Quicksilver by Callie Hart is the first book in the fantasy romance installment Fae and Alchemy series. It follows Saeris Fane, a mortal thief living in the strictly water-rationed desert city of Zilvaren. When Saeris gets in trouble, she is saved by the mysterious fae known as Kingfisher, who takes her to the fae world. After discovering that she is gifted with the powers of alchemy, Saeris finds herself entangled in a war while trying to keep herself from falling for Kingfisher.
Read a full Quicksilver summary and character recap before next book in the series Brimstone comes out.
This post contains spoilers.
Quicksilver
Description
Do not touch the sword. Do not turn the key. Do not open the gate.
In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn’t much a girl wouldn’t do for a glass of water.
Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen’s reservoirs for as long as she can remember.
But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.
When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently re-opens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares… but it turns out they’re real, and Saeris has landed herself in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.
The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist’s magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him . . . or her.
Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he’s the only way Saeris is going to make it home.
Tropes
- Enemies to Lovers
- Fae
- Vampires
- Fated Mates
- Chosen FMC
Summary
Saeris Fane Steals a Gauntlet and Initial World building
Saeris Fane lives in the desert city of Zilvaren where water is rationed. Knowing metal is very expensive, Saeris steals a gauntlet. When caught, she claims she’s from the quarantined Third Ward. The guardian holding her is terrified of the plague, he drops the gauntlet Saeris is attempting to steal, letting her get away. Saeris has the mysterious ability to hear metal. She can hear the quartz humming.
Saeris goes to the Blacksmith’s shop to hide the gauntlet. Her and her brother Hayden are squatting in Elroy, the Blacksmith’s shop. Elroy refuses to hide the gauntlet, knowing Queen Madra would punish them.
Elroy points out that the guards can discover her ability to not only hear but manipulate the metal and urges her to return the gauntlet.
Saeris finds her brother by the tavern beaten after gambling. She enters the bar and confronts Carrion Swift, a man she’s slept with and who is responsible for Hayden’s condition. Carrion accuses Hayden of attempting to stab him and flirts with her. Saeris agrees to have a drink with him if he returns what he took from Hayden.
Carrion has an ulterior motive for wanting to spend time with Saeris, he’s heard about the gauntlet. He tells her to take the gauntlet to the second ward. She agrees but when she leaves the tavern, he is gone.
Saeris looks for Hayden finding him surrounded by guards. She admits to stealing the gauntlet and is taken to Queen Madra. Captain Harron arrives to question her.
Captain Harron takes her deep into the palace to a room that has a platform with a strange lever protruding from it. Queen Madra arrives and accuses Saeris about being sent by Fae. Madra wants to eliminate Third Ward in order to punish Saeris for stealing the gauntlet.
Madra orders Saeris to be tortured, leading Harron to stab her. When he tries to stab her again, magic stops him from striking again. Saeris drags herself to the lever. The lever is actually a sword. Harron shouts her to stop, but Saeris pulls the sword out of the gate.
The ground transforms to liquid metal, to quick silver, and a figure emerges from it. He goes to Saeris with his black sword but halts when he sees Saeris holding the sword. He puts a silver pendant around her neck and tells her not to die. He picks her up and as he carries her, Saeris passes out.
Saeris Arrives at the Yvelian Court
Saeris wakes up in a lavish room with a Fae female named Everlayne (Layne) singing to her. She learns that she’s in the winter palace of Yvelia, in the Fae Realm. A male named Renfis (Ren) arrives and tells them the man who saved her needs the pendant back.
Renfis reveals that the two men need to return to Cahlish before Everlayne’s father, King of the Yvelian fae learns that they’re in the palace. She finds out that she’s they’ve been searching for Kingfisher (Fisher).
Belikon, the King of the Fae, demans Saeris to learn to mutate silver into quicksiver the way she did when she pulled the sword. He despises Fisher, the fae warrior who saved Faeris.
Kingfisher is Belikon’s son from previous marriage and Everlayne’s step brother. Even though Fisher is not allowed to be present in the court, Belikon allows him to train Saeris to learn her role as the alchemist.
Saeris attemps to learn to mutate metals but she’s not successful. She and Kingfisher begin getting close and bantering. Saeris kisses him to distract him so she can steal his ring, hoping it will take her back to the Third Ward.
Fisher notices she stole the ring. Instead of punishing her, he makes a bargain, he will go and get Hayden, Saeris’s brother in exchange for a blood oath. Fisher leaves, but instead of Hayden, he returns with Carrion much to Saeris’s dismay.
Bonded to Kingfisher with blood oath, Saeris is forced to leave the palace. Carrion, Ren, Kingfisher and Saeris flee the castle. They travel to Cahlish, Fisher’s home.
Saeris’s Journey of Learning to be an Alchemist
Saeris continues to experiment with her alchemist abilities. She learns about the conflict in the fae realm. As she learns the depth of the trouble the realm is in, she finds out that Sanasroth is full of Vampires led by Malcolm.
The attraction between Saeris and Fisher grow despite their constant bickering. As they get closer they eventually sleep together. After they spend the night, Saeris gets marks on her hands called runes. Fisher temporarily disappears them, cryptically dodging her questions about the marks.
Saeris finds out from another fae that the runes mean her and Fisher are fated mates. While she has the opportunity to accept and reject the bond, the bond also allows her to communicate with Fisher telepathically.
She begins making progress in her skills in alchemy while considering her feelings for Fisher and trying to resist their growing attraction. She learns that Alchemists are rare and none of the past Alchemists could hear the metals the way she can indicating Saeris is stronger than her predecessors.
While talking to the quicksilver, she attempts to make a bargain with it at Carrion’s suggestion. In exchange for imbuing weapons, the quicksilver asks for a song. She makes a sword imbued with quicksilver for Lorreth, Fisher’s ally in exchange for a song.
Everlayne Gets Kidnapped
Malcolm kidnaps Everlayne and threathens to turn her demanding Fisher to turn over Saeris, the first Alchemist in centuries. Kingfisher, not wanting to turn in his mate, tries to find an alternative way to help Layne.
Saeris confronts him about being mated to him. Fisher reveals that he never wanted her to find out and he is planning on rejecting by the bond. When infected by quicksilver, the individual goes mad. Fisher, after passing the portal the first time ages ago, has been infected by Quicksilver. He is deteriorating increasingly quicky.
The two lovers spend the night once more. After an evening of vulnerability, Fisher accepts the mating bond. Runes similar to Saeris’s skin also appears on his own, sealing the bond.
The next morning, Saeris wakes up alone finding Fisher having left to rescue Everlayne and sacrifice himself. Lorreth, Carrion and Saeris travel through a magical gate to find and rescue Fisher.
They find out where Fisher has been in the hundreds of years he was away. Malcolm, the vampire king has built a labyrinth for his entertainment. There is a hidden coin in the labryinth that can free the hundreds of trapped undead Fae he is torturing. Fisher has spent years trying to find it, but couldn’t.
Quicksilver Ending Explained
After arriving at the labyrinth Saeris finds Malcolm, Belikon and Madre together. The three rulers are siblings. They have been helping Malcolm build an army of undead vampires.
Saeris, Fisher and the others enter the labyrinth.
Malcolm bites Carrion. However Carrion, turns out, is the heir to the first Fae Royal family. His blood was used to make the blood curse that created the vampires. As his blood is toxic, it wounds Malcolm.
The distraction gives Saeris enough time. While they fight their way through, she uses her alchemy skills to find the coin.
Malcolm reveals that Saeris’s tattoos mean she can manipulate all five metals not just Quicksilver. He wounds Saeris mortally but in a moment of distraction, Saeris decapitates Malcolm.
Madre uses one of the portals and returns to the mortal land.
Saeris begins dying as Fisher tries to get to her in the maze. Fisher wants to save Saeris by giving her a piece of his soul just like he did for Lorreth but Saeris refuses.
Taladius one of the vampire lords offers to turn her into a vampire.
Saeris hears a mysterious voice who asks her if she wants to stay in Yvelia which she confirms. When she agrees, the mysterious voice which is actually the quicksilver takes Saeris to the the center of the labyrinth and drags her through a portal.
Saeris wakes up to the twin Corcoran gods Bal and Mithin pondering if she’s alive or dead. They bring her to Zareth, the God of Chaos. Zareth reveals Fisher is meant to be his champion and tells Saeris she has to reestablish the balance.
He shows her the tree of faith which is dying. He tears of a branch telling Saeris each branch is a realm and tearing one off ends billions of lives.
Zareth reveals that he meddled with fate to ensure Saeris and Kingfisher are born in different realms as their meeting will end the universe. He offers Saeris an alternative to destroying them both; he can remove Saeris from the tapestry of the universe. Her only task is to save Fisher and she has to transform into something that never existed before.
Saeris agrees.
Saeris wakes up and vomits. She is transitioning to half fae half vampire.
She finds Carrion and scols him for not telling her he is Fae royalty. He in turn reveals that he’s been alive for over a 1000 years.
They figure out a way to remove the quicksilver from Fisher. It is not for certain but gives them hope.
Saeris becomes the queen of Vampires as the person who killed Malcolm.
That’s everything you need to remember before Brimstone! Honestly I had forgotten most of this before I went through the book again so much has happened. Although I have mixed feelings about this series, I kind of need to know what happens next so I’ll be reading Brimstone as soon as it comes out!
What did you think of Quicksilver? What do you think will happen in Brimstone? Let me know in the comments!
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