Page 99 of Alchemised

Ilva stood, seizing her cane so tightly that her swollen knuckles showed white as she walked past Helena to the window, looking out towards the Alchemy Tower.

“My family built this Institute and this city to ensure that necromancy would never come to power again. They gave their lives to that cause and kept countless secrets to that end.”

Ilva fell silent for a long time. Helena didn’t dare speak.

“Have you heard the stories of Rivertide?”

Rivertide was the name of Paladia back before the first Necromancy War. It had been wiped out by a plague, and when the Necromancer found it, he’d used the corpses for his army.

“There was no plague,” Ilva said, still not looking back.

“Orion called it a plague because it was kinder than immortalising what truly happened to them all.” She pressed her hand, still clutching the amulet, against her chest. “The Necromancer realised the alchemical potential of the area and came to Rivertide specifically because of the people living here.”

“He killed them?” Helena couldn’t understand the purpose of that secret. That the Necromancer massacred Rivertide was even more believable than a story of finding a convenient town of corpses.

Ilva shook her head. “No, they’re still alive, to this day.”

Helena stared at her, not understanding.

“The Necromancer was a vivimancer, just like you, but the ability was even more mythical back then. He came to Rivertide performing miracles. They thought he was a god. They built him a temple on the plateau, gave him everything he asked for, and he promised them immortality if they only had the faith for it. Then one day, he brought them all together in a great assembly, in a secret place he’d carved underground, and declared that if they trusted him fully, utterly, he could make them live forever.

I’m not sure of the process, but afterwards, his temple was full of corpses, and their souls were bound together, synthesised into this—substance.

He used it, the power, to reanimate them all. ”

Ilva began to pace, her steps jerky, her cane trembling in her hand; she was too agitated to be still.

“When Orion fought the Necromancer, the souls were still conscious, aware of the betrayal exacted upon them—that the gift of ‘immortality’ came at the price of eternal enslavement. During the battle, the Necromancer’s control slipped, and the Stone turned on him.

There was a light as bright as the sun. It filled the valley, destroying the Necromancer and all the necrothralls in a wave of fire.

When it was over, Orion and his followers were all that remained.

” Ilva shook her head. “If the truth of the Stone’s nature were known, Orion feared that others might be inspired to rediscover the methods, and so, when those who’d witnessed the battle called the Stone a gift from Sol, Orion had no choice but to let them believe it. ”

Ilva paused, her expression mournful.

“It’s all a lie?”

Ilva whirled on her, looking furious. “What else could he do?”

Helena stood up, ready to ignite. “Tell the truth! You don’t get to make up history to suit your preferences.

Do you realise what you’ve done? Luc thinks he’s supposed to be earning a miracle.

That the reason he hasn’t already won this war is because he hasn’t suffered or been enough like Orion to earn it, and that’s his fault.

But there will never be a miracle that will save us.

You’re torturing him to death on a lie.”

“That’s why I am making him miracles,” Ilva snapped back.

She looked equally incensed, as if Helena were the traitor.

“You think I want him to suffer? I want to tell him, but when is there time for that?” She swept her arm out.

“Apollo should have been the one to tell him—when he was old enough, and ready for it all. There’s a process to it, but all that was destroyed when Ferron murdered Apollo and brought this war upon us.

All I can do is try to make that faith real and keep him from losing hope. ”

The whole city, the Principate, the Faith, the history, every mural, every amulet. All lies.

“You have to tell Luc the truth. You can’t keep doing this to him.”

“And what do you think would happen if he knows that no help is coming? What will he have then?” Ilva glared at her. “That is too great a risk, but now thanks to you, I am left with nothing but terrible choices.”

Helena set her jaw, too angry to accept the fault. “Why would you give me something like that without explaining what it was?”

Ilva’s eyes flashed. “Because I was trying to save you, spare you. I thought maybe the damned thing could manage that much, and it seemed that it did. But when Ferron made his offer, Crowther said it was the only chance we had left. I considered taking it back that night. I could have, after what you’d said before the Council, but I remembered your face when I first put it on you.

I thought you treasured it enough to have sense.

You stupid, stupid girl.” All the strength seemed to suddenly leave Ilva, and she nearly collapsed into a seat.

“You don’t get to lie to me and then get angry when I make the mistake of believing you,” Helena said. “If the Stone’s that special, why not let Luc use it.”

Ilva’s expression twisted bitterly. “It doesn’t serve the Holdfasts.

” She looked away from Helena, jaw set. “Even in Orion’s own hands, it was hard and cold, never bestowing its power or favour upon anyone of the Holdfast line.

There have been a few whom it would warm to, but it always went cold eventually.

And you of all people had it. You could have done anything, and you healed Ferron with it. ”

“So sorry I wasn’t the puppet you wanted,” Helena said bitterly, standing.

She felt as if the entire world had dropped out from beneath her feet; she had no idea how to navigate this newfound reality.

After so much time being maligned for her lack of faith, it was all an invention.

She wasn’t sure what was real. Even being given to Kaine had been an elaborate con.

It had never been about securing Kaine’s loyalty, but simply about giving the earnest appearance that she was trying to.

And Luc. Her heart ached. What would he do if he learned the truth?

Could she tell him this? After all she’d omitted over the years, was she going to come clean by destroying everything he believed in?

She couldn’t. There was too much at stake, and Ilva knew that.

Helena paused as she reached the door. “In the future, perhaps tell me what you want instead of expecting me to fail where it’s convenient to you. Maybe then we’ll both end up less disappointed in each other.”

“You want honesty?” Ilva’s voice was viperous. “I want you to kill Kaine Ferron.”

Helena froze, turning slowly back.

Ilva met her eyes. She was composed again, chilly as a lake. “He was always going to die, but I want you to do it. You created this new threat to Luc, so you will put an end to it.”

“He hasn’t done anything to betray us.”

“He murdered my nephew.” Ilva’s voice cracked like a whip, and Helena saw the fury and hatred that the woman kept so carefully concealed. It rose like a beast from inside her. “You want to what? To wait and see who he’ll kill next? Whose life are you prepared to gamble on that?”

Her chest clenched. “You can’t ask me to betray—”

“Why not? What has he done for you, Marino, except play you like the fool you are? Are a few trinkets all your loyalty costs?” Ilva’s eyes flicked derisively to the oilcloth still clutched in Helena’s hand.

“If Ferron wanted you, he would have taken you by now. You’re just a toy; he winds you up and watches you spin. ”

“No. I’m making progress. A little more time and I’ll have him just the way Crowther wants him.”

Ilva gave a disbelieving laugh. “Crowther was delusional, thinking to use you to tame Ferron. You cannot bring a mad dog to heel.” She shook her head.

“But very well, you’re welcome to refuse; it doesn’t matter, we have more than enough evidence of his treachery.

Jan has been assembling a comprehensive package.

It would be a trivial matter to send along to the Undying.

I suppose you could say the case is ironclad.

Do you prefer that? Do you think they’ll kill him this time? ”

Helena’s chest felt as if it had been punched through. “You can’t do that to him.”

Ilva was unmoved. “Why not? It would be fitting, no? After everything he’s done. I’d say he more than deserves it.”

Helena realised then what she should have realised long before, that Ilva had always wanted revenge.

Crowther looked at the civil war and saw all the political machinations of the surrounding countries; Ilva’s game of war was equally intricate, but hers was wholly personal.

It was about Luc, it was about her family’s legacy, and it was about revenge.

Crowther had been the ambitious one who’d wanted Helena to make Kaine loyal, something utilised in the long term. That had never been Ilva’s goal.

“We need him, though. We’ve only come this far because of him. If we lose him, if things start falling apart again, people will blame Luc for that.”

Ilva gave a thin smile. “Fortunately for us, Ferron has made himself quite the integral figure among the Undying in recent months. With him suddenly gone, the destabilisation will be widespread.”

“You can’t do this,” Helena said.

“I am trying to save everyone, Marino.” Her voice crackled with intensity.

“That includes you. No matter how you’ve romanticised him, Kaine Ferron is not a person.

He is a monster.” Ilva pressed her hand over her heart, a gesture many people made when alluding to Apollo.

“He and his family should have been dealt with long ago, but Pol worried about how the guilds might react. He let that boy attend the Institute despite the suspicions surrounding his birth, and look how that kindness was repaid. I will not make that mistake with Luc.”

“Please, Ilva, I can make him loyal. I just need more time.”

Ilva stared at her. “Are you choosing Ferron over Luc? Over all the vows you made?”

The question stopped her cold.

“No,” Helena said quickly. “No,” she said again, her voice breaking. “I am loyal. But”—her throat worked several times—“if I had proof that he was loyal, that he’d do whatever you wanted, would you let him live? I swear, if I can’t, I will—I will kill him. But if he was loyal, he could be useful.

“Please, Ilva.” Her voice shook.

Ilva gave a small sigh and looked tired.

“If you can present Ferron on his knees, crawling, willing to do anything, within a month, I’ll let you keep him.

” Then she shook her head. “But be honest with yourself. There’s no such thing as loyalty in his kind.

The Ferrons are as corruptible as their resonance. ”

There was pressure in her throat like a stone, but Helena forced herself to speak. “I’ll do it. One way or another. I’ll finish it. Don’t let Crowther send what he has.”

Ilva had leaned forward on her desk, the chain from the empty amulet dangling between her fingers. “One month, Marino.”