Alchemised

by SenLinYu

She had minimal training in combat alchemy, but her body moved on instinct.

“I would rather spend the rest of my life being raped in Central than spend a minute of it having feelings for you.”

“No one is going to hurt your baby,” he said, meeting her eyes.

Her body was shuddering, but she cried silently. There was a trick to sobbing like that; it was something a person had to learn to do.

She held the paper out. Shiseo looked from her to the paper, an odd gleam of interest in his dark eyes. “I always knew you were very interesting.”

She swallowed. “Sorry.” The muscle in his jaw set. As he worked, he began telling her each time he was about to touch her, what he was about to do, his voice low, calm, and she realised he was imitating the way she used to narrate her treatment of the array.

“I want to love someone without feeling like if they know, it’ll end up hurting them.

the moment I looked into your eyes, I should have known I would never win against you.” She gave a small smile, struggling to stay awake, afraid it might all fade away if she did. “I’ve always thought my eyes were my best feature.”

Shiseo designed a nullium cuff to create targeted resonance suppression, locking around the wrist to blur the resonance into a feeling like static.

He could not occupy the impossible in-between where she wanted him because there was no distance large enough to erase what had happened that still left him within her reach.

She forced a tight smile. “Be careful. Don’t die.”

“You didn’t save me,” he said when he was finally capable of speech. “You just put us in hell for two years.”

“Every time you asked, I promised I was yours. Always. There aren’t any exemptions or expiration dates on always.”

I left a note. Didn’t you get my note?

“We’ll go out together, won’t we, old girl? Bennet’s last two monsters.”

“What sin did your mother ever commit to deserve such a son?”

“Why is it that I have to keep all my promises, but you never seem to keep a single one of yours?”

“The first promise I made to you was that I’d be yours for as long as I live. I’m keeping that one.”

“Your mother was always so proud of you. She said you were the best thing we ever made.”

“Stop, both of you,” said Helena, furious that they’d managed to ruin the reunion in less than a minute.

She held his hand in place. “There’s blood enough on both our hands without adding hers.”

“We said always, didn’t we?” she asked, her voice strained. “Always. Well, if you don’t want that promise in full any longer, I’ll give it to you in increments.” She clutched his hand tighter. “Every day. I’ll choose you. That way you’ll know it’s still what I want.”

Her eyes went wide, and they both bolted to the front door. Running back and forth outside the house, wings outstretched, nose to the ground, was Amaris.

Once Enid could safely sit up, she would spend half the day sitting on Kaine’s shoulders, riding about with him while he walked the perimeter of the property over and over, checking all the buildings and visiting Amaris, who would vibrate with excitement but hold utterly still when Enid tugged her ears and patted her.