Alchemist's Kiss by AR DeClerck Page B

opened my eyes to find Icarus bending over me. He'd changed and his hair had dried in ringlets around his ears. He shook my shoulder as I blinked and stared at him.
    “Cora. Where is Archimedes?”
    I sat up with a yawn, pulling my shawl over my shoulders. I'd fallen asleep and the fire had burned low. Shadows crawled across the floor. I looked at the clock.
    “He's not back?”
    “Where did he go?”
    “The apothecary. For mandrake.” I grabbed Icarus' hand as he moved away. “That was hours ago, Icarus.”
    He squeezed my hand, but his lips were pale white slashes. “I'll find him.”
    He left me and went into his laboratory, only to return a moment later with his map and scrying glass. I moved aside the forgotten tea service as he spread out the map. He reached for my hand again as he knelt by the table.
    “No.” I pulled my hand away. “I always block you.”
    He pulled my knuckles to his lips, shocking me with the sweetness of the gesture. “I need you, Cora. If Archimedes is in trouble, he will need us both to help him.”
    I reached for The Hand and held it tightly. It amplified my connection to the aether, and Icarus removed his glove and placed his scarred palm directly on the corner of the map. He placed the scrying glass, a clear marble with one flat side, onto the map at the spot that indicated our hotel.
    “Close your eyes and concentrate on Archimedes.” he instructed. I breathed deeply and slowly, exactly as he'd taught me. I felt myself open up to the aether, and the ribbons of sentient power washed over me and all around me.
    “It's working.” Icarus whispered. “Ask the aether where Archimedes is.”
    I asked, and the aether swarmed around me, brushing against me as it whispered in my ear. I struggled to make out the words, but Icarus hissed as our palms grew hot where they touched. As he broke our connection I was pulled away from the aether.
    I blinked. “What happened?”
    He picked up my hand and showed me the red irritation where our skin had touched. “There are wards blocking Archimedes from us.”
    “We could have kept going.” I felt the fear churning in my gut. My head grew light and I leaned against Icarus.
    “No.” He smoothed the hair from my cheeks and shook his head. “Archimedes will need us both healthy. The longer we scryed for him the more dangerous it would become.”
    “What can we do?” Icarus was warm next to me, and I let go of The Hand to clutch him closer. I wrapped my fingers in his shirt.
    I expected him to push me away, but he wrapped his arms around me. “We find our friend.”
    “How?”
    He pulled back to look at me. “Am I not the warden of London? The wizard responsible for the safety of all the people in this city?”
    I nodded.
    “I taught you about magic, did I not?”
    “You did.”
    “Well, dear Cora,” he rose and held out his hand to me, “it's time we put that magic to work for us. We have more at our disposal than a mediocre scrying spell.”
    “What do we have?” I asked, taking the hand he offered. He pushed open the laboratory door and I followed him inside. He waved his hand and the lights rushed to greet us. I gasped at the rows and rows of spells he had bubbling merrily on the counter. Every inch of the room was covered in books and magical equipment.
    He grinned at me as he looked around the room. The last time I'd been allowed inside all of his equipment had still been packed away from the journey from America.
    “We have me.”
     
    ***
     
    Archimedes was no stranger to torture. Every moment of every day of his life was torture. Every time the clockwork ticked he knew pain. What he had never known was fear. Even unto the moment of his death in that alley he had not met the reaper with fear in his gut.
    Now, though, Archimedes was afraid. He'd come around the corner from the apothecary shop with his mandrake root and a box of chocolates to ease Cora's ill temper when a spell of great power had wrapped around him. Unable to