Page 114 of Alchemy of Souls

She beams, and I wish I could share her enthusiasm. It was one thing to risk fighting my uncle, but this feels like we’re gambling with our entire world.

CHAPTER 54Grayson

“Ready?” Eloise asks.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I reply.

“You give your uncle the Key,” she says, and I can’t help but tense. “At which point it’ll probably disappear.”

“Has to disappear,” I say—because it’s the only thing giving me peace of mind right now.

“Right, and then you bring him back to the Archive, using me as bait,” she says, and I lift an eyebrow. “What? It’s the truth. Then we film his confession without him knowing, andvoila. We broadcast it for everyone to see.”

“How do you do that?” I ask. “How do you take a nearly impossible situation and make it sound optimistic?”

She tucks her hair behind her ear with a little shrug, a simple motion that I find entirely captivating. “My entire life has been an impossible situation.”

I tilt her chin up, before I can stop myself, and rub my thumb across her cheekbone. “A heart of courage,” I say, and her blush follows the trail of my touch.

She smiles up at me. “We can do this, Gray.”

“Wewilldo this, Claws,” I tell her.

Which is when the impossible happens—she kisses me. Shestands up on her tippy toes, her hands sliding into my hair, and she presses her soft lips to mine. To say I become a fucking puddle on the floor is an understatement. It’s a quick kiss, but one imbued with hope and the belief that things can be better.

“You trying to take me out before I start, Claws?” I ask her.

“I’m trying to ensure that you come back to me,” she says.

Puddle. Floor.

Suddenly I’m grinning. I’m about to do something god-awful and I’m grinning at this girl. “You’re damn right I am,” I say as I backstep toward the door. “I have to top that kiss.”

“Oh really?” she says with a smile. “You think you can?”

“I know I can,” I say, and she snorts.

“Go,” she says. “And don’t you dare get hurt.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. I need to preserve all this,” I say, gesturing to my face. “So you still think I’m pretty.”

I grab the door handle and the last sound I hear is her laugh.

But the mood shifts as I open the door and step into the hall. Akari’s there waiting for me. Only she’s not surrounded by a slew of Guardians like I expect.

Her hands are loose, poised around her belt, which holds her weapons and potions. But even without backup I’m not stupid enough to attack her. Whatever bravado I normally employ, I know for a fact I can’t take Akari.

“You’re alone?” she asks, staring at me with discerning eyes.

“It would seem so,” I say, and when she doesn’t immediately reply I add, “I need to see my uncle.”

Her eyes narrow, and I can scent her apprehension, but she doesn’t ask questions or try to restrain me. Maybe because I asked to go to the one place she was planning on bringing me anyway.

Akari gestures for me to walk in front of her and I don’t hesitate.We move silently to my uncle’s wing and down the hall to his office. When we get to the door, Damien is gone—raiding the Lawless—and there is another Guardian in his place.

“You’re excused,” Akari tells him.

“But the Chancellor said—”