by Andre, Becca
He tucked my hand in the crook of his arm and led me to Elysia and Doug. “Then we are agreed,” he said to Doug. “You’ll get Elysia in to see Lex.”
Doug released a noisy breath, but nodded.
“Then I shall hold you to your honor as a gentleman that you will keep your word.”
“You won’t be disappointed.”
A portal whispered open behind us, the air warm against my back.
Doug lifted his brows, but didn’t comment.
“Come, Elysia,” Ian said. “We’ve had Addie out long enough. She needs to lie down.”
“Hardly,” I said. “Besides, we were going to work up the new salve.”
He led me into the portal. “We’ll see how you feel after you’ve rested.”
“Ian.”
“I could speak to Rowan.”
“You don’t play fair.”
Doug was watching us, then turned his bemused expression on Elysia.
“They’re like that old TV show, The Odd Couple—except with a bigger age gap and more sarcasm.”
Doug smiled, though it didn’t last. “Ely.”
“Watch your back. If Neil or Alexander finds out what we’re up to…”
“I’ll do my best to ensure that they don’t.”
She regarded him in silence for a moment. “Why did you want to give James to your father?”
“I never intended to. That was Neil’s assumption—and yours.”
“Then…”
“I wanted to use him for the same purpose you intend. I wanted to take out the ghoul master.”
“I see. Take care.” She bid him farewell, then joined us in the portal. Ian let it close.
“That went well,” I said.
“Better than expected,” Ian agreed.
“He might be a Nelson, but he’s really not a bad guy,” Elysia said. “As I told you before, it was just his Family loyalty and narcissism that turned me off.”
“He comes by those traits honestly.”
Ian cleared his throat, and the portal opened into my living room.
“How did it go?” James rose from his seat at my kitchen table. Neither Ian nor Elysia looked surprised to see him.
“Doug will get me in.” She stopped in front of James.
“I don’t like this.” He tucked a strand of her golden hair behind her ear.
“It must be done.” She rested a hand on his stomach, staring up at him.
After seeing her with Doug, I had begun to wonder if she still had feelings for her ex-fiancé. They clearly cared for each other, but seeing her with James put those fears to rest. The air all but crackled between them.
Ian sighed, but didn’t comment, leading me over to the couch. He helped me sit down, then squatted in front of me to remove my shoes.
“You don’t need to do that,” I said.
“Yes, I do. You must heal and quickly. We’ve only three more weeks until spring. Only three more weeks to teach Elysia to use her magic.”
“Three weeks before Neil makes himself a necromancer.”
“And potentially resurrects something worse than Gavin.” Ian lifted his head and looked me in the eye. “My brother.”
Afterword
Thank you for reading The Alchemist’s Flame. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you liked it well enough to leave a review; that would be great! There’s more to come in The Final Formula Series. If you want me to notify you when I have a new release, all you need to do is subscribe to my newsletter at beccaandre.com. As an added bonus, you’ll also receive an alternate POV scene from one of my novels when you sign up
Acknowledgements
It’s time again to thank all folks who help me make my stories better. I’d to thank:
My critique partners: Kendra Highley and Lindsay Buroker. Thanks for quick turn on this one. Here’s hoping I won’t be up against my deadline on the next one!
My beta readers: Scott Andre, Kelly Crawley, Maria McConnaughy, Deanna Stanley, and Cindy Wilkinson. Thanks for taking the time to pick out my typos and letting me know what worked and what didn’t.
My editor: Shelley Holloway. Damn, you’re awesome!
Glendon Haddix and the team at Streetlight Graphics for the always beautiful cover art and formatting. (Check out my gorgeous website. They did that, too!)
And you, kind reader, for letting me entertain you. I really appreciate the reviews, comments, and emails. Thank you!
About the Author
Becca Andre lives in southern Ohio with her husband, two children, and an elderly Jack Russell Terrier. A love of science and math (yes, she’s weird like that), led to a career as a chemist where she blows things up far more infrequently than you’d expect. Other interests include: chocolate, hard rock, and slaying things on the Xbox. She also finds writing about herself in third person a bit strange.
For more on the world of the Final Formula, upcoming releases, and random ramblings, stop by beccaandre.com
Twitter: twitter.com/AddledAlchemist
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorBeccaAndre
Exciting new science fiction series
for readers aged 13+
Unstrung, Book 1 in the Unstrung Series
By Kendra C. Highley
Lexa Pate, seventeen-year-old thief extraordinaire, has burned a bridge or two in her life. You don’t make a career out of stealing other people’s property without making enemies.
When a risky job goes from bad to worse, Lexa and her adopted family find themselves on Precipice Corporation’s hit list because they’ve accidentally stolen the wrong thing—plans for a new model of genetically-engineered super humans. Now every bounty hunter, cop on the take, and snitch in the city is after them.
Lexa’s world crumbles around her as she fights to keep her family safe even as someone strolls out of her forgotten past. Quinn claims to know who Lexa really is, but can she trust a stranger she met while robbing his boss?
More importantly, does she really want to know what Quinn has to tell her?
Based on the fairy tale Pinocchio, UNSTRUNG takes you into a near future world where the lines between fake and real are blurred, all that’s pristine isn’t always innocent, and being a criminal isn’t always wrong.