Page 31 of Her Creation

Wilhelm’s face flashed in Victoria’s mind. Her stomach clenched.

“The world is changing. It is 1795, and things are changing. We are industrializing; some women have entered skilled labor roles. There is debate everywhere about the concept of women taking part in professional or scholarly positions.”

“What does this have to do with our situation?” Victoria pushed as she sat back down on the step next to her father. Her shoulder leaned into his, and she let her head fall to rest on his as she inhaled the sharp scent of laudanum and fire smoke from his robe.

“I read a book the other night when I was unable to sleep. I was pacing about the great room and must have woken Rosamond up. Well anyway, she lit the fire for me while she was half-asleep, the kind woman, and in her haste to return to bed, left her book on the mantel. It was A Vindication of the Rights of Women; it was compelling. Rosamond has since taken it back, but you should borrow it.”

“Papa, what are you talking about?” Victoria was struggling to follow her father’s scattered thoughts.

“It’s a book advocating for women’s education and equality. Things are changing, Victoria. I believe there will be a time soon that women may be permitted to practice medicine, and I desire to give you a leg up in this world in any way that I can—while I can. You are making such strides in assisting me. I think that there is an opportunity waiting. When I am gone, the people of the Holy Roman Empire and Glen Shire will be more open to a woman surgeon. They will accept you from our legacy alone…especially if you can do something that no one else has been able to do.”

“Resurrection.”

“Precisely.” Alphonse smiled. “Though you are not quite ready.”

“How am I not ready?”

“You will need to take this more seriously.” His eyes were harsh.

How could she tell him that she had been taking it seriously since she was thirteen when her mother had died? That the hours upon hours of daily education with her father for the last years were as serious as she knew how to take anything? That she felt the pressure of going out in the day and being talked to like she knew nothing, while inside, her mind spilled over with secret knowledge she wasn’t allowed to admit to knowing.

“How can I take this more seriously?”

“Dr. Paranthal brought up a good point when he was speaking of the impossibility of reanimation. Given the crude and experimental nature of our proposed methods, you were right: a smaller body may have been too fragile or difficult to galvanize. It should be robust for the experiment so that we may clearly see as we attach parts, stimulating nerves. We need to be able to handle the body without it falling apart under the stress of the procedure. The body needs to be stronger than average. We need to reinforce it with something to withstand the electricity. I also insist on a new brain.” He nodded absently. Both Alphonse and Victoria had let their emotional thoughts fall by the wayside as their infallible scientific interests now fully consumed them.

“I agree with you about reinforcement, but what do you suggest? A chemical compound? He is already abnormally large. Eight feet tall by my specifications. And a new brain? Why? This one shows perfect response.”

“Too much response. I don’t like it. It makes no sense, and I don’t like things that don’t make sense,” Alphonse chirped happily, returning to his normal self.

“Isn’t it a good thing that it is responsive? Where will we get another? We will have to increase his size a bit with various other parts, and where are you finding all of these?”

“Don’t ask me any more questions. I’ve already told you more than is safe; now go to bed. We double up lessons beginning tomorrow. It will be St. Martin’s Day, and it’s almost guaranteed we will have patients with the tasting of the new wine of the season.” Alphonse kissed her cheek and walked off to his no-longer-temporary room on the first floor.

Victoria waited for her father to go to bed before she went for the laboratory, but she stopped herself and dropped her hand away from the handle of the door. She couldn’t keep treating this dead man as if he were something more. It was bordering on obsession, and it was just sad. She turned away and forced herself to her bedroom.

Chapter 10

Log entryMarch 1803

Recounting events 1773–1795 Location: Unknown

During this time, Victoria found it remarkably easy to avoid social interactions altogether. Apart from a single visit from Helena, she kept herself entirely within the castle, moving between the upper rooms and the laboratory below like a ghost haunting her own life. On the evening Helena visited, Alphonse had spent the entirety of the night working on Innominatus in the lab beneath them, and Victoria found herself incapable of enjoying her friend’s company. The realization came to her one evening as she watched her father race through the laboratory, moving with the frantic energy of a man possessed. When Victoria urged him to slow down, reminding him that they still had time, his response broke something open inside her. His eyes filled with tears.“We do not,” he said hoarsely.

Chapter 11

Log entry

March 1803

Recounting events 1773–1795 Location: Unknown

Like this?” Victoria asked as she mirrored her father’s movements.

“Yes, but be clean about it or we will have to replace the other bones as well.”

She nodded and followed his instructions precisely. “He needs a new heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, so many things… Where are we going to get all of that?” she asked, continuing her work.

“I told you. Let me worry about that; just give me the list of what we need,” he reminded her firmly.