“I mean that I followed the formula, and presumably that would have saved me. But how did it also work on Yoslyn? Why was one dose enough for both of us? And why did it workinstantly?”
Desmond didn’t look surprised by the question. But he didn’t answer it either.
“They’re discussing that, aren’t they?” My hand tightened around his, silently demanding a response. Demanding the truth. “What did my observer say? He’s your colleague?”
“Yes, and likely assigned to you specifically by the Bluehelm. His name is Osric Irving, and he’s one of the seniormost Apotheosis researchers.” Desmond sighed, but he held my gaze. “Osric has no idea how your antidote worked like it did. The formula was correct. It was one of the correct approaches, anyway, though he was openly impressed with the ingenuity of it. As wasI, for the record. I hadn’t seen your work on metal poisoning until this morning, when I went back to the lab and grabbed your notes.”
“Desmond, please. Just tell me.” I didn’t feel like I could claim the work I’d done, considering that I couldn’t remember doing it.
“But they all agree,” he continued. “Osric, and the assembled panel of professors and researchers. One vial shouldn’t have been enough for both you and Yoslyn. And it shouldn’t have worked so quickly. And…” He exhaled heavily. “It shouldn’t have reversed the damage.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…at half a dosage, the most your antidote should have done was neutralize the poison. By all rights, you and Yoslyn should both be in the infirmary right now, waiting on the Panacea’s antidote to reverse the effects, like your classmate Adria. She suffered mild lung damage and will likely be breathing viable air”—a remedy produced by the Panacea staff and sold by the Alchemary as a treatment for various lung illnesses—“for several days. Though they’ve deemed the damage minor enough that she will pass.”
Suddenly the chill I felt seemed to be coming from beneath my skin rather than from the cold night air.
“So then, how did it happen, Desmond?Howdid I earn this? Meorpast me?”
“I have no idea. And they’ve certainly asked. They crawled all over my lab this afternoon, looking for some hint of an ingredient you could have snuck in, or some way you could have preprepared the antidote and exchanged what you pretended to make for what you’d brought with you, though Osric swears no such thing happened.” He sighed. “A couple of my colleagues have even accused me of telling you what the poison would be, but that idea was dismissed, because I’m not on the committee this year. I didn’t know it would be a metal toxin.”
“Then why did you underline that antidote?”
He frowned. “I underlined several of the ones you didn’t get a chance to practice, to make sure you could understand your own notes quickly.”
“Truly?” I asked, and he nodded. I hadn’t noticed any others. Likely because I didn’t spend much time on the ones that didn’t fit the symptoms.
“I didn’t give you the answer, Amber. I didn’t evenknowthe answer.”
I exhaled slowly, letting the truth of that settle into my soul. “So…what was the conclusion?” I whispered. “From that panel of professors and researchers?”
His thumb stroked over the back of my right hand, his coppery gaze holding mine with remarkable steadiness. “They have no idea. But they desperately want to understand. They’ll doanythingto understand, in fact.”
“That’s why Yoslyn wasn’t expelled.”
He nodded. “They’re studying you both. They’re already set up in the arena, with two teams of researchers, trying to replicate what you did. Following every step Osric wrote down.”
“Any luck?”
“Not so far.”
“Will I be…questioned? Interviewed?” The very idea made anxiety twist in my gut.
“I sincerely doubt it,” Desmond said. “That would mean admitting that they don’t understand how a student got professional- grade results from an intermediate-grade recipe. They think…” He exhaled heavily. “TheBluehelmthinks you’re back. The old Amber. Or at least that this is evidence you could be. She’s convinced the Alchemary can benefit from your research. If you ever manage to finish it.”
“Or even remember it,” I mumbled.
He nodded. “Either way, it appears that I’ve lost this battle. She will not send you home. And if you will not leave on your own accord—”
“I will not.”
“—then it seems we are still lab mates. If that is still what you want.”
I took a deep breath. “The situation is complicated,” I admitted.
“Amber, I do not regret what happened between us. I should. Yet Ido not.” His coppery gaze flashed fiercely at me in the dim light, and a heat began to build low, low in my center.
Saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal.
