Page 80 of The Prince and the Ice King

When they arrived, Shayla was organizing the components rack and lining up items they must be meaning to experiment with later. Caitlin was mixing something that, as she finished stirring, turned green. Liam stood separate from them, purposely shooting his lightning into mixes already lined up on another table or drawing glowing runes on the glass.

Barclay took up a place beside Caitlin to begin mixing his own concoction. No one said anything about what had happened.

No one mentioned the man who had died.

“How goes things here?” Reardon asked.

“You mean how goes it working onyourproject even when you skirt your duties and show up late?” Liam sneered with a crackle of sparks leaping from his forearms.

“I am truly sorry, sir. I didn’t intend for that. Please know how grateful I am for your help.”

The wizard grumbled like a distant roll of thunder.

“I seem to recall at least one of Reardon’s refills last night coming fromyou,” Shayla said.

Another grumble responded, followed by a murmured, “He makes an entertaining drunk.”

The room tittered, even with some laughter from Caitlin, and Reardon decided that this was how they dealt with tragedy. What else could they do when no one could bring back the dead?

They weren’t monsters; they’d simply had to train themselves to accept what they couldn’t change.

Reardon joined the workload. It was his job to catalog their attempts. He was also tasked with making the needed daily potions in their stead, such as elemental protection and healing draughts. Necessities couldn’t cease just because the tower was helping him.

“What are the runes for, if I may ask?” Reardon asked as he set to work.

“Magical transmutation,” Liam answered without looking up, finishing with the final vial. He returned to the start of the row of vials and tapped the first rune, which was a simple straight line. The vial frosted over, and then eventually calmed to a clear blue. “Alchemical transmutation is done differently, and therefore might have different results, so we must test both. It also tells us something about your perpetrator. Come here.”

Reardon paused in his organizing of supplies to answer the request.

“The rune I activated is for ice but also means inertia or stillness. Next is its counterpart: the sun or the will and intent to change.”

The second vial was marked with a more jagged line, almost like a simplistic lightning bolt, but it made sense to Reardon that it and the rigid line of ice were opposites.

“All one needs to do to achieve transmutation using magic is to first draw the rune and then activate it with an intending tap. Anyone with the most marginal of magic can do the same, even without training, as long as they will it. So… tap the rune and think of the heat from the sun as you do so.”

A thrill shot through Reardon at the thought of being allowed to enact any sort of magic. He held his breath and reached out to tap the jagged line as told.

Nothing happened.

“As expected. Like we discovered on your first day—you have no magic at all,” Liam said coolly. “Using runes is easier, faster, and requires fewer components to accomplish similar tasks. Meaning itwould have also been easier to cover up. Therefore, if our findings lead us to believe that the poison we seek was created by alchemy with no magic whatsoever….”

“Then the one we seek might have no magic in them either,” Reardon concluded.

“You see? You’re less useless every day.” Liam shooed him from the table. “Now get to work.”

The afternoon wore on with everyone working diligently, and they eventually needed refills on supplies.

“We’re going to run out of everything at this rate,” Liam said. “Better dig into the winter stores. You’re lucky we have plenty to spare, Emerald Prince, or I’d never allow this detour.” He turned into the deeper bowels of the tower and disappeared.

It was then Reardon realized that, besides the wizard’s coupling with Shayla and his role in the castle, he knew the least about Liam compared to any of the other court members.

“Liam was an elf and already a wizard with a leaning toward weather magic when the king appointed him, that much I know,” Reardon said, slowly mixing a batch of healing potions, “but is that all? Everyone else has a story, yet I don’t know anything more about him.”

The room went so suddenly quiet, Reardon stopped his stirring to look around.

Barclay and Caitlin had turned away, so Reardon looked to Shayla, who faced him sluggishly, her usually glib demeanor more somber.

“You’ve wormed your way into a lot ofcoldhearts, but Liam….” She peered the direction he had gone before continuing in a low voice. “I wondered the same when I first arrived. What is the wizard’s problem? Frankly, I thought he was a prick and didn’t appreciate him ordering me around just because I had talents in foraging. So I decided to play a prank.Aftera month being here, so I already knew the castle’s secrets.

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