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When I drew on my power and set it free, I didn’t make shadows. I made knives.
Panic merged my scattered thoughts into one urgent command: Run.
Elroy grunted, gruffly clearing his throat. “That, my boy, is a dangerous amount of quicksilver.”
This isn’t something to be afraid of. This is a part of you. A part of yourself that you hadn’t gotten to know yet. You can do this. When you had no one else to lean on, you relied on yourself. When no one rode to the rescue and saved you and Hayden from dying of thirst, you saved yourself. Save yourself now, Saeris. You’ve got this.
You would give up that which is most dear to you? I opened my mouth… and nothing came out. I tried to form the word, but I couldn’t. “No. I can’t,” I said. “I won’t sacrifice him.”
Good, the speaker purred. Good. Wait, good? Had it really just said that? “I don’t… understand…” Every Alchemist must have something they are afraid to lose.
Until recently, this was all just individual pieces of metal. Separate. But when Saeris was taken, the metal turned to liquid. That’s when it fused together and became this.”
I knew the face. I had seen it only once before, but it had stayed with me. The male had barely spoken to me, but I recalled his words all too well. “Do you not bow before a king, creature?”
The smug smile died on Orious’s lips. “Fuck,” he whispered. “Yeah. Fuck.”
“You’ll die… for what you’ve… just done,” he wheezed. “Really?” I was too hot. I felt strange. “’Cause you said I was about to die just now, and…” I swallowed breathlessly. “That didn’t seem to go the way you thought it would.”
“You are the only thing that keeps my moral compass pointing north, Little Osha,”
for my life?” He shook his head. “When you single-handedly took down five guards with those pretty new short swords of yours. That was really…” He trailed off, eyes burning. “Stupid?” “Hot,” he corrected,
My prince of shadows. I had been born into the light, but my salvation had been waiting for me in the dark.
“Every part. I love all of you.” He blew a dark curl out of his eyes. “I’d spend the fortunes of the universe to protect you. I’d drain the seas dry. Fell every tree. I would sacrifice the sun from the fucking sky and surrender the stars, too, if I could. But those things aren’t mine to give. All I have is my life. It isn’t much, but I’d spend it and consider the price small if it meant keeping you safe.”
“The way that you love me. Some would say that is your weakness.” The lines of his face softened. “Some would say that,” he agreed. “But they would be wrong. It’s my strength.”
earlobe. “I said, ‘I’m going to drown myself between your thighs.’ Or something close to that. There’s no word for what I’m trying to say in High Fae. Correshan means lethal bliss. Death by pleasure, perhaps. Old Fae was a far more descriptive language.”
I’m going to make this hurt so good for you, Osha.
asked, curving a dark brow. He hadn’t seen what had happened. I would let him discover his new ink the same way he had let me discover mine.
Carrion squinted at Fisher, hand in the air. “Is it weird, knowing that people’s balls retract up into their bodies whenever you’re around?” He made a cupping motion of something being sucked upward.
“Don’t you concern yourself with Simon,” he said. “I know exactly where my god sword is, thank you very much.”
“So, explain something to me, then. My mate and my friends have written a number of letters to someone here at the Blood Court over the years. Did those letters not reach Ammontraíeth?” Zovena bared her fangs, brow creasing with unnaturally deep furrows. “That male is not a member of this court. He is shunned. The shunned do not receive missives. And the enemies of my home do not get to address their allies here!”
“You will deliver them to the library. Personally.” I spoke slowly, enunciating every single word. “Or I will come and find you. And when I’m done with you, there will be nothing left of you but your fucking teeth. Are we clear?”
“God, I hope so. If it isn’t, then I’ve officially lost my mind. It feels more real than anything else I’ve ever experienced. She’s…” Gods. How in all five hells did you describe Saeris Fane? “Remarkable,” Foley said.
“And the fact that she’s half vampire? That she’s the ruler of this place?” “Means nothing,” I said. “She isn’t a half of anything. She’s all Saeris. I love her.”
“It’s commendable that you’re trying to protect my modesty, Saeris, but Carrion’s right. I have none. I really don’t care if he’s checking out my ass. Unfortunately for you, Swift, my sexuality doesn’t lean in your direction.” “That’s okay. The thing about leaning is that it’s very unstable. The ground could shift, and you find yourself leaning in a completely different direction at any moment. I, myself, have experienced all kinds of leanings.”
“It’s all right. It would have happened by now if it was going to. That kind of thing usually occurs on sight where I’m concerned.”
“Did you hear that?” he asked. “I’m trying not to hear anything right now.” “He called me Daianthus.”
I plucked one out of the air as it drifted past my face, and there, on the paper, were lines and lines of elegant, slanted handwriting. In most cases, the power is too great. The Alchemist will need to surrender…
The pages didn’t listen. They flew through the air and tumbled one over the other, gathering into a ball. Before my eyes, they organized themselves into a single, ordered pile… and then they were a book.
For you, gods blessed. Thank you for loving my boy. —E
I have no regrets. I love you. I am proud of you. Now give her back the book.
“Run, my lady!” he cried. Flames filled my vision as a harrowing, pained scream tore through the night. “Archer! No!” The feeder sank its teeth into Archer’s neck and tore it wide open.
The sprite tried to pull away as we lifted him from the bitter ground; even this close to death, he didn’t want to injure us with his heat. But we were single-minded, and the forge was only fifty feet away. The burns would hurt, the scars would be ugly, but we weren’t going to leave our friend to die out in the snow.
“IT’S CALLED BRIMSTONE. It isn’t like our blood, exactly. It is what keeps a fire sprite alive, though,” Lorreth said.
We can’t use the brimstone. To secure enough of it to eradicate the rot and kill the infected feeders, every fire sprite in Yvelia would have to die. Yes. So we’re still fucked. Yes. Gods, I need a drink.
“A graven lives there.” She looked to me, eyes wide. “What’s a graven?” “Mm. A kind of…” I considered how to describe it. “Half satyr, half troll? With a little bit of basilisk thrown in for good measure.”
I laughed softly. “No, Osha. My father was young and foolish at the time, and didn’t know any better, but there’s no such thing as love potions. A person cannot be coerced into truly loving another. It would rob them of their free will. My mother loved my father because of who he was. It turned out his charm was enough in the end.”
“No. Archer did. Nearly all the stories I know of my father have come from him. Come on. It’s growing early. There’s something I want to show you, Little Osha.”
“You’re a wildfire, Saeris Fane. There’s no controlling you.”
“And what if there comes a day when all of this becomes too much, and I want to be carried? At least for a little while?” “Then it would be my honor and a privilege to do so, Saeris. Never doubt that. Whenever you need me to catch you, I am here, ready and willing. I’ll face the Blood Court for you, if you want me to. I’ll face Belikon, and Madra, and anyone or anything that wishes to do you harm.”
“Oh.” The fire sprite relaxed. “That’s all right, Master Fisher. Fire sprites don’t need recovery time after we’re injured. We’re either alive or we’re dead.”
“I am one inch taller than I used to be.” “Oh. Uh… congratulations? Well done,” I told him.
They poured their canteens out in the street. They gave their bread to the crows. They cursed you as they did it.” That fucking bitch.
My head snapped up, something troubling suddenly clicking into place in my head. Elroy believes you’re innocent. That’s what Hayden had said. Elroy believes and not we know.
I don’t know anything, Saeris, and that’s because of you. And we always did seem to have more water and more food than everyone el—” He didn’t finish that thought. He couldn’t, with my fist slamming into his jaw.
“Fuck you, Hayden. More food?” I shoved him again. “More water?” Again. Harder. Tears blurred my vision. I stabbed my finger in his face, trying to speak, but only a sound of pure fury came out of me. I had to start again. “If we had anything, if you didn’t starve and die in the fucking sand, it was because I bled to keep you alive. I had to crawl on my stomach through sewer lines to reach the royal reserves. Once a week, I had to do that for you. Do you have any idea how disgusting that was? And did you ever hear me complain?” I shoved him hard enough that he fell down this time, but just
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But I see now that I’ve done you a disservice. You have this… this fucking illusion that life should be easy, that it owes you something, and that’s on me.”
The Alchemists hadn’t just channeled quicksilver. In some cases, they had become so intertwined with it that they merged with it altogether to become silver-eyed heralds of the gods.
“We’re all in danger, Osha. But yes, I think Ren might be in some kind of hot water. And I have no idea how to find him so we can get him out of it.”
knowing smile teasing the corners of her mouth. “And what’s that I smell?” she asked, in a playfully innocent tone. “The same scent I used to catch rolling off you every second we were alone together in the Winter Palace,” I rumbled.
