
“I suppose not by your definitions.There are some books that my grandfather had me read, the diaries of dead men of our family, who’d possessed the talent before us.He said it was important tocommune.Perhaps he was right, and I did not commune enough.”He didn’t have to say what that lack of communion resulted in.She could guess.After all he was famous for one thing: losing his talent to his female cousin.
And the lengths he’d been willing to go to get it back.
She shivered.
He whipped out his greatcoat between them.“Lean forward.”When she did, he slung the coat over her, draping it across her shoulders.It pooled about her, swallowing her whole as the coach stopped.They busied themselves with disembarking, and when they stood side by side on solid ground, Apollo was merry as usual.
Inside, the innkeeper was glad to have them, said the inn has been mostly empty for quite some time, and he had the exact sort of rooms they were looking for.The rooms he escorted them to were nearly perfect.They were side by side in an empty hallway.They also both possessed a fireplace.
When the innkeeper disappeared and Apollo wandered into his room and Sybil into her own, they left their doors open, making themselves at home as a maid brought food and drink.
“Come over here and eat with me,” Apollo said after the maid was gone.“I do not like the idea of dining alone.”
And why not.Tonight they would officially begin their training.Sybil’s heart raced, and she stuck her hands in both her pockets as she left her room for his.The metals were there as they had been all day—iron, copper, lead, silver, and gold.So many other metals to try, but these were the most common for alchemists to bond with.
They enjoyed a companionable silence as they ate, and by the time their bellies were full, the fire was roaring.
“What should we do first?”he asked, his gaze on the fire as he rolled his sleeves to his elbows.
Once more she noticed his forearms.Noticed?More like she’d been waiting for him to unveil them.
“Sybil?”He waved a hand in front of her face.
“Oh!Yes.Show me what you did last night.”
“Ah.Last night.Yes.I suppose I’ll show you what I did last night.”He busied himself with a candle and brimstone stick across the room.
“Why are you acting so odd?”
