A Forbidden Alchemy

Nina stops the landslide in midair, making the dirt fall in heaps by the fence. Patrick readies himself to go into the entrance of the mines, and Nina insists on joining him. Once at the shaft, he asks her to give Scottie the rope needed to pull them out while he helps get the men up the shaft. She insists on staying and makes Patrick leave instead. He thinks he’s in love with her.

Eventually, the shaft lifts, and 20 or so men emerge. They begin to follow Nina out of the tunnel, but the gas makes it difficult for them to move. They hear the beginnings of an explosion, and Nina tries to hold open the passageway. Exhaustion takes over as she sprints toward the light.

She awakens to Patrick and Gunner standing above her. Patrick tells her everyone made it out. Patrick kisses her and asks Gunner to carry her home.

At the inn, Theo tries to take Nina from Gunner. Tess intervenes and helps her bathe, telling Nina about her husband, who promised her that their sons wouldn’t go into the mines. But they did as soon as they were old enough because they needed the money. She tells Nina that she envies Artisans because they don’t have to send their husbands and sons into the mines. She tells her that Patrick loves her, but warns her that he won’t stop until this war ends or he dies. Nina believes she is wrong.

Only four people died in the mudslide. After bathing, Patrick goes up to Nina’s room. He lays next to her and tells her that he trusts her. He sleeps peacefully.

In the early morning, Nina leaves Patrick in her room to get them breakfast. Soon he awakes and runs after her, luring her back to bed with kisses. Once back in her room, they have sex, both in awe of the other’s perfection.

Patrick stays with Nina in her room as long as he can to delay their inevitable responsibilities. They have sex again and again, getting to know each other’s bodies, and he wishes he could stay in this room forever.

He asks for a story, and she tells him about the river behind her childhood home. Her mother used to tell her that one day, they’d go on one of the boats to Belavere. One morning, her mother was gone. Nina ran to the shore and screamed to the departing boat, but everyone looked except her mother. Patrick kisses her and promises to keep her story safe.

That night, Donny bangs on the door asking Patrick and Nina to come downstairs. They acquiesce, and Nina is met with praise and gratitude for saving so many lives. Tess Colson calls for quiet so that the union meeting can begin, and Patrick calls Nina up to the counter. They make a toast to the four men who were lost, the town of Kenton Hill, and Nina. Patrick kisses her in front of everyone.

The night is “colored gold” for Nina, but Theo and Polly sit in a corner unamused (376). Patrick leaves to help his mother in the kitchen, and Theo stares at Nina until she decides to have a conversation with him.

Nina leaves the pub and enters an alley with Theo and Polly close behind. Theo accuses her of creating the landslide so that she could stop it and criticizes her for sleeping with Patrick and not yet finding the Alchemist. Polly mediates and hands Nina a missive from Lord Tanner that orders them to flee and requests the safest route to invade Kenton Hill. They will use the tunnel Nina has built to enter the town and risk killing the Alchemist.

Theo says that he and his father will keep Nina’s mother safe and help Nina start over in Belavere. Shocked, Nina promises the only thing she knows will delay the invasion: She will find the Alchemist. Theo agrees to stall for one week. When Theo leaves, Nina convinces Polly to help her prevent the invasion to save Otto and the other townspeople. That night, Nina is tortured with guilt and resolves to make one last betrayal before she gives herself entirely to Patrick.

That morning, they work on the tunnel again. On their four-hour walk back, Nina asks Patrick about the Miner’s Union and the Alchemist. He confirms that the Alchemist couldn’t be in Kenton Hill because there’s nowhere to hide him. Patrick refuses to give Nina more information because he wants to keep her safe. He tells her that he’s in love with her, and they kiss, unaware that Theo is in the shadows near enough to hear.

Once out of the tunnel, Gunner reveals that tonight is First Frost, a celebration of winter’s arrival. Their father created it the year of the first strike when they no longer sent all their goods to Belavere. Nina and Patrick go with the men straight from the tunnel. Nina has a moment alone with Polly, and Polly tells her that crates have arrived from Dunnitch, where they might be keeping the Alchemist. She urges Nina to move faster. When Theo arrives, the tension rises. He stares at Nina, taunts Gunner, and challenges Donny to a game of darts, saying that if he wins, he gets to take their mother to bed. He makes sexual innuendos about Nina being “willing” and eventually Patrick says he’ll let Theo punch him. Instead, Theo leaves. Nina chases after him. He admits he heard them in the tunnel, and she insists that she’s only doing her job. When she turns around, Patrick is there, claiming he only heard the last few words. She asks to go back to the inn.

In the early morning, Nina heads downstairs to check on the crates Polly said were delivered to see if they contain idium. After Tess unlocks it, Nina sneaks in to find crates of an inky substance everywhere. Tess reenters and Nina lies, saying she is looking for tea. Tess explains that the substance is bluff. Patrick enters and asks how Nina got in. He explains that he can’t sleep because he fears that someone will torture her to gain knowledge of his secrets. Nina suggests they go back to bed.

When Nina awakes to find Patrick gone, she goes looking for Polly and Theo. Finding only Polly, she tells her that the crates hold bluff and the Alchemist is almost certainly in Dunnitch. Polly plans to send a forged scribbler to Patrick that something’s gone wrong with the Alchemist. Then, Nina will follow him there to find his exact location. Nina finds Theo looking terrible in an alley. She relays the plan, and he clarifies that the only difference is that Tanner’s men will now raid Dunnitch instead of Kenton Hill. Theo tells her he’s leaving through one of the tunnels—his father will take Tanner’s place soon enough. He asks her to encourage the Colsons not to look for him and promises not to tell Tanner that she’s abandoned her post. Before he leaves, Theo tells her that when she has no other options left, he will be the one to save her.

That night, Patrick walks Kenton Hill in search of Theo, who didn’t show up in the tunnels that day. Sam finds him with a letter from Theo. Written on a worn copy of Nina’s wanted poster, it reads “It isn’t you she wants. It’s the Alchemist” (421). He feels certain that this is just a desperate man’s last act, but when he receives a scribbler from a hand he does not recognize, he fears the worst. He asks Otto and Scottie to see to it and tries to convince himself everything is alright as he falls asleep in Nina’s arms.