The Heart of Alchemy by James Wisher (i like reading books txt) 📗

“What would you like to know?” Ulf placed the empty flask in front of him and capped the final vial. “I can’t tell you much as my own interactions with them amounted to little more than my trial and exile.”

“How much influence do they wield?”

“A great deal. They oversee all alchemists in the empire. The head of their order serves as one of the emperor’s chief advisors. They also aid both the guards and the army in times of conflict. Not that there’s much conflict in the empire. My people tend to obedience. Over a thousand years of reasonably benevolent rule by the same family and no wars worthy of the name make for a calm populace.”

“I imagine anyone that complains is dealt with harshly.”

“Very. You will have no hope of completing your mission without dealing with the lords. Assuming you can get into the empire in the first place.”

Ulf had mentioned before that outsiders weren’t welcome. Otto smiled. That would be a problem to worry about after he arrived. “You don’t even know what my mission is.”

Ulf shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Anything of importance that happens in the empire will involve them. And rest assured, my skills are nothing compared to theirs.”

Otto hoped to avoid a fight. He really just wanted to trade for the Heart. Maybe mithril, maybe something else. Within reason, he’d give whatever he had to in order to claim the artifact.

The trapdoor hidden in the warehouse floor swung up and Sin climbed out. She wore her usual skintight black leather. Her long, dark hair was gathered at the nape of her neck and a small patch of dirt clung to her pale cheek.

She closed the door and ambled over to him. “Lord Shenk, I apologize for keeping you waiting. One of my girls contacted me at the last minute.”

“I only just arrived. What have you learned?”

“The baron hired three servants for their time in Garen: a cleaning girl, a cook, and a doorman. They also brought one servant with them, a dark-skinned man in his thirties that oversees everything in the household. I learned little of the inner workings of the house. Allen is trying to finagle some information out of the cleaner. She gets the mornings off.”

“I’ll bet he is. And the other matter?”

“Right, one of the girls I arranged for the emperor’s harem contacted me. It seems he hasn’t been to see them in over a week. Since his attentions had been quite regular before that, they wanted to let me know.”

Otto scratched his cheek. If Wolfric wasn’t visiting the harem, the only explanation was the noble girl. Had the fool gone and fallen in love? Otto dearly hoped not. Men in love seldom made good decisions. He needed to meet this noblewoman and try to learn her true intentions. But if Wolfric really had fallen for her, he couldn’t do anything drastic. One bad word from the girl could cause him a huge headache.

The warehouse door slammed open and Allen burst in. “Am I late? I am, sorry. It took longer than I expected to get anything useful out of her.”

Otto gestured and the door shut behind Allen, cutting off the chill breeze. “So you did learn something useful?”

“Well…”

Otto offered a silent prayer for patience. “Just spit it out.”

“Okay, as far as the cleaning girl knows, there’s nothing happening. The only weird thing she noticed was that the servant they brought with them, a Mr. Ahmed, speaks a strange language from time to time.”

“Strange language?” Otto frowned. For the last thousand-plus years, everyone had spoken the same language. Outside of Lord Karonin’s older books, he’d never seen or heard another language. “Who, exactly, does he speak this strange language with?”

“The niece, Jade. She only overheard them a couple times, but whatever they were saying, it wasn’t something she understood.”

“Interesting. Thank you both.”

It seemed the only way Otto would solve this mystery was to speak with the woman herself. He’d have to ask Wolfric to arrange it.

Chapter 7

Wolfric took deep breaths to calm his racing heart. He’d never felt this way before meeting a woman before. Jade brought out all sorts of emotions in him. Powerful ones, he thought. Dangerous ones, according to Otto. His dear friend wanted to meet Jade and the idea appealed to and frightened him in equal measure.

Emperor or not, Wolfric held no illusions about the fate of the empire if Otto withdrew his support. He also knew he loved Jade and wouldn’t give her up. Not even at Otto’s suggestion.

Tonight, he and Jade were meeting in his private dining room and without her uncle as a chaperone. It would be his first time alone with her and just thinking about it made his hands sweat.

He smiled and shook his head. Look at him. Anyone that saw him so out of sorts would think this was his first encounter with a woman. It wasn’t, by any means, but it might have been the first time he had ever been alone with a woman that actually meant more to him than a quick tumble.

He reached down and adjusted a fork that didn’t perfectly line up with the spoon. Before he could find anything else to fiddle with, the dining room door opened and Jade walked in.

Wolfric’s breath caught in his throat. Tonight she wore a gown of deep crimson cut in a far more revealing style than anything she’d worn before. He tried to think of something to say and failed.

Jade smiled at his reaction. “You like the dress? I bought it today on a shopping trip to your Gold Ward. There were many beautiful things there, far more than we have back home.”

“The dress is very nice, but you make it beautiful. Please sit. The first course will be along shortly.”

He pulled out her chair and she sat, smoothing her skirt under her.

Wolfric took his seat across from her. Better to get it out of the way, then he’d be free to enjoy himself.