Page 42 of The Alchemists

He beckoned her to his side of the table, closest to his roommates, and flipped his leather journal to a blank page. Gemma’s stare followed her. Lily watched him begin to sketch out an idea, his long fingers firmly wrapped around his fountain pen. What an asshole, she thought good-naturedly. An expensive watch peeked out from the cuff of his sweater, which looked to be pure cashmere. She refrained from touching.

Sebastian ducked his head close to hers, and his breath was warm on her ear. “The wolf of metals,” he repeated, and it took her a moment to understand that the sketchy figures on the page were supposed to be wolves. He was a terrible artist.

She grinned, keeping her voice low. “Lead will be easiest to bind with.”

He nodded. “How’s your Living Earth?”

“Solid. Well…” She bit her lip at the unintentional pun, and his subsequent laugh drew the room’s attention.

“Why don’t you make the alloy. I’ll modify Living Earth, unless you want it?” His ash-brown sweater made his eyes that much more vivid and prismatic, and it took Lily a moment to process his words.

“No, your Living Earth is definitely stronger than mine.” She looked at her phone. “Let’s start the process in fifteen?”

He checked his watch and nodded. Lily moved back to her side of the table. Quickly, she drafted out a purifying spell to protect the integrity of the materials while they worked, then went to the supply cabinets and procured a jar of lead. She began the punishing process of meticulously weighing out the correct amounts of lead and antimony, her fingers quickly staining black. If she weren’t in the middle of a crowded room, she would have used some of her spontaneous magic to correctly split her materials and forego the scale.

“Good?” Sebastian said as she added the lead to the crucible and positioned it over a burner. She hadn’t realized he’d been watching.

“Ready.”

He swung around to her side of the table and produced a sharp pick. “For the Living Earth. They’ll be more lifelike with blood. Just a drop.”

Casually, he poked himself in the thumb and squeezed a bead of blood into the waiting crucible. Lily handed him a tissue and reached for the alcohol swabs, grabbed a new pick, then stabbed herself. She wrapped the tissue he handed her around her thumb as she reached for the salt and poured it in a loose ring around the Bunsen burner.

“Want to help me cast the purification?”

“Ready when.”

He placed his index finger on the salt circle and closed his eyes, lips moving silently. Lily watched him for a second, his dark lashes feathery on his cheeks, before calling up her own Words and beginning the spell. They broke the line, moving their fingers counterclockwise and their free hands in an opposing circle over the unlit burner. Slowly, the salt trembled, then rose in a column like reverse snow, up to their palms. A sudden calmness suffused her and Lily sighed with satisfaction. Across the table, Sebastian grinned, looking not unlike the way he had the first time she’d seen him win at Cantrèa, a lifetime ago.

Lily lit the burner, casting a cantrip to speed the process so she could add the antimony, then began to help Sebastian cast the first stage of Living Earth, trying to ignore Professor Chant as he made his rounds, naturally stopping to watch them as they reached the crux of the spell. He said nothing, but offered an enigmatic grin, one eyebrow raised, before moving off to observe Gemma and Braithwhite.

The first stage of the spell complete, Sebastian slumped back on a stool, his brow glistening. Lily’s stomach growled, and she wished she’d brought a snack.

“Sure,” Sebastian sighed quietly, his voice sardonic. “Let’s use a spell that normally takes all night, but do it in ninety minutes. Brilliant.”

“I think it is, actually.”

He pushed a hand through his hair, glancing away, but Lily caught his pleasure. “I’m starving, want to grab something after this?”

“Sure—”

Behind Allsaires, Beaumont cleared her throat.

“What?” He swiveled to face his roommate as Vis joined them, suddenly crowding his side of the table and making Lily feel very small. “Stop looking at our work.”

Beaumont rolled her eyes. “I have no idea what this is even supposed to be,” she said, sounding terribly French and dismissing their project with a wave. “We were supposed to study for Latin and Evocation III after class.”

“So, we’ll bring our food to the Tower. I’ll pick up lunch.”

Beaumont’s eyes narrowed.

SEB

He realized his mistake—no, mistakes, plural—a moment too late, as they cascaded into each other, burying him in an impossible position. He shouldn’t have invited Lily to the Tower, at least not without asking all parties involved. If he changed tack, tried to keep everyone separate at this point, it would signal to Lily that he might like her company, but only in private, or conversely, risk another tiff with his roommates. For her part, Lily might not even want to come to the Tower. Behind him, he sensed Asher and Tori engaged in silent congress.

“Sure,” Asher said, ever the peacemaker.

“Great, now stop interrupting our work,” Seb said as gruffly as possible, incapable of looking across the table.