Alchemist's Kiss (10 page)

“Then we agree. We press on.” She looked hard at him, the breeze making a curl dance daintily over her shoulders. She was lovelier to him than the day he'd seen her in Gettysburg. She had the same steely look in her eyes now, too. “To Columbia Road Market.”

He stood with her, the aether steadying him as he clung to Cora's hand. It flowed between them, a current of living energy that wrapped around their joined hands. He was still tired. He was still angry. He was still fighting.

Icarus was a strong man. I'd seen him beaten bloody and still be fighting. I'd seen him fall and get up when most men wouldn't. But those times he'd been tired in his body. Now I saw him weary in his soul. He was hounded by memories of his father and his early days as a wizard, times he refused to share with Archie and I. We walked quickly down the streets, avoiding the crowds of the mid-day rush to market as much as possible. Icarus didn't speak, but our hands remained clasped tightly together. I wasn't sure if he held on to me to keep me close and safe, or because I was the only thing that kept him moving forward.

I was scared more by Icarus' melancholy than I had been by the Stygian void of Victor's presence. Icarus was my light. My teacher. Never had I seen him haunted by deeds only he remembered. It clouded the light in his eyes, and made him cold. I vowed to myself as we walked that I would burn that frigid fear from him with every bit of passion I could muster. Was he afraid of Victor, I wondered, of afraid of his own darkness?

The roads became narrower, the buildings closer together, as we neared the market. Throngs of ragged children huddled against the walls of the homes, calling out for food. Wizards moved among them, handing out loaves of bread and fresh fruits, their charity of their own doing and the foods bought with their own wages. A few of the wizards stopped to speak with Icarus in low tones, assuring him that they had seen no signs of his father in the area.

I stopped to kneel before a girl of six or seven with hair that might have been blonde underneath all the brick and coal dust that coated it. From a thin face pinched with hunger two big blue eyes stared at me from beneath blonde lashes. She was so much like Icarus, with her starving eyes and curiously haughty demeanor that I was taken aback for a moment.

“Hello, child.” I took an apple from a wizard standing near me and held it out to the little girl. She did not take it, but watched me cautiously. I shook the apple at her and smiled. “You may have it.”

“I don't care for apples.”

I smashed my lips together to hold back my laughter. This child was surely a brother or sister to Icarus Kane. I returned the apple to the young wizard and took a loaf of bread instead. “Bread, then?”

“Are you a wizard, miss?”

I nodded, studying the small girl. “Yes. I am a magic user.”

“Can I use magic, miss?”

“Would you like to learn to use magic?”

Blue eyes lit with interest, and a pang pinched my chest. So very like Icarus.

“Yes, miss. I feel it, you know.”

“The magic?” I held up a hand and removed my glove, letting the aether coalesce in my palm and glow a bright golden orange.

The blue eyes widened a bit, but the sweet face remained calm. “Yes, miss. I told my brother that it was there, but he didn't believe me.”

“You are correct, there is aether all around us.” I looked up at the young wizard I'd procured the bread from. “Excuse me, young mage.”

He crouched beside me. He was nineteen or twenty, and handsome with hazel eyes and a strong chin recently shaved. His hair was too long, laying against the collar of his jacket. From the crest on his pocket I knew he belonged to one of the nine High Houses, old families who kept scores of their own wizards in their employ, using them to power their businesses. This man belonged to the Desmond Company, the family responsible for lighting nearly all the homes and businesses in London with magical light.

“Yes, Adept Jenkins?” He was respectful, as most wizards knew Icarus, Archie and I from our escapades of demon hunting throughout the city. “How may I assist?”

“This child would like to learn magic. Doesn't Desmond House run a school for magical children?”

His face creased in a smile, and he was even more handsome with strong, white teeth and a dimple on the right. “We do. We convene our new term with a celebration in Trafalgar Square in only a few day's time.” He looked at the little girl. “What's your name?”

The girl looked to me, and I nodded at her to speak. She was uncommonly intelligent, and I knew she would go far in the magical community.

“Cassandra Melissandre McIntyre.” she said proudly.

The mage from Desmond House held out his hand, shaking with the girl. “Cassandra Melissandre McIntyre, I am Grayson Trimble.”

“My brother calls me Cassie.”

Grayson's smile grew. “Very well, Cassie. What's your brother's name? Would he like to learn magic as well?”

She pointed to a boy of ten or eleven who stood away from the others, a glower on his face. “He's afraid.” she whispered to us.

Grayson stood, holding out one hand to me and one to Cassie. I took it and allowed him to assist me up as Icarus joined us. His eyes locked on my hand in the young mage's, and I hid a smile behind my hand.

“Grayson Trimble of Desmond House, this is Icarus Kane. And this is Cassie.”

Icarus cast a cold look at the young mage, but his face softened when his gaze moved to the small girl. He bent at the waist and they stared hard into one another's eyes for a long moment.

“You will be a very strong wizard one day, Cassie.” Icarus murmured. The little girl drew up proudly, her small shoulders going back.

“I know.”

I laughed. “Grayson will see you're taken care of at Desmond House, Cassie, but Icarus and I would like to come visit you there sometime. May we do that?”

The little girl nodded and tugged on Grayson's hand. “Can Davey come?”

Grayson nodded. “Even if your brother has no love of magic, there is much he can learn. Let's go get him, shall we?”

He scooped up the small girl in his arms and nodded to me. “Pleasure to meet you, Adept Jenkins.”

“And you, Mr. Trimble.”

As they walked away Icarus took my hand in his and we walked toward the entrance to the market. “I didn't realize you had a softness for children.”

I kept the humor from my tone as I replied, “Cassie is a lovely child. She's very attuned to the aether.”

“The mage is quite young as well.”

“I suppose, but he's very kind.” I cast a glance at Icarus through my lashes. “He's very handsome.”

Icarus had developed a twitch in his eye that I had never noticed before. “Most mages wet behind the ears are handsome. They have the luxury of youth and inexperience to keep them so.”

“I suppose so.” I knew it was wrong to tease Icarus so, but his jealousy made me giddy. “I do look forward to seeing Mr. Trimble again, though. These mages come here on their days off to bring food to the needy. That's very compassionate.”

“I can be compassionate.”

Icarus' low grumble made me chuckle, and he glared at me. In turn, I laughed harder.

“I don't see the humor in this. I am extremely compassionate.”

“Icarus, darling, I know you are!” I grasped his arm in mine as we rounded the corner into the belly of the market. The smells of fish and refuse assaulted my nose. “You do understand that I'm teasing you?”

“I have no claims on you, Cora. If Trimble is acceptable to you...” he trailed off as I pulled up short.

Anger rolled from my stomach to my tongue on a wave. “Icarus Kane you're a bloody fool!”

His mouth dropped open at my profanity, but it was far from done.

I stepped closer, poking him hard in the chest with my finger. I felt the aether swirl around me as it picked up on my anger. “I should curse you. I should turn you to a toad for such behavior!”

“Now, Cora---”

“Don't
now Cora
me, Icarus Kane!” I poked him again. “This behavior must stop. You are not an ignorant man, so stop acting like one.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but I held up my hand, stopping him before he could speak. I looked around, a frown stealing over my face. “Icarus, where are all the people?”

He turned from me to see what had pulled my attention away so suddenly. The entire market, filled to the brim with people only moments ago, was now empty. He moved to my side in a flash, his body taunt and on guard. I stepped closer, pressing my side to his.

“Icarus...”

He shook his head, silently warning me to be quiet. I grasped The Hand, holding it as he removed his glove. A wave of dread washed over me. For Icarus to take off his glove meant he sensed real danger.

“Hello, Adepts.”

A man stepped from the shadows of an alley as he spoke. He pushed round spectacles up on a long nose with equally long fingers In fact, everything about the man was long. Long legs, long torso. Long neck. His hair was covered by a skullcap but stuck out in places around his neck.

“Who do I have the honor of addressing?” Icarus asked. He moved, sliding himself in front of me. I squeezed his arm hard, my nails biting into his skin through his coat, but he ignored me.

“My apologies. I am Captain Corrigan Levisque. Her Majesty's Royal Air Corp.” He pointed up and I gasped. A dirigible hung in the air over the market above us.

“Captain.” Icarus did not relax. “Did you use magic to obscure your arrival, and now the people in the market, from us?”

The Captain's mouth twisted into a smile. He was a dangerous man, despite his outward appearance of scholarly ineptness, I intuited. Something dark and wild in his eyes made me wary.

“Not precisely. The people in the market are not obscured from us. We are not visible to them.” He raised his arm and showed us a band around his wrist. Attached to it was a box with several blinking lights.

“Science, then.” Icarus' disdain was clear.

“Again, not precisely.” Levisque pressed a button on the armband and a flash of light flared outward. Icarus took two steps back, pushing me with him as the light lit up the dim air.

“Aether!” I said, ignoring Icarus' warning glare. “You've combined the two!”

Levisque bowed to me and with another press of the button the light disappeared.  “I'm under direct orders from Her Majesty to collect you and deliver you to the Tower immediately.”

“What does the Queen want with us?” Icarus returned his glove to his hand and crossed his arms. “Surely the Grand Master has apprised her of our mission.”

“We have what you're looking for.”

“And what's that?” Icarus narrowed his eyes at the man.

“We have the scientist you're looking for in custody.”

The dirigible hung low against the rooftops as the Captain gestured and a rope ladder dangled down.

“If you please.” He nodded to the ladder and I shook my head.

“I'll go last, thank you.”

He bowed low and was the first to begin the climb. He clambered quickly, his long appendages making quick work of the jaunt. Icarus put a foot on the bottom rung and turned to me.

“I feel unsure of leaving you to make the climb alone.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to vie for a peek at my underthings, Icarus Kane?”

“I daresay a glimpse would turn a man to mush, Cora.” His grin was brief but naughty. “But no. I don't want you to fall.”

“Get up the ladder.” I said with an eye roll. I clamped the curved end of my parasol over my forearm and waved him on. “I'm more than able to climb a ladder. If Captain Levisque can keep the ship steady I should be up poste haste.”

Icarus moved with as much speed as the Captain, and I grabbed hold of the rope and pulled myself up. I felt a flutter of excitement in my gut as I began the climb toward the dirigible. This was exactly why I never once regretted accepting Icarus' offer. Perhaps I'd have been married and living on a plantation in Virginia with a man who doted on me, but never would I have known this kind of adventure. I felt the wind whip my skirts around my ankles as I neared the deck of the giant flying balloon. Never once, in all my time with Icarus Kane, had I ever been bored.

***

Icarus watched as Cora clambered up the ladder with an elegance he could never have mustered. Hand over hand she ascended daintily, a wide smile on her face. He reached for her hand and pulled her over the last step, landing her squarely in his arms. She laughed, the wind whipping her loose curls around her flushed face.

“Marvelous fun!' she kissed his cheek as she moved away to lean over the edge and look down at the city below. He grabbed her arm, pulling her closer as his heart lurched at the idea of her tumbling over the edge.

“Please. This way.” Levisque waved them toward the cabin of the balloon ship. Icarus kept his guard up as the crew of the airship moved about, ignoring them for the most part as they prepared to depart for the Tower. Levisque held open the door as Icarus and Cora swept past him to the control center of the ship.

A paunchy man with a long handlebar mustache and a jaunty cap was at the wheel. “We've good wind, Captain,” he said in a booming voice, “we'll make the Tower by tea time.”

“Very well. Mr. Nickerson is my XO,” Levisque pointed to Cora and then to Icarus. “Nickerson, this is Adept Kane and Jenkins.”

“I've seen the Grand Adept a time or two on a hunt!” The big man winked at Cora as he turned the airship deftly toward the Tower of London. “But Ms. Jenkins is more to my liking, she is.”