Page 225 of Alchemised
“Given the alloy’s behaviour and how resonance is used, making it into a weapon or injecting nullium into the blood is less effective than simply targeting the limbs with it. If that kind of interference was focused near the hands, it would be almost impossible for an alchemist to accurately sense their resonance. Shiseo thinks that if the alloy was paired with something that has a high, sharp resonance point—like copper processed with a high level of lumithium emanations—that could create a type of interference that would suppress most kinds of resonance regardless of the alchemist’s repertoire.”
“How would we counter that?” Ilva leaned forward with interest.
“Well, any good metallurgist could, if they were comfortable working without resonance. But that’s not something most Paladian metallurgists have ever had to worry about.”
“Fortunate, then, that you fished those shards out of Ferron,” Ilva said, although the sentiment was hardly reflected by her tone.
Helena gave a tight nod. “Here’s his report,” she said, pushing the envelope across the table.
Ilva plucked it up and dropped it into a drawer.
“And I—” Helena hesitated, heat rising to her hairline and the tips of her ears. “He gave me a set of daggers as a solstice gift, using the titanium-nickel alloy.”
She pulled out the oilcloth and opened it on the desk for Ilva’s inspection. Ilva raised an eyebrow, glancing for a moment before flicking the cloth to cover them as if she found the mere sight distasteful.
Helena’s stomach dropped and she wrapped them up quickly, wishing she hadn’t shown them without being asked. “It’s a good sign, isn’t it?”
Ilva tilted her head, studying Helena for a moment. “Ferron’s climbing rank,” she said as she reached into a drawer and pulled out a file, dropping it onto the desk. “Did you know?”
Helena’s heart stalled. She had noticed his uniform was darker.
“It seems he’s already surpassed everything he’d ever achieved prior to that injury of his. He controls several extremely valuable districts. Recently he’s taken over the factory Outpost where you’ve been visiting him, consolidating power at a remarkable speed. It seems all our recent successes have benefitted him greatly.”
Ilva tapped a fingernail on the desk, looking up at Helena with a cold smile.
“I didn’t know,” Helena said.
Ilva shook her head. “No, I didn’t imagine so. I’m beginning to worry whether you remember what he is.”
Helena’s breath caught, but Ilva continued, flipping through page after page in the file before her.
“There have been rumours for months that Morrough has a new weapon. We thought it was a chimaera, like the one that nearly killed Lila, or the nullium, but no. It’s neither of those things, is it?” Ilva folded her hands, looking squarely at Helena. “How is it that he’s still alive?”
“Crowther told me to do what I could.”
Ilva’s eyes flicked down from Helena’s face to her neck, where the chain of her necklace was barely visible beneath her collar. Helena went very still.
“You know, Ferron’s not our only spy,” Ilva said. “We have a number of informants. Based on their reports, following the recovery of the ports, he was punished. Extensively. He was dying. I was assured of that.”
“You knew?” Helena asked, her voice shaking. “You knew what they did to him, and you—you didn’t tell me?”
Ilva stared piercingly at her. “Why would we have told you?”
Helena could hardly speak. “Is that why the attack was so elaborate and used so much of the intelligence? Because you expected he’d be killed for it. Because you wanted him killed for it.”
Ilva said nothing, but now Kaine’s resentment and disbelief when Helena kept coming back began to make sense.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Helena’s voice trembled with rage.
Ilva’s lips pursed, her eyes flicking across Helena’s face. “You’ve always been—remarkably forthright.” A smile stretched across her lips. “That’s why Luc trusts you so much. If we’d told you the plan, do you really think you could have gone, knowing, without giving any sign to Ferron?”
Helena began to tremble. She gripped the arms of her chair as the room blurred.
“We assumed you’d realise it,” Ilva added. “When it became clear that you hadn’t—that you felt some sort of obligation to him—we agreed to let you try to heal him in the hope that once you realised the futility of it, you’d be able to bring his talisman back.”
Ilva cleared her throat. “So you can imagine our surprise that he has not only survived but become more dangerous than ever before, that treacherous spy of ours. How did you do it?”
Helena swallowed hard. “We were losing, and it was only because of him that we could retake the ports. He did that for us. You didn’t see him the day I went back. He knew he’d be punished; he expected to die.” She gave a panicked breath. “If you wanted him dead, you should have told me. Crowther said to do what I could.”
