Chapter 46: Heat

Severin reached the training hall before Rafael and Madeleine. Neumann was arranging ordinary things on a long table.

A shallow basin of water sat near two iron bars, with three stone tiles stacked beside a squat lamp with a blue glass chimney. A brazier burned against the wall.

Severin stopped beside the table and turned his head farther left than he once would have, checking that side of the room with his good eye. He still hated having to do that. The sword at his hip knocked lightly against the table leg when he stepped closer.

"Is that it?"

Neumann looked up. "Yes. Disappointed?"

"Well, yeah. Since I nearly died for this pact. Was hoping for something better than crockery."

"Let’s see you make it do something first before you complain."

Rafael came in next, his black coat buttoned high and his right hand still gloved. Severin heard his steps first and turned left to catch him entering from his blind side. Madeleine followed with Anna’s flask at her belt. Her own glove was off, though she kept the marked hand close against her coat.

Neumann waited until the door shut.

"Before you start guessing, start with the mark. That’s where the pact answers."

He pulled the glove from his right hand, exposing the dark lines across the back of it. Severin had seen the mark before, but never this close. Neumann let the hand hang loose at his side and stared ahead for a few seconds.

The mark lit green, the light sitting beneath the skin rather than on it and sharpening the tendons across his hand before it faded.

"If it’s on your hand, focus there. If it’s on the eye, focus on the eye. Don’t try to force whatever the gift is. Wake the pact first and see what happens."

Severin touched the bandage over his left eye. "Through this?"

Neumann glanced at him. "See? You’ve already got it."

"Would’ve preferred to keep seeing."

Neumann moved on. "Montoro. Glove off."

Rafael removed it. The mark on the back of his right hand looked almost black against his skin.

"Focus."

Rafael stared at the mark without moving until green began to spread through the lines across his hand, faint at first, then steady.

Madeleine managed it faster. Her right-hand mark lit with the same green light. The flame stayed upright, but the blue light across the tabletop shifted toward her before settling back.

She watched the light settle. Neumann glanced at the tabletop. "Good. Now stop."

Her mark faded first. Rafael’s followed a few seconds later.

Severin folded his arms. "And mine?"

"You deaf, Hale? Focus on the marked eye."

Severin had spent the morning trying not to think about the thing under the bandage. Now he made himself focus on it.

At first there was only pressure. Then the blind eye seemed to pull at his awareness, a sensation he could not place without sight. He focused harder until green light seeped through the bandage.

Rafael gave a hard laugh. "Sorry. You just look ridiculous."

Severin turned toward him. "Shut the fuck up. We all lost an eye."

"Yeah, but ours aren’t glowing through our faces."

The light vanished as Severin’s focus broke.

Neumann pointed at the table. "Try again. And Montoro, keep your mouth shut."

He pushed one of the iron bars across the wood. Severin wrapped his right hand around it. The metal felt neither warm nor cold, only rough against his palm.

Severin focused on the blind eye until green returned beneath the bandage, but nothing else happened.

He waited, but nothing changed.

"You feel anything?" Neumann asked.

"Annoyed."

"That’s normal for you."

Madeleine laughed.

Severin tried again, willing something to happen. Green still shone beneath the bandage, but the bar felt no different in his hand.

Neumann took the bar from him and carried it to the brazier.

"That one was my fault," he said.

Severin leaned against the table. "Right. Glad we cleared that up."

Neumann rested one end of the iron near the coals. He waited, turned it, then tested the metal carefully before bringing it back.

"Warm," he said. "Unpleasant, not dangerous."

Severin reached for the bar, and the heat bit into his palm hard enough to make him want to let go.

"Now," Neumann said.

Severin focused on the blind eye until green shone through the cloth again.

He wanted the heat out of the iron, and the warmth beneath his palm began to fade.

Severin almost loosened his grip from surprise. He held on instead.

The metal cooled quickly. Within a few breaths the discomfort was gone, and soon the bar felt colder than the room around it.

Severin looked at Neumann as he took the far end between two fingers, then closed his hand around it.

"Do that again," Neumann said.

Neumann reheated the bar, and the second attempt came easier as Severin focused on the mark and wanted the heat gone.

This time he felt the heat leaving before the bar had cooled beneath his palm.

Warmth drained from the metal in a tight patch beneath his grip while the rest stayed hot, and Severin smiled.

"Well," Rafael said. "You were worried you nearly died for nothing."

"Shut up."

"Come on. You’re smiling."

Neumann replaced the iron with one of the stone tiles. "Try this."

The stone was harder to read. Severin pressed his palm flat against it and focused until the mark glowed, but for several seconds the tile felt unchanged. Then the surface beneath his hand chilled, and when he lifted his palm, a damp print remained on the stone.

Madeleine leaned closer. "Condensation?"

Neumann dragged a thumb through the moisture. "Looks like it."

Severin touched the tile again. "So I make things cold."

"Maybe." Neumann shook his head. "Or you’re taking the heat out. Do it again before we start naming things."

That made more sense. He had felt nothing leave his own hand and had simply wanted the heat gone.

"Take your hand off," Neumann said. "Keep the mark active."

Severin lifted his palm but kept his focus on the blind eye. Green remained visible through the bandage. The damp patch on the tile stopped spreading, and after several seconds Neumann touched it with two fingers.

Neumann frowned at the tile. "Hmm. That’s odd."

"What is?"

"You’re eye-marked, but so far the gift only does anything when you’re touching something."

Severin looked at the tile again. If Neumann thought it was odd, he wanted to know why.

Neumann slid the basin toward him, the water inside barely covering the bottom.

"Just two fingers. Don’t put your whole hand in."

Severin dipped his first two fingers into the water, which was already cool.

He focused until green light returned beneath the bandage.

The water grew colder around his fingers. A faint haze gathered above the basin, thin enough that Severin almost missed it until Madeleine moved around the table for a better look.

"Keep going," Neumann said.

Severin kept going as the water chilled deeper around his fingers, condensation gathering along the metal rim until his fingertips began to ache.

A pale line appeared beside his index finger and widened into a thin crescent of ice along the side of the basin while Severin watched.

Severin laughed before he could stop himself.

Rafael stepped closer. "Now that’s more like it. Do that again."

Neumann caught Severin’s wrist before he could dip his fingers back into the water. "Wait."

Severin looked at him. Neumann nodded toward his hand. "Open it."

"It is open."

"No, it isn’t."

Severin looked down. His first two fingers were still half curled. When he tried to straighten them, they moved slowly, a small tremor running through his hand as they finally opened.

The excitement thinned just enough for him to notice how cold his fingertips had become.

Neumann released his wrist. "How do you feel?"

"Fine."

"Move your fingers again."

Severin flexed his hand. The movement worked, though the fingers lagged behind the thought by a fraction.

"Mostly fine."

"That I believe."

Madeleine watched his hand and glanced down at the mark on her own.

Severin rubbed his fingers together until some feeling returned. "So that’s the price?"

"Part of it, maybe. You’ve only used the gift for a few minutes. I’m not interested in finding out today how bad it gets."

Severin looked at the basin, where the crescent of ice had already begun to soften at the edge.

He wanted to do it again. Neumann had stopped him, but the urge was still there. He had watched stone chill and felt heat leave iron because he wanted it gone.

For most of his life, power had belonged to people with money or a uniform. A warehouse owner could cut a man’s wages, while a constable had the law behind him. Men like Pike stayed useful to both.

Severin watched the faint green fade beneath his bandage. For the first time, he had something nobody could give him or take away by cutting his wages.

Neumann moved the basin out of reach. "Tomorrow."

Severin looked up. "Tomorrow what?"

"Today we figured out what it does." Neumann nodded toward the table. "Tomorrow we see what you can actually do with it."

Severin flexed his fingers again. They were already steadier. Then he glanced at the service sword at his hip, and Neumann caught it.

"No."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You didn’t need to."