Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)

by Callie Hart

“This die was cast centuries ago. We accepted our fate, Alchemist. All of us did.”

“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.”

“Her neck,” he whispered. “Look at her neck.” At the base of Layne’s slender throat shone a thin band of gold. It was a fine thing. Pretty. It looked like it was engraved with some kind of pattern, though I couldn’t make out the details of the design from here.

“She can’t come home now,” Ren whispered in a broken voice. “She’s his.”

“It means she’s enthralled to him,” Fisher said.

“Careful, Renfis. I am Lord of Midnight to you. I won’t be addressed so familiarly by one so low—”

“Why do you think?” Taladaius answered tersely. “He bid me bring her. She’s a trap. He wants to bend you to his will, so he’s taken something precious to you, and he’s broken it. Are you shocked?”

“Yes, it’s true you’re on his wish list. Always, my friend. But he doesn’t just want you this time. You might have been a valuable player in this game before, but a lot’s changed of late. There are far more interesting pieces on the board.”

But fuck Danya. Danya was the worst.

“That seat is reserved for the lady of the house, you stupid girl. Etiquette dictates that only Fisher’s wife is permitted to sit there. It’s a position of high honor meant for a Fae female born into one of the old houses, and you’re just sprawled out there like you own the damn seat. It’s offensive that he even lets a human sit at the same table as him. But this…” She waved at me with her remaining hand. “This is just too much. Like I said. You should move.”

“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.”

“Why not? As you so forcefully reminded me recently, we’re not exes. We only slept together once. I assure you, you’re not going to hurt my feelings.” He leaned against the bench, waiting.

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.”

“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.

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

“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.

“My mother never said anything about a mating bond. They haven’t existed for so long. The thought never even crossed my mind. But when I found you lying in that pool of blood, I felt it, like a band snapping into place. I smelled it on you, too. And I… I was so fucking angry.”

“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.”

“This isn’t just a relic, Saeris. It’s warded with spellwork, too. My mother went to the witches and had it, along with a number of other items, made for me before she died. Things she knew I’d need. But this thing inside me is getting stronger. There isn’t a spell in existence strong enough to keep it at bay forever.

She looked roughly my age, but that meant nothing in Yvelia. She was probably nine hundred years old. Her hair was a fiery red and wavy, her eyes a vivid, bright blue. Freckles dominated her face, even scattered across her forehead. Her clothes were practical—a loose cream shirt with billowing sleeves, a velvet waistcoat in hunter green with gold buttons down the front, and fitted black pants. “Everyone, this is Iseabail.”

“Sure. Why not. I’m too pretty to die old, anyway.”

“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.”

“I’ll be grateful for every second that I can say that I belong to you, Saeris Fane. Eighty years or eighteen hours. It doesn’t matter to me. It’ll still be the highest honor of my life.

We proved centuries ago that we had nothing to do with the curse that afflicted your kind. The Balquhidder Clan was one of the five families charged by your dead King Daianthus with finding a cure for the Fae curse. We were instrumental in breaking it.

“What are they screaming?” Carrion breathed. Lorreth answered in a horrified tone. “Release us.”

“Actually, this is only the first circle of hell, Lorreth of the Broken Spires. But I’d be very happy to introduce you to all five.” The captain of Madra’s guard, Harron, stood inches from Lorreth’s back. His eyes were orbs of scuffed metal, pure quicksilver, gleaming inside the sockets of his gaunt skull.

“The walk would take far too long,” Harron said. “And we don’t want you to miss out on the beginning of the games now, do we?” He jerked his head toward the vortex. “In. Now. If you hurry, there might still be time for you to say goodbye to your friend.”

I wanted to save you from this. I didn’t want you to suffer with me.

There, sitting in the center of the dais, was Malcolm. His fine features and long, silver hair made him instantly recognizable. It was he who had spoken. It could only have been him, because I had met the other figures who sat on either side of him. They knew perfectly well who I was. To the right of the dais sat Belikon. To the left… Madra.

Brother? But… how could Belikon be her brother? Human. Fae. Vampire. The three regents all adopted similar expressions of satisfaction as they took in our confusion.

And now that our Triumvirate is reunited, all three of us are more powerful than we’ve been in an age.”

We’ve been having a wonderful time. Especially lately. The fall of Gillethrye was a sight to behold, wasn’t it, Brother?” “Spectacular,” Belikon agreed. “You were there, weren’t you, Dog? You got to witness the whole thing from start to finish. You had a front-row seat!”

We are the Triumvirate, Dog. Three crowns sharing one source. To kill one of us, you must kill us all, and that is no easy task.”

“You really should have let me finish introducing myself earlier. It’s rude to interrupt people.”

“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 wore that silver plate at his throat every day he was trapped here in this labyrinth. A gift from his mother, I believe. Pure silver imbued with some particularly nasty magic. I couldn’t have torn it off him if I’d tried. Edina always was such a thorn in my side.

I love our Kingfisher the most when his heart is breaking.” Our Kingfisher? Our Kingfisher? This sick piece of shit couldn’t claim any part of my mate. Fisher was mine.

There was no way. But the hair was too short to be Malcolm’s. It was Taladaius, the vampire who had held Everlayne on the bank of the Darn. “It’s okay, Saeris. You’re going to be all right.” Fisher dropped down beside him, his face smeared with soot, ash, and blood.

Malcolm’s silver-haired second huffed in frustration. “When will you learn that being stubborn never serves you? Let me help!”

“I swear to the gods, if she doesn’t make it through this—” Lorreth, fisting Carrion’s shirt, dragging him back.

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

“With that male. Our father’s champion.”

but thus far, no other of our kind has braved the journey to visit our Corcoran.”

“Which one of us do you worship more fervently?” The twin on the right asked. “Bal?” She gestured to herself. “Or Mithin?” She gestured to her counterpart. “We have such competitions over who is most popular.”

Everlayne had barely been able to utter his name without shivering. She’d warned in no uncertain terms that a person should never let this god look upon them. Not even a statue of him. And here he was—the physical embodiment of him, anyway—sitting on a rock, waiting to have a chat with me.

He looked up at me, his hands resting on his knees, and said, “You know who I am?” I bowed my head a little, again looking down at my boots. “Zareth. God of Chaos.”

“Here, we stand at the edge of the universe. The roots you see, growing down into the earth, into the quicksilver, are the anchors of fate.” He tipped his head back, his eyes traveling upward into the boughs of the tree. “The silver leaves above mark all the realms of our domain. My family are the stewards of all you see here. We water the roots of fate. We train the boughs and prune the leaves to prevent rot and decay.

“There is a rot spreading throughout my domain, Saeris,” he said. “Realms that are infected with that rot have to be summarily destroyed to protect the rest of the tree and prevent that rot from spreading. Do you understand?”

“There are millions of you out there. Even in your realm, even in the city you once called your home, there are hundreds of elemental magic wielders who can command the quicksilver. But when I consulted the fates long ago, I was very intrigued when I saw you, Saeris Fane. Not just you. Kingfisher, too. I saw an axis in the flow of things. A burning knot in the tapestry of all that would come to be. When I focused and saw the strength of the bond that connected the two of you together, I admit I attempted to sway the fates.”