“He might not make the right choice between me and Kate. You will.”
There was a long pause, but finally the Scotsman nodded sharply. Simon breathed easier and clapped Malcolm on the arm.
Apparatus in Kate’s laboratory already bubbled and toiled. Sharp morning sun sliced through the French windows. Kate turned when Simon entered, waving him to a cleared table. “Take off your shirt and lie down there.”
His eyebrow rose with a bawdy grin, but she was immune to distraction now that they had begun her ritual. “Please. This is science.”
Simon sighed. “Even Isaac Newton enjoyed the fruits of his labor.”
“When this is all said and done, I’ll be happy to drop an apple on you.”
“I’ll take that as a metaphor for something.” Simon brightened, removing his shirt with a flourish and flinging it across the room. His body was muscular with white scars crisscrossing his flesh. Where once his arms and torso had been covered with dark runes of ink, now he was a blank canvas. He examined a tattooing kit resting on the table, a wooden box covered with intricate carvings. Old shamans of untold experience in remote villages across the globe had incised his previous tattoos. The thought of Kate inking his flesh sent an erotic shiver through his body. He lay back upon the table, his eyes never leaving her.
“Cold?” she asked, running a light hand boldly over his bare chest though she was still regarding him rather clinically.
“No,” he said quietly. “Warm.”
Kate finally looked at his face and smiled. “I’m not an expert at tattooing. This may come off looking like one of Charlotte’s little stick figures.”
“That will be fine.” His voice was low, coming from deep in his chest.
She swallowed with more effort than usual. “Any place in particular you wish me to put it?”
He smiled darkly. “I can think of several.”
Penny giggled from across the room and Kate’s lips pursed. “You’re such a romantic.”
“That’s a polite way of saying it.”
She slapped his arm gently and he grabbed her hand, drawing it down to his left breast. “Here. Where it can be guided by the beating of my heart. Like blood, the heart is a powerful organ that will aid in the creation and dissemination of the aether.”
Kate’s fingers brushed his chest gently and then she leaned over to kiss it. Simon couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath. She moved up and kissed his lips slowly. Then she pulled away. “Excuse me, but I have important tasks to attend. The conglomeration is almost complete.”
“I love it when you talk alchemy.”
“If I don’t finish the preparations just so, it will be worthless.” She went to the opposite table. “And you will have removed your shirt for no reason but to expose your immense self-satisfaction.”
“Reason enough.” Simon watched Kate’s sure hands manipulate tubes and flames and beakers and jars full of unknown materials. She worked as if playing a well-worn concerto. No hesitation. No doubt. And yet, despite practiced movements, he could tell from the slight wrinkles at the corners of her eyes that she was nervous and a little unsure.
Malcolm slipped inside the room and stood in the far corner. While Kate was working, Penny arranged a chair by Simon’s bedside for Kate to steady herself while doing the tattoo. She opened the wooden box with intricate carvings. Inside were long thin tubes of bamboo tipped with rows of needles laid out in a line. The interior of the box had an indentation for the ink. Soon clean cloth strips and a bowl of water were placed next to Simon.
A stone mortar and pestle sat on the table nearest Kate, along with other odd bits of cinder and ink. The conglomeration was still in a liquid form, but it would solidify soon enough so she had to move quickly. She began combining elements, adding alcohol to act as a carrier from the needle to the skin. At last, she held a vial of her blood over the conglomeration. The minute she poured the blood into the stone bowl, the black inky mixture absorbed it with an inhaling hiss.
Kate carefully brought the heated amalgam over to the table and set it beside the tattooing needles. Her eyes met Simon’s. “Are you ready?”
Simon almost said no, but he knew Kate believed this was the right path. And she was a genius. He exchanged a glance with Malcolm, whose stern countenance put him at ease. Simon nodded.