Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)

by Callie Hart

“You aren’t the only Alchemist in the universe, of course,” he said. “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.”

🌪️>🦋>>📜⚜️🪢🦋

“You were supposed to have been born Fae, in the same realm as your Kingfisher. So I separated you. Hundreds of years before you were born, I shifted the events around your birth. Moved the pieces on the board and placed you far away, in a realm that should never have come into contact with his. But I watched as the boughs of the universe grew against their nature and aligned in such a way that you would still meet. I foresaw then that no matter how the boughs and branches of this tree were manipulated, you and he would always collide. There was nothing I could do to stop it.”

🌪️>🦋>>📜⚜️🪢🦋

“In nature, there is a counterweight to everything, child. Light has darkness. Life has death. Joy has sorrow. And good has evil. That law applies, no matter which realm you exist in,” he said with a broad stroke of his arm that encompassed the many, many leaves on the tree. “Threads like you and Kingfisher, that are drawn together and cross on an axis create a well of power. The energy the two of you draw together attracts an equal and opposite counterweight. Every possible future where the two of you are together ends with the vast majority of this tree dying. None of us can foresee any other way.” “So…you’re saying that Fisher and I are responsible for the end of the entire universe?” Zareth shook his head. “Not you personally. But the moment where you meet, along with the moment you become mates, is a spark. The flame in the dark that draws the moth. It was incumbent upon me to try and stop that spark from taking place, but as you’ve already learned, the fates themselves would not be guided down that path.”

🌪️>🦋>>📜⚜️🪢🦋

“Does Fisher know any of this?” Zareth snorted. “No. I orchestrated events so that he would be brought here as a young male. His mother had just died, and his disposition wasn’t very polite.” Zareth frowned, as if the memory were troubling even now. “He made an enemy of my family. He was only allowed to live because I demanded it.

🌪️>🦋>>📜⚜️🏛️🌪️

I’d spent a great deal of time studying the various outcomes and paths of this universe once you and Kingfisher met, and while I never found a balance that meant good prevailed, there were pathways that led into…uncertainty.” “Uncertainty?” “Pathways that lead down roads, where both the way and the destination are blocked to even my sight. And in all of these veiled futures, where a chance still exists for life, there is one common factor.” I didn’t want to know. Couldn’t hear it. This was way too much pressure. Zareth knew this, I was sure, but he plowed ahead. “You and Kingfisher fought at each other’s side, and you were God-Bound.” He pointed to the script writing that wrapped around my wrists. “These oaths mark you as my ward. They protect both you and Fisher from the unwanted attentions of my brothers and my sister.” “Protection from them?” “They would rather kill Fisher and roll the dice on what comes next. They would prefer to weather the storm on the horizon and replant our tree once the slate has been wiped clean. I don’t want that to happen. It would break my daughters’ hearts.”

🌪️>🦋>>📜⚜️🪢🦋🏛️🌪️🌞🌙

“For them, I’m willing to take a chance. 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.”

🌪️🤝🏻🦋>>🦋🪢❤️‍🔥⚜️❌🏛️

Zareth narrowed his eyes at me. “Fuck the fates. They don’t get to decide shit for me. I decide what my future is going to be. Did you not just say that mere days ago?” I had said that. And I’d meant it, too. “Yes, but…” “If you truly wish to be the master of your own life, then this is how you accomplish that goal.”

🌪️🤝🏻🦋>>🦋🪢❤️‍🔥⚜️❌🏛️

There were whole centuries where I hated what I'd become, and I wanted to destroy Malcolm. I wanted nothing but to die and be gone from this world so badly.” “What made you decide to stay?” Taladaius gave me a small, very sad smile. “I didn't. I wasn't given a choice. Malcolm wouldn't let me go. I tried to kill myself once, and he forbade me from ever trying again. His word was law.”

🦇>🦋>>📜🦇🧛🏻‍♂️

I punched him in the chest. “Ow! What was that for?” I shoved a finger in his face. “Because you're an asshole. I've known you since I was fifteen!” He shook his head, hands palm up in the air. “And? I've known you since I was a thousand and eighty-six. Do I win a prize?” “You didn't tell me that you were heir to a fucking Fae throne!” “Well, it's hardly something you just tell people, Fane. And anyway, my grandmother made me promise not to.” “Except she wasn't your grandmother, was she!” Carrion pulled a face. “No, not really. She was more of a ward. Or a playmate when she was little. And then a friend. And then I was her ward. I don't know, it always got very complicated as people aged.”

🐲🦋>>🐲📜👵🏼

“So, Fisher's father took you to Zilvaren when you were little to save you from Belikon. He glamored your ears and your canines so you wouldn't stand out. He brought a bag of books along with you, so you could learn about your heritage and return when the time was right. And…some woman saved you?”

🐲🦋>>🐲📜🌇🦞

“Orlena Parry.

🫐

She was a slave in Madra’s palace. But that night, the night she pulled me out of the quicksilver, she fled the palace and escaped. She went to the Third, knowing she could get lost in the crowd there. And that’s where she stayed. She found work as a seamstress and secured somewhere for us to live. She raised me like I was her own son.”

🐲🦋>>🐲📜🫐🏚️

And then you spent the next thousand odd years just...living in Zilvaren?” “That’s pretty much the long and short of it,” Carrion said. “I had the books that Finran brought for me, about the Fae and my people. Orlena got married when I was nine and took the name Swift. She had a daughter not long after. Petra. Petra grew up and had a daughter, too. The books were passed down the female line, and so was I. They kept me out of trouble as best they could and made sure I kept a lookout for signs that the quicksilver had opened again. They thought it was cruel that I was stuck in the Silver City and that I should go home and rule my people.

🐲🦋>>🐲📜🫐🏚️🍐 🍐- Petra Swift

The females of the Swift line have always been very bossy and overly concerned about my love life.” “So you knew what to expect when the quicksilver awakened again?” He laughed. “Nope. Not even a little bit.

🐲🦋>>🫐🍐🪙

Speaking of which. I glared at him even harder. “You slept with me.” He grinned shamelessly. “You're welcome.” “Carrion!” “What? You've been fucking Fisher for the past gods only knows how long!” “Yes, but I knew what he was when I decided to sleep with him. And he was my mate.” Carrion huffed. Folding his arms over his chest, he rolled his eyes and sighed. “All right. I'm sorry I didn't disclose to you that I was a magic-wielding political asylum seeker, posing as a human when I slept with you. Does that make you feel better?” “No.” “Ahh, come on, Fane!” He nudged me with his elbow. “I’m Fae now. You’re Fae now. Kind of. It’s all water under the bridge. You're only grumpy with me because you were worried about me. Go on. Ask me how I survived Malcolm's all-powerful venom. I can tell you're just dying to know.”

“Oh really?” Carrion quirked a dubious eyebrow at me. “And how did Lorreth of the Broken Spire tell it? Let me guess. He said my blood was too rancid to be affected by vampire venom.”

🐲🦋>>🐿️

“No, he said that your father's blood was used to create the blood curse that allowed Malcolm to become a vampire, and that a vampire can't drink from the living members of the bloodline that created them, nor can they enthrall them. He said that drinking from you should have killed Malcolm instantly, but because he had lived for so long, he was too powerful.”

🐿️>🦋>>📜🐲🩸🪾✨>>🧛🏻‍♂️🩸🪄

“He also said that's why Malcolm had Belikon kill your parents. That they were the only thing that posed a threat to him.”

🐿️>🦋>>📜🐲🩸🪾✨>>🧛🏻‍♂️🩸🪄🗽

Fisher stood just inside the door, a stony look on his face as he nodded to Carrion. His expression softened for me. Hey, you, he whispered into my mind.

🥺🫠 ⚜️🥹❤️‍🔥🦋

“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. “Please leave, Carrion,” Fisher said flatly. “I'll come and tell you everything I remember about them later, but for now, I want to be alone with my mate.” He said it with such pride. My mate. Carrion left, grumbling under his breath,

🐲⚜️🦋

He looked up at me from beneath his dark brows and smirked. “Human, Fae, or Vampire. It doesn’t matter how long you live, Saeris, you will always be most sacred to me.”

🥺🫠🥹 ⚜️❤️‍🔥🦋

We were inside Ammontraíeth. “In the Fae courts, the crown is passed down to a regent's heir. But if the regent is murdered, the crown is claimed by the one who slew them. The vampire court has only ever had one king. Malcolm never named an heir. He planned on living forever. He never conceived of the possibility that someone might kill him...” My head was already shaking no. I retreated from the window. “Absolutely not. Fisher, I'm not even a full vampire. I'm half-Fae! I can't!” “Tell them that. As far as the vampire court is concerned, you're to be coronated. In two days' time, you officially become the new queen of Sanasroth.”

⚜️>🦋>>🦋⛏️🧛🏻‍♂️🪦>>🦋👑⛩️🕋