Sybil pushed her heat back and cooled the metal, and Diana hugged her hard.
“This is fantastic.Simply amazing.How absolutely wonderful!”
When Diana pulled away, Sybil pocketed the gold and met her brother’s thoughtful gaze.“Will you do it?Make me your apprentice?”
“I must think on it.”
“Temple!”Diana almost shot out of her seat.
“It’s never been done before as far as I know,” Temple said, voice calm, muscles controlled.“I’ll not hurt her.I’m not saying no.I’m saying we must… proceed with caution.”
That was enough for now.He hadn’t laughed or stormed away or locked her up.He’d neither mocked her nor rejected her.For now, it was not just enough… it was everything.
Slowly, the carriage rolled to a stop, and she reached for the door.Finsbury Square bustled around her, and Lady Guinevere’s Potions rose tall above it all.
Temple’s hand caught her arm.“Quick, inside.You can’t be on the street alone.Stone?—”
“Will not narrow my entire life to nothing.”She tugged her arm out of his hold.“I will not hide away forever.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Diana said, hooking their arms together.
Temple and Diana hurried Sybil inside like a precious parcel.But precious things were wrapped in cotton and stored away where they would never come to harm.They rarely saw the light of day, never risked a tumble from a shelf or the accumulation of dust.Sybil had risked much today.Something she’d never done before.
She’d not died.
She might be Temple’s apprentice.
She could not even enjoy it.Because the one person she wanted to share it all with… was the one person she couldn’t.
23
LIKE FALLING
The fire burned, felt like it would rip through skin and bone and turn him ash from the inside out.But Apollo kept his arm in the flame, holding the transmutation ring, which had probably fused to his palm.Hisrightpalm.He should have chosen better.Now he’d have to stroke his cock with his left hand while thinking of Sybil every damn nightandmorning, because he couldn’t do that with a protruding metal device stuck to his palm.
Surely it was hot enough now.He retreated from the flames and placed the ring on the table, thankful it had not fused to his skin, so he could put his good hand to use later.
A door banged against the wall, and everyone in the forge jumped.Stone swooped in, the manic gleam that had been in his eyes since Apollo’s return bright enough to rival the forge flames.His hands already glowing, he snapped up the ring, shoving Apollo out of the way.
“Prick,” Apollo mumbled.
Another apprentice snickered.
“It will work this time,” Stone said.“I’ll tune the heat to my own temperature first.”
Apollo spoke out of the side of his mostly closed mouth.“If he put the damn thing in the fire himself…”
The apprentice guffawed.
“Quiet!”Stone’s bellow bounced off the walls.His hands trembled as he raised the ring above his head.For a second, it looked like a distorted crown, poised and ready to anoint him.Then he lowered the device to the table, placed his mouth at the opening, and blew.And blew and blew until he was just as red in the face as he had been the hundred times before when he’d tried exactly the same thing.
At least a hundred.
And every time, failure.
He exploded upward, shoving his chest against Apollo’s.“You said it worked!”
Apollo put one fingertip against Stone’s chest and pushed him away.“It did.”For Sybil.“Perhaps if you let me try?—”
