Idris took her to the place near the stables. He pulled her to him hungrily, desperately. He kissed her lips, her jaw, her neck. She gasped as he pushed the fabric from her shoulder, revealing the flesh there, smooth and grey and oh-so-soft, and he kissed it too. The dream of it made real.
Then he hesitated, remembering what she said about the other dress. He reached for the hooks on the back.
“No,” said Rinka, tugging on his hands. “I can’t wait. I want you right now.”
“Fuck,” said Idris. He moaned, low and deep. “I need you.” And then he slipped the red gown from her shoulders, but it didn’t tear. It stretched, his magic expanding it so that it fell from her to the ground in one fell swoop.
He was on her then, Rinka pulling him to her, begging him not to stop, not to hold back. There would be time for all of that later, time for anything and everything, but for now, this was all she needed.
His lips on hers, their bodies entwined.
It wasn’t enough, would never be enough. But for now, at least, she was satisfied.
Chapter Twenty-Six
THE PROTOTYPE
Alison
Two weeks flew by in a blur of research, planning, and testing. Parts were ordered from Loegria—a ‘lectric generator similar to the one Andsaz had attached to the pillar spinning in front of the dam, a number of small metal parts whose functionality Alison wasn’t sure of, and a great ‘lectric candelabra, which they hung from a movable scaffolding to demonstrate the new technology.
There had been setbacks. Alison didn’t fully understand all of the issues they’d encountered with concentrating the sunlight and connecting the various components, but she had seen the piles of scrap metal and discarded parts, and more importantly, witnessed Weyland’s frustrations and concerns with the entire plan.
“It won’t work,” he said as she joined the group in the workshop behind his forge. Gwenla, Lady Sibba, and Keir were all there already, Keir having come from a house visit to check on Minra and her young twins.
“It doesn’t need to work,” reminded Alison. “Looking at it now, I’m fairly convinced that it’s possible.”
The apparatus looked impressive enough. There was a great dish of hammered metal, as big around as Weyland was tall,mounted on a platform which could be rotated to face in the direction of the sun. In the center was a column which held a vessel containing water, heated by the concentrated light in the way that pointing a magnifying glass in the wrong direction on a sunny day could start a fire. It connected through the back of the dish to a series of boxes containing some sort of fan and the ‘lectric generator, and then it connected to the candelabra through a short wire.
So far, the candelabra had failed to light up. The issue, as Weyland explained it, involved containing the steam to generate enough pressure to rotate the fan. “I need it to work,” said Weyland.
It wasn’t an issue of his ego. It was the risk to them—to Alison in particular—if the king were to find out the demonstration was false. Weyland knew better than anyone what failure could mean for them, and Alison understood his concerns.
Still, what choice did they have? If they gave up and admitted that they couldn’t create their solar machine in time, there was no guarantee that the king wouldn’t punish Gwenla, the face of the operation, in the same exact way he’d punished Weyland.
Alison sat with the others drinking tea as Strelka, Weyland’s apprentice, came over with a newly crafted central vessel, the final attempt they would make before bringing the prototype to Weldan House, working or not.
“Any progress?” asked Gwenla. She was referring to Alison’s attempts to light the candelabra herself.
“I can heat the water well enough, but if Weyland can’t contain the steam, it still doesn’t matter,” said Alison.
“Can you light it directly? You know, channel the energy of lightning itself or something.”
“I don’t think even Idris can do that,” said Alison. Idris and Rinka had stopped by to check on their progress earlier in the week. Alison was happy to see them looking especially cozy, andshe was even happier when she heard the news from Rinka that they were truly courting now.
But Idris hadn’t been able to help in the way of the magic situation. His powers were only as useful as Alison’s were, although his control over them was far superior, even with Keir helping Alison direct hers. He could rotate the fan in a consistent manner that eluded Alison, but there was still the problem of his father being able to detect his interference.
They waited as Strelka and Weyland heated various pieces of metal and wire, detaching the existing assembly and attaching the new one.
Finally, it was time for the final trial.
“Turn it a bit more, a bit more, there,” said Weyland as they rotated the dish to face the sun. The day was lightly cloudy, and it took a couple minutes for the sky to clear enough to heat the water in the vessel.
Weyland paced around between the front and the back of the dish, checking for leaks.
But they didn’t come.
“Wait,” he said, “I think that may be—”
