The Alchemist's Touch Read Free Page A

not trouble yourself. There are laws you must follow while here, but we have our own laws that cannot be broken. No one will speak of your presence.”
    A great breath rushed from him, and in his relief it took a long moment to realize that Adara still held his hand. Now she had turned it over, palm facing up towards her face, and traced a nail across its lines. A pleasant prickling crawled up Ebon’s arm and into his chest, where it mingled with the comfortable warmth of his wine.
    “You said you wish to visit the Academy,” she said softly. “Why?”
    “I have wished it since I was a child, and they discovered I had the gift.”
    Her eyes rose sharply, and he saw a spark of excitement within them. “Are you a wizard?”
    “An alchemist,” he mumbled, blushing now for a new reason. She looked at him as though he were some great champion of war. “But only by virtue of my gift. I have no training, and can do nothing.”
    She pouted. “You cannot show me even some simple spell? I should greatly love to see it.”
    He looked around. “Have you any water? I know but one spell—the one with which they test children, to see if they have the gift.”
    “I have no water. Only wine.”
    “I can do nothing with wine. I am sorry.”
    She smiled. “Then the next time you come, I will be certain to have water ready for you.”
    He looked down at his lap. “I shall not return here. My family returns to Idris soon, and they will take me with them. But I would come if I could.”
    Her hand met his cheek, and she lifted his head until he was again looking into her eyes. Time seemed to slow, and he could hear his heartbeat like thunder in his chest. “Nothing is certain. If you have come to forget what lies outside, then let us dream together: you, that you can stay upon the Seat; and I, that you will visit me again.”
    He forced himself to laugh. “Those are pretty words indeed. I thank you for them, though I know you must be bound to say what I wish to hear.”
    She caught his meaning, and her eyes took on a wry twist. “You think I mean to flatter you? No, Ebon. Some lovers would do anything to please their partners. I am not one such. If I tell you something, for good or for ill, I mean it. That is one promise I will make you now, and keep for always.”
    A voice at the back of his mind told him that those words were a lie, and yet still Ebon believed her. And now she was so close that her breath washed sweetly across her face, and he drank it in, even as his hands rose of their own accord and she pulled him closer to kiss him.
    A short time later, they lay together beneath the satin sheets, Ebon fighting to reclaim his breath. Adara was curled up under his arm, her head resting above his heart, braid now undone to spill her hair across his meager chest.
    “You must tell me,” he said between heaving breaths. “Was I any good?”
    “Not at all,” she said, stretching up to kiss him. “But that is all right, for we have our dream. And in it, you will keep coming to see me—and perhaps, one day, practice will see you perfect.”

three

    EBON WOKE WITH A TERRIBLE headache and the urge to vomit. The need soon grew enough to send him from bed and crawling to the chamber pot. His retch came thick and red, full of the wine from the night before.
    He finished and looked around, realizing almost with surprise that he was back in his room in the Drayden manor. He remembered Adara—remembered her in vivid, lurid detail that even now made his stomach turn itself in knots—and then he remembered leaving the house of lovers. He remembered returning to the tavern and ordering another flagon of wine. There the memory faded.
    The door opened without a knock, and Ebon knew it was Tamen before seeing him. The retainer came quickly with a towel dipped in warm water, and scrubbed flecks of vomit from his lips.
    “I am fine, Tamen.” Ebon put the lie to his words by clutching his forehead, where a spike seemed to be seeking