Vermilion by Molly Tanzer

Author:Molly Tanzer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Steampunk, Fantasy
Publisher: Word Horde
Published: 2015-05-15T06:00:00+00:00

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH SPA AND SANATORIUM

On this day of April the 12th, 1867

Dr. Panacea himself inscribed these words:

No true physician considers his own good in what he prescribes,

but the good of his patient.

A physician is a healer of bodies, not a maker of money.

—Plato

Lou felt plenty warm after reading that, and not just because the sun was finally shining a little. Anger heated her up just as good as squatting by a campfire. While it was true that during the journey she’d gone back and forth with herself over pretty much every word she and Shai had said to one another back on that rock in Estes Park, she was still wholly of the opinion that tricking sick people was beyond the pale when it came to wickedness—especially now, after seeing how long it took to get to the damn sanatorium.

She shook her head. She had let herself think of Shai far too often during her trek—not just their last night together, but the things she’d liked about him before that, like the sound of his laughter, the wonder she’d felt sitting beside him that morning they’d seen the jackalopes; the tenderness she’d felt after reciting that stupid poem what had made him so damn sad.

She’d decided to continue to Fountain of Youth to try to bust wide open whatever was going on up there, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have other scores to settle. Shai’d taken off before the dust from their talk had settled. She still liked him; hell, she even pitied him, a little. How could she not? He might have made his own bed, and been happy enough sleeping in it for four hundred years, but there were parts of his story that gnawed at her. Like for instance Dr. Panacea being so willing to sacrifice their supply of the Elixir of Life, the one thing in the world that could keep Shai alive—and the way Shai had felt so guilty that he couldn’t be his lover’s only source of food.

And then there was that whole thing where Shai had said she reminded him of himself when he was young and naïve… well, he reminded her of herself, too, but not in a good way. Shai’s argument—which as far as she could tell added up to all things being permissible when the deck of life was stacked against you—it didn’t sit well with her. She’d felt plenty bitter toward the world and its ways, but she’d tasted the sweetness of life, too. People like her mother, and Vilhelm, and Bo, they’d helped her find a balance. She wanted to do that for Shai if she could.

If he would let her.

“All right, folks, this last hill is the worst,” called Ned, interrupting Lou’s thoughts. “Coyote and me will take turns leading the mules, but given the grade we’ll need everyone to walk, except you, Mr. Magnusson. To spare the team,” he added, when the Willoughbys both opened their mouths wide as baby birds to protest this injustice.

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