Alchemised

by SenLinYu

He held out his hand for the ring. Helena debated popping it into her mouth solely to provoke him. Irritation flickered in his eyes. “Try it, and I’ll bring it back up again. All you’ll get is a sore throat.”

Every pet + owner conversation

“Why all this sudden interest in me?” he asked. She shrugged. “You don’t make sense.” He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is that all? And here I was hoping you were plotting to seduce me.”

You would like that wouldn't you

He gave a mocking smile. “Steal my heart with your wit and charms.”

Ok Mr. Flirt

Helena had forgotten how easy it was to exist when her mind and body couldn’t betray her.

What pills were those? Asking for a friend...

The tablet Ferron had forced down her throat was a clear demonstration of the potential if healing were allowed to be scientific.

Current political climate ugh

Helena followed Aurelia’s voice and discovered that the foyer had been transformed since she’d last seen it. The rails had been reshaped into iron bars stretching all the way up to the ceiling, making it impossible to jump from the landings or from the stairs.

She was hot and cold and thirsty and pathetically desperate for comfort. If even one of the necrothralls had walked in and stroked her hair, she probably would have wept.

She didn’t want to see him again because she had a very clear memory of pressing her face against his hand without any idea of who he was. In charge of her care? A very generous way of describing himself.

“You were supposed to be gone by now.” His eyes flicked towards the window. “Seems I’ll be keeping you through the winter.”

“There are a few things scheduled to arrive tomorrow, to spare myself any additional inconvenience from all this. Please”—he placed overt emphasis on the word—“do not mistake it for a sign of affection.”

Too late

When Ferron had referred to something sparing himself “additional inconvenience,” she had not expected shoes, although the slippers were in tatters from the wet gravel.

I would have Stockholm by now

She was not so foolish as to mistake calculation for kindness.

I would be a bad prisioner but same

the guilds also wanted assurance that their heirs would be the ones entering the Institute, no matter whose resonance or aptitude was greater.

Nepo babes

Helena’s instinctive response to the sight of him was absolute terror. It had never occurred to her that a stranger might one day walk into the room. Her hands spasmed, sending a shock of pain up her arms.

His expression grew eager, triumphant as he got closer. His hand extended, fingers curved and grasping.

Creepyyyy

“She’s not available for entertainment,”

Messed up

Anyone invited would be an Aspirant or at least supportive of the regime. It might be her best chance to get herself killed.

Killed by a mob doesn't sound appealing

Aurelia darted around the corner, pulling someone along by their wrist, drawing him into the darkness at the far end of the corridor. It was not Ferron.

Knew it!

There was more rustling fabric, and then the giggling gave way to breathy gasps and hushed moans and audible groaning.

She crept up the stairs and then knelt, peeking over the railing, her loose hair falling around her face. She noticed with irritation that there was a mesh safety net over the opening, as if Ferron had somehow foreseen that she’d go there and might attempt suicide during his party.

Lol

As the numbers wound down, Ferron reached out and ran his thumb across his wife’s mouth.

Slight feeling he knows about her affairs

The whole family was dead within a minute, bodies left sprawled across the floor, still linked by their chains.

Like kitkats

“Executions are required to be clean now, Durant. His Eminence has been quite clear on that point. I hope you weren’t expecting to break the law here on my property and in front of our illustrious governor and a dozen journalists.”

Theres sonething with you Ferron

“Do you think I haven’t tried? I’ve gone to every shop, used every drug and perfume, and nothing ever works. If I get pregnant, he’ll know it’s not his.”

Tragic

“Imprisonment is not particularly diverting.” “You do realise you’re allowed to ask for things. Within reason.” She most certainly did not. “I am?”

The next day when Helena spotted one of the maids, she stopped her. “Can I have a knife?” The maid shook her head. Helena cocked her head, eyes widening innocently. “What about scissors?”

Jesus woman

He was disinterested in what he found aside from the moment that Lancaster had entered her room. He watched the encounter over and over, forcing Helena to repeatedly relive the abject mortification of her thoughtless relief when he’d stormed in.

He certainly liked that relief part

He took no interest in Aurelia’s affair, and when he encountered the conversation between Aurelia and her father, he chuckled as he broke the connection with Helena’s mind.

Knew it!!!

He was glaring at her. “It’s impressive how determined you are to be difficult.” “Were you expecting something else?” she asked with a loose shrug.

“I doubt Aurelia would feel much disappointment if you met an unfortunate end. It might spell my demise as well, and then she’d be a wealthy widow, free to conduct her tawdry affairs even more publicly than she already does.”

“I was commanded to marry her, so I married her. I was never commanded to care.” Helena stopped in her tracks. “You sound as enslaved as I am.”

Poetry

“Blind adoration, then,”

Happens

“You think it was an accident that we hated sponsored students like you? If we hadn’t, how would they have kept you so lonely and desperately grateful to them?”

“If he wanted handmade paper clips, I’d do that with equal devotion.”

Dang

He wasn’t even looking at his wife anymore. His gaze passed over Aurelia’s head, staring at a mirror that reflected himself and Helena.

Yup def have Stockholm by now

“The world already knows she’s mine,” Ferron said, his words pointed, “but if you’d like, I can remind them. I wouldn’t want you to think I’m hiding anything, my dear.”

You tell her

Ferron stared after her with a look of annoyance, then turned and directed his scowl at Helena. “You irritate my wife,”

Loool

“If you want to do something about it, you could kill me.”

She said with hope

“Besides, if I didn’t leave you on the floor retching, you might make the mistake of thinking I care.”

Keep telling yourself that Ferron, whatever helps you sleep

She couldn’t help but wonder if the stable door being unlocked was also Aurelia’s doing.

High chance

While their bodies were the necessary vessels for birth, it was their blood that was the source of all defects.

UGH

Hence the long-standing obsession with creating homunculi even among the Faith, to erase women’s defective hold on humanity.

Raaaaaaaaaaaaa

She had neither the strength nor the will to keep resisting. The war was lost. Her suffering would not bring anyone back, not any more than Luc’s had saved them.

When she was no longer bedridden, she braved the cold and went out to the stables. The side door was unlocked, and she entered quickly before the thralls could stop her. It was empty. Death slipping from her fingers again.

Parentage in the program was to be selected based on the strength and variety of resonance. Tests were being done to discover the ideal combinations.

Yup I see where this is going

There were never any explanations about where these assets would go, or who’d raise them, or that they were people, just that they would exist and be industrially and economically valuable resources. New Paladia sounded more like a factory than a city,

Lancaster was Aurelia’s lover? The same person who’d just happened to find her room during the party.

Run bitch ruuuuun Lock yer doors

Helena began watching for Lancaster, growing increasingly convinced that he had ulterior motives in visiting.

Dont think theyre good ones girl

“Don’t they feed you?” Stroud finally asked, sucking her teeth as she paused, squeezing Helena’s arm and then pushing two fingers against her stomach. “You’re showing signs of malnutrition. What are you eating?”

Is the villain and is more concerned than anybody else

“You are a”—she paused as though debating what to call Helena—“an asset. The Ferrons are supposed to be feeding you properly. That is not nearly enough nutrition, it’s no wonder you’ve been so sickly.”

Even when considered an asset she actually gives a shit