Magician's Touch (Deadly Touch book 3) Chapter 43: 43: Luxury

Read chapter 43 of Magician's Touch (Deadly Touch book 3) by Deb E Howell on NovelPedia.

Braph held up two crystals – one between flesh thumb and forefinger, the other between leather-encased digits – tilting them to catch the light at different angles, seeking some difference in their shades. The one from purely Orin’s blood was, as usual so dark it looked black in all but the most direct light, and only if angled just right could a deep, deep purple be glimpsed. The other, collected from Orin while Orinia supplied syringefuls of her blood purely for her son’s delight, looked … exactly the same. Sigh. He shouldn’t be surprised, but he’d dared hope, and all that had done was left him disappointed. This was a crystal made from half of the blood in Orin’s body, infused with just two syringefuls of his mother’s blood. Of course there would be little difference. No. What he needed was another chair so he could have Orin in one, a Syaenuk in the next, and condemned riffraff in the third, allowing Orin his constant supply and Braph something truly next level. Now, there was a vision. In the meantime, his next best option was a sap crystal. He rested a hand on a soft ball of thickened sap sitting on his bench in the round-bottomed collecting bowl in which they had carried it back from Taither. More than a handful, he placed the pure Immortal crystal down and let his palm and fingers sink into it slightly and was rewarded with a flush of well-being. Beside him, Orin sat, toying with one of the mechanical blood-collecting devices, flicking its lifeless leg with one hand while stuffing his face full of pastry and stewed apple with the other. Braph screwed up his face. He hadn’t made a habit of allowing the child to eat in his workshop unless he was seated in the blood-letting chair but, well, rules were broken when it came to settling the family into a new routine, and keeping an Immortal on side. He placed the other crystal down, opened the draw to his crystal-making machine, then gathered up the sap ball and rolled it between his hands until one end resembled a sausage. He fed it into the space where he normally poured blood, shaping the rest of the ball and pushing it in so it filled the cavity much like blood as he could manage. “When’s ma getting out of the bath? I want more blood.” “I think you’ve had enough from your mother.” Braph used a small plunger he’d fashioned to push the sap into the machine, forcing it to fill the space blood would. The machine was built to withstand the pressure it generated. Doubt only lingered in whether the sap would emerge in the shape required for his arm cuff. “But—” “But nothing.” “If not from ma, where can I get more? It feels real good, and don’t you want to try for an even stronger crystal? Can you make me one?” Orin filled his mouth again, chewing loudly around the sticky treat, blowing pastry flakes onto Braph’s bench. Braph breathed through simmering rage and closed the machine. While he would rather Orin didn’t blow food everywhere, he couldn’t bring himself to send a likely-moody Immortal child into some unsupervised corner of his house. Sometimes compromises had to be made. Orin swallowed, licked a finger and dabbed at some of the flakes, sucking them from the tip. “Can we get an Ajnai here? How fast do they grow?” “They are indeed quick growing. Replenish my crystal supplies and I will take a trip to gather seeds.” “Will we have to go with you again?” Orin’s voice threatened to whine. Blessedly, “No. I can make the journey and return within the day.” Braph cranked the knob to seal his machine fully, then eased the lever allowing some of the hot water that flowed constantly through pipes all over his house to flow into the chamber where it would soon be super-heated to steam, while watching the dials for signs of weakness in the system. When all seemed well, he opened up the flow fully. The door to the workshop opened, admitting Orinia wrapped in a robe, hair swaddled in a towel, and a subtle, yet blissful smile alighting her face to which some of her youthful glow had retur