Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)

by Callie Hart

“An Oshellith is a type of butterfly,” he called as he went. “Osha for short. They hatch, live, and die all in one day. The cold kills them very fast.

Butterfly nickname

“It’s going to bite you,” Kingfisher said. “No, it won’t. It—” It bit me.

lol

Kingfisher pushed away from the sword, standing up straight. He looked up at the rafters overhead, squinting. “This… is a learning experience, I think. There are always consequences to our actions. Your new furry bracelet is a consequence of human weakness. Wear it with pride.”

lol

Do you have any idea what those boots cost me?” “Let me guess. Your virginity.” “Fuck you, Fisher.” “Sure.” He smirked. “But I’m afraid I don’t have any new boots to trade you for your time.”

lol

“I don’t hate your kind. I’m just disappointed by how breakable you are. If I held you down and fucked you the way I’m imagining fucking you right now, I doubt that you’d survive it.”

“Rule number three. Do not make me do any physical activity,” he snarled. “What part of ‘I am hungover’ did you not fucking understand!”

“You fucking tricked me!” “No,” he said bluntly. “I taught you a valuable lesson that will serve you well for the rest of your very short human life in this realm. Always pay attention to the fine print. The devil’s in the details. Now go.”

“I’m not doing any of this willingly! I want to go home!” He shrugged as he swung himself into the saddle. “And yet you’re coming to help me end a war, aren’t you. What more noble cause could there be? Congratulations on achieving fucking sainthood.”

“What about this one, then? Is this one for sale?” The stable hand thumbed a hand in the direction of Carrion. “What’s your best offer?” Fisher asked. “No!” Kingfisher had the audacity to look bored when I slapped his arm. “No, the human isn’t for sale either,” he said in a flat, annoyed tone.

“It’d be a real shame to have to pinch you, but I’m getting bored, and this rabid animal keeps showing me its teeth.”

lower on that list than you might think.” Carrion held up a hand. “When he puts it like that, I vote you go and help him figure out the relic issue.” I grabbed his wrist and yanked his hand down. “You don’t get a vote. And you,” I said, wheeling on Fisher. “You’ve tricked me into getting your way once already. I’m not going to do what you want me to just because you’ve made a vague implication that you’ll let us go back to Zilvaren once I’m done making relics for you.”

“You know what’d really piss him off?” I knew he wasn’t talking about Onyx. “Just don’t, Carrion.” “Revenge fucking on his bed.” I shoved a piece of apple into my mouth. “Oh, yeah, sure. Sounds like a great idea. Idiot. What do you think he’d do to you if you fucked someone in his bed?” Carrion waggled his eyebrows. “I think he’d never know.” I nearly choked on the apple. “Oh, he’d know.”

“He said he didn’t like the way you smelled?” “Yes, and he was very rude about it. He had a bunch of sprites come in and scrub me with these stiff brushes until I was raw and pink all over. I swear they took off four layers of skin. They put this thick white clay all over me then and let it sit so long that it went hard, and they had to crack it to get it all off.” “Gods.” “And then,” he said, taking another grape. “They rubbed me down with this special kind of moss, which is where things got interesting. They paid particular attention to my…” His eyes trailed down his body until they rested in his crotch. I raised my eyebrows at him. “You let a fire sprite jerk you off with a handful of Fae moss?” “Not a fire sprite,” he said defensively. “These were water sprites. Three of them. They’re smaller than the Fae women and very nice to look at. I didn’t mind their attentions one bit.” “You’ve been in Yvelia for five seconds, and you’ve already had a foursome with a different species of magical creature?” I didn’t know why I was surprised. It was absolutely something Carrion would do. “Jealous?” he asked, winking again. “No! I’m… I’m disgusted! What if you catch some kind of Fae disease?” I eyed his crotch for emphasis this time.

Omg

“Meeting? I thought this was dinner. And how would it be fair for me to enjoy the pleasure of your company while these two miss out?” Carrion held up a hand. “I’d prefer not to be here, actually.” “Sit the fuck down,” I hissed. “All right. Gods.”

I literally choked

Renfis had been in the process of sipping from his glass, but the second he realized that I’d sat opposite him, next to Fisher, the alcohol sprayed out of his mouth in an arc that nearly crossed the width of the table. Luckily no food had been placed on it yet. “Saints.” He pounded on his chest, wheezing. “What the fuck?” “Oh, yes. She has no sense of timekeeping, and she has unconventional seating preferences, don’t you, human?” “I can sit there instead?” Carrion offered. “Absolutely not,” Kingfisher barked. “Try it and die.” “Whoa. Okay. I was just trying to keep the peace. If you guys need a buffer—” “We don’t,” Fisher fired back at him. “And even if we did, I’d ask someone far more likable than you. No!” He held up a finger, stabbing it at Carrion. “Do not tell me how likable you are back in Zilvaren. I don’t want to hear it.”

Lol

“I didn’t appreciate being stuck in your bed for five days, y’know.” “Really?” He picked up a piece of cheese. “Most females like spending time in my bed.”

“It’s almost your turn. My ass can’t take much more of this.” “I bet that’s the first time you’ve said those words,” I called. He stuck out his tongue like a petulant child. “I’m more of a giver than a receiver, actually.”

His lips were on mine again, though they didn’t part. It only lasted a second, but it caused complete and utter fucking chaos inside my head. “Fisher—” He shook his head emphatically, his eyes begging me not to speak. Quickly, he took hold of my hand and placed it onto his chest, right in the center. Thum, thum, thum, thum, thum, thum.… His heart was racing, the space between beats negligible. Nothing like the slow, steady beat he’d shown me back in the forge at the palace. I tried to pull my hand away, startled by the thundering rhythm, but Fisher held me there tight.

“Have you got the annoying one?” “I have,” Ren answered tiredly. “Uh, I hope you’re not talking about me,” Carrion said, but Fisher didn’t honor him with a response.

Oh my god haha

“I can’t wait to hear what kind of sounds you make when I thrust into you for the first time,” he purred. “I’m going to make you pant for me, Little Osha. And when we’re done, I’ll close my eyes and replay the sound of you moaning in my head every time I stroke myself to completion.” Gods. Just the thought of him touching himself…

Goddamn

Carrion’s grin faltered. “You are extra fucking miserable today. You should really get laid. Might help improve your mood. Tell him, Sunshine.” I choked. Loudly. Carrion couldn’t have made a more unfortunate suggestion if he’d tried. I thumped my chest, trying to get a breath down, and all the while, Fisher just looked at me. He wore no emotion. No expression at all. The quicksilver swirling in his iris was the only thing suggesting that he might not be as calm inside as he appeared on the outside. His eyes seemed to drink the light as he eventually turned a disdainful glare on Carrion. “Don’t call her Sunshine,” he commanded.

“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.”

“You’re making a weird face,” Carrion whispered loudly. “Are you talking to it?” “Yes, I’m talking to it. What do you think I’m doing?” “I don’t know. You look constipated.”

“Have you got any experience of whittling? Y’know, carving things out of wood?” “As it happens, I have.” “Be more specific with your questioning, Sunshine. He probably whittles every spare moment of his life. He probably wins whittling competitions.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not trying to beat him in a bet, Carrion. I want him to be good at it.”

Lol

“It’s fucking outrageous that he can sing, too.” Carrion had woken up and was stood to my right, arms folded across his chest, balefully regarding Lorreth. “That was nice, though. Messed up, but nice.”

Lol

“I was wrong, y’know. You are a good thief.” “What have I stolen?” But he smiled a small, sad smile, slowly shaking his head.

Stolen his heart :')

“Be unrelenting and unmerciful in the face of the wicked dead,” Fisher said. Ren laid a steadying hand on my shoulder. “And if you should find soul sundered from flesh, order a drink for us at the first tavern you come across in the afterlife. We’ll settle the tab when we get there.”

“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.” Wait a minute. What did—ohfffUCK!

My cheeks were burning, a thousand degrees and climbing, when Fisher quietly came forward and knelt at my feet. His halo of dark hair was all over the place, his skin pale in the flickering torchlight. His eyes were steady, though. They ran me through as he withdrew Nimerelle and closed his fist around her edge. 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.”

“Gods alive, Carrion. Do not tell me you have a thing for Danya. She’s fucking awful.” “Eh.” He shot me a rakish grin. “I love a girl with a sharp tongue and a bad attitude. Kinda makes my dick hard.”

“Y’know, I thought it was weird when he bribed me to take a bath with those boots. I asked one of the sprites who came to bathe me. Y’know, one of the water sprites with the giant…” He mimed cupping a pair of sizable breasts on his own chest. “I asked her why they were trying to flay three layers of my skin off with that weird moss, and they said it was special. They said Fae who liked to bedhop were fond of it ’cause it eradicated the scents of their other partners. I couldn’t think of why Fisher would care if I smelled like those triplets who just started working at Kala’s—” “Gods, you’re incorrigible.” He waggled his eyebrows. “But then I realized that it was you. He didn’t want me smelling like you.” I refrained from commenting. I had suspected that was why Fisher had made Carrion take that bath, but I’d never said it out loud. Not even to give him shit. I didn’t know how it made me feel back then. And I was too much of a coward to admit how it made me feel now.

lol

“I am not weak, Fisher! I’m not like those butterflies, pathetic, hatching and dying in the cold—” “Not you! Me!” He thumped himself in his chest, suddenly furious. “My weakness! My vulnerability! I’ve known for centuries that you were coming. That you were just going to show up one day and change everything. You’re the chink in my armor, Saeris. The soft spot where the knife slides in. You are the thing that Malcolm will hurt in order to hurt me, and I couldn’t… couldn’t fucking bear it!”

“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.”

Oshellith meaning

“I don’t suppose you’d let me come?” Carrion asked. “I’ve always wanted to see a witch in real life.” “No,” Fisher said blandly. “I would not. You’ll only try and fuck one of them, and we’re trying to petition them for help, not spark a war with them because you can’t keep your cock in your pants.” Lorreth pretended to swallow down vomit. “Urgh. He would not try and fuck a witch.” “No, he’s right,” Carrion said with a sigh. “I would. Y’know. Just to say that I’d done it.”

Oh my god carrion

“You’re ready for that?” “Sure. Why not. I’m too pretty to die old, anyway.”

Make me forget that I’ve ever suffered, I commanded. Make me forget that I will again.

God-bound. We were God-bound. Mates. I could feel it now—a bright thread of energy drawing us together as he wrapped himself around me. If I wanted it, all I needed to do was reach out and claim it.

The air quaked with energy. Fisher’s shadows rippled over my skin like water. I breathed it in, welcomed it inside me, feeling it become a part of me. He was a part of me. I sensed that in my bones. If I wanted him to be, he would be the axis around which I revolved. I would be his. Two counterparts, independent of one another. Already whole, but together stronger than we could ever be apart. It was my choice. The backs of my hands tingled as I ran my palms over the smooth, strong planes of his chest, and I knew that the ink was back. Each finger prickled with the power of the runes that emerged upon them. The back of my left hand buzzed with warmth, but the right throbbed with energy as I felt rune after rune stacking on top of my skin there. The God Bindings were last to arrive. Fine strands of fire lashed around my wrist, trailing up my arms. More ink followed. It skated over my stomach and caressed my thighs. Columns of it rose up my back, wrapping around my spine. I felt it everywhere. Was this why he’d thrown us into darkness? Was he hiding the evidence of our connection, so I wouldn’t be intimidated by the strength of it made manifest on my body? The answer to that question was probably yes. He didn’t want to deal with this until Everlayne was safe and well, back at Cahlish, and I understood that. I let the Marks move over me, focusing on the heat of Fisher’s hands and mouth for now. We still had time.

“Nobody will ever fuck you the way I’m about to fuck you, Saeris Fane. I’m about to introduce you to all seven gods. When you meet them, don’t forget to tell them I’m the one you worship on your knees.”

Hell fucking yeah

“I’m in love with you, Saeris Fane,” he whispered quietly into my hair. “And I’m already half-mad, anyway. What’s a little complicated thrown into the mix?” “I—” “Please, for the love of the gods, don’t say anything. Just let me have my fantasy. Just for tonight.”

There are countless realms out there, waiting to be found. Make one of them yours. I’ve never been one to trust in the gods, but I choose to believe that all things come from the same place when life begins. I have hope that they return to the same place when it ends. I’ll be waiting for you there, Saeris Fane. F

My shayla

Ren got to his feet, letting out a long exhale. “I could kiss you, Carrion Swift.” Carrion seemed taken aback by this. And then somewhat interested. After thinking for a second, he said, “I wouldn’t be opposed. But maybe later. First, Saeris has work to do, and I plan on giving her a hand.”

Bi king

Carrion grinned, all teeth and mischief. “I’m coming with you through that portal. I’m gonna help you save your asshole boyfriend. But first, I want one of those fancy swords.”

“I was a smuggler and I’ve still got way better jokes than that.” “You tell it a joke, then!” I held out the crucible containing the quicksilver, and Carrion huffed, peering at the roiling liquid metal. “All right. Fine. A husband turns to his wife one day and says, ‘Y’know, I bet you can’t think of something to tell me that will make me both happy and sad at the same time.’ The wife doesn’t even need to think about it. She turns to her husband and says, ‘Your cock is way bigger than your brother’s.’” The quicksilver, which hadn’t made a peep over my joke, started to chuckle. “What’s it doing?” Carrion asked. “It’s laughing, isn’t it?”

Actually lold

Carrion held the sword, turning it this way and that. After much consideration, he said, “It looks like a Simon.” “Simon?” “Yeah. Simon. Don’t blame me. That’s what it looks—” He stopped talking and listened. “See. It likes the name. It wants to be Simon.”

“Carrion Swift, if you don’t wake up right now, I’m going to tell all of your asshole friends back in the Third that you were a shitty lay.” Lorreth dealt another blow to his solar plexus. “I mean it!” I cried. Carrion jolted like he’d been struck by lightning. He rolled toward Lorreth and vomited up a lungful of lake water, hacking and sputtering. Oh, thank the gods. I fell back, landing heavily on my ass, trading a relieved look with Lorreth. When he was done puking, Carrion flopped onto his back and fixed me with narrowed eyes. “You wouldn’t… fucking… dare.”

Lol

He is the storm. You are the peace that must come after it. Tell me, do you believe in the fates, Alchemist?

“Are you going to tell me about my parents, or are you going to start undressing each other? Because I can leave. I don’t have to, but I can,” Carrion said.

Lol Carrion