Fae & Alchemy
by Callie Hart

Proceed with extreme caution! Lying to a guard in Zilvaren City is a death sentence. Saeris Fane has seen them kill firsthand, including her mother. Even so, Lissa gives the guards that apprehends her the correct romantic status and age, but the false name of Lissa Fossick, since her real name is infamous. More troubling to the guard is when she says she comes from the third ward, who 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 for three years of food, made of thick gold like the rest of Queen Madra’s guards’ armor, but she 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. He pleads with her to return the gauntlet, but she refuses and storms off to find her brother, Hayden, who is lying in the ditch in front of Kala’s, a gambling house, just having lost a fight with Carrion Swift. He lost a bunch of stuff gambling with Carrion too, which Saeris tries to get back. In exchange for the return of Hayden’s things, Carrion asks for a drink to discuss a rumor he heard. He knows she has the gauntlet, and he is also worried about what the guardians will do to get it back. He offers to hide it for her in the warehouse he has in the second ward. The people of the third, including his grandmother, go through enough with 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 with the gauntlet, she finds them both gone. She 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 also rumored to be able to find a buyer for unusual items so Saeris thinks Hayden may have stupidly headed there. As she goes there, she hears a cry from the direction that she and Hayden have been squatting and knows it has something to do with him. She starts running and suddenly there are guardians following her, demanding that she stop, but she doesn’t stop until she sees Hayden. There are dozens of guardians demanding that Hayden hand over the gauntlet that he is holding. 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 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. She asks Saeris who taught her how to fight, if the Fae have found their way back after she’d 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 they met in this room, what used to be a hall of mirrors, because as long as this room remains the same the Fae cannot return, and the Queen just wanted to 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, 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 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. Then he stabs her in the stomach with his sword and twists so the queen can hear her 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 halt the blade with her mind, then she melts the iron and sends it rolling toward Harron, who is losing his mind and yelling heresy. He tells her that he can’t die, Madra won’t let him. She thinks it would be poetic to use a sword on him, like he did her, but off she removes the sword from her abdomen she will die even more quickly than she already is. Luckily, she 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. She pulls the sword out and does manage to hit Harron in the shoulder but it’s 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 I don’t understand, but Death sees Saeris holding the ancient sword and decides it’s not time for her yet. 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. Far, but the Fae are just a fairytale. She introduces herself with her real name and Everlayne tells her that Saeris happens to be a Fae name. She tells Saeris that her wounds are completely healed and that they are in Yvelia, in the Winter Palace. Another Fae barges in, Renfis is his name. He’s come to retrieve Death’s chain; Death is struggling without it and Death 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, he asks her to put it in a snack velvet bag and he’s careful not to touch it. When he leaves, Saeris becomes desperate to go back home and save her brother and friends, although after ten days of being unconscious it’s probably too late. But Everlayne says that’s impossible, she has a meeting with the king in a short while, Everlayne’s father. On the way to see the king, Saeris and Everlayne pass statues of the Corcoran, gods that the Fae worship but humans no longer do. Instead, Madra has set herself up as a god, 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 that legend says were once one goddess, Balmithin, but when she refused to cower during a lightning storm was split into two. 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. It strikes Saeris that the twin suns that shine on Zilvaren have similar names: Balea and Min, and she also doesn’t even know what a moon is or how Everlayne knows of Madra, who she says is just a corrupt human. The palace is incredibly cold, even inside Saeris can see her own breath, even though Everlayne says there are magic wards to help keep the cold out. Saeris is presented to King Belikon, who is holding the sword 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 is an old woman dressed in white. Balekin tells Saeris that when she leaves the room, she will be a subject of the realm and 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, the king tells her that if Madra said she would destroy the ward, then its doubtless that she did. Saeris is the one who opened the portal again, who woke the quicksilver, unlikely as it is that a human could do so. He wants her to open the rest of the portals, it’s not up for debate. The king dismisses Saeris and calls for someone to be brought in. It’s the male that rescued Saeris who she calls Death, they call him Kingfisher. He’s brought as a prisoner and is fighting tooth and nail against his jailers. The people are 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 speak a prophecy to her. Malwae is an oracle. She tells him that he doesn’t kill Kingfisher and that he must return the pendant he’s taken. If he doesn’t, House de Barra and the Winter Palace may fall. But what should Belikon do with Kingfisher now. From the audience, someone tells to send him 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 for a week to help Saeris since he knows so much about the quicksilver, then he will join the front. He 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 go back to being the librarian, to help Saeris. Rusarius does not seem hostile but is surprised to hear that she awoke the quicksilver and managed to hold the sword, which is called Solace. He believes she 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 her 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 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. Fisher asks her 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. Layne interrupts him and berates him for being an asshole, and it comes out that Fisher is her brother! She runs away from them, 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 gorge, which everyone is surprised to see is nowhere near operational. She questions him 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 skin. The pendant he wears is protection, 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 once he traveled without his amulet and was taken by the quicksilver. Although a healer managed to draw most of it out, there are still remnants inside of him and the pendant is the only thing that helps him quiet the hallucinations and differentiate what is real. He gave her the pendant to keep her alive until she could be healed, he also has a protective ring that helped while he didn’t wear the chain. He needed to save her 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 the least perceived attack. They 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 he 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. They were scouts on the other side of the quicksilver who got trapped when the portals when Madra closed them, closing one closed them all. Those scouts are probably dead now but not from old age. Fisher comes to take her 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 won’t tell her why. He tells her 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 it 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 she had Fisher with. Belikon sent Finran on a mission to Zilvaren and while he was there, the quicksilver was stilled and the portals closed. Although Fisher believes that Madra stilled them, the king announced that it was Finran’s doing and declared him a traitor. He 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). He did not expect her to show up with Fisher. When they did not immediately fall pregnant, when their mother had Layne, a female, instead of a male, when she died not long after Layne was born, Belikon blamed Fisher for all of it. When they go to the library, Saeris asks how the alchemists told the quicksilver 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. Then she, not suspiciously at all, asks where the pool in the palace is located. When she goes to the forge, Saeris finds it up and running. She also finds, gets bit by, and bonds with a fox. Fisher pulling a crucible out of it. Inside the crucible is finely ground powder of Fae bone. Fisher tells her that they only have theories about how the relics work to protect them from the quicksilver 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 it and make a relic. The bone 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 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 must make it 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. She 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 would have protected her. Turns out, no, the ring would not have protected her from the quicksilver at all, it would have torn her mind apart. She tells him 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 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 w one at a time and he can’t go through more than once in a day. He asks for something of Hayden’s so that he can track him, 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. While she waits, the fox returns to her. She names him Onyx. When Fisher returns, the passing was difficult. 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. Not 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, Carrion lying unconscious across Fisher’s horse and Saeris realizes that she needs to be careful what pacts she makes with the Fae, as she know does 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 although her horse, Aida, doesn’t seem to notice. Fisher offers to give her temporary sight, 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 of 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 did she bring a bag of food and supplies with her. They stop at a tavern and Fisher pays to have Carrion put in a stall on a bed of hay and a blanket. The other two go in 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 suspected what Belikon was planning and put up safeguards so that neither Belikon nor his supporters could cross into Cahlish. Those wards still hold, and that was lo no 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 he’s in huge trouble, after taking not only Saeris but the sword Solace as well. They talk about god swords, which are apparently dormant, of which one is Solace, and another is Nimerelle, Fisher’s sword. Turns out, Solace had been his father’s. When Ren comes in, the other tavern visitors recognize him and then Fisher, who has been disguising himself with a cloak. It gets very quiet, and they decide to leave but they’re stopped before they get to the door. Fisher is lauded as a savior, the others 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. In order to get to Cahlish, they have to go through an actual black vortex, which Onyx is not pleased about, and neither is Saeris. Otherwise, they’ll be on horseback for two more months, which she’d 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 will only happen this once (hopefully). Ren carries her to her room. He explains that Fisher used to be different, the quicksilver makes it difficult for him to think straight and shutting them out is exhausting, it’s made him hard. Explains that Belikon forced him to travel without his relic. And now the relic isn’t as effective, and it’s traveled through without it twice more. Carrion wakes up and gives Saeris all the gossip from home. Hayden and Elroy are both safe. They think she’s a prisoner in the palace. Elroy keeps going to the gates and demanding to see her but ends up leaving and going back to the forge. Carrion immediately got Hayden out and into the Seventh ward, working as a store clerk. Madra hasn’t killed anyone, and she isn’t even looking for Hayden. In fact, they’re preparing for the upcoming festival, Evenlight. Now he has some questions of his own. She tells him everything. When Fisher comes to get 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 it, and also lets Carrion know is free to come and go. 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. Fisher, who isn’t wearing any armor except a gorget protecting his throat, leans down to pick it 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 him. They continue to the forge after Fisher promises to catch up with Archer later. When they walk through the gate to the forge, it actually transports them to the forge that is located outside of the house, and going back will do the same. Not a gift that Fisher has, but Ren enchanted it, and it only works on short distances. She asks why he didn’t just conjure the gate to Cahlish outside the palace instead of going through The Wicker Wood, and he explains that drawing that much power would have tipped Belikon off. She continues questioning Fisher. He can’t use a shadow gate like how they came to Cahlish unless both end points are inside the same realm. They can’t replace the quicksilver. He points her to a chest containing 1800 rings, then indicates another 8 chests, and they will turn each and every one into a relic. Enough for all of Fisher’s people, his 15000 warriors. She really needs to phrase her oaths better. He shows her the books he’s collected that the alchemists had written before disappearing and leaves her to her work. She makes 4 attempts before leaving, exhausted and frustrated. She sees Ren on the way to her room. He tells her that he’s asked Fisher to have dinner with her. He sees things as black and white, it helps him keep his head straight. Right now, he sees her as a tool and Ren is afraid he will push her too far. Having dinner will help him see that she’s more than just a tool to get them out of a desperate situation. Ren asks for Saeris to please just have dinner with Fisher. She agrees, mostly because it’s either Fisher or Carrion. At dinner, Fisher asks her how her trials went, and she mentions that she will need more silver. That’s going to be difficult. There’s no silver in Yvelia, and any that is found must be sent to the crown. Belikon gives them no help with the war effort: no silver, no food, no weapons or clothes. Fisher tells Saeris that Archer helped raise him, and that’s he’s interested in Saeris. Wants to know if she’s staying. While they’re discussing why Fisher brought Carrion (because she slept with him and he smelled like her still apparently), the windows of the room are 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 where she cuts them open, maggots fall out. They quickly overtake her and just before one of them bites her, Fisher kills them. But she’s been raked with their poison claws, and they’ll need to move fast to save her. He tells her as he runs that those were Sanasrothian feeders, their foot soldiers, and only silver can kill them. She 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. 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 they’re back and she’s expected for dinner. She demands that Ren come as well, or she won’t go, so he relents and agrees. She asks why Nimerelle still has magic when the other god swords do not. He tells her that no one knows. The magic or the spirit of the sword has never left Fisher, even though the blade is tarnishing. Saeris forces Carrion to come to dinner as well. 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 and they continue with dinner. Carrion, who has been training with the guards, is invited to practice with Ren and his troops, which Saeris also decides to attend. Then Ren and Carrion have a conversation about fighting styles as Saeris and Fisher verbally spar. Then he announces that they’ll be returning to the war camp earlier than expected, and she’s coming this time. They go to the war camp through a shadow gate. It’s 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 there, an earth sprite name 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. Ren has been and will continue to be in charge. He will speak to the soldiers. But Ren asks Fisher to join him, and Fisher eventually relents. At the war meeting, a Fae warrior named Danya demands answers. Why Fisher was gone for so long. Why has he been back several times over the last few weeks and not spoken to any of them. Why he disappeared from Gillethrye when the city was sacked. Ren encourages Fisher to tell them 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. But instead, Saeris orders her to stop, throwing out a hand. Danya’s sword splinters into a hundred pieces, driving themselves into the wall behind Fisher and Ren. Before anything else can happen, an alarm rings out. Everyone, including Ren and Fisher, runs out. One Fae warrior, Lorreth, tells Saeris and Carrion to stay where they are and do not leave the tent. The enemy is at the riverbank and they must break the ice so the dead cannot come across. Nobody ever listens to 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 here to destroy the Fae if they can get across the river. Carrion and Saeris start pummeling 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 them 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 come out. 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 them, actually. When a cure was found to the curse on the Fae, some did not take it, not wanting to give up the dark magic or immortality. Only Malcolm is strong enough now to create more vampires. If the others bite someone, that creature will die and be reborn, but they will be mindless, hungry monsters with none of their original personality. Saeris suspects that Fisher was with him all the years he was missing, but he won’t tell her for certain. They finally get all their sexual tension out by actually having sex and in the act, his tattoos start moving and one of them transfers to her. He leaves her afterward in not great circumstances, telling her he will come and get her in the morning and returns to the war camp. 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 there’s no kids coming out of this, 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 infuriates him but she’s not sure why. She goes to the camp ward and gets to work. While looking for the quicksilver, she sees Carrion who is reading a book on the history of the Fae. It appears the Yvelian Fae is the youngest of the Fae houses, being created when there was a dispute between two brothers and one left to create his own court. Saeris asks Carrion how he’s handling being kidnapped and taken to the Fae realm so well, turns out his grandmother told him about the Fae and all manner of other creatures. She even has a book, most likely it was supposed to be burned, which lists Gilarian Fae creatures and has a message in the beginning, warning the reader to prepare for war. Carrion’s family took that warning seriously. Carrion throws her the box of quicksilver 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. They run tests but they discover nothing. Fisher asks for her help for something that evening. They need her to get the shards of Danya’s sword out of the stone that they’re imbedded in. They need to remake it, since it is a Fae heirloom, marking Dangas rank as an original member of the Lupo Proelia (Kinfisher’s wolves) and a godsword 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. It’s why she was able to break Danya’s blade at all. Ren breaks the news to both Saeris and Danya at the same time. Saeris is the strongest alchemist they’ve heard of, they’ve never heard a story of someone breaking a blade before. And they need her. 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 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 and Fisher brought up to Cahlish. Lorreth was close to dead, the healers did not think he would make it, so Fisher performed an ancient rite that few know anymore. Something that once saved Fisher’s father’s life but it’s crazy that he did it for a stranger, he shared a piece of his soul with Lorreth, which kept him alive long enough to heal. When it was clear he would live, Fisher went back to the other wolves and told him he could leave once he was healed, or he could stay if he wanted to. Lorreth decided to stay. Because he’s shared his soul, if Lorreth dies first, his soul is returned to him. But if Fisher dies first, the remainder of his soul is 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 and doesn’t come back for a day and a half. When he does, he goes to see the healer for the third time in two weeks, even though she doesn’t see any fresh injuries. When he gets back, he takes her to a village that is celebrating the longest night of the year for their festival. 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. Turns out she said the words out loud. She and Fisher leave the festival, and he asks her why she said that, and she tells him what happened, he asks her not to say the words. 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 having hallucinations and he asks her to go. 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, her father was killed when a sand dune collapsed on the trader’s outpost he was at. Her mom became a prostitute to make ends meet, mostly to guardians. Elroy loved her but never tried to tie her down, only helped her as much as he could. Saeris started working for him 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, she’d have Saeris take it to the forge, Elroy would make them into weapons, her mom would smuggle them out. Then Saeris was introduced to men who would show her secret tunnels that led to Madra’s water reservoirs, how to pick locks, how to fight. Rebels would live in their house; Hayden had no idea. Saeris learned how to take care of him 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 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 left 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 on her. They slit her throat where she kneeled as Saeris watched. She got Elroy and they took her body and burned it the next day. When Saeris returned home, they had quarantined their house and started to lock down the ward, saying it was stricken by plague. As she talks to him, she touches the skin on his chest and watches the tattoos move toward her. 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. He doesn’t know what they all mean, the runes in her tattoos, but he takes them for her for now. She has a month to decide if she wants them, approximately, but if she doesn’t take them back, they’ll be gone for good. They go back to the war camp and her trials fail, again. When Carrion comes to help her and she explains that she can hear the quicksilver and that it’s easy to get it to change to a liquid now, she basically just asks it, he suggests just asking the quicksilver to meld with the silver. She can’t try it now, she’s out of silver, 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 so that Danya can carry them again (for as song) but will not give it magic. The quicksilver decided long ago that the magic was undeserved. After some argument from Saeris, it decides that after it is forged, it will taste the blood of the carrier and decide if they deserve the magic as well as the sword. The shards start to fall out of the wall and Saeris turns to see the Lorreth has come in while she was distracted. Good, she’s going to need him to sing. She goes to the forge and makes the sword, Lorreth makes the hilt for it. When it’s finished, he and Fisher look at it amazed. Lorreth touches it and it 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 in a thousand years. Lorreth sings to the sword, the Ballad of Ajun Gate. A ballad of his Fisher and his wolves protecting Ajun Gate, the battle that Fisher is known for. The sword makes a decision, it claims Lorreth as its wielder. Danya is not going to be happy. Saeris tells him it was the song that sealed the deal anyway, but only she remembers the song being sung. Lorreth always meant to write a song about Ajun’s Gate, but he thinks 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. That night Saeris sleeps next to Fisher. She wakes before him and can hear the quicksilver inside him. She asks the quicksilver to leave but it insists that it cannot. It bonded him years ago as the greatest weapon of all. Saved him from death in the quicksilver pool by doing so. If the quicksilver left him, he would die. She looks up to find Fisher awake and they’re discussing what she’s found out when Ren interrupts. Fisher is needed, the horde is back. Saeris refuses to be left behind this time, 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, 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 river that serves as a border, the Darn, and sees vampires massing on the other side. Not as many as last time and Malcolm is not with them. Fisher points out to her 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 in 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. They break the ice, and the vampires fall through, and everything is well for now. But this time the vampires crawl out of the river toward the Fae army. In fact, far more come out than the number that just went in. They fight them and Saeris fights like she was meant for Solace, time seeming to slow while she wields it. Lorreth comes 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 would be helpless on that side of the bank and Rem stops him from acting rashly. He 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 he’ll come for his sister. Either to save her or to avenge her and Malcolm wants him back. But he wants Saeris too. Malcolm will be waiting at the place 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, thinking through the situation. Saeris asks for some clarification. 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 eventually were killed, and the rumor is that Malcolm somehow took their power from them. He is incredibly powerful and grows 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. They are not strong enough to create another sentient vampire. Malcolm’s bite enthralls the first time he bites someone, and it is lethal, they will die approximately 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. Fisher wakes up from his thinking. Danya chooses this moment to enter the room and try to get 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 on 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 breaking a thrall, Fisher’s father had studied the 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. It’s reserved for the lady of the house. Danya tells Saeris to move but everyone else tells Danya to butt out and she is again scandalized. 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 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 this time, the quicksilver isn’t interested. Until Saeris says the word “secret”, that perks the quicksilver up. For one secret that it swears it will not tell, they will help Saeris. She tells it that she doesn’t want to leave Yvelia anymore. She wants to go to Zilvaren and bring Hayden and Elroy back with her. The quicksilver says she wants to stay, save the gate, save Yvelia, save Kingfisher. The quicksilver joins with a ring. It requires blood to be complete, which she gives and is absorbed into the quicksilver. She asks what it meant about saving Fisher but gets no response. She puts the newly made relic ring on her finger and the forge goes dark, all she hears is screams of the words “Annorath Mor”. Te Lena 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 indicated that she’s mated, the ones on her hands. Looks an awful lot like the ones Saeris got from Fisher’s skin, but these tattoos were planned and given in the traditional way. Te Lena says that it used to be the tattoos just showed up, but that was back when true mates existed. Those disappeared with the God Swords, back when that magic left them. And as for script around their wrists, that’s only in fairytales. A blessing from the Gods themselves, that always ended in tragedy. Saeris goes to find Fisher. She wants to know why he wouldn’t say her name until today. 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. But he didn’t tell her the whole story. Butterflies that are so beautiful and rare that Fae will lay their lives down to protect their hatching, whose name means “most sacred”. He couldn’t say her name because he was scared. But she has been sacred to him, ever since they first met. He knew she was coming for a long time. His mother told him, she was an oracle. She knew she was going to die soon, and she wrote pages and pages for him, pages about Saeris. At one point, he starts to choke as he talks to her and she knows for sure, there are things he is not allowed to say. He tells her about their bond, which existed even before they knew each other and infuriated him that they didn’t even get a choice in the matter. But the runes she received, more runes than he’s ever heard of, and it scares him because people do write stories about those couples, and they don’t have happy endings. He is not well. He is haunted. And it’s getting worse. He should have rejected the bond, but he hasn’t, he can’t. But the quicksilver will torment him until he hurts the people around him and he won’t let that happen, he will kill himself first. Saeris tells him that is selfish and that if he does, he is sentencing Lorreth to death as well, who plans to follow him into death to return the piece of his 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 they disappeared a century ago. But if they could find a powerful one, they could break the enthrallment and stop the venom from killing Layne while Te Lena extracted it from her body. They decide to visit some half witches and see if they’d be willing to help, Fisher and Ren and Danya with her new hand will go. But Danya screws it up. Once the witches agree, 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 is taking 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. The plan is: Fisher, Ren, Lorreth, Saeris, and Carrion go in, rescue Layne, bring her back to Cahlish, save her with Iseabail’s help. That night Saeris and Fisher stay 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 and Fisher 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 Nimerelle. Saeris goes to Cahlish and breaks the news, but Carrion has a thought. If he opens a shadow gate for Layne to come through, it stays open for a few seconds before closing. They could use that to get to Fisher. The others agree that it’s the best plan they have but first, Carrion wants a sword. While they find a sword in the armory and some quicksilver, convince the quicksilver to bond with the sword in exchange for a bawdy joke from Carrion, and Carrion names it Simon, Te Lena and Iseabail set up a space to heal Layne. But this has never been done before and they just hope it will work. We also learn what Danya meant by the witches being the cause of this. There is a rumor that they helped to initiate 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, in which Iseabail’s grandmother was High Witch. Just then, Layne comes crashing through the ceiling. Fisher made it as hard as possible for them to go through it. Lorreth and Ren lift Carrion up to the gate, they throw Saeris through it as Layne yells at her “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 in for Carrion. Ren doesn’t make it through. They’re 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 they start climbing. At the top they see a huge amphitheater with hundreds of thousands of people screaming Annorath Mor! 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. Harron opens up a vortex to take them to the bottom of the amphitheater, and they go through because that’s where they want to go anyway and they don’t 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 see Malcolm sitting in the center of the dais with Madra on one side… and Belikon on the other. They call each other brother and sister. The triumvirate, more powerful than ever before. When Lorreth yells at Belikon that they’ve been at war with Malcolm for so long, Belikon just laughs and says they weren’t at war at all. He was just supplying his brother’s army with food and troops. Finally, they decide to ruin Fisher by releasing the binding on him and let him tell the story of what happened at Gillethyre. The horde was at Gillethyre. Tens of thousands of them. Fisher’s army had already been occupied so he brought as many as he could 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 leaves the wolves to find Malcolm, intent on killing him, but instead finds Belikon. At this point, Belikon admits to killing Fisher’s mom after she gave birth to Layne. It was then that Fisher realized that the two 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 only used in Gillethyre, lead side up and Fisher wins, Malcolm would take his horde and leave. Fish side up, he claimed 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, touch or influence the coin at all, speak of the deal he’d made or what he’d discovered about their alliance. Fisher made a blood oath. Fisher tossed the coin, but Malcolm caught it. It never touched the ground, and the horde continued to kill everyone in the city. So, Fisher barricaded it 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 it by the coliseum and filled the stands with the burnt citizens of Gillethyre. If Fisher could find the coin and let it fall to the ground, then he could challenge Malcolm then and there. It took fifty-five years for Fisher to get to the center and he spent eight more looking for the coin. But one day, he found a pool of quicksilver and he just left. He’d been given the opportunity before but never took 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 sword at his neck. fisher yells at them to get to the labyrinth and after some fighting, they do. The labyrinth walls and floor are made of obsidian, apparently the path changes, and there are obstacles. So that sounds super fun. The first obstacle is a fine spider Fae hybrid demon called Morthil. It tracks movement, can’t see or hear you, but will eat you over the course of several days if it catches you. Fisher asks Saeris to find the quicksilver pool and tell them which direction to go, they have three options. She points out the exit and three of them move very slowly along the wall while Carrion, who unknowingly slid under the spider before he could stop, slowly creeps along the floor without moving too much. Lorreth and Saeris make it to the exit but then the walls start to move, which triggers Morthil. Fisher drags Carrion through the door and the four run away from the spider and 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, shudder) and so they leave the area without delay. Saeris is leading them to the pool but everytime they move the walls change, Malcolm is trying to block them. 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 not dead. Apparently, they are the triumvirate, three crowns sharing one source. To kill one, you must kill them all. As Carrion mouths off, bating Malcolm closer, 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 of coins without pain. She needs to call the one that’s real, it would have traces of quicksilver. Carrion continues bating Malcolm until he bites him, and there’s nothing the others can do to save him. They watch as Malcolm feeds on him but then abruptly stops and Carrion introduces 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. Lorreth and Fisher lose their minds. Neither they, nor I, saw this coming. Meanwhile, Saeris locates the 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 busy dying to play games. She asks the quicksilver in the coin to lead her to it, but they want something in return. She pleads, 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 later. Excitingly, the coin is inside the spider demon! Luckily, it’s 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. His skin is melting away but apparently, he’s still kicking. He throws her to the ground and kicks Solace away. He takes the coin from Saeris, dropping it into a bag at his waist. Saeris stabs him in the throat with her dagger, but Malcolm punches her hard enough to kill her, punches into her stomach. She’s dying. But she has taken his purse and when he grabs it from her, she’s already emptied it. She flips the coin low so that he can’t grab it, and the coin falls to the ground. The Fae that Malcolm had trapped from Gillethyre have been freed, allowed to pass from this world. Then she uses Solace to cut off his head. His body and head are engulfed by blue flames, Solace is alive again! Fisher screams in her head and she asks about Madra and Belikon. Madra fled through the quicksilver, Lorreth and Carrion are fighting Belikon together. He is coming for Saeris. Saeris passes out and when she wakes, Taladaius and Fisher are both standing next to her. Taladaius tells him that Saeris is dying, and he can’t share his soul with her, he’s given too much to Lorreth. Taladaius offers to turn her. He is very powerful but hid it from his father, Malcolm. She would be a vampire like him, not a feeder, but they don’t know if she would have to feed. Fisher tells him to do it. Lorreth and Carrion arrive, and Fisher makes a shadow gate. Saeris hears a 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, does she really want to stay? She does. It’s the quicksilver and it’s calling in its favor. 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. It pulls her into the pool. She 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. This is not what Saeris was expecting. They are Bal and Mithin, 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 her that his family are stewards to all the realms she sees within the pool of quicksilver. He points out a shriveling, dark branch. That is rot. While realms have been wiped out to prevent rot from spreading. He is taking a chance of Saeris and Kingfisher while 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. But, in order to save their lives, he must tear them from the tapestry of fate. It would transform her into something never before seen. The god of chaos and of change. She agrees. Her god binding tattoo around her wrist which has protected her from the rest of Zareth’s family flairs, he wishes her luck, and then pushes her back into the pool of quicksilver. She 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 now with pointed ears and fangs. Half Fae, half vampire, never seen before. She remembers what happened. 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, even tried to kill himself, but Malcolm forbade him from doing it and he couldn’t disobey him. But now Malcolm is dead and Taladaius has far more options, 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 him 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 him from the quicksilver and escaped with him to the Third ward where she knew they would not look for him. Then he was trapped when the gates were closed and spent a thousand years or so just existing, waiting. His “grandmother” still there was his playmate, then his ward, then he became her ward. No blood relation. Orlena married a Swift and had a daughter who had a daughter who had a daughter, all of which kept an eye on Carrion. He felt a shift in the air when Saeris was taken 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 been so powerful. In other news, Layne no longer has any vampire venom in her blood. But she still hasn’t woken up and Ren is still at her bedside, waiting. Te Lena and Iseabail are hopeful it will be any day. Fisher comes to see her and the quicksilver has less of an effect on him! Te Lena had been working on him but with Iseabail’s help, things have been a lot more effective. Te Lena quiets it and Iseabail pulls it out a little at a time. It may take a long time but one day, hopefully, he will be free of it. Fisher breaks some big news to her. In the Fae courts, if the monarch is slain the crown passes to the heir. If there is no heir, it passes to the one who killed them. And Malcolm never named an heir. In two days, she gets to be coronated as Queen of Sanasroth.