“I don’t think you understand the people I’ve gathered. Kate. Malcolm. Penny. They are extraordinary. As smart as any I’ve encountered, and good decent people. I would trust any one of them with my life.”
Nick gave a cynical grin as he poured a glass of water for Simon, then drank from the pitcher under the baleful glare of Cook and one of the kitchen maids. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He tore a chunk of bread from a loaf, forcing Cook to remove the bread from the table. “Listen, Simon, you know all that stuff with Ash and me, it’s in the past.”
“In the past.”
“I mean, you and I, we’re mates again, right?”
“We always were.” Simon looked at Nick with a smile. “You brought me back from the dead and you helped my mother. How could I repay you for that?”
Nick nodded sadly. “We’re on the square then?”
Simon clinked his glass against the water pitcher Nick held. “Square.”
Kate studied the vellum sheet as if their lives depended on it. Over the previous hours, she had made copious notes and occasionally consulted stacks of books at her side. Food rested on a sideboard, ignored. She muttered angrily about allowing her Old High German to become so rusty. Aethelred the wolfhound raised his head to look at his mistress, then returned to his ever-patient repose in the corner. Kate pointed at a word on the scroll. “Boargelt. Who has boargelt?” She strode to the shelves of glass jars in her laboratory. “Oh. There’s some. Good.”
Simon watched her rummage. He closed his finger in a massive German lexicon, in which he had been sketching Norse runes along the margins. Concerns raised by Nick’s warning to him earlier still swirled in his head, as well as his own natural misgivings that Ash was creeping among them. His instinct was to tear the thing away from Kate and destroy it. However, the look of intense concentration on Kate’s face, the sheer joy of discovery, was too strong for him. She was in her element here, a sort of intellectual swashbuckling that Simon found intoxicating to watch. Her eyes slipped along the arcane script, fighting to understand. Seeing her take new ancient information and put it together with disparate pieces of other knowledge caused his heart to pound in his chest. Every nerve and muscle in her seemed etched against her skin.
“Holy God, Simon.” Kate looked up. The intensity in her gaze was almost dangerous. “There is more magic in the Womb of Schattenwald than in half my library. There are principles here for applications far beyond the purpose of the spell. This passage is on the vital fluid of the blood. It claims to alter the blood into an entirely new substance that bonds with aether. I think this could certainly help you. But there’s so much more to it. It might be similar to what Dr. White accomplished using alchemy when he created his homunculi. It might serve me to help Imogen. It could make me into an alchemist on a level with Dr. White.” When Simon raised an eyebrow, Kate shook her head. “You know what I mean. White’s alchemy was at the edge of miraculous. He was altering life, altering matter. This spell discusses that very thing.”
He kept his voice even, fighting against his fears. “I can’t pretend to follow you, but I’d remind you that it’s blood magic, Kate.”
She slapped her hand against the desk in frustration. Aethelred jumped. “Repeating the same phrase isn’t an argument! If you want to convince me, do better.”
Simon regarded her, considering the validity of her words. “Recovering my power isn’t worth it if it means accompanying Ash along her path.”
“This isn’t just about your power. Granted, I think the Womb definitely touches on that problem. But it has so much more. There are foundational magical principles here, Simon. This spell transcends mere blood magic and necromancy. Those are just words. When I translate it fully, you’ll see.”
“Kate, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you do know that it’s possible that what has been done, cannot be undone? Or should not?”
She stared at him, almost angrily. Then her gaze softened. “I’ve spent the last few months working to help Imogen. I’ve read every book and each scroll in this library, which is one of the finest occult repositories in the world. And yet, every single day I have to look at her and tell her that I haven’t found the solution. But here in this scroll, I can see breakthroughs. There are real physical advancements that I can make in my approach to Imogen’s condition. Do you understand that, Simon? Do you understand what that could mean to her?”
Before Simon could reply in sympathy, there was a knock at the door.
Hogarth entered and pretended not to see the emotion on their faces. “Miss Kate, there is a visitor. I have put her in the West Room.”
Kate gave an exasperated sigh.
“It is Grace North.”
Simon stood quickly. “Hogarth, please find Mr. Barker and tell him to stay out of sight upstairs. We’ll attend Mrs. North presently.”
“Why do you want Nick to stay out of sight?” Kate asked. “Aside from general good taste.”