Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)

by Callie Hart

“I don’t enjoy hurting people. I don’t like it at all. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary. To avoid far more serious pain, sometimes we have to endure a little sting.

“Because she is moonlight. The mist that shrouds the mountains. The bite of electricity in the air before a storm. The smoke that rolls across a battlefield before the killing starts. You have no idea what she is. What she could be. You should call her Majesty.”

The sound of Fisher’s genuine laughter was rarer than water had ever been back in Zilvaren; it almost brought tears to my eyes to hear it.

“I don’t want bright and happy,” he whispered roughly. “I want real.”

By righteous hands, deliverance of the unrighteous dead. “Incredible,” Fisher said breathlessly. His eyes found mine, and they shone with amazement.

“The aurora,” Fisher answered softly. “A blessing.” “Holy fuck.” Lorreth dropped to his knees in the snow, staring up at the sky, his mouth wide open. “It’s… beautiful. The aurora hasn’t been seen in… in…” “Well over a thousand years,” Fisher said.

“I’m Saeris. I’m an Alchemist. I—” We know who she is, the quicksilver hissed. She is the dawn. She is the moon. She is the sky. She is oxygen in our lungs.

He narrowed his beautiful eyes at me. “Swear it.” “A promise doesn’t bind me the way it binds you.” “I know. But humans still make promises to each other, even though they can be broken, don’t they? Because they trust the other to honor their word.” “Yes.” “Then swear, Little Osha, and I’ll trust you.” A wave of hot emotion knifed me in the center of my chest. This was the kind of male I wanted to be with. “I swear it.”

“Be unrelenting and unmerciful in the face of the wicked dead,” Fisher said.

“Don’t you dare die on my watch, Saeris Fane! Fisher will never forgive me if his sole reason for living is torn to pieces on her first fucking battlefield.”

When he placed his hand against my chest, he tapped his index finger and middle finger against my sternum, in time with my racing heart. Giving me a very tired, very sad smile, he said, “I give you my blood in thanks, Saeris Fane.”

The Kingggfisshhherrrr, the quicksilver buzzed. Save him. Save the gates. Save Yvelia.

“Once upon a time, that was the case. Back when true mating bonds existed. Unions between true mates were blessed with marks from the Fates. That’s where the tradition of inking our hands originated from. But there’s no such thing as true mates anymore.

Our ability to form mating bonds also died out over thousands of years, until it disappeared altogether.”

“And what about script? You know. Writing?” I could only get a few words out at a time. “Do people… get that sometimes? Going around… their wrists?” “Oh, no. Definitely not. You only see that kind of thing in storybooks,” Te Léna scoffed. “They called it a God Binding. A blessing from the gods themselves.

“The lovers in those stories always suffered terribly. One of them always died. They were beautiful tales, but they ended with heartbreak.”

He smiled when the little fox leaped into his lap and began licking his chin. Actually smiled.

“The Oshellith hatch once in most Fae lifetimes. Up north, in the wastelands, far beyond Ajun Sky, where the dragons used to live. The air’s so cold there that it’ll freeze in your lungs if you breathe it in without a mask. No life exists there for long. But once in a thousand years, the howling winds drop, signaling the coming of the Oshellith. News of that event travels quickly. That’s when the bravest of our kind set out. They go on foot where no horse can go. When they reach the valley where the Oshellith hatch, they find the butterfly’s cocoons and they shield them with their bodies. They give them whatever heat they can, for as long as they can. It can take up to twelve hours for them to break out of those cocoons. But when they do…” Kingfisher swallowed, shaking his head. “It’s the most beautiful thing a person can experience in this lifetime. They glow blue and pink and silver, with an ethereal light. They have music, though no one knows how. A sweet, soft song that’s capable of healing. The Oshellith mate and lay their eggs, but once that’s done, they fill the air, and they dance. Protecting them while they live is considered a sacred rite that many die in order to perform.

That’s what Oshellith means in Old Fae, Saeris. Most Sacred.”

And you show up, and you have one fucking name, and everybody knows it. And I couldn’t say it because I was scared. Of what it would do to me when I did. It would be like acknowledging you were here after all this time. So I called you Osha instead. But it meant more, Saeris. To me, it meant more.”

There will be times when the world seeks to destroy you, Kingfisher. But you are stronger than you can ever know. You will not falter. And you will not face it all alone.’”

“Historically, Marks like that come at a cost. They’re the kind of Marks that people will want to write stories about. And not happy ones.”

“If it were up to me, we wouldn’t spend another night without each other again.”

He was saying, let’s deal with what’s right in front of us and see what the lay of the land is like after that.

Two counterparts, independent of one another. Already whole, but together stronger than we could ever be apart.

There were moments that were gifts, meant to be cherished only for as long as you could remember them.

“In nature, there is a counterweight to everything, child. Light has darkness. Life has death. Joy has sorrow. And good has evil.

If you truly accept Fisher as your mate, then you must agree for the thread of your life to be severed from the tapestry of the universe. Once you do, none of us may affect your future. We won’t be able to see you at all, nor will my brothers and my sister be able to interfere with timelines or events that affect you, either. You’ll be on your own.”

“You’re not responsible for anything. All you need do is live your life.”

“Human, Fae, or vampire. It doesn’t matter how long you live, Saeris; you will always be most sacred to me.”