Magician's Touch (Deadly Touch book 3) Chapter 34: 34: Always Hungry

Read chapter 34 of Magician's Touch (Deadly Touch book 3) by Deb E Howell on NovelPedia.

Braph poured watery sap from the small collecting bowl into the large pot that already sat bubbling away over a blue gas flame. There were certainly challenges ahead, what with no guarantee he could access the tree’s power through sap crystals, and the sugar and mineral makeup of the sap contaminating whatever magic might be in it, but his tendency to push through unknowns had served him in the past. He wasn’t about to let doubt stop him now. “That smells so good,” Orin leaned over the pot, then pulled back as the hot steam engulfed his face. “Ooh, hot. But it just smells so good. It’s making me hungry.” “You’re always hungry,” Braph said, assessing the boil and dialing down the gas. He’d calculated he’d get a couple of pints of syrup from the full pot after several hours of boiling. He didn’t want syrup, though. More than likely, he was going to end up with something resembling hard toffee. He didn’t want that, either, despite what Orin might say. The final trick would be in attaining something the same size and shape as his blood crystals to fit his device. It wouldn’t be simple, he knew that. He’d spent years learning how blood behaved under various heat and pressure conditions. He had little doubt tree sap would behave quite differently. But what was the point in sticking with what he knew? Science advanced through trial and error, accidents and miscalculations. With tools to hand, a tree that could heal itself between drillings, and an Immortal son still willing to provide blood, Braph was under little time pressure. Yes, Llewella and his brother had their own intentions for the tree, but they were many, many miles away and Braph would be surprised if Jonas survived long enough to make it to the tree. As always, he found himself surprised by the slight weight that settled in his throat and chest at that thought. He wouldn’t miss Jonas when he was gone. He didn’t miss Jonas now. Why did the thought of Jonas dying affect him so? Such thoughts wouldn’t help him with the sap questions, so he shrugged them off. What he needed to figure out was how far to boil the syrup down in the large pot. If he allowed it to simmer right down to the crystalline state, he could imagine how difficult it would be to scrape out of the bottom. He was going to have to come up with some intermediary steps. Tipping it into a smaller ves— “When can we have dinner? Can we go back to that place we had lunch? That smell makes me want more ice cream. That was so good. Can we go back there, dad?” Braph gritted his teeth, about snarled at the boy to shut up, but caught himself just in time. It wouldn’t do to scare off the child while Braph still relied on his blood, especially now the boy had his strength and speed coming in. Hmm. If Braph wanted a ticking clock for making progress with the sap, that was it. He’d never been one for appeasing people. He really didn’t want to have to start now, but he supposed he had to. And, well, if he wanted Orin’s blood, then Orin had to eat. “Fine. Yes, we will go for dinner.” Braph turned the gas off and invited Orinia to loop her hand through his elbow. “But it’s Orinia’s choice where we eat.” *** While most of the farm’s occupants settled into the evening hours with card games, or reading by candlelight, or an early night, Llew and Jonas returned to blood transfers after dinner. Llew had to sit in a backed chair now, no longer able to lean into a tree with her shirt bunched up. Rowan had hooked up slings of leather for each of her wrists, one for the hand touching the tree and one for the arm connected to the Gravinator. For the first several minutes, she’d struggled to shake memories of leather straps buckled tight and holding her down in a chair at Braph’s whim. But she was not buckled in, only held in place by her own desire to be available for Jonas’s needs. This was different. With a few deep breaths, and experimentally lifting her wrists from the slings several times, Llew relaxed as much as she could into the