He stacked some of the milk buckets to make room. Several lamps flickered, bathing the laboratory in bright, golden light. Her father paced among his bubbling beakers, making last-minute preparations. Kilkenny stood, stone-faced, hands clenched. Only Clara had not bothered to attend the spectacle.“Wasn’t he to be naked, Doctor?” Elyta examined Kilkenny with a critical eye.“I’ll no’ strip in mixed company,” Kilkenny muttered, eyes fixed on the floor.“Nothing we haven’t seen before, yes, Jane?”“Quiet now,” her father ordered, waving a hand absently. Jane was glad her father was too distracted to realize what Elyta’s comment might mean about his daughter. “Flavio, bring the opium. Are you sure about the dosage?”Flavio set two packages wrapped in brown paper and tied with string on the workbench. “I’m sure. Our metabolisms run at a higher rate than humans’.”“Then I’m glad you stayed to get the powder. It would have taken a quart of tincture of laudanum.”
