It was a white lie on Verdan’s part. At least, partially so. Leaving the others behind, he made his way straight over to the old servant’s quarters and knocked on the door.

  A moment passed before Adrienne opened it, giving Verdan a surprised look. “Verdan? Is everything okay?”

  “Oh, yes, everything is fine,” Verdan said, feeling abruptly very awkward. “I was looking for Natalia?”

  “I see.” Adrienne’s eyes danced with suppressed amusement and Verdan dearly wished that the earth would open up and swallow him whole. “She’ll be at the workshop. She moved all her things over, if you remember? Henry and I share this place now with Ruan, Captain Nikau and a few of the guards.”

  Verdan winced, remembering their talk before he left. She’d moved in with him at the mansion as well. It was just habit to try and find her here. “Right, of course. Sorry, Adrienne. The two of you have a good evening.”

  Adrienne smiled and gave him a wink before closing the door and leaving Verdan to walk back to the workshop, his cheeks burning as he muttered to himself. “I can stare down Sorcerers, fight dangerous monsters and wield magic of a bygone era, but my housekeeper can make me blush with a wink.”

  The workshop was a large, squat building that sat between the mansion and the servant’s quarters. It had been burnt and badly damaged during the fire that had killed Natalia’s family, but its solid construction had kept it mostly intact.

  Nowadays, it was the heart of Verdan’s research efforts, and Natalia’s too now that he’d invited her to join him. Letting himself in, he nodded a greeting to the few guards he passed as he made his way upstairs. The room Natalia was in was easy enough to find as Alden was carrying things to and from the store room.

  “Hey, Boss!” Alden called out, flashing him a smile as he carried what looked like a bucket of multi-coloured liquid out of the room. “I didn’t realise you were back.”

  “Just arrived, more or less,” Verdan said, pausing at the doorway. “Anything active in there to worry about?”

  “Nah, Natalia’s just trying out her latest recipe for the new Dryd.”

  “Ah, good to know. Clear off, then. We’ll pick up in the morning.”

  “Sure thing, Boss.” Alden’s grin widened, and he finished shifting the bucket before heading off with a jaunty whistle. Verdan barely noticed, though, as Natalia had opened the door and was staring up at him in shock.

  “Verdan?” The shocked expression blossomed into a heart-warming smile before faltering at the sight of his eye patch. Abyss curse the thing for stealing that smile. “What happened?”

  “Let me in, and I’ll tell you the whole story,” Verdan said, taking her hand in his and giving it a reassuring squeeze. Anyone else would get the short version, and a vague reassurance that he was alright, but not her. Verdan knew she’d listen, she’d understand and she wouldn’t fixate on what he’d lost, just the problems ahead of him now.

  -**-

  Some hours later, they were back at the mansion, relaxing upstairs together. They’d spent some time together, and now he was walking her through the whole affair, bit by bit.

  “I can’t believe you found them and actually managed to free some Vespa Queens,” Natalia said, shaking her head. “It feels only like yesterday that we realised that the Brotherhood were exploiting them to create lures.”

  “I know, and with all this, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened back then if I’d used High Imperial,” Verdan said with a sigh. “When the city was attacked, there was a moment where I could have spoken to two Vernals. I doubt they could have truly understood me, but they might have followed enough that I could have stopped the attack.”

  “Maybe, but there was no way you could have known at the time,” Natalia said, putting her hand on his. “There’s enough guilt and blame going around, don’t take more than your share. The Brotherhood are responsible for the deaths that day, both human and Vespa.”

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  Verdan nodded, squeezing her hand. “I know, I just wish things were different.”

  They sat in silence together for a moment before Natalia stirred and gave him a smile. “So, what was the surprise you mentioned?”

  “Oh, let’s leave that for the morning,” Verdan said, pulling her close and kissing her gently. “Let’s finish today in a more relaxed way.”

  -**-

  “I can’t believe you let me sleep all night when you had this waiting in the workshop,” Natalia said, her unblinking gaze locked onto the machine that Verdan had brought north.

  After a peaceful night, the two of them had come to the workshop and set up the things he’d looted from the Brotherhood while he explained what they were. Between the sheafs of paper to be read, the machine and the potential recipes for different potions, Natalia was struggling to know where to start.

  A decision Verdan had helped her make by explaining what they’d worked out about the machine.

  “It’s impressive, yes, but we still need the recipes, the methodology for how to use it.” Verdan gestured to the pile of papers on a nearby table. “It’s likely in there, in one form or another, but it’ll be a lot of work to recreate what they’ve done.”

  “True, but you don’t understand. This is the solution to one of the biggest problems in alchemy,” Natalia said, her hands trembling as she carefully examined the machine. “There is only so much that can be done with potions, because there is only so much Aether that can be crammed into Dryd. I’ve learned that since we’ve been together, but knowing what the problem is and knowing how to fix it are two different things.”

  “Of course, I know that you’ve been struggling with this for a while,” Verdan said, waving in the direction of the machine. “If this was the solution, it’s no surprise you struggled. This takes advanced Sigil knowledge, to the point that I long to take it apart, just to see how it works.”

  “Why don’t you?”

  “Because I might not be able to put it back together again,” Verdan said with a chuckle. “I feel like an amateur when looking at this. They’re so far ahead of me it’s almost a joke. No, better to keep it as it is for now so you can make the most of it. Tempting as it is.”

  “A sweet thought, thank you,” Natalia said, turning away from the machine for the first time to give him a gentle kiss. Cupping the side of his face, she smiled tenderly before clapping her hands together. “Now, show me how it works.”

  Verdan chuckled and did just that, spinning the wheel at the front to open it and remove the container from within. Walking Natalia through the steps, he demonstrated the process all the way through before stepping aside.

  They’d inspected the machine all over before bringing it with them, and as best Verdan could tell, it was powered from a compartment at the rear. He hadn’t investigated it too deeply, but there had been no obvious secondary components in the workshop, so his hope was that they’d got it all.

  At least it was easy enough to tell that it was recharging itself, he could feel the ambient Aether slowly flowing into it to replace what had been used. There would be a limit on how often Natalia could use it, but they’d figure that out eventually.

  For now, Verdan watched with a soft smile as she gathered up solutions and ingredients at various stages of the process and grabbed some paper to start making notes. In moments, it was clear that she’d all but forgotten he was there.

  Verdan enjoyed watching her work, the grace and competence she showed in these moments was the true Natalia, the one who wasn’t held back by her scars. Every day it felt like those scars held her back a little less, but he didn’t know if she’d ever be fully free of them. He certainly wasn’t free of his.

  “Boss?” Alden opened the door next to him and paused in the doorway. “Am I disturbing?”

  “Not at all, but come in quietly,” Verdan said, realising as he spoke that there were only two seats in the room, one by the equipment and one next to the wall, where he was. “Maybe grab a stool first?”

  Alden nodded and carefully shut the door, returning a minute later with a stool that he put next to Verdan. Natalia was still entirely swept up in her experiments, so Verdan took the time to explain the machine to Alden.

  “Gods above, is that what that is?” Alden shook his head in disbelief. “I’ve never seen one before, but I knew something like this had to exist. It’s hard to believe that you just went and took it from them.”

  “It wasn’t quite as easy as that,” Verdan said with his best attempt at a smile. “We managed it, though.”

  “What about the Brotherhood, aren’t you worried about how they’ll respond?”

  “Of course, but there was no other option as far as I was concerned,” Verdan said with a slight shrug. “They’ve already done such terrible things, provoking them like this hardly feels like a risk. I’ve no doubt they’ll try to punish us for this somehow, but when their plots are already at the point of destroying entire cities, does that matter?”

  Alden shifted uncomfortably, clearly unsure of what to say to such a statement. Verdan considered pushing for what Alden thought the Brotherhood might do, but realistically, Alden had been too low in their organisation to know anything like that. He’d already given Verdan everything he knew, so they’d just have to be ready for when the inevitable response came.

  For now, though, he could at least focus on Natalia and help figure out how this machine worked.