Chapter : 1403

"Iron," Lloyd said. "He didn't just use quartz. He used metal conductors to stabilize the quartz resonance. That's what Wilfred missed! That's why his beam was unstable. He was pumping raw energy into a system that needed a ground."

"So," Mina reasoned, "to make it work safely, we do not need massive amounts of quartz. We need a perfectly tuned alloy of quartz and... what? Steel?"

"No," Lloyd said, his vision locking onto a specific node. "Not steel. Orichalcum. A conductive metal that resonates with magic."

"Orichalcum is extinct," Mina said. "We don't have any."

"We don't have natural Orichalcum," Lloyd corrected, opening his eyes. He grinned at her. "But I have the [Steel Blood]. I can manipulate metal at a molecular level. If I take gold, and copper, and infuse it with my Void energy... I can make a synthetic substitute."

Mina stared at him. "You can forge a mythical metal?"

"I can try," Lloyd said. "And if I can make the conductive lattice, I can connect the Heart to the Aegis suit without it exploding. I can create a nervous system for my robot using synthetic Orichalcum nerves."

"This is..." Mina shook her head, amazed. "This is revolution. You are rewriting the laws of magical engineering."

"We are rewriting them," Lloyd said. "Together."

He grabbed a piece of copper wire from the table. "Watch this."

He held the wire. He focused his Void power. The metal glowed red, then white. He pushed his will into it, rearranging the structure, forcing it to accept the magical resonance. The wire changed color, turning a shimmering, iridescent bronze.

"Synthetic Orichalcum," Lloyd presented the wire. "Version 1.0."

He touched it to the Golem Heart. The Heart pulsed brighter. The wire hummed, a clear, pure note.

"It works," Lloyd whispered. "It actually works."

The breakthrough was electric. The energy in the room shifted from studious quiet to manic excitement.

"We have the brain," Lloyd said, pacing around the table. "We have the nerves. We have the interface. This is it, Mina. This is the key."

"We are at 30%," Mina calculated, looking at the schematics on the wall. "We have solved the control problem. We still need to build the chassis, the weapon systems, and the flight thrusters. But the hard part... the impossible part... is done."

"30% is huge," Lloyd said. "Before today, we were at zero. We were at negative zero. We were at 'exploding helmet' levels of failure."

He stopped pacing and looked at her. "We did it."

"We did," Mina smiled. She looked exhausted but happy. Her hair was falling out of its pins. She had ink on her cheek.

Lloyd felt a sudden surge of affection. Not the polite affection of a brother-in-law. The fierce, proud affection of a partner who had just conquered a mountain with someone.

"Celebrate," Lloyd decided. "We need to celebrate."

"Champagne?" Mina asked.

"Better," Lloyd said. "Coffee. And donuts. The really greasy ones from the market."

"You know how to treat a lady," Mina laughed.

"I spare no expense," Lloyd said.

He sent a runner to the market. While they waited, they sat on the floor, leaning against the workbench, looking at the glowing Heart.

"Do you think Anubis would be proud?" Mina asked softly. "That we are using his daughter's heart to build a weapon?"

Lloyd frowned. "We aren't using her. Not like Wilfred did. We aren't waking her up. We are using the structure of the Heart. The architecture. I'm going to build a copy. A synthetic brain based on this design. Elisa... she stays asleep. She stays safe."

"A synthetic brain," Mina mused. "Artificial Intelligence."

"Yes," Lloyd said. "Anubis built a house for a soul. I'm going to build a house for logic. It won't be alive. It won't feel pain. It will just be... smart."

"That is a relief," Mina sighed. "I did not want to be a necromancer."

"We are ethical engineers," Lloyd declared. "The best kind."

The donuts arrived. They ate them with their hands, getting sugar everywhere. They laughed about the absurdity of their situation. Two nobles, hiding in a workshop, eating fried dough and inventing the future.

"You know," Lloyd said, licking sugar off his thumb. "This is the first time in weeks I haven't worried about being assassinated."

"Me too," Mina said. "Usually, I worry about my sister killing me. Or your mother plotting my marriage."

"My mother is a terrifying woman," Lloyd agreed. "I think she plays chess with people's lives while she knits."

"She loves you," Mina said. "In her own, machiavellian way."

Chapter : 1404

"I guess," Lloyd said. He looked at Mina. She was relaxed. Her guard was down. "And you? Are you happy? Being here? Instead of... I don't know, discovering lost tombs?"

"I am happy," Mina said simply. She looked at him. "I like this. I like the puzzle. I like... us."

The word hung in the air. Us.

It wasn't a plural. It was a unit.

Lloyd felt the pull again. The gravity. He wanted to lean over and kiss the sugar off her cheek. He wanted to tell her that she was the smartest, bravest person he knew.

But he held back. Just barely.

"Me too," Lloyd said hoarsely. "I like us."

He stood up, dusting off his pants. He needed to move. If he stayed on the floor, he was going to do something stupid.

"Okay," Lloyd said. "Break time is over. We have a blueprint to draft. I need to draw the schematics for the Orichalcum nervous system before I forget how I did it."

"Slave driver," Mina teased, but she stood up too. She picked up her pen.

They went back to work. But the atmosphere had changed. It wasn't just professional anymore. It was intimate. They moved around each other like dancers. They finished each other's sentences. They anticipated each other's needs.

They weren't just building a machine. They were building a relationship. Layer by layer. Circuit by circuit.

As the sun went down outside, casting long shadows across the floor, the Golem Heart pulsed with a steady, amber light. It seemed to be humming a tune. A happy tune.

It was watching them. And if a rock could approve of something, Lloyd felt like Anubis's masterpiece approved of them.

"30%," Lloyd thought, looking at the suit. "And rising."

He looked at Mina, who was chewing on the end of her pen, lost in thought.

"100%," he thought, looking at her. "I am in trouble."

But for the first time in a long time, it was the kind of trouble he didn't mind being in.

The manufactory had become a bubble. Inside, time moved differently. It moved to the rhythm of hammers, the scratch of quills, and the soft laughter shared between Lloyd and Mina.

Weeks had passed since the breakthrough. The Aegis suit was taking shape. The synthetic Orichalcum nerves were being woven into the chassis. It looked like a metal skeleton waiting for its skin.

But the real construction was happening between the two "consultants."

"Hand me the wrench," Lloyd said, hanging upside down from the suit's torso.

"Which one?" Mina asked, scanning the tool table. "The big one or the one that looks like a goblin's tooth?"

"The goblin tooth," Lloyd said.

Mina handed it to him. Her fingers brushed his. He held on for a second longer than necessary.

"Thanks," he said, his voice soft.

"You are welcome," she whispered.

They were flirting. Badly. Shamelessly. It started with lingering glances over blueprints. Then it became inside jokes about ancient runes. Now, it was touching hands and sharing coffees that lasted an hour.

Whenever the workers—Alaric, Borin, Lyra—left the room, the atmosphere changed instantly. The professional distance evaporated. They would lean in close. They would whisper.

"You have grease on your nose," Mina said one afternoon, reaching out to wipe it away with her thumb.

Lloyd caught her hand. He kissed her palm. "It's war paint. I'm battling a hydraulic seal."

Mina blushed. "You are winning."

"I always win," Lloyd grinned. "Especially when I have my lucky charm."

"I am not a charm," Mina said, but she didn't pull her hand away. "I am a highly qualified consultant."

"You are the best part of my day," Lloyd said seriously.

They stood there, close enough to kiss, the air humming with electricity that had nothing to do with the machinery.

"Lloyd," Mina breathed. "Someone might come in."

"Let them," Lloyd said recklessly. "Let them see. I don't care."

But he did care. He cared too much. He knew the danger. He knew the scandal. But he was addicted to her. She was the calm in his storm. She was the one person who didn't want him for his title or his power or his political utility. She just wanted him.

"We should get back to work," Mina said, stepping back reluctantly.

"Right," Lloyd sighed. "Work. The eternal buzzkill."

They went back to the machine, but the tension remained. It was a sweet, heavy tension. It felt like the moments before a thunderstorm.

Unknown to them, the storm had already arrived.

Outside the heavy iron doors, in the shadows of the corridor, stood Rosa.