Quicksilver by Callie Hart
- alwayswandering
- Dec 24, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 27
Here is a summary with spoilers of Quicksilver
Saeris Fane faces off against a Guardian in her desert city of Zilvaren, where water is strictly rationed. Despite knowing the punishment for theft is torture and death, she steals the Guardian’s invaluable gold gauntlet (which will let her and her brother live for months). With the gauntlet in hand, Saeris seeks out her brother, Hayden, and finds him with Carrion Swift, a flirtatious criminal with whom she has a complicated history. Saeris entrusts her bag containing the gauntlet to Hayden while she banters with Carrion. When Hayden disappears, Saeris chases after him, fearing he’ll be caught with the stolen item. Her fears prove true as Guardians corner him. To protect her brother, Saeris confesses to the crime and fights back, killing two Guardians before being arrested.
Captain Harron, the arresting officer, takes Saeris to a strange chamber, where an ancient sword is embedded in the ground. Immortal Queen Madra arrives, demanding to know where Saeris learned to fight, suspecting she was trained by the Fae—a race Saeris believed to be mythical. When Saeris offers no useful information, Madra orders her execution and threatens to wipe out Saeris’s entire ward in Zilvaren. Harron stabs Saeris, but in desperation, she instinctively liquefies his dagger using her latent ability to manipulate metal. Seizing the sword, Saeris unknowingly activates the chamber’s quicksilver pool. A figure she assumes to be Death emerges, chains her, and drags her through a portal in the pool.
Saeris awakens in Yvelia, a Fae realm, fully healed. There, she meets Everlayne “Layne” De Barra and Renfis “Ren” Orithian, who have long sought the exiled Kingfisher, or “Fisher.” Their quest ends when Saeris reveals that Fisher was the figure from the quicksilver pool. Belikon, the Fae king and Everlayne’s father, demands Saeris learn to control the quicksilver pool she activated. Though Belikon despises Fisher—his wife’s son from a previous marriage—he grudgingly allows him to assist Saeris.
Saeris struggles to master quicksilver manipulation. Growing frustrated, she distracts Fisher with a kiss and steals his ring, hoping it will help her return home. Fisher catches her but agrees to retrieve Hayden from Zilvaren in exchange for a blood oath. However, he returns with Carrion instead of Hayden. Bound by the terms of the oath, Fisher, Saeris, Carrion, and Ren flee Belikon’s castle and magically travel to Cahlish, Fisher’s home.
In Cahlish, Saeris learns more about Yvelia’s war with Sanasroth, a charred land overrun by vampires. The vampires include mindless Feeders and powerful vampire lords created by Malcolm, their leader. Yvelia has been losing the war for decades. As Saeris trains with quicksilver, she and Fisher grow closer, despite their antagonistic dynamic. Their relationship becomes intimate, and mysterious runes appear on Saeris’s hands, signifying that she and Fisher are fated mates. Their bond allows them to communicate telepathically.
Saeris’s quicksilver mastery grows. She forges a magical sword for Lorreth, one of Fisher’s allies, by striking a bargain with the quicksilver. When Taladaius, a vampire lord, reveals that Malcolm has kidnapped Everlayne and infected her with his venom, Fisher must deliver Saeris to Malcolm at the ruined city of Gillethrye to save Everlayne. Fisher scrambles to find a witch who can cure Everlayne, but Saeris confronts him about their bond. Fisher initially rejects their fate, as the quicksilver in his body is killing him, but after a romantic night, he accepts the bond, causing runes to appear on his skin.
The next morning, Saeris wakes to find Fisher gone. He leaves a note indicating his intent to sacrifice himself to save Everlayne. Furious, Saeris, Lorreth, and Carrion follow him to Gillethrye using a magical gate. There, they find undead Fae trapped in torment and learn the truth: Belikon, Madra, and Malcolm are siblings conspiring to perpetuate the war, allowing Malcolm to amass an unstoppable undead army.
Saeris uses her magic to locate the quicksilver coin hidden in Malcolm’s labyrinth. Meanwhile, Carrion taunts Malcolm into biting him, revealing that his cursed Fae blood is poisonous to vampires. The distraction allows Saeris to retrieve the coin, but Malcolm mortally wounds her in the process. Saeris uses her final moments to kill Malcolm, freeing the trapped souls.
As she dies, Taladaius transforms her into a vampire. Saeris is summoned by Zareth, the God of Chaos and Change, who warns that her bond with Fisher may trigger the end of the world—but there is hope to prevent it.
When Saeris awakens, she is a half-Fae, half-vampire. Fisher has discovered a way to remove the quicksilver from his body, saving himself. For her role in defeating Malcolm, Saeris is to be crowned queen of Sanasroth, setting the stage for her next challenge.
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