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“Asshole,” I said stiffly by way of greeting. He grinned, and my stomach rolled in a weightless way that made me curse under my breath. “Bitch,” he replied. “Nice to see you. I didn’t think we were… spending time together anymore.”
“Well?” I demanded. “What do you want?” “What do you mean, what do I want? Your company, of course.” I knew a liar when I saw one, and the man sitting opposite me was a seasoned professional. “Spit it out, Carrion. You wouldn’t have bullied me into staying if you weren’t trying to work some kind of angle.” “Can I not just be enamored by your beauty? Can I not just want to sit and listen to the angelic tone of your voice?”
“You were more fun three months ago, you know that? You’re so cruel. I haven’t stopped thinking about you.” “Oh, please. How many women have you slept with since then?” He narrowed his eyes, looking confused. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Good. Oh, and, Saeris?” The guy just didn’t know when to quit. I spun around, scowling at him. “What!” “Even filthy and tired, you’re still beautiful.” “Gods and martyrs,” I whispered. He was relentless.
“My hand! She… she cut off my… hand!” “I’m coming for your fucking head next,” I seethed.
“I didn’t realize I was such a burden,” he whispered. “Well, you are, Hayden. Your entire fucking life, that’s all you’ve been. Now leave me alone. Don’t follow. Do not come looking for me. GO!”
“Saeris, no! Do not touch the sword. Do not… turn the key!” he panted. “Do not open the gate! You—you’ve no idea the hell you will unleash on this place!”
I wheezed out eight words, knowing they’d be my last, enjoying the stupidity of them. “This is the part where… you scream… Captain.” And then I swung with all my might.
My vision was going at last. Blackness crept in, rolling before my eyes like a midnight fog. Only it wasn’t a fog. It was something else. It was… Death. The bastard had come to claim me in person.
Emerging from the silver, the huge figure rose up from the pool as if ascending from the very depths of hell itself. Broad shoulders. Wet, shoulder-length black hair. Tall. Taller than any other man I’d ever seen. His eyes shone an iridescent, shimmering green, the pupil of the right eye rimmed by the same shining metallic silver that ran in ribbons from the black leather armor that covered his chest and arms.
Of course Death was beautiful. How else would anyone choose to go with him without putting up a fight? Even though he scowled at me, his dark brows tugging together to form a dark, unhappy line, he was still the most savagely beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
A moment later, he withdrew his hand, a long silver chain hooked around his index finger. He unfastened it. “If you die before you can give this back, I’m not going to be happy,” he groused. The chain was warm against my skin as he looped it around my neck.
“I’m sorry. But… you’re Fae?” The statement sounded like the punchline to a bad joke, but Everlayne wasn’t laughing. “I am,” she answered, still hiding her mouth. “But… you’re not real.” “I beg to differ,” she fired back. “Myths. Stories. The Fae are folklore. There’s no such thing as the Fae.” “Don’t I seem real to you?” “I suppose so. But… the Fae had wings.” Everlayne snorted. “We haven’t had those for thousands of years.” She
“Why are you calling me that? Oshellith?” I snapped. “What does it mean?” He’d turned around. Was walking away. I listened to his boots striking the cold stone beneath his feet, each step ringing in my ears. “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. Isn’t that right, Renfis?”
“If there’s a Winter Palace, then there are other royal residences, too, yes? An Autumn Palace? Spring? Summer?” Kingfisher drew his sword. “Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Sorry. Gods alive. I didn’t—I’m not—” His nostrils flared as he unfastened the leather strap at his chest and slid the scabbard from his back, re-sheathing the weapon and propping it against the wall.
braced against the workbench and said, “Elroy swears that a man will lie about the size of his cock every time a woman asks him.” Kingfisher stilled. “Are you asking me how big my cock is, Osha?” “I don’t care how big it is. I care about the way you answer.” A slow, terrifying smirk spread across his face. “It’s big enough to make you scream and then some.”
“I have to say, I was expecting that to go differently,” he mused. And then I punched him square in the mouth.
“It’s going to bite you,” Kingfisher said. “No, it won’t. It—” It bit me.
The fox yowled as I spun around a corner and hurled down a flight of stairs, my feet barely touching the glossy marble floor. “Shut up,” I hissed. “Did you want me to leave you back in the forge? You heard him. He wanted to turn you into a hat.”
Oh my gods! Hayden! Fisher had actually done it. He’d brought Hayden back with him! I left Kingfisher as he struggled to sit up. My knees sang with pain as I dropped down next to the unconscious body, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t care. Hayden was alive. He was here. He— Oh. Oh no. I rocked back onto my heels, frowning at the figure lying on the ground. The hope that had soared through me came crashing down around my ears. Was this supposed to be some kind of joke? No. Fisher didn’t have a sense of humor, and this… this wasn’t funny. “It’ll take a while for him to… wake up. Humans are so…”
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COPPER-COLORED HAIR. Annoyingly perfect mouth. Heart-shaped birthmark on his chin. It was definitely Carrion. Kingfisher took one look at him and shrugged. “I tracked your bloodline. It led me right to him. I asked him who he was. He said he was Hayden Fane. Ergo, I brought you Hayden Fane.”
“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.”
“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
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“I had a vested interest in seeing you in that dress.” “Why?” I shoved open the door to the dining room. “Your phenomenal tits, that’s why. They would have looked great in that dress. And your ass. The material was sheer as hell. Wouldn’t have left much to the imagination. Not that I need to use my imagination when it comes to your body, but—” A sinister growl echoed around the dining room. Carrion had enough common sense to stop talking.
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.
I kicked Carrion’s boots, grunting at him to move, when I reached the fire. The suggestive way he grinned at me made me think he could smell what I’d been up to as well, but that wasn’t possible. Our human noses weren’t that sensitive.
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
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“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.”
“They’ll believe you, Little Osha. They’ve all seen me smile plenty.” “Just not recently?” I whispered. “No. Not recently. Smiling has been pretty hard of late.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “It is getting easier, though.”
Bite me, Fisher. It came as a breathless thought. I can’t… Bite me. Do it. I want it! I can’t! BITE ME!
“I name you Avisiéth. The Unsung Song. Redemption’s Dawn.” The moment he finished speaking, a blue flame rippled down the sword’s blade, searing runes into the metal in its wake alongside the script I had etched there. And then a brilliant white light erupted from Avisiéth. Blinding and powerful, it shot straight up into the air—a pillar of energy that transformed night into day. The very ground beneath our feet quaked. Fisher let out a surprising whoop, joy shining from his face as he followed the column of energy upward into the heavens. “Angel’s breath, Brother!” he hollered. “Fucking
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Fisher rested his chin on top of his forearms and sighed. “What?” I whispered. He thought for a moment, appearing to decide whether he’d answer the question. Then he said, “I was wrong, y’know. You are a good thief.” “What have I stolen?”
“Stubborn girl,” he growled. “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.”
“Did you hear that?” he said. “What?” “That smoking hot blonde said I was pretty.” “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.”
“I just love it when you disappear into tense conversations with creepy portal metal,” Carrion quipped, hoisting himself up to sit on the bench. “It’s fascinating watching you do all of those facial gymnastics.”
“All right, fine. Have it your way. At first, I didn’t say it because I fucking hated you,” he said. “Hated what you represented.” My blood was cold as ice in my veins, but I had to hear it. “And what was that?” “Weakness. Vulnerability.” “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
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“All names hold power in this place. Every name means something. We have true names that we don’t share with anyone. Not our friends. Not our families. Our mothers are often the only people who actually know it. And even a mother might use her child’s name to her own advantage in the pursuit of power. This place—it’s fucked, okay. 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
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“She said, when I needed you most, you’d come blazing into my life like a meteorite, riding on a wave of chaos that would turn my whole world upside down. That you’d shine so brilliantly that you’d light up hell itself and guide me out of the darkness. She had no idea what your name would be. Just that you’d have dark hair, and a beautiful smile. And that I’d love you with a fierceness despite myself.”
I wanted nothing more than to walk away without interacting with Fisher at all, but he caught my hand as I passed him, and I didn’t have the energy or the will to pull away. He rested his forehead against my arm, closing his eyes, and a tiny piece of me cracked and broke. I ran my free hand gently through his hair, screaming inside, so fucking angry at him, and at myself, and at the gods, and the whole fucking universe for doing this to us. This wasn’t fair. None of it was.
“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.”
My soul was on fire, and I didn’t care if I burned for all eternity. So long as I was burning with him, then so be it.
“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.”
This may seem dramatic now, but it’ll make sense in time, Saeris. Go through the gate. It’ll take you back to Cahlish. Wait there with the others. I’ll send Layne back as soon as I can. Tell Iseabail to sedate her the second she comes through the gate. She’ll be close to transitioning. There won’t be much time. She’ll want to go back through the gate before I close it, so you’ll have to be ready for that. You have to stop her. This will all be for nothing if she jumps back through. Tell Lorreth to live his life. Tell him not to worry about me. I have endless patience and no interest in having
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I sank to my knees and sobbed. The last time I’d cried like this, my mother had been blowing away on the reckoning wind. I’d vowed I’d never care about anyone enough to experience this kind of pain again. But here I was, shattering.
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.”
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.”
I was too scared to blink. “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.”
Carrion was deathly pale, but he grinned up at Malcolm like a lunatic. “You really should have let me finish introducing myself earlier. It’s rude to interrupt people.” Malcolm let go of him, shoving him away. Miraculously, Carrion managed to stay on his feet. “My name is Carrion Swift. But there was a time when I was known as Carrion Daianthus. Firstborn son to Rurik and Amelia Daianthus.”
“Earth. Air. Fire. Water. Salt. Brimstone. Quicksilver. The full gamut. More power than any Alchemist I’ve ever encountered. You are capable of restoring me to my power and a lot more besides.”
He is the storm. You are the peace that must come after it. Tell me, do you believe in the fates, Alchemist?
