The Alchemists of Loom (Loom Saga #1)(9)

Florence loved everything about the woman known as the White Wraith. Ari was sharp and witty. Her skin was the most lovely shade of gray and her face had a beautifully healthy curve to it. Arianna wasn’t just pretty—she was strong too, broad shouldered and wonderfully stocky. Florence was of average build for a Fenthri, if a little too thin. Ari was perfect.

Florence kneaded stress out of the strong muscles that cut out from under Ari’s skin. “So how did this all come to pass?” she asked.

“I was on my grand escape from the refinery and ran into a Dragon, unconscious, with an exhausted corona.” Ari remained focused on the ceiling as she spoke. Florence could tell the woman was still debating with herself over the course of events that led them to having a Dragon in their home. The tension wasn’t giving up on her shoulders. “So I decided to cut out his heart. He woke up and offered me a boon instead.”

“You couldn’t just leave him be?” she hummed playfully.

“If you want enough dunca to keep affording sugar for your confections, you don’t want me to leave prone Dragons with all their organs intact.”

“Wasn’t that what the refinery job was for?” Florence waited with a drying cloth as Ari emerged from the bath.

“A little extra never hurts,” her teacher reminded her.

“A little extra will get you killed.” There was a heavy note to Florence’s words, one she couldn’t stop because it stemmed from a genuine fear of her master meeting an ill fate during one of her many dangerous jobs.

“Florence, look at me.” Ari placed her fingertips under Florence’s chin, guiding her gaze and giving her no other choice. Florence studied Ari’s eyes, the unnatural purple striking an odd contrast with her skin. They had unnerved her at first, but she had learned to see past them. They may have been harvested from a Dragon, but they were Ari’s now. “You know it would take a lot to kill me.”

“I know,” Florence mumbled, trying to look away.

Ari held her chin fast. “After all, I have some of the best canisters and explosives in Loom looking after me.”

“Oh, what did you use? The bomb of course, but a canister? I saw number three was missing. It was number three, right?” Florence ran over to the bed, jumping on it as Ari began to rummage through her wardrobe, dropping clothes she decided against into a pile on the floor that Florence would likely be the one to tidy later.

“It was number three, and it was one of your best yet.” Ari placed a tight-fitting white shirt onto the bed before returning to the wardrobe. “The disk had a nice blast radius. Incredibly effective but contained. Impressive destructive power.”

“Tell me about it?” Florence dreamed of someday watching Ari on one of her little missions. She had no interest in actually fighting herself. But just once, she wanted to see one of her explosions in person, not just as calculations on paper.

“The canister? Flash of white, red at the edges, and then it turned yellow when it hit the target. There was black smoke too.” Ari was awful at painting descriptions with words—she’d have had more success drawing it—but Florence hung on her every syllable all the same. “But it took a lot of energy and had a slow fire.”

“If you want explosive canisters that large, it will.” Florence picked at the white vest and silver necktie Ari had placed on the bed.

“You can do better, Flor. Make a canister like that, but designed for use with a refined gun by someone who isn’t a Chimera, and you’ll be a rich woman.”

“I know, I know.” Ari was right, as usual.

It had been two years since Florence had met Ari during her escape from the Ravens Guild and somehow convinced the woman to agree to be her teacher. In that time, Florence had been given ample opportunities to experiment with different ways to combine gunpowder, chemicals, refined metals, and even alchemical runes to create some of the best explosives Ari had ever seen. At least, that’s what Ari told her. But the woman wouldn’t lie, not even to spare her initiate’s feelings.

Their life was unconventional and mostly outside the law, but it was a life Florence had come to love. Ari was an acolyte of the old ways, unmarked on her cheeks and firm in her belief that every guild was connected. That overlap between fields of study was essential. She let Florence explore, create, question for the sake of it. It had all made the terror of escaping the guild worthwhile.

“Speaking of.” Ari adjusted the necktie, pinning it with a crossed wrench and bolt done in black iron—the symbol of a master in the Rivets’ Guild. “How many canisters do we have in stock?”

“I think I have thirteen made. Why?”

“We may need more for the journey.” Ari strapped the belt with her daggers and winch box high around her waist. “It’s a three-day train ride to Ter.5.2. Then a week-long airship ride to Keel.”

“We’re going to ride an airship?” Florence bounced to sit at the edge of the bed.

“Fastest way to get to the Alchemists’ Guild.”

“I’ll pick up materials in Mercury Town. But you better not blow up the first airship I ride on,” Florence mock-scolded.

“You never know what wrench could get thrown into the machine along the way, Flor.” Ari’s grin was playful, but her words were serious. “Use the dunca from the reagents to get what we’ll need for the trip. I trust your judgment. I’ll fill in the Dragon on the plan and the rules for travel.”