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Story: A Forbidden Alchemy

I shook my head. “The Alchemist,” I uttered, looking to Theo for confirmation. “They wouldn’t risk an attack without first securing the Alchemist.”

“Evidently,” Theo said darkly. “They’re willing to take that chance.”

My mind reeled. I read the words over and over, desperately searching for a way around them. “No. No, he wouldn’t. There is nothing that matters more to Tanner than idium. Domelius Becker is too valuable.”

“Which isexactlywhy he will now invade, Nina!” Theo nearly yelled. “Two years they’ve gone without an Alchemist. How long did you trust Tanner to wait? He’s grown desperate.Youwere his last bid to find Becker, but even the prodigal earth Charmer has failed to turn out a single clue as to the man’s whereabouts. He has nochoicebut to invade. To not do so would be to admit defeat to the Crafters.” Theo’s neck had become mottled in red; he heaved each breath, pulling it between his teeth. “And as we know, he will never concede defeat.”

I shook my head, refuting his words beyond sense. “No.”

“Nina—”

“I can find the Alchemist,” I promised—whether to them or to myself, I wasn’t sure.

“We’ve been trying to figure out his whereabouts for two years,” Pollysaid weakly, strain written clearly across her face. “Patrick will never give him up.”

“We’ve been given our new orders,” Theo said.

“No!” This time, my voice rebounded dangerously off the bricks. It rattled up the pipes that snaked the building to the rooftops. It cracked open my chest and spilled out all the hope I’d precariously garnered.

I couldn’t see this town razed. I couldn’t forsake Rose Harrow and John Colson.

And I couldn’t lose Patrick, whose heart I’d threaded mine with. Not after choosing him. Choosing here.

“Nina,” Polly said gently. “We—”

“I’ll find the Alchemist,” I insisted.

“We can’t.” Polly shook her head. “There’s no more time.”

“We can go back to the city, Nina,” Theo said, placating again. “My father will help you, I know he will. He’ll pull strings for clemency.”

“They won’t come if there’s no safe passage,” I blurted out, clutching at final straws under duress. “They won’t come unless you give them the route, Polly. You can hold them off.”

“I can’t,” she said. “Not for long.”

“They won’t come unless they can find a way in,” I said again, my voice surer this time, more confident. “There are no tracks, no roads, no canals. The surrounding hills are laden with land mines.”

“Thereisa way in, Nina,” she said quietly. “Right into the center. You created it yourself.” There was no malevolence, no threat in her tone. Only sorrow. Resignation.

I cinched my eyes closed. Shook my head. What I thought wasThey’ll come here and shoot everyone, burn everything. But what I said was, “If I can’t give them the Alchemist, Tanner will have my mother killed.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Theo said, eyes fervent. “You’ve built a tunnel for the Lords’ infantry and it’s their only way in. Tanner will see it as service enough—”

“I’ll find the Alchemist,” I blustered. “If I find him, they needn’t come, and thousands of innocent people won’t need to die.”

“Listen to yourself,” Theo growled, pulling at his own hair. “These are the same people who wouldshoot youif they knew what you were. You can’t do this.”

“I can,” I said, my voice shaking in unspent rage. “Iwillfind him, and I’m not asking for your help, Theo. I’m only asking that you not stand in my way. If you have any lingering affection for me at all, then let me do this.Please.”

Perhaps it was cruel to press on that history, to use it against him.

But I was desperate.

Theo stared at me for a long time, tormented, it seemed, by whatever he saw in me. “A week,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose like he couldn’t quite believe he was saying it. “We can hold them off for a week, and no longer.”

Relief coursed through me. “Thank you,” I breathed.

Theo shook his head slowly, watching the tremor in my fingers.

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