Page 50 of Silver & Gold
But Julian did not take Seth’s opening. With pink spots blooming on his smooth cheeks, Julian walked to a table and turned off an arcane burner that was glowing red.
“Do you need me in the library?” he asked, not looking at Seth. “I thought we were done researching.”
“I actually need help with this.” Seth pulled the arcane scope from his utility belt and walked over to Julian’s cluttered worktable. “It keeps jamming.”
Julian took the scope from Seth. “I still can’t believe this is what gave me away.”
“I still can’t believe you don’t want it back.”
Julian shrugged. “You have more use for it than I do.”
Julian sat on a wooden stool. Setting down the scope, he picked up his … whatever he called that headgear from amid the table’s clutter and put it on. He rotated the magnifying lens down in front of his eye, fished a few tiny tools from under an open book, and started fiddling.
Seth crossed his arms. “Can I ask you something?”
“Mm-hmm,” Julian agreed absently.
“In confidence.”
Julian paused his work and looked up at Seth, his magnified eye blinking through the lens. He rotated the lens away from his eye.
The kid said seriously, “If it’s a dangerous secret, you probably shouldn’t tell me. I don’t think I’d hold up well under torture.”
“Oh, fuck, it’s not like that. I’m just wondering … I mean, you read Kahzir’s book and you’re a brilliant arcanist—” Julian’s cheeks went pink again. “—so I was wondering whether you think it’s possible …”
Trailing off, Seth walked to the window and stared out through the burn hole that Adavasti had left. He didn’t like talking about this without Raider’s knowledge, but this might be his last chance to ask Julian. They were leaving on their hunt tomorrow, and Julian would not be going. He was better off here. Zarina had no reason to harm him. Besides, the empress had already sent a ship to Masir to have Kahzir seized. Once Kahzir was out of the Arcanum, Julian could return there. If Seth was going to ask, he had to ask now.
“Whether what’s possible?” Julian prompted.
Seth turned to face him. “For Raider’s quicksilver to be removed.”
“Ah.” Julian’s expression grew pensive. “That’s really outside my expertise.”
“I should fucking hope so.”
“So I’d only be guessing.”
“Stop beating around the bush. What’s your guess?”
“Well … my guess is no. It’s so deeply enmeshed in his body. And quicksilver is a strange material, arcane in the fullest sense of the word. It’s a mystery that’s never really been solved.”
“And yet it’s heavily used,” Seth pointed out. “It’s in almost all of my equipment.”
“Yes, in trace amounts. It’s there to help the components interface—one might even say … communicate—in an arcane device. Like your glove and chakram sort of … speak to each other.”
“I feel like you’re trying to imply something, but I don’t know what it is.”
Julian took off his headgear and scrubbed at his face in a way that made Seth nervous. Then he asked, “How much of Kahzir’s book did you read?”
Seth bristled at the question. “Almost nothing,” he answered tightly, hoping Julian would assume that he hadn’t had a chance. The truth, which was that Raider hadn’t wanted him to read it, hurt too much to admit.
Julian had read the book. By now others had read the book. Why were they allowed to know things that Seth wasn’t?
Julian said, “There are many theories about quicksilver and why it behaves like it does. One theory is that it’s … sentient, at least to some degree. That’s certainly what Kahzir believed.”
On a certain level, Seth knew he should end the conversation. Raider had asked Seth not to read the book. Learning about the book from Julian was a violation of Raider’s trust, even if that hadn’t been Seth’s intention when he came in here. But he couldn’t bring himself to stop Julian.
The young arcanist went on, “Kahzir hypothesized that quicksilver, if fully integrated into an organic body, would able to respond to the will of its bearer. I only saw Raider use the quicksilver once, but it did indeed look like a very organic manipulation. Like it was responding to his will.”