Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)

by Callie Hart

Carrion nodded. “That night, before you had dinner with him, actually. You’d already left for the dining room. He showed up with these in his hand and said he’d give them to me on one condition.” “Which was?” Carrion snagged a grape from the tray and popped it into his mouth. “That I take a bath.” “A bath?” “Yes, a bath.” “That’s a weird request.” “I know. Even after being kidnapped, dragged into a different realm, and carted for miles on the back of a horse, I still smelled great. But he was all wound up about not liking the way I smelled, so I figured fuck it. Whatever. A bath for a new pair of boots was a fair trade. And it felt great to soak in all of that hot water. Strange, right? All of that water? I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that there’s just so much…” He prattled on, but the bite of toast I’d just taken had turned claggy, like glue. “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.”