The Heart of Alchemy by James Wisher (e book reading free TXT) 📕

also needed to check in with Allen and Sin. He didn’t hold out much hope that they would have found any assassins, but you never knew.

The chill air and quiet streets of Gold Ward soothed him after the heat and crowds of Port Han and the Celestial City. No one looked at him as a potential target here either. Until he left, Otto hadn’t appreciated how nice it was to be known and feared.

At the palace gate, the guards on duty snapped to attention and hastened to raise the portcullis. As it clanked up Otto asked, “How fares the emperor?”

The men shared a look then the elder shrugged. “We see little of him, but the rumors are that he’s shaken off his melancholy. At least he’s attending court again.”

Otto nodded his thanks. He’d get a full report from Draken later, but it was nice to hear his friend had beaten his depression. Nothing like getting betrayed by someone you thought you loved to sour your mood.

He crossed the courtyard and entered the main keep by a side entrance. A handy guard directed him to the library. When he arrived, he found Wolfric seated in a leather chair, book in hand, and a glass of brandy at his elbow. The familiar scent of paper and leather brought a smile to Otto’s face.

“Good morning, Your Majesty.”

Wolfric jumped and peeked over his book. “Otto!”

He leapt to his feet and embraced Otto like a brother. Fortunately, there was no one around to witness the inappropriate reaction.

“I had word you were back, but I didn’t expect you this early. You look tired.”

“I am, my friend. But I couldn’t wait to put the second piece of the engine in place. Would you like to see it?”

Wolfric smiled. “Indeed, I would.”

Otto pulled the Heart out of his pocket and held it up to glitter in the light. “Here it is. The Heart of Alchemy.”

Wolfric looked the Heart all over but made no attempt to touch it. “I thought it would be bigger.”

“Its power is considerably greater than its size. Shall we go put it in place?”

The question was largely rhetorical and they were soon on their way to the basement room where the Chamber of Eternity rested.

“Are you well?” Otto asked as they walked through the quiet halls surrounded by a squad of royal guards. “I know Jade’s betrayal was a hard blow.”

“It was and I am. Annamaria has been a great help. So has Abby.”

Otto glanced at his friend and tried to imagine what his wife and supposed daughter had to offer the emperor. He hadn’t even taken time to say hello when they got back.

“How did they help?”

“Annamaria helped by showing me that kindness and friendship were still a thing. And Abby’s innocence warmed the chill in my heart. She’s started walking, you know. The sweet thing.”

Otto was pleased that the two of them were good for something besides making his life difficult.

At the sealed door Otto deactivated the wards protecting the room and entered. The guards remained outside. The seven-foot glass cylinder looked exactly as he left it after saving Wolfric’s life. In his pocket, the Heart grew warm as if knowing that it was close to its partner piece.

Otto ran a loving hand over the smooth glass. The moment over a year in the making had come at last. Using a tendril of ether, he lifted the Heart up into the mithril tripod at the top of the Chamber. The moment the red crystal made contact, the mithril changed shape, wrapping around the Heart like vines locking it in place.

Any doubts he might have harbored were washed away.

Otto breathed out a sigh of satisfaction. Two pieces down and one to go.

Chapter 45

A phantom pain ran through Valtan as he paced in his private library. It wasn’t physical pain, but a tremor that ran through the ether. The tremor held a unique pitch, one he’d felt only once before, when his former love, Karonin, had been chosen to make the transformation to an Arcane Lord.

How he wished he could have gone back and stopped her from agreeing to the offer. Or better yet, never making it at all. He hadn’t fully understood what the transformation meant. After he saw what it did to the sweet, eager young woman he’d fallen in love with, Valtan knew the engine could never be used again. It was then he’d begun planning his ultimate betrayal. The horrors his fellow Lords had committed before he figured out how to stop them had only driven home the importance of his act.

And now someone else had assembled both pieces of the engine. Otto Shenk was moving far faster than he’d ever dreamed possible. It seemed like the young man had a single thought and it drove him every moment of every day. How well Valtan recognized that drive. Every great wizard had it.

Now all he needed was the final piece of the puzzle. Once he got that, only a miracle would stop Otto from becoming the most powerful wizard in the world. And there would be no one capable of sending him to the netherworld. He would rule for all time, slowly becoming the worst sort of despot. Valtan had seen it all before. Somehow, he had to keep the past from repeating.

And the only tool he had, Eddred and his companions, wanted to give up the fight. Well, Eddred did anyway. Uther wanted only revenge, but in its own way, that was as problematic as Otto’s quest. Hate, anger, revenge, all they brought was suffering.

Valtan drew himself up to his full height and projected his consciousness into the ether.

A moment later he formed an illusion of his body in the center of a modest village on South Barrier Island. He found Eddred puttering in an early spring garden. A pair of little girls crouched beside him, pointing and asking questions. The former king smiled and answer, seeming happy.

The girls spotted Valtan and fled toward a nearby cabin. Eddred