Proceed with extreme caution! Lying to a guard in Zilvaren City is a death sentence. Saeris Fane has seen them kill plenty of people firsthand, including her mother. Even so, when she is apprehended, Saeris gives the guard her correct romantic status and age, but the false name of Lissa Fossick. More troubling to the guard is when she says she comes from the third ward, which has been quarantined. The guard removes the gauntlet that he used to grab Saeris, concerned about contagion, and drops it to the ground, which she then quickly grabs and makes a run for it. The gauntlet is worth enough money for three years of food, made of thick gold like the rest of Queen Madra’s guards’ armor, but Saeris doesn’t intend on selling it. Instead, she goes to the forge of Elroy, a glassmaker in the third ward, to melt the gauntlet down but he tells her no. The third ward is the poorest, with no fresh food and the only way of getting anything by bartering or trading…or selling secrets to the guardians. Elroy is right to be cautious, afraid that they will be caught and imprisoned, or worse. He pleads with her to return the gauntlet, but Saeris refuses and storms off to find her brother, Hayden, who is lying in the ditch in front of Kala’s gambling house, just having lost a fight with Carrion Swift. Before the fight, he had been gambling with Carrion and lost a bunch of stuff, which Saeris tries to get back. In exchange for the return of Hayden’s things, Carrion asks for a drink with her to discuss a rumor that he’s heard. He knows that Saeris has the gauntlet, and he is also worried about what the guardians will do to get it back. He offers to hide the gauntlet for her in the warehouse he has in the second ward. The people of the third, including his grandmother, go through enough without bringing the guardians down on them. Saeris agrees to get rid of the gauntlet but when she leaves Kala’s to find her brother, who she left the gauntlet with, she finds them both gone. Saeris heads toward Vorath Shah’s, someone who trades in magical trinkets even though magic has been gone from humans for hundreds of years. Shah is rumored to be able to find a buyer for unusual items so Saeris thinks that Hayden may have stupidly headed there. On her way, she hears a cry from the direction that she and Hayden have been living and just knows it has something to do with him. She starts running and suddenly there are guardians following her, demanding that she stop, but she keeps running until she sees Hayden. There are dozens of guardians demanding that Hayden hand over the gauntlet. If he does, they’ll put him in jail to be tortured and Saeris will never see him again. If he doesn’t, they’ll kill him outright. Saeris steps forward, announcing that she stole the gauntlet, but she won’t be taken down easily. She fights the guardians and manages to kill two and cut the hand off another before being overpowered and handcuffed. She’s thrown in a palace cell before Captain Harron takes her for an audience with the queen. The queen who doesn’t die, the immortal virgin, Queen Madra. When Saeris sees Madra, she looks young, blonde, and beautiful. She certainly doesn’t look her age of over one hundred years old. She asks Saeris who taught her how to fight, if the Fae have found their way back after she had cast them out. Have they sent Saeris to try to kill her? Saeris doesn’t know what Madra’s talking about. The queen tells her that this room used to be a hall of mirrors, and as long as this room remains the same, the Fae cannot return. The queen doesn’t usually use this room and just wanted to come and be sure, but it’s clear the room is unchanged. Before she leaves, Madra orders Harron to kill Saeris and then kill everyone important to her, actually - everyone in the ward. She’s about to make a real example of Saeris, one people won’t soon forget. Harron tries to kill Saeris, but she doesn’t make it easy, telling him that she didn’t have a choice! He’d be a thief too if it meant keeping his family from death. He tells her that death is a doorway that’s meant to be walked through, she should consider herself lucky that she gets to go through that door. What a completely normal thing to say. Then he stabs her in the stomach and twists the sword so the queen can hear Saeris screaming. He uses a dagger to stab through one of her shoulders and is about to do the same to the other shoulder when he freezes. Saeris has always been able to do small things with metal, party tricks that she dares not show most people since humans haven’t had magic in centuries. But, working solely on intuition and panic, she is able to stop the blade in the air with her mind alone, then she melts the iron and sends it rolling toward Harron, who is losing his mind and yelling about heresy. He tells her that he can’t die, Madra won’t let him. Saeris thinks it would be poetic to use a sword on him, like he did to her, but if she removes the sword from her abdomen, she will die even more quickly than she already is. Luckily, Saeris spots a sword that’s stuck in the ground and decides to use that instead. Then Harron really freaks out, screaming for her to leave the sword, do not touch the sword, but Saeris knows she’s dying and is beyond caring about what he says. She pulls the sword and does manage to hit Harron in the shoulder, but the injury is not going to kill him. Around her, the floor turns into a beautiful silver liquid, and she lays down, exhausted from blood loss. She sees who she believes is Death walking toward her and, wow is he attractive! Harron finally dies, yelling something about obsidian that neither Saeris nor I understand, but Death sees Saeris holding the ancient sword and decides it’s not time yet for her to die. He puts a silver chain around her neck and carries her into the silver pool. Saeris wakes up days later in a feather bed, being tended to by a woman named Everlayne who has pointed ears. Fae, but the Fae are just a fairytale. Saeris introduces herself (with her real name) and Everlayne tells her that Saeris happens to be a Fae name. Everlayne tells Saeris that her wounds are completely healed and that they are in Yvelia, in the Winter Palace. Another Fae barges in, Renfis. He’s come to retrieve the silver chain; “Death” is struggling without it and he needs to leave this place quickly. Apparently, Renfis is hiding him and it’s a miracle he hasn’t been found yet. When Saeris hands the chain back, Renfis asks her to put it in a small velvet bag and he’s very careful not to touch it himself. When he leaves, Saeris becomes desperate to go back home and save her brother and friends from being killed by Madra, although after ten days of being unconscious it’s probably too late. But Everlayne says that’s impossible, Saeris has a meeting with Everlayne’s father in a short while, the king. On the way to see the king, Saeris and Everlayne pass statues of the Corcoran, gods that the Fae worship but the humans no longer do. Instead, Madra has set herself up as a god for the humans, having living sacrifices burned in her honor and gifting the worthy with eternal life. Everlayne explains that there is Styx, god of shadows, Kurin, god of secret, Nicinnai, goddess of masks, Maleus, god of dawn and new beginnings, Zareth, god of chaos and change, and the twin sister goddesses of the sky: Bal, goddess of the sun and day, and Mithin, goddess of the moon and night. Though they are depicted as two they are often referred to as only one goddess, Balmithin. Legend says they were once one goddess, but when she refused to cower during a lightning storm was split into two. It strikes Saeris that the twin suns that shine on Zilvaren have similar names: Balea and Min, but she doesn’t even know what a moon is or how Everlayne knows of Madra, who Everlayne says is just a corrupt human. The palace is incredibly cold, even inside Saeris can see her own breath, though Everlayne says there are magic wards to help keep the cold out. Saeris is presented to King Belikon, who is holding the sword that she took from the hall of mirrors. He sits on a dais with five other chairs, three of which are empty. In one of the seats is Orious, who takes an immediate dislike to Saeris. The other Fae is an old woman dressed in white. Balekin tells Saeris that when she leaves the room, she will officially be a subject of the realm and is expected to comport herself as such. She was brought here to fulfill a task, which she will do quickly and efficiently. When she questions having a task, saying she was brought here against her will and needs to get home quickly, the king tells her that if Madra said she would destroy the ward, then it’s doubtless that she already did so. Saeris is the one who opened the portal again, who woke the quicksilver, which no one else has been able to do. He wants her to open the rest of the portals, and it’s not up for debate. The king dismisses Saeris and calls for someone to be brought else in. It’s the male that rescued Saeris who she calls Death, they call him Kingfisher. He’s brought in as a prisoner and is fighting tooth and nail against his jailers. The crowd is afraid of him, calling him a living curse and the scourge, he’s apparently been exiled and has returned prematurely. Everlayne turns to the old woman on the dais, who she calls Malwae, and asks for her to intercede. Malwae tells the king that the remnants of power in the sword that Saeris pulled out is speaking a prophecy to her. Malwae is an oracle. Malwae tells the king that he doesn’t kill Kingfisher and that he must return the pendant that he has taken from Kingfisher. If he doesn’t, House de Barra and the Winter Palace may fall. From the audience, someone says to send Kingfisher back to the front for the war with Sanasroth. This voice is soon revealed to be Renfis, a general in a war that Yvelia is losing. He is asking Kingfisher to be sent to fight so that they may scrape together a victory. Belikon decides that Kingfisher will stay at the palace for a week to help Saeris, since he knows so much about the quicksilver, then he will join the front. Balekin tosses the pendant back to Kingfisher. A moment after Renfis puts the pendant around his neck, Kingfisher goes from feral monster to acting normal. Saeris finds out a few things about Yvelia. It only has one sun (she’s used to two), it has a portion of time where the sun sets (there is no night where she’s from), it snows at least once a day (Saeris has never seen snow before), and the Fae hate her and definitely do not want her there. Everlayne takes her to the library, where she meets Rusarius, who was just called back to court to tend to the library and to help Saeris. Rusarius does not seem hostile, but he is surprised to hear that she awoke the quicksilver and managed to hold the sword, which is called Solace. He believes Saeris is an alchemist, and she must have some small amount of Fae blood if she was able to touch Solace without injury. Kingfisher (Fisher) shows up, freshly washed and wearing armor and a sword. Renfis (Ren) joins them soon after. Everlayne (Layne) wants to teach Saeris etiquette first, but Saeris is more worried about getting back to Zilvaren. Fisher admits that her brother may still be alive. Madra tricked and lied to Belikon, cut off his ability to trade, and the Daianthus heir (a possible threat to the throne) may be living in Zilvaren, so Madra knows that Belikon is coming for her as soon as he’s able. She wouldn’t kill an entire ward if she could use them as soldiers, she’ll need all the bodies she can get to fight in her army. Fisher asks Saeris is she’s ever worked in a forge. Just so happens, the answer is yes. Fisher gives Saeris the cliff notes version of what she needs to know. There used to be tons of humans in Yvelia, now she’s the only one. The Fae were cursed millennia ago and now they have fangs, which they used to feed off the humans and killed millions before the blood curse was lifted. They still have fangs but most of them don’t eat humans anymore, even if there were any around to eat. Layne interrupts Fisher and berates him for being an asshole, and it comes out that Fisher is her brother! She runs away from the group, incredibly upset. Ren chastises Fisher, saying that he used to care about his family and friends, but Fisher isn’t cowed. Ren tells him that he has no idea how much they tried to get him back when he was exiled, they didn’t forget him, then he offers to take Saeris to follow Layne. Saeris instead chooses to stay with Fisher, so Ren says he’ll come get her in a few hours. She and Fisher head to the forge, which is nowhere near operational. Saeris questions Fisher while they try to make it usable. He tells her the quicksilver pools connect different realms, but the quicksilver is dangerous, it makes you hallucinate and will drive you mad if it touches your skin. The pendant he wears is protection from the quicksilver, given to him by his mother before they came to the Winter Palace. Because it was strong, he was chosen to travel the pools. But he traveled without his amulet once and was taken by the quicksilver. Although a healer managed to draw most of it out, there are still remnants of quicksilver inside of him and the pendant is the only thing that helps him quiet the hallucinations and differentiate what is real from what is imagined. He had given her the pendant to keep her alive until she could be healed, he also has a protective ring that helped while he wasn’t wearing the chain. He needed to save Saeris so she could open the portals that would help Belikon win his wars, Fisher needed her to live so he could use her to bargain for his freedom. Fisher is angry all the time and he has a real chip on his shoulder about how he’s been treated. It makes him lash out at even the smallest perceived attacks. They all meet in the library the next morning, but he leaves quickly, telling Saeris that he will meet her in the forge that afternoon. Renfis follows him, saying that Fisher deserves a little grace since he’s been alone in “that place” for one hundred and ten years. No wonder he has no manners. Saeris learns about alchemy, the long dead magic that the Fae haven’t seen for ages. There were three different branches: those trying to achieve immortality, those transmuting metals, and those trying to cure illnesses and disease. They believe Saeris is the transmuting kind. Layne explains what she knows about Madra. Madra took power young, over a thousand years ago. They don’t know how she’s still living, who closed the portals for her, how she knew how to close them. There were scouts on the other side of the quicksilver who got trapped when the portals when Madra closed them, closing one portal closed them all. Those scouts are probably dead now but not from old age, from Madra. Fisher comes to take Saeris to the forge. She asks him if he did what she’s heard rumors of, that he was banished for razing a city to the ground. He admits that he did, but he won’t tell her why he did it, only that they banished him to Hell for it. Then he grabs her hand and all she feels is a burning cold. He tells her to fight through it, to listen to it, and when she finally does, she hears it say Annorath Mor. He reveals that he’s touching liquid quicksilver to her hand, but it won’t really hurt her as long as he’s touching her, since he’s wearing the pendant. He teaches her how to make the quicksilver solidify and for the first time, she changes the state of metal on purpose. Layne finally shares the details about her parentage. Her mother was first married to Finran, who was Fisher’s father. Belikon sent Finran on a mission to Zilvaren and while he was there, the quicksilver was stilled and the portals closed, trapping Finran. Although Fisher believes that Madra stilled the portals, the king announced at the time that it was Finran’s doing and declared him a traitor. He then announced his engagement to Layne’s mother, a surprise to everyone including his new fiancé, considering the two of them had never met, but Belikon told her it was the only way to prove that she was not also a traitor (and he needed Finran’s money for the brewing war with Sanasroth). Belikon did not expect her to show up with Fisher. Belikon blamed Fisher for everything that displeased them. When he and his wife did not immediately fall pregnant, when his wife had a female, Layne, instead of a male, when his wife died not long after Layne was born, all Fisher’s fault. When they go to the library, Saeris asks how the alchemists told the quicksilver portals where they needed to go. Apparently, they just thought about it real hard before stepping in. Of course, several of them were never seen again, so who knows how well that worked. Then she, not suspiciously at all, asks where the pool in the palace is located. When she goes to the forge next, Saeris finds it up and running. She also finds, gets bit by, and bonds with a fox. Fisher pulls a crucible out. Inside the crucible is finely ground powder of Fae bone. Fisher explains to Saeris that they only have theories about how the relics work to protect them, but they’ve never been able to test them since the quicksilver was stilled. But now that she’s here, he wants to try to bind the quicksilver and make a relic. The bone dust is to try to trick the quicksilver into thinking it’s a living Fae trying to get through. They can’t figure out how to bond the dust to the metal though, so Saeris has the idea to touch Fisher’s pendant to try to feel any other elements in it. She touches it but is too…distracted…to notice anything in it. Saeris takes the fox and makes a break for the quicksilver pool, which is in the deepest levels of the palace. She needs to be quick, if Fisher notices he will try to stop her. She makes it to the subterranean levels but there are guards everywhere. But then she hears the quicksilver calling for her, urging her to come, guiding her. She doesn’t seem to think that’s suspicious, nor does she find it telling that the fox is getting increasingly distraught the closer they get to the pool, until she finally lets him free, and he runs away as fast as he can. What she thought she was going to do with an arctic fox in a desert, I don’t know. Saeris awakens the pool, and it calls to her, but she’s losing her focus, forgetting where she wants to go. Before she can step into the pool, Fisher stops her with a wall of shadows. He screams that she would have died but she shows him the ring that she stole from him while they were distracted, which she believes would have protected her when she went through. Turns out, no, the ring would not have protected her from the quicksilver at all and the metal would have torn her mind apart. She tells Fisher that she will not help the Fae unless she can see her brother, he warns her that it will be Belikon who will punish her and even Fisher cannot stand against him. When he sees that Saeris is not bluffing, he agrees to go retrieve her brother and bring him to the Winter Palace. They make a blood pact that if he really tries to get her brother, she will help him with what he needs and do as she’s told. She tries to get him to bring Elroy too, but he can’t bring more than one at a time and he can’t go through more than once in a day. He asks for something of Hayden’s to track him with, but she has nothing, so he says her blood will suffice if they’re full siblings. He gives her instructions: as soon as he’s through, close the pool and open it again in one hour. Fisher leaves, and while Saeris waits, the fox returns to her. She names him Onyx. When Fisher returns, he says the passing was very difficult this time and he swears to never do it again. When Saeris sees the person he brought with him, she gets upset. Not only is he unconscious, but it’s Carrion Swift. Saeris is irate, but Fisher insists that her blood led him to Carrion, who told him he was Hayden Fane. Now it’s time to find a healer, find Ren, and get out of the palace. Part one goes fine, but Fisher can’t find Ren, so he leaves him a note instead. They head out of the palace, Carrion lying unconscious across Fisher’s horse and Saeris realizes that she needs to be careful about the pacts she makes with the Fae, as she is now compelled to do whatever Fisher tells her without any resistance. They ride through The Wicker Wood at night, both Saeris and Onyx losing their minds from the screaming of the shades that haunt the wood, although her horse, Aida, doesn’t seem to notice. Fisher offers to give Saeris temporary sight, thinking that she’d be less afraid if she could see what is making the noise, but she refuses, so he tells her the shades can’t hurt her. They’re screaming because they’re reliving their deaths, and only those guilty of the most heinous crimes are sent here. He also spoils her day more by telling her he knew she had taken the ring, knew she was up to something as soon as she’d entered the forge, but he wanted to see what it was. Why else would she bring a bag of food and supplies with her. They stop at a tavern and Fisher pays to have Carrion put on a bed of hay in a stall with a blanket. The other two go into the tavern for a beer. Fisher begrudgingly tells Saeris that they are going to his home in Cahlish. He tells her that his father and Belikon have a long history. Finran, Fisher’s dad, suspected what Belikon was planning and put up safeguards so that neither Belikon nor his supporters could cross into Cahlish. Those wards still hold, even though Finran put them up long before Belikon murdered the Royal family and stole the throne. So, they will be safe from Belikon. Unfortunately, Cahlish is also a literal battlefield. Ren shows up to the tavern a few hours later. He tells Fisher that he’s in huge trouble after taking not only Saeris but the sword Solace as well. They talk about god swords, which are currently dormant ever since the gods left this land, of which Solace is one, and another is Fisher’s sword, Nimerelle. Turns out, Solace had been Fisher’s father’s sword. When Ren comes in, the other tavern visitors recognize him and Fisher, who had been disguising himself with a cloak. It gets very quiet, and the group decides to leave, but they’re stopped before they get to the door. Saeris thinks they’re about to be in big trouble but instead, Fisher is lauded as a savior, the other patrons naming battle after battle that he won and town after town that he saved. Saeris sees a different side of Fisher, but he doesn’t want the praise, just saying he isn’t the same as he was then. To get to Cahlish, they must go through an actual black vortex, which neither Onyx nor Saeris is pleased about. If they don’t use the portal, they’ll be on horseback for two more months, which Saeris would still prefer, but Fisher gives her no choice. He uses their bond to compel her through the gate as she murmurs that she will never forgive him. She ends up vomiting on the other side, a reaction that she is told will only happen this once (hopefully). Ren carries her to her room. He explains that Fisher used to be different, that the quicksilver makes it difficult for him to think straight and shutting the voices out is exhausting for him, it’s made him hard. He explains that Belikon forced Fisher to travel through the quicksilver without his relic. And now the relic isn’t as effective, and he’s traveled through without it twice more. Carrion finally wakes up and gives Saeris all the gossip from home. Hayden and Elroy are both safe, but they think she’s a prisoner in the palace. Elroy keeps going to the gates and demanding to see her but ends up leaving after a while and going back to the forge. Carrion immediately got Hayden out of the third and into the Seventh ward, he’s now working as a store clerk. Madra hasn’t killed anyone, and she isn’t even looking for Hayden. In fact, they’re all preparing for the upcoming festival, Evenlight. Now Carrion has some questions of his own. Saeris tells him everything. When Fisher comes to collect her, she refuses to go with him until he makes her a promise that he will release her and allow her and Carrion to return home once she’s made enough relics for his people. He agrees and says he’s bound by his promise, and lets Carrion know he is free to come and go as he pleases. Fisher walks her through his manor and Saeris meets Archer, a fire sprite, who promptly breaks a porcelain cup from the delight and surprise of seeing Fisher again. Fisher, who isn’t wearing any armor except a gorget protecting his throat, leans down to pick the broken cup up and Saeris can see a beautiful black rune on the back of his neck. Archer is so happy to see Fisher that he cries, surprising Saeris that anyone really likes Fisher. They continue to the forge after Fisher promises to catch up with Archer later. The forge is located outside of the house, but walking through a special gate will transport them directly inside the forge. Making these portals is not a gift that Fisher has, Ren enchanted it for him, but it only works on short distances. Saeris asks why he didn’t just conjure a shadow gate to Cahlish outside the palace instead of going through The Wicker Wood, and he explains that Belikon would have noticed someone drawing that much power. Saeris continues to pepper Fisher with questions. He can’t use a shadow gate like the one they used to get to Cahlish unless both end points are inside the same realm. The shadow gates can’t replace the quicksilver. He points her to a storage chest containing 1,800 rings, then indicates another 8 chests, explaining that they will turn each and every one of those rings into a relic. Enough for all of Fisher’s 15,000 warriors. Saeris really needs to phrase her oaths better. He shows her the books that he’s collected written by the alchemists before they disappeared and then leaves Saeris to her work. She makes 4 failed attempts before leaving, exhausted and frustrated. Saeris sees Ren on the way to her room. He tells her that he would like her and Fisher to have dinner together tonight. Fisher sees things as black and white and the company helps him keep his head straight. Right now, he sees Saeris as a tool to get the relics and Ren is afraid he will push her too far. Having dinner with her will help him see that she’s more than someone to use to get out of a desperate situation. Ren asks that Saeris please just have dinner with Fisher. She agrees, mostly because it’s either Fisher or Carrion, neither of which sounds overly appealing to her. At dinner, Fisher asks Saeris how her trials went, and she mentions that she will need more silver. That’s going to be difficult. There’s no silver of any kind in Yvelia at all, and any that is found must be sent to the crown. Belikon gives Ren and the soldiers no help with the war effort: no silver, no food, no weapons or clothes. Fisher gives Saeris some of his backstory: Archer (the sprite) helped raise him, and that Archer is interested in Saeris. He wants to know if she’s staying. While Saeris and Fisher discuss why Fisher brought Carrion (because she slept with him and he still smelled like her still apparently, Fisher mistook that as their shared bloodline), the windows of the room are suddenly blown in. Monsters appear in the windows: stringy hair, gaunt cheeks, waxy pale skin, black veins, red eyes, claws, and fangs. Fisher moves faster than Saeris can track, unsheathing Nimerelle, his sword. Two of the creatures come at Saeris. Saeris fights them with a dagger and when she cuts them open, maggots fall out. Gross. The creatures quickly overtake Saeris and just before one of them bites her, Fisher kills them. But she’s been raked with their poison claws, and Fisher’s household will need to move fast to save her. He tells her as he carries her to the infirmary that those were Sanasrothian feeders, foot soldiers, and only silver can kill them. Saeris wakes up in Fisher’s bed mostly healed, but on strict bed rest. In fact, Fisher commands her to stay in this bed while he goes to the war camp for the week and Saeris has no choice but to comply. She needs the time to heal. After five days and being told a graphic story of Carrion bartering a very thorough bath for a pair of boots, Saeris is pronounced healed and allowed to leave. She gets right back to work in the forge. 8 days after Fisher left, Ren comes to see Saeris in the forge, letting her know that he and Fisher are back, and she’s expected for dinner. She demands that Ren come to dinner as well, or she won’t go, so he relents and agrees. Before he leaves, Saeris asks Ren why Nimerelle still has magic when the other god swords do not. No one knows. The magic or the spirit of the sword has never left Fisher, even though the blade is tarnishing, which is not a good sign. Saeris forces Carrion to come to dinner too. She seats herself, again, at Fisher’s right hand which makes Ren (at his left hand) actually spit out his whiskey in surprise. But she sits anyway, and they continue with dinner. Carrion, who has been training with the guards, is invited to practice with Ren and his troops and Saeris also decides to attend. Later, Fisher announces that they’ll be returning to the war camp earlier than expected, and Saeris is coming this time. They go to the war camp through a shadow gate. The war camp has been there for so long, there are permanent structures, like a tavern, as well as the rows and rows of tents. Across the frozen river is a land charred and barren of any life. That is what they’re fighting against. When they get to camp, an earth sprite named Holgoth greets them. He says the soldiers need to hear from Fisher since it’s been so long since they’ve seen him, but Fisher disagrees, saying that Ren has been and will continue to be in charge. Ren will speak to the soldiers. But Ren asks Fisher to join him at the meeting and Fisher eventually relents. At the war meeting, a Fae warrior named Danya demands answers. Why was Fisher gone for so long? Why has he been back several times over the last few weeks and not spoken to any of the soldiers? Why had he disappeared from Gillethrye when the city was sacked? Ren encourages Fisher to tell them what happened but all he will say is that he didn’t want to leave them, and he came back as soon as he could, but he can’t tell them why he left. It’s not enough for Danya and she tries to kill Fisher, which seems like an overreaction. But Saeris throws out a hand, ordering Danya to stop and Danya’s sword splinters into a hundred pieces, the shards driving themselves into the wall behind Fisher and Ren. Before anything else can happen, an alarm rings out and everyone, including Ren and Fisher, runs out. One Fae warrior, Lorreth, tells Saeris and Carrion to stay where they are. Do Not Leave the tent. The enemy is at the riverbank and the soldiers must break the ice so the dead cannot come across. Nobody ever listens. Both Carrion and Saeris run to the river, although to be fair to her, Saeris at least THOUGHT about listening. They see huge warriors trying desperately to break the ice. Across the river is a huge, dark, roaring mass of creatures. Most of the Sanasrothian horde is here without any warning. Fifty thousand vampires who will destroy the Fae if they could only get across the river. Carrion and Saeris start helping to pummel the ice as vampires start to cross. Finally, the ice shatters and the vampires standing on it fall into the water, Fisher floods the area with shadows that do not allow the vampires to resurface. The vampire leader, Malcolm, calls out to Fisher. Come out and talk. Malcolm misses him, it’s been weeks since they’ve spoken. This shocks and upsets the Fae warriors, as I’m sure it was supposed to, but Fisher does not take the bait. Fisher comes to find Saeris and takes her back to Cahlish for the night, telling Ren they’ll be back in the morning. He explains that Malcolm is a high Fae vampire, the first of the Fae to be made into a vampire. When a cure was found for the blood curse on the Fae, some did not take it, not wanting to give up their dark magic or immortality. But only Malcolm is strong enough now to create more vampires. If the others bite someone, that person will die and be reborn, but they will be a mindless, hungry monster with none of their original personality. Saeris suspects that Fisher was with Malcolm all the years he was missing, but Fisher won’t tell her for certain. They finally get all their sexual tension out by having sex and in the act, his tattoos start moving and one of them transfers to her. He leaves her afterward in a not great way, telling her he will come and get her in the morning before leaving for the war camp alone. The next morning, Saeris is looking for a fight as Fisher escorts her to the healers. He wants her to take something to make sure she doesn’t get pregnant, but she tells him that’s not an issue. They sterilize 70% of the girls in her ward and she was one of them. This news infuriates him but she’s not sure why. Saeris goes to the camp ward and gets to work. While looking for that quicksilver, she sees Carrion reading a book on the history of the Fae. It appears that the Yvelian Fae (like Fisher and Ren) is the youngest of the Fae houses, being created when there was a dispute between two brothers and one of them left to create his own court. Saeris asks Carrion how it is that he is handling being kidnapped and taken to the Fae realm so well. Turns out his grandmother told him about the Fae and all manners of other creatures. She even has a book (most likely it was supposed to be burned by Madra’s forces) which lists Gilarian Fae creatures. It has a message in the beginning, warning the reader to prepare for war, and Carrion’s family took that warning seriously. Carrion throws Saeris the quicksilver box that Fisher asked him to hold on to, telling Saeris his hand prickled as he held the box. She asks him to join her at the forge. The two of them run tests but they discover nothing. That evening, Fisher asks Saeris for help with something. They need her to get the shards of Danya’s sword out of the stone that they’re imbedded in. They need to remake the sword, since it is a Fae heirloom, marking Danya’s rank as an original member of the Lupo Proelia (Kingfisher’s wolves) and a god sword besides. Saeris closes her eyes to think and realizes that she can hear the steel, there was quicksilver in the sword. She realizes the reason only some of the metals in Zilvaren reacted to her was because they were tempered with a small amount of quicksilver. She can only control the quicksilver, not the other metals, and controlling the quicksilver was how she was able to break Danya’s blade at all. Saeris is the strongest alchemist they’ve heard of, no one has ever heard a story of someone breaking a blade before. And they need Saeris. Their numbers are dwindling, there’s no more food, Belikon refuses to help, no clothes, no weapons, not even wood for a fire. If they can’t win the war in the next year, they will lose. And Saeris can help them win. This obviously sends Saeris into a tailspin because she’s made absolutely no progress so far. Saeris gets drunk, overwhelmed by the pressure of helping win a war, and talks to Lorreth. He used to be a traveling singer when he was attacked by two vampires and left for dead. Fisher and the wolves found him as he lay dying and Fisher brought up to Cahlish. Lorreth was close to death, the healers did not think he would make it, so Fisher performed an ancient rite that few know how to do anymore. Something that once saved Fisher’s father’s life, he shared a piece of his soul with Lorreth, which kept him alive long enough to heal. It’s crazy that he did that for a stranger. When it was clear that Lorreth would live, told him he could leave once he was healed, or he could stay. Lorreth decided to stay and become a wolf. Because Fisher shared his soul, if Lorreth dies first, Fisher’s soul will be returned to him. But if Fisher dies first, the remainder of Fisher’s soul will be trapped in the world until Lorreth dies as well. That won’t be a problem, since Lorreth doesn’t plan to live long after Fisher dies. Fisher drops Saeris off on Cahlish before leaving, and he doesn’t come back for a day and a half. When he does get back, Fisher goes to see the healer for the third time in two weeks, even though Saeris doesn’t see any fresh injuries. After visiting the healer, Fisher takes Saeris to Ballard, a village having a festival to celebrate the longest night of the year. She meets Wendy, who claims to have felt when Saeris came through the gate. Suddenly as they eat, Saeris hears voices yelling “Annorath Mor” over and over again, and Saeris repeats the words out loud before collapsing. She and Fisher leave the festival quickly after she comes to, and he asks her why she said that. She explains exactly what happened, he asks her not to say the words, but he can’t tell her what they mean. He takes her to a house, his house (probably inherited from his mother) and they stay there that night. Saeris is woken in the middle of the night by Fisher screaming. She runs to his room and sees him lying in the middle of his bed, wide awake. He’s hallucinating and he asks her to leave, not wanting her to see him like this. Instead, Onyx curls up next to him and Saeris gets him some water and sits next to him. He asks her to tell him about her life before, to distract him. When her mother was pregnant with Hayden, a sand dune collapsed on the trader’s outpost her father was at and killed him. Her mom became a prostitute to make ends meet, mostly serving guardians. Elroy, the blacksmith, loved her mom but never tried to tie her down, only helped her as much as he could. Saeris started working for Elroy at the forge when she was ten. At that point, her mother was smuggling weapons out of the ward to rebels. Rebels would bring scrap metal to their house and her mother would have Saeris take it to the forge, where Elroy would make it into weapons that her mom would smuggle back to the rebels. Later, Saeris was introduced to men who would show her the secret tunnels that led to Madra’s water reservoirs, how to pick locks, how to fight. Rebels that would live in their house; Hayden had no idea. Saeris learned how to take care of Hayden too, since their mom was never home. Saeris would work at the forge, take care of Hayden, cook and clean, and then when Hayden was sleeping, go out and steal whatever they needed. Then her mom started getting angry and refused to accept guardians as clients. One day she left to go to Kala’s, where she worked, and forgot her water ration on the table. Saeris ran after her and found her in the square. A former client she’d turned away was searching her things and found two illegal blades in her bag. They slit her throat tight there where she kneeled as Saeris watched. Saeris got Elroy and they retrieved her mother’s body and burned it the next day. When Saeris returned home, her house had been quarantined and guards started to lock down the ward, saying that it was stricken by plague. As Saeris talks to Fisher, she touches the skin on his chest and watches the tattoos move towards her hand. When she wakes in the morning, having slept next to him, her hands are covered in runes and now they can speak to each other in their minds. Fisher doesn’t know what they all the runes in her tattoos mean, but he takes them back from her for now, leaving her hands bare. She has about a month to decide if she wants them, but if she doesn’t take them back by then, they’ll be gone for good. Saeris and Fisher go back to the war camp and her quicksilver trials continue to fail. When Carrion comes to help her and she explains how she can hear the quicksilver and that it’s easy to ask it to change to a liquid now, he suggests just asking the quicksilver to meld with the silver. She can’t try that now, she’s out of silver and she won’t have more to work with until the morning, but she goes to the map room to try something. She speaks to the shards of Danya’s sword. They agree to come out and be remade into a sword (for as song) but the quicksilver will not give the sword magic. The quicksilver decided long ago that the magic was undeserved by the wielders. After some argument from Saeris, the quicksilver decides that after it is forged, it will taste the blood of the carrier and decide if they deserve the sword and the magic. The shards start to fall out of the wall and Saeris turns to see that Lorreth has come in while she was distracted. Good, she’s going to need him to sing for the sword. She goes to the forge and reforges the sword, Lorreth makes the hilt for it. When it’s finished, Lorreth and Fisher look at the sword, amazed. Lorreth touches it and the edge is so sharp it cuts him slightly. The quicksilver asks for its song. The three of them (Carrion is sleeping inside the forge) head outside and see an Aurora, a blessing that hasn’t been seen here in a thousand years. Lorreth sings to the sword, the Ballad of Ajun Gate. A ballad that he's written about how Fisher and his wolves protected the Ajun Gate, the battle that Fisher is known for. The sword makes a decision, and it claims Lorreth as its wielder. Danya is not going to be happy about this. Saeris tells him it was the song that sealed the deal anyway, but only she remembers the song being sung at all. Lorreth says that he always meant to write a song about Ajun’s Gate, but he never got around to it. The sword instructs Lorreth to hold it in both hands and give it a name. He names it Avisieth, meaning the Unsung Song or Redemption’s Dawn. The quicksilver has judged him and found him without want, the sword is imbued with magic. What a productive day! That night Saeris sleeps next to Fisher at the camp. She wakes up before him and she can hear the quicksilver inside his body. She asks the quicksilver to leave him, but it insists that it cannot. It bonded him years ago as the greatest weapon of all, doing so saved him from death in the quicksilver pool. If the quicksilver left him now, Fisher would die. She looks up to find Fisher awake and watching her. They’re discussing what she’s just found out when Ren interrupts them. Fisher is needed, the horde is back. Saeris refuses to be left behind this time, so Fisher makes her promise to follow some rules and then agrees that she can come. He pulls out the sword that he stole from Belikon, Solace, the sword that Saeris used to awaken the quicksilver. His father’s sword. He offers Solace to Saeris, and she accepts. They run to the Darn, the river that serves as a border, and sees vampires massing on the other side. Not as many as last time though, and Malcolm is not with them. Fisher points out to Saeris that they cannot do anything until the vampires cross the mid-point of the river, officially into Fae territory, for a few reasons. A. The rules of war dictate it. They cannot use magic on an enemy until the enemy has breached their land. B. Their magic doesn’t work in Sanasroth. Fae magic needs light and life to work, Sanasroth has neither anymore. The Fae break the ice again, and the vampires fall through again, and everything is well again…for now. But this time the vampires crawl out of the river toward the Fae army. In fact, far more come out of the river than the number that just went in. The soldiers fight them and Saeris fights like she was meant for Solace; time seems to slow while she wields it. Lorreth comes out with Avisieth, and the battle is won. While they celebrate, the air is pierced by a woman shrieking Fisher’s name. It’s Everlayne, she’s across the bank and surrounded by vampires. Fisher wants to try to rescue his sister, but he would be helpless on that side of the bank and Ren stops him from acting rashly. Fisher yells at Layne to make a break and swim across but she says she’ll never make it and she can’t leave anyway. She’s been bitten by Malcolm. Not yet a vampire but on her way. Malcolm’s son, Taladaius, comes to mock Fisher and gives him terms. Malcolm knows that he’ll come for his sister. Either to save her or to avenge her, and Malcolm wants Fisher back. But now, he wants Saeris too. Malcolm will be waiting for Fisher at the place where they made their last deal. Ren, Lorreth, Fisher, and Saeris leave to make a plan. Fisher closes everything out, not even responding to Saeris talking in his mind, as he thinks through the situation. Saeris asks for some clarification about Malcolm. Malcolm was the first Fae to have the blood curse and when a cure was found, he (among others) refused to take it. The others who refused the cure were eventually killed, and the rumor is that Malcolm somehow took their power from them. Now, he is incredibly powerful and continues to grow more so every year. Normally, if a vampire (one of Malcolm’s lords, not a mindless feeder) bites someone three times, that person becomes enthralled and will do anything for the person who bit them. When the vampire drains them, they die and are reborn as a feeder. The lords are not strong enough to create another sentient vampire. Malcolm’s bite enthralls the first time he bites someone, and it is lethal, his victim will die about three days later. If Malcolm allows Layne to drink from him as well (and she deigns to do so), she will be reborn as one of his lords. If that does not happen, she will become a feeder after she dies. Fisher finally wakes up from his thinking. Danya chooses this moment to enter the room and try to take what is now Lorreth’s sword. She tries to take the sword by force but when she grabs the pommel, her hand just disintegrates. Fisher takes her to Cahlish to see if it can be regrown with the agreement that she stop acting like a petulant child. They will all go to Cahlish, and they will comb the library for any ideas on how to break a thrall, Fisher’s father had studied the blood curse extensively so if there’s any information, it will be there. But first, they honor Saeris as a newly blooded warrior for fighting alongside them. They head back to Cahlish and Danya sees Saeris sitting at the dining table in the seat she always uses and finally we get an answer to why everyone acts so weird about it. That seat is reserved for the lady of the house. Danya tells Saeris to move seats but everyone else tells Danya to butt out and Danya is scandalized (again). Carrion comes in holding a plant and a sword, Lorreth found him sleeping in the forge. They eventually take Danya to the healer when she finally passes out, which seems like terrible leadership, and Fisher asks Saeris to go to the forge and start making relics. They’re going to need them. But the quicksilver isn’t interested until Saeris says the word “secret”. That perks the quicksilver right up. For one secret (it swears it will not tell), they will help Saeris make relics. She tells it that she doesn’t want to leave Yvelia anymore. She does want to go back to Zilvaren and bring Hayden and Elroy to Yvelia with her. The quicksilver agrees, she wants to stay, save the gate, save Yvelia, save Kingfisher. The quicksilver then joins with a ring. It requires blood to be complete, which she gives, and it is absorbed into the quicksilver. She asks the quicksilver what it meant about saving Fisher but gets no answer. She puts the newly made relic ring on her finger and the forge suddenly goes dark, all she hears are screams of the words “Annorath Mor”. Te Lena, the healer at Cahlish, shows up at the door to see if Saeris needs any healing after the fight earlier in the day and Carrion immediately starts asking to be included in a threesome with her and her husband. Te Lena gently, but firmly, rebuffs him and shows him her tattoos indicating that she’s mated. The tattoos on her hands that look an awful lot like the ones Saeris got from Fisher’s skin, but these tattoos were planned and given in the traditional ink and needle way. Te Lena says that in legends, the tattoos just showed up, but that was way back when true mates existed. Those disappeared with the god swords, back when the Gods left with their magic. And as for script appearing around wrists, that’s a blessing from the Gods themselves and it only happens in fairytales. The kind that always end in tragedy. Saeris goes to find Fisher. Saeris wants to know why Fisher refused to say her name before today, calling her by an array of nicknames – both affectionate and not. He says that at first, he hated her for what she represented: his weakness and vulnerability. He’s been calling her Little Osha for the Oshellith, a butterfly that lives for a day only, which Saeris believed was an insult about her fragility as a human. But he didn’t tell her the whole story. Oshellith that are so beautiful and rare that Fae will lay their lives down to protect them, their name means “most sacred”. Fisher couldn’t say Saeris’ name because he was scared, but she has been sacred to him, ever since they first met. He has known that she was coming for a long time. His mother told him, she was an oracle. His mom knew that she was going to die soon, and she wrote pages and pages for Fisher, pages about Saeris. At one point, he starts to choke as he talks to her and Saeris knows for sure that there are things he is not allowed to say. Fisher tells Saeris about their bond, which existed even before they knew each other and it infuriated him that they didn’t even get a choice in the matter. The runes that he and Saeris received scare him because people do write stories about the couples that receive those, and they don’t have happy endings. And Saeris received more runes than he’s ever heard of. He is not well. He is haunted. And he is only getting worse. He should have rejected the bond with Saeris, but he hasn’t. He can’t. He tells Saeris that the quicksilver will torment him until he hurts the people around him, but he won’t let that happen, he will kill himself first. Saeris tells him that is selfish and that if he goes through with it, he is sentencing Lorreth to death as well, since Lorreth plans to follow him into death to return the piece of Fisher’s soul. Saeris is pissed and leaves to sleep in her own room, vowing to go to the library and find a solution for Layne, and for Fisher, because she’s not a quitter! The news in the library isn’t good. Only a witch can break an enthrallment, and witches disappeared a century ago. But if they could find a powerful witch, they could break the enthrallment and stop the venom from killing Layne long enough for Te Lena to extract it from Layne’s body. They decide to visit some half witches and see if any would be willing to help, Fisher, Ren, and Danya (with her new hand) will go. But Danya screws it up. Once the witches agree to help, she helpfully points out that it’s the least they could do since they abandoned the Fae to clean up their messes, which did not endear the witches to their cause. Fisher plans to take her back to the war camp then trying to smooth things over with the witches, while Ren returns to Cahlish. Miraculously, Fisher returns with Iseabail (pronounced Ee-sha-bhal), the only witch they saw that was strong enough to help them. The plan is: Fisher, Ren, Lorreth, Saeris, and Carrion go in, rescue Layne, bring her back to Cahlish, where Te Lena can save her with Iseabail’s help. That night, Saeris and Fisher stay in his house in Ballard again and Fisher accepts their bond, he’s the one with a few new tattoos this time. Beautiful wings around his collarbone to match the wing on Saeris’ hand. Saeris wakes up in the morning to find a shadow gate to Cahlish open for her and Fisher already gone. He’s gone to meet Malcolm alone and he’s left her a note with instructions for his friends. It’s clear he doesn’t think he’s coming back, and he’s left his sword, Nimerelle, behind. Saeris goes to Cahlish and breaks the news, but Carrion has an idea. If Fisher opens a shadow gate for Layne to come through, it will stay open for a few seconds before closing. They could use those few seconds to get to Fisher. The others agree that it’s the best plan they have but first, Carrion wants a sword too. While they find some quicksilver, a sword in the armory, and convince the quicksilver to bond with the sword in exchange for a bawdy joke from Carrion. Carrion names his new sword Simon, all while Te Lena and Iseabail set up a space to heal Layne. This has never been done before and no one knows for certain if it will work. We also learn what Danya meant when she said that the witches were the cause of this. There is a rumor that the witches helped to set the blood curse on the Fae, but Iseabail says that isn’t true. In fact, one of the five families charged with finding a cure was the Balquhidder Clan, of which Iseabail’s grandmother was High Witch. Just then, Layne comes crashing through the ceiling. Fisher put the gate in the ceiling to make it as hard as possible to get to him. Lorreth and Ren lift Carrion up to the gate, then throw Saeris through as Layne yells “the water!” Saeris falls directly into a lake, which is great because she can’t swim. Lorreth, who must have come through after her, pulls her to safety and goes back into the lake for Carrion. Ren doesn’t make it through the portal and is still at Cahlish. The three of them are at the base of a tall, slick, obsidian cliff face. Luckily, Saeris and Carrion grew up climbing higher, more dangerous walls in the Third ward. An explosion of screaming rings out “Annorath Mor” and the group starts climbing. At the top of the cliff, they see a huge amphitheater with hundreds of thousands of people screaming “Annorath Mor!” Meaning “Release Us!” Opposite Saeris and the others is a raised dais, set far down in the amphitheater. Sitting in front of the dais is Fisher. From behind them, Saeris hears a voice she never expected to hear again... Harron, the guard captain she killed in Madra’s palace. And he’s leading hundreds of feeders. What luck! Harron opens a vortex to take them directly to the bottom of the amphitheater, and they go through because that’s where they want to go anyway, not that they have much choice with all the feeders approaching. They’re transported to the dais and Fisher is all any of them can see at first, but when they look around, they notice Malcolm sitting in the center of the dais with Madra on one side… and Belikon on the other. The three of them are calling each other brother and sister and the triumvirate. When Lorreth yells at Belikon that they’ve been at war with Malcolm for so long, Belikon just laughs and says they were never at war at all. He was just supplying his brother’s army with food and troops. Finally, the triumvirate decides to release the binding on Fisher and allow him to tell the story of what happened at Gillethyre. The horde was at Gillethyre, tens of thousands strong. Fisher’s army had already been occupied, so he brought as many as he could spare through a shadow gate, Ren and some other wolves, to save as many of the people as they could. But the vampires were already there. Fisher left the wolves to find Malcolm, intent on killing him, but finds Belikon instead. At this point, Belikon admits to Fisher that he killed Fisher’s mom after she gave birth to Layne. It was then that Fisher realized that Belikon and Malcolm were allies, although he didn’t know about Madra until today. Fisher bartered for the lives of the few Fae left and Belikon made him a deal. They tossed a coin that is only used in Gillethyre, if it landed leaf side up, Fisher would win, and Malcolm would take his horde and leave. If it was fish side up, Malcolm would claim the city as his own and Fisher would have to leave the people there to their deaths. Fisher was not allowed to injure either Malcolm or Belikon until the coin touched the ground, he could not touch or influence the coin at all or speak of the deal he’d made or what he’d discovered about their alliance. Fisher agreed and made a blood oath. Fisher tossed the coin, but Malcolm caught it. Since the coin never touched the ground, the horde continued to kill everyone in the city. So, Fisher, realizes that he’d been tricked, barricaded the town and set it on fire, hoping to kill as many vampires as he could. Then Malcolm built a labyrinth with the coin at the center, surrounded the labyrinth by the coliseum, and filled the coliseum stands with the burnt citizens of Gillethyre. If Fisher could find the coin and it finally fell to the ground, then he could challenge Malcolm then and there. It took fifty-five years for Fisher to even get to the center of the labyrinth, and he spent eight more years there, looking for the coin. But one day, he found a pool of quicksilver instead and Fisher just left. He’d been given the opportunity before but had never taken it until that day. Malcolm wants to know what had changed. Fisher tells him: he heard his father’s sword calling to him and he needed it to do this, and with that Fisher grabs the sword at Saeris’ hip and stabs Belikon in the stomach, then in the neck. Malcolm comes for Fisher, but Lorreth stops him with the tip of his own sword at Malcolm’s neck. Fisher yells at them all to get inside the labyrinth and they fight their way inside. The labyrinth walls and floor are made of obsidian, and apparently the path changes at Malcolm’s, and there are obstacles. So that sounds super fun. The first obstacle is a giant spider Fae hybrid demon called Morthil. It can’t hear or see you but can track movement and will eat you over the course of several days if it catches you. Fisher asks Saeris to sense the quicksilver pool and tell them which direction to go, they have three options. She points out the exit they need and three of them move very slowly along the wall while Carrion, who unknowingly slid on the floor and under the spider before he could stop, slowly creeps along the floor, trying not to move too much. Lorreth and Saeris make it to the exit but then the walls start to move, which triggers Morthil. Fisher drags Carrion the rest of the way through the door and the four run from the spider as quickly as they can. It pursues them, leaving its enclosure, which it is not supposed to do. They manage to kill the demon - but only temporarily. It will come back smaller (but faster, fun!) and so they leave the area without delay. Saeris is leading them to the pool, but the walls change quickly, Malcolm is trying to block them, causing them to backtrack. They finally make it to the center of the labyrinth to find not one coin, but a mountain of them. Malcolm comes into the room through a wall, followed by Madra and Belikon, who is definitely not dead. Apparently, they are the triumvirate, three crowns sharing one source. To kill one, you must kill them all. As Carrion mouths off, baiting Malcolm closer to him, Fisher tells Saeris in her mind that these coins are fake. The real one is silver and burned Malcolm when he caught it. If these were real, he wouldn’t be able to stand on this many coins without pain. She needs to call to the one that’s real, it would have traces of quicksilver in it. Carrion continues baiting Malcolm until Malcolm bites him, and there’s nothing the others can do to save Carrion. They watch as Malcolm feeds on him but then abruptly, Malcolm stops and Carrion takes the opportunity to introduce himself properly, albeit weakly. He is Carrion Swift but there was a time that he was known as Carrion Daianthus, firstborn son of Rurik and Amelia Daianthus. The lost Daianthus heir. Lorreth and Fisher lose their minds. Neither they, nor I, saw this coming. Let me tell you, the gasp that I gasped during this reveal almost killed me. Meanwhile, Saeris locates the real coin, and smoke starts to pour out of Malcolm. Saeris tells Fischer the coin is in the labyrinth but not in this room and she goes to find it. The walls aren’t moving anymore since Malcolm is too busy dying to play games with her. She asks the quicksilver in the coin to lead her to it, but they want something in return. She pleads with it, saying that she loves Fisher, and the coin says they will help for a small favor, and for love. Saeris agrees to the small favor, not knowing what it is, thinking she will deal with that problem later. Excitingly, the coin is inside the spider demon! Luckily, the demon is still dead. She sees the coin in the back of its throat and reaches in, grabbing it and pulling it out. Then someone grabs her wrist, demanding the coin. It’s Malcolm. They were not kidding about the triumvirate not being able to be killed solo. Malcolm’s skin is melting away but apparently, he’s still kicking. He throws Saeris to the ground and kicks Solace away from her. He takes the coin from Saeris and drops it into a bag at his waist. Saeris stabs him in the throat with her dagger, but Malcolm punches her in the stomach hard enough to kill her. She’s dying. But she has taken his purse from his waist when he got close to her and when he grabs it back from her, she’s already emptied it. She flips the bargain coin again, low this time so that Malcolm can’t grab it, and the coin touches the ground. The Fae that Malcolm had trapped from Gillethyre are free, allowed to pass from this world. Then Saeris uses Solace to cut off his head. His body and head are engulfed by blue flames, Solace is alive with magic again! Try coming back from that! Fisher screams in her head and she asks about Madra and Belikon. Madra fled through the quicksilver, Lorreth and Carrion are fighting Belikon together. Fisher is coming for Saeris. Saeris passes out and when Saeris half wakes, Taladaius and Fisher are both standing next to her. Taladaius tells Fisher that Saeris is dying, and Fisher can’t share his soul with her, he’s given too much to Lorreth already. Taladaius offers to turn her into a vampire. He is powerful enough to do it, but hid that from his father, Malcolm. If he turned Saeris, she would be a vampire like him, not a feeder, but she may not have to feed on blood at all. Fisher tells him to do it. Lorreth and Carrion arrive, and Fisher makes a shadow gate. Saeris hears an unknown voice in her head, it tells her that Fisher is the storm, and she is the calm that comes after. It asks her if she’s ready to leave but she says that she is not. Suffering and hardship are coming, is she really sure she wants to stay? She does. The voice is the quicksilver and it’s calling in its favor that she promised it. It wants an audience with her. She agrees and is going to say “as soon as I’m well enough” but she doesn’t get the chance, the pool calls to her. It pulls her to it, into the pool. Saeris wakes up under a bright blue sky, hearing two young women talk about her. Twins. They ask her what sex is like with Fisher, their father’s champion. Gross, we just met. This is not what Saeris was expecting. The twins are Bal and Mithin, two of the Corcoran, the gods. They take her to their father. It was their father who had asked if she was ready to die. Zareth, god of chaos. He tells Saeris that his family are stewards to all the realms that she sees within the pool of quicksilver, showing her the surface of a pool. He points out a shriveling, dark branch. That is rot, that is the realm she just came from. Realms have been wiped out to prevent rot like this from spreading. He is taking a chance of Saeris and Kingfisher, but the rest of his family would rather wipe the slate clean and start over completely. So, he’s placed protection on both of them, to shield them from his family. In order to save their lives, he must tear their realm from the tapestry of fate. This would transform her into something never before seen. He is the god of chaos and of change, after all. She agrees. Her god binding tattoo around her wrist which has protected her from the rest of Zareth’s family flairs with light. Zareth wishes her luck, and then pushes her back into the pool of quicksilver. Saeris wakes up in a bed and immediately pukes a few times. Taladaius shows up and tells her she’s going through the great purge. Her body has gone through a lot of changes, but it will be able to eat normally again soon. He points her to a mirror where she sees the same Saeris, but now with pointed ears and fangs. Half Fae, half vampire, the likes of which have never been seen before, just like Zareth said. Part of her hates Taladaius for changing her, part of her wants to thank him for saving her life. He tells her he felt the same once, he even tried to kill himself when he’d been changed, but Malcolm forbade him from doing it and he couldn’t disobey him. But now Malcolm is dead and Taladaius has far more options, but he’s not clear yet on what he will do. Carrion comes to see Saeris and shows her his pointy ears. It turns out that Fisher’s father took Carrion to Zilvaren as a child to save him from Belikon, after glamouring him to look like a human and giving him some books that explained his history. Orlena Parry, a slave in Madra’s palace, pulled Carrion from the quicksilver and escaped with him to the Third ward where she knew he would not be looked for. He was trapped when the quicksilver portals were closed and he has spent the last thousand years or so just existing, waiting. His “grandmother” that is still there was his playmate once, then his ward, then he became her ward when she got older, but there is no blood relation. Orlena married a Swift and they had a daughter who had a daughter who had a daughter, all of which kept an eye on Carrion through the years. He felt a shift in the air when Saeris was taken through the portal, but he really was trying to protect Hayden when Fisher came for him. It’s explained that Carrion’s father’s blood had been used to create the blood curse. Since Malcolm was the original vampire created, drinking the blood that created him should have killed him, it only didn’t because he had become so powerful. In other news, Layne no longer has any vampire venom in her blood. But she still hasn’t woken up and Ren waits at her bedside. Te Lena and Iseabail are hopeful she will wake up any day. Fisher comes to see Saeris, and she sees that the quicksilver has less of an effect on him! Te Lena had been working on him but now, with Iseabail’s help, things have been a lot more effective. Te Lena quiets the quicksilver and Iseabail pulls it out of him, a little at a time. It may take a long time but one day, hopefully, he will be free of it. Fisher also breaks some big news to Saeris. In the Fae courts, if the monarch is slain then the crown passes to the heir. If there is no heir, it passes to the one who killed them. That’s screwed up, but Malcolm never named an heir, so in two days, Saeris gets to be coronated as Queen of Sanasroth.