I let out a contented sigh, facing our big brute. Vallan has a small smile behind his beard, which quickly vanishes when he sees I’m watching him. I wink, so he knows I know he knows how to smile.
Seph stands back to look at her mother top to bottom. She frowns at the stump of her left wrist, saying, “How is your hand?”
“Still gone.”
Wincing, Sephania says, “Erm, apologies, Mother. I meant—”
Jinneth lets out a belly-rumbling laugh and slaps her daughter hard on the shoulder, which makes Sephania pitch forward and nearly fall into her. “It’s only a jest, dear! While I can’t grow back this hand”—she lifts her stump, and then wags the fingers of her right—“I’ve grown double with this one!”
Sephania gives her mother a crooked smile. She regards the half-dozen Chained Sisters standing about the room in their gray habits, and the group of other girls that have started to mosey in at the sound of loud voices and laughter.
Despite the grime covering every soul here, and the mucky status of the Chained Sisters—chained once more in hiding—there’s hope in this room, an aura of it, that I haven’t felt in an age.
Jinneth squeezes her daughter’s arm with her remaining hand. “Oh! I must show you something, Seph.” A small grin plays on her lips, reminding me so much of Sephania’s more mischievous moments.
Jinneth leads us into another low space that’s stacked high with crates and strewn with four peeling, tottering tables. Girls stand over the tables, heads bowed, working on tiny plates in front of them. They dab liquids into other liquids, blacks and reds and colorful concoctions that look like a painter’s palette.
I’m confused at what I’m looking at, but Sephania’s eyes grow wide. She realizes what’s happening here.
With a sweep of her hand, Jinneth gestures at the small workplace. “Welcome to our alchemical station. We work in shifts. So long as we have supplies, we have product. I was hoping for your swift return, my dear, so we might have someone todistributesaid product.”
Sephania blinks, astounded. “You’ve . . . done it?”
Jinneth nods, puffing out her chest and putting her hand—and stump—on her hips. “Production of the Silverblood tincture is in full swing.” Vall grumbles, ready to speak from behind me, but Jinneth cuts him off with a glare. “Before you say anything, big oak tree, the name is sticking. I know it’s your name for my girl. Too bad.”
Sephania runs a hand through her hair, meandering between the tables where the girls work, inspecting each station. She peeks inside a crate and I hear bottles and vials clinking. “This is amazing, Mother. How did you make this happen with such a small sample of Loreblood?”
Jinneth grimaces and looks at Keffa as she walks in behind us. “That’s just it, love. We’re running out. I managed to splice your blood, diluting it, and worked with the same ingredients Old Endolf used to create the first prototype of the elixir. It will likely be weaker than we hoped . . . for now.”
“Well, I’m here to donate.” Sephania pulls up the sleeve of her forearm and presents a pale wrist. “Bleed me dry, Sisters.”
“Hold now,” Vallan grumbles, waving his hand. “This was not part of the deal, silverblood.”
Seph scoffs. “You can always feed me with your blood and prop me right up.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “It doesn’t quite work that easily, lass.” Slowly, I move toward my mistress, until our bodies are nearly touching. “Unless you’d like to become Vallan’s bloodthrall?”
She pouts. Looks Vall up and down. “I can think of worse fates.”
I roll my eyes. “Honey badger, we need to be methodical about this. Remember what we’ve talked about with your recklessness? I understand you want to save thralls with the Loreblood—”
“Skartovius isn’t here right now to lecture me on my recklessness, Garro, so I’d rather you don’t take his stead. Thank you.” Sephania lifts her chin defiantly, the damned brat. I see doubt in her eyes now, and I hate that I’ve caused it.
“Now, now,” Jinneth says, scooting up against the wall and crossing her arms under her large chest. “Your devilish mates aren’t incorrect. I can’t have my daughter dying on me to provide the stuff we need when she’s thesole providerof said stuff.”
Blood,I think.Say it. It’s your daughter’s blood.I would hate for Jinneth’s ambition to blind her to the realities of what she’s asking of Sephania. Luckily, I don’t think she’s headed in that direction.
“What’s the solution?” Seph asks.
“We can take your blood over time,” her mother answers. “Safely. In the meantime, we have a more pressing need for silver than we do Loreblood.”
Slowly, eyes turn to me and Vallan at the archway of the room, starting with Sephania, then Jinneth, then Keffa.
“Shit.” I toss a thumb over my shoulder. “Have you seen what it’s like on the Floorboards, lass? Houses are burning.”
“It’s a good thing burning doesn’t affect you as badly as it does a vampire then, isn’t it?” She smiles roguishly.
Sephania’s cold words remind me of the things she said about Aelin and her eternal suffering. It throws me off.