All the spoilers ahead! After sitting with Saeris as she questioned Taladius about everything she thinks to ask about the Blood Court, Fisher walks into the castle looking for the vampire he felt waiting for him. When he finds the vampire, Fisher kills him. It’s what the vampire wanted but was unable to do for himself. Fisher has done this several times already. Soon, Carrion comes to find him and tells Fisher to look out the window. They see Onyx the fox running toward the castle with a horde of feeders chasing him. They run to find Fisher’s horse, Bill, and Fisher yells for Carrion to go back to his room where he will be safe from the vampires getting ready to wake as dusk falls, but Carrion insists on helping save Onyx. They barely make it to the fox before the feeders do, but they are just able to save him, return to the castle, leave Bill safely with Lorreth, and get to Saeris’ room with Onyx (killing any waking vampires looking for a meal on their way). Onyx was left in Cahill and has traveled across a barren, dead land and a dangerous mountain to reach Saeris. And he’s injured. Fisher takes the little fox to the balcony where he heals Onyx as best as he can. Shadows are Fisher’s birthright and though he may exhaust himself, the magic will eventually regenerate. But healing was a small magic he could use. But once used, that magic would not return. He didn’t have much of the small magic and he uses it all on Onyx. He would do anything to make Saeris happy. Saeris only has a few days to claim her title as Queen of Sanasroth. She has learned a lot about vampire politics over the last few days, and they are very strict with their rules. Rules are the only things keeping this place civil in any capacity. There are five lords that rule beneath the king or queen, called Lords of Midnight, of which Taladius is one. Even the Lords of Midnight will have to accept Saeris if she claims her throne in the allotted amount of time and they will have to obey her, for a while at least. And that day has finally come. Saeris dresses and arrives at the Hall of Tears, where the Lords and the court wait for her. The Lords consist of two males, two females, and one that is a tall, long-lived creature with eyes of pure black. One of the females declares that Malcolm could not possibly have been felled by Saeris. Saeris announces that Malcolm died from his own hubris and the god sword that she wields. But rest assured, she is their queen. The female Lord begins a diatribe about how Saeris should not be their queen because she’s a fresh, young vampire, and not really a vampire at all. Her heart still beats, although Saeris can make her heart stop beating if she wants to, and she’s not fed at all. They let the Lord prattle while Fisher speaks to Saeris’ mind, giving names to each of the Lords. Taladaius, Keeper of Secrets, who was a favorite of Malcolm and so is disliked by the other Lords; Zovena is talking now, a pretty blonde who used to be Lissian like Tal (Tal loved her once and Fisher believes that she once loved him too, but that was a very long time ago) who is now Keeper of Missives; the other male, Ereth, a religious zealot who worships a demon god and would like to see all living things hunted for sport by the vampires and who is Keeper of the Evenlight (which the vampires use as lights since the sun is intolerable); Hazrax, is not a vampire but the last creature of its kind who once approached Malcolm to become a member of his court because it wanted “to watch” and who is Keeper of Silence; and the oldest looking of them all but the youngest vampire, Algat, who was once a witch and who Fisher has met before. He tells Saeris that Algat was evil to her core before turning. She is Keeper of Records. Algat looks at Saeris and Saeris is swept away by memories both good and bad until she is snapped back into the moment by Carrion. Neither he nor Fisher noticed what happened. Saeris interrupts Zovena and loudly says that she thought this was a coronation, let’s get on with it, but the other vampires demand that she feed. Tal announces that there is no rule that she must do so, but Fisher just gives her his wrist and tells her to do it. After a moment Saeris feeds from him and right afterward, someone lays a diadem on her head as the crowd cheers. Fisher watches as Ereth crowns Saeris. He suspects Ereth had a secret motive for encouraging Saeris to feed before being crowned and specifically suggesting she use Fisher. He’s right. Ereth pulls a dagger out and tries to kill Saeris with it, assuming both she and Fisher would be slow to react after the feeding since it causes an inebriated feeling. Fisher tackles Ereth and then uses Nimerelle to cut him in half, slowly killing him. Then Tal uses magic to stop Ereth’s followers from attacking in retribution. Even before being turned, Tal was powerful and could command all liquids except the quicksilver. Now he is even more powerful, and he boils the blood of Ereth’s followers in their veins. Saeris commands everyone to stop. The vampires have no choice but to follow a command. She makes her first declarations as queen. No one is to hurt, hinder, or kill her, her mate, or her friends. In addition, no feeders enthralled to someone in the court may be used for war, malice, or mayhem. And they will genuflect when they greet her. They must obey her commands and cannot hurt Fisher, but there will be a riot if he doesn’t absent himself quickly after killing a Lord of Midnight, so Fisher returns to the war camp where he sees Ren and Lorreth. Lorreth has been searching for one of their old friends while in Ammontraieth (the city that houses the Blood Court). His name is Foley. He was one of Fisher’s wolves who fell in battle and was fed on by feeders. His friends believed him dead, but when they looked for his body, they found him crying in a cave. Tal had been at the battle and when he found Foley close to death fed Foley his blood as well as draining Foley, to give Foley the chance to choose to become a vampire. Foley had fed before realizing that would mean accepting life as a vampire and he soon disappeared, they heard that he had found refuge in Ammontraieth but have never been able to find him to know for certain. His father was an alchemist, and Foley knows more than anyone else about the art. He could teach Saeris all she needs to know for them to destroy Ammontraieth, depose Belikon, and put Carrion on the throne. But Lorreth has had no luck locating Foley. Ren, for one, is worried that Foley may no longer be the person they once knew but Fisher disagrees. Soon, Danya finds them and tells them to come to the river, something weird is happening. They find eight feeders on the other bank of the river, moving in complete synchronicity. They watch as the feeders begin to cross the river. At the halfway point, as the feeders cross the border from Sanasroth, Ren hits them with his magic… and they absorb it. Fisher tries and they do the same with his power. He feels his magic, that little piece, now taken from him. They fight the feeders with their blades and Fisher stabs one with Nimerelle. The sword screams and something covers the blade in black. He decides not to use it and uses his daggers. They are both iron and silver, but they have no magic in them. The feeders should shy from the iron since they used to be Fae and iron hurts the Fae, and the silver kills the vampires and their spawn. But these feeders do not care. They are not afraid. Nothing stops them. Not even when they set one feeder on fire, as it immolates it continues killing until they cut off its head. As they cut off the burning feeders head, Fisher and Danya are burned and they’re taken to Te Lena. Te Lena attends Danya first and uses all her magic to heal Danya as best as she can, the burns would have killed her, and she’s lost all of her battle braids. Te Lena must wait to regenerate her power before helping Fisher. In the meantime, Ren and Lorreth come in and say that the other feeders have been contained. Their heads were cut off and placed in a sack, their bodies tied to a tree, all of which is still alive and trying to get free. Once Fisher is healed, he goes to see for himself. Who could have done this, even Malcolm could not get his feeders to move in unison like these did. Ren believes it is Tal, he doesn’t not trust the vampire like Fisher. He doesn’t believe Tal hasn’t created any feeders just because Tal makes that claim. He enumerates the ways in which Tal has hurt them: he turned Foley, he abandoned Fisher while he was imprisoned in the maze, he had Layne on a leash just a few days ago. When Fisher tells Ren that Tal was commanded to do those things and had no choice, Ren says that Fisher always makes excuses for Tal. He abandoned them all years ago, choosing to follow Malcolm. Fisher explains that Ren doesn’t understand because he’s never been cursed. He’s never been so in love that he would do anything at all to protect them. And he hopes Ren never has to understand those things. Fisher and Lorreth take the sack of animated heads back to Saeris. Carrion and Tal also take a look inside. Tal doesn’t understand why the heads are still moving, they shouldn’t be. Fisher and Saeris discuss (privately) that she will stay with him in Cahill tonight for safety reasons and that she’d like to continue sword training. He recommends she train with Lorreth since he won’t be able to fight her without pulling his punches, but he will drill with her still. Once they join the conversation, Carrion has made a pretty substantial discovery. One of the heads has a tattoo behind its ear the same as Saeris. A sterilization mark. And each head has rounded ears. These are not Fae; these feeders are from Zilvaren. Fisher suspects that Madra has been sending people here. Suddenly, Saeris can hear a quicksilver pool at Ammontraieth. Fisher tells Saeris the newly discovered (by them) pool is super convenient since he can’t use magic or create shadow gates on this side of the border and riding back and forth takes time and is dangerous. So Saeris makes a relic for each of them and then she, Fisher, Lorreth, Carrion, and Onyx head to Cahlish for the moment. They’re greeted by a dinner party. Carrion goes to bathe and have some extracurriculars first, but Saeris sees Ren, Te Lena and her mate Maynir, Iseabail, and Danya. She’s greeted warmly by everyone but Danya, she and the fae warrior do not understand each other. Danya asks about Carrion and is told he will join them soon. Saeris asks Iseabail why Lorreth hates her, Iseabail says Lorreth will have to tell Saeris the story. Te Lena offers to take Saeris to see Layne in the morning, she has not awoken though Te Lena and Iseabail managed to remove the vampire venom. Soon Carrion joins them and Danya flirts with him shamelessly and marriage is brought up. Archer the sprite is delighted, he really wants to plan a wedding, but Fisher says that he and Saeris don’t need a wedding. They’re god-bound. Saeris agrees but doesn’t miss the relief or the touch of sadness on Fisher’s face. Fisher and Saeris leave dinner and head to Fisher’s room but before they go in, he stops Saeris. He explains that he does want to marry her, he would love to marry her. But there cannot be a wedding. A fae wedding involves the two participants sharing their true names with each other. But Fisher does not know his true name. His mother died before she told him, which usually happens when someone turns fourteen, and his father was already gone by then. It’s something that no one else knows about him. Saeris assures him that a wedding is not needed. They go inside and Saeris uses her powers to mute the room so no one can hear what happens inside it. She can feel her new power, but she’s scared to use it, she did this almost subconsciously. Then they make their own vows to each other. The next morning when Fisher wakes, Saeris is already gone. He doesn’t take it personally, he knows she hasn’t slept since she was changed even though vampires do sleep during the day. He doesn’t track her down, instead finding Ren, who tells him that he saw Saeris going to visit Layne. He and Ren head toward Irrin the war camp and Ren teases Fisher for being in love. They talk about why Ren hates Tal. Tal was supposed to become a wolf but instead, Tal joined Malcolm. Fisher understands that Tal regrets his mistake, but Ren cannot get past the betrayal. When they get to Irrin, they see a wasteland. The camp has been completely destroyed and it is utterly empty, yet there are not enough dead bodies to account for the missing people. The tree where they left the bodies of the fallen who would not die has changed. It appears that the bodies of the fallen have almost fused with the tree and someone had tried to cut it out of the ground. Where the roots are cut, the tree looks like it is bleeding and it contaminates the ground. Saeris visits Layne, who remains unconscious and fighting what remains of the vampire venom in her body. Saeris apologizes for leaving her without saying goodbye, although she did not have a choice. She hears something, quicksilver urging her to open the gate and she notices that Layne’s earrings are quicksilver. When Saeris touches one, it melts down and drops on Layne’s shoulder. Layne looks at Saeris and speaks but Saeris knows it is not Layne who is talking. The woman introduces herself as Edina, which sounds familiar, but Saeris can’t place it. Edina tells Saeris that the rot is growing and she must stop it. Find a book in the library with a butterfly on the cover, hidden by hundreds and hundreds of stars, but she must not tell him. That is very important. But once this is all done, Saeris should tell him how much Edina loved him. She loved him so much and she would do it all again. Edina explains she is not holding Layne back from awakening, she can’t see Layne right now since Layne is in shadow. She’s not sure if Layne is strong enough to make it through. Edina touches Saeris’ arm as she begins to fade and is stunned that Saeris’ runes have not been sealed. An alchemist’s runes must be sealed or else… she doesn’t get the chance to continue before disappearing. Saeris tries to call her back, shouting her name, but is interrupted by Fisher who wants to know why Saeris is calling out his mom’s name. Saeris explains what happened, leaving out the part about the book like Edina asked her to. Soon, they tell their friends, but no one knows anything about sealing an alchemist’s runes. Saeris and Fisher decide it’s time to tell everyone what really happened when Saeris nearly died. They’d given them an abridged version before, this time they explain that Saeris spoke to the gods and how most of the gods want to destroy their world so the rot doesn’t infect other worlds, but Zareth has hidden them from the view of the other gods and cut them off from any other worlds to see if they can’t stop the rot. Speaking of the rot, Ren and Lorreth did find the rest of the army that had fled the rotting tree at Irrin, but they report that as the rot spread, others started to become affected by it, even if they hadn’t been near the tree or come into contact with the feeders. Those people also had to be killed, and the rot continued where their bodies fell. Although Saeris has made it so that the feeders cannot cross into the Fae lands, it seems that these feeders are not beholden to her. They will need to find a lot more silver if that’s the case, because they may need to evacuate a lot of people to save them from the rot and the infected feeders. Where better to find silver when Belikon has hoarded everything in Yvelia than in Zilvaren? Carrion and Fisher will travel to Zilvaren and get as much silver as they can, and hopefully bring Saeris’ brother back with them, while Saeris searches Ammontraieth for a forge. While they’re talking, they realize that Saeris turned twenty-five without even noticing, that Carrion is substantially younger than he should be (Fisher suspects that the gods tampered with time somehow when Carrion was taken to Zilvaren), and that Saeris is not the only person who has met the gods. More than a thousand years ago when Fisher nearly died at the Battle of Ajun Gate, he was brought to the gods realm. He spoke with Bal and Mithin, and he saw Zareth on a hill in the distance… with Saeris. He couldn’t see her clearly, but his soul recognized her. This is part of why he thinks the gods can mess with time since Saeris . After talking over the particulars, the group separates. Fisher and Carrion head to Zilvaren, Iseabail returns to the witches to ask what they know about sealing runes, Te Lena and Maynir work on healing the wounded that fled Irrin, Ren goes to warn others of the rot, Danya works with the warriors from the war camp keeping the infected away, and Saeris and Lorreth return to Ammontraieth to find the forge and train Saeris with her sword. They will converge again in three days and reopen the gate for Fisher and Carrion to return. Both she and Lorreth feel like they aren’t doing enough and suddenly Saeris realizes that Lorreth was left here to protect her. They decide to go to get some wine together and Lorreth will tell her more about the Ajun Gate, they head to the city surrounding the palace. Saeris finds out that Ren had a twin sister that died at the Ajun Gate who now has a sliver of her spirit bound to Fisher’s sword. Her name was Merelle. They go to a tavern called Fool’s Paradise where the bartender refuses to serve Lorreth until he pays a millennia old debt - which Lorreth refuses to do. Eventually, two high blood vampires come over and Lorreth rips the hand off of one and shoves it down the vampire’s throat, Tal comes over and pays reparations to the vampire now missing a hand, wipes out Lorreth’s debt (Tal bought this tavern fifty years ago), and generally gets very frustrated with Lorreth until Tal finally leads Saeris away to talk to her alone. Saeris is poking around Tal’s desk in his office when her runes start to burn and it’s excruciating. She tries to hide it from Tal but he’s her maker and he can tell she’s in pain. She shows him her runes, which are peeling and burning into her skin, and tells him everything she told the others. Tal believes that Edina speaking to Saeris is very concerning. Her spirit must have stayed here out of sheer will, she’s not bound to anything, and a shade would not be able to interact with someone. That must have been terrible for Edina. Meanwhile, Saeris’ runes no longer hurt and her skin is healing. Tal thinks this indicates that Saeris has some elemental magic (the burning) and healing magic as well, if Saeris could figure out how to use it. But this is not what he wanted to talk about. He doesn’t regret turning Saeris, but he never intended to turn anyone - and she’s only one of two. He feels a deep responsibility to her, but he doesn’t want to have any power over her as Fisher’s mate, and he doesn’t want the rumor of her being a puppet of his to continue. So, he asks if she would be offended if he disavowed her publicly. She would not and would prefer it but asks that he continue to be her second in command like he was to Malcolm. He agrees and decides to arrange for the disavowal - it will need to be a spectacle. Fisher and Carrion arrive in Zilvaren and have to fight their way out of unit of guards as soon as they emerge from the quicksilver pool. Or rather, Fisher fights their way out while leading Carrion, who has his eyes shut. They run from the palace and Fisher glamours them (only one person outside the palace saw their Fae forms). Fisher think they’re going to break into Madra’s vault to get the silver, but Carrion believes that will be almost impossible and he has a better idea. They go to the third ward through the tunnels under the city while Carrion explains. They can’t get to Hayden until the morning, but Carrion happens to have a vault in the city that has a ton of silver in it. He and someone named Eric own it together, you need both of their keys to get in. Problem is, Carrion has been gone so long that Eric probably used a vault breaker to get in and move the loot. But Carrion thinks he knows which vault breaker would have been hired, and he goes to the same tavern every night. They wait at the tavern until the vault breaker arrives and they can find out from him where the goods were moved to, then Carrion can take the silver and leave everything else for Eric. He makes it clear to Fisher that although he’s not super useful in Yvelia, he wants to be, and this is something he can help with. When the vault breaker arrives, he immediately tries to run from them. Fisher doesn’t really want to chase after the man, Vorath Shah, but he does because it was only after Shah saw Fisher that he took off running. Saeris and Lorreth get some bad news about how quickly the rot is spreading and infecting others. It’s really fast. Tal takes Saeris to the library in Ammontraieth to try to find answers about alchemy. When they arrive, Saeris finds out that Algat is in charge of the library with her very large shadow cat Guru. Tal leaves Saeris at the library and Algat makes a deal with her, for five drops of blood Saeris can read an entire book. Algat mixes the blood with milk and lets Guru drink it. Saeris gives him two extra drops, just because. While Algat pulls the book for Saeris (Belikon never came to this library so the books on alchemy have not been purged), Saeris learns that Algat can read minds. She binds Algat, commanding her to never read her mind or the minds of her friends or mate, which irritates Algat. While Saeris waits for Algat to come back with the book, a vampire male comes out of the shadows and attacks her. She stabs him with a silver tipped dagger - which won’t kill him but will be super unpleasant as she questions him. She wants to know who he is, but before he answers, Saeris accidentally blows a giant hole in the side of the library with her magic. That’s probably not going to endear her to Algat. Carrion and Fisher catch Shah near his shop (vault breaking is only a side hustle) and he agrees to take them to Eric’s new hiding place after some gentle persuasion. He keeps flicking glances at Fisher, but Fisher can’t figure out why. Fisher is glamoured – Shah should have no idea who he is. Shah leads them to the bell tower in the third ward, which everyone thinks is solid inside, but actually has rooms inside. Eric somehow found that out and has a special kind of lock that will open the door. Spoiler alert, the lock is a magnet. Carrion quickly makes his way inside. They make their way with lanterns of what looks like concentrated evenlight that Shah someone got his hands on. Fisher had noticed several things in his shop he should not have had access to. They pass a Fae corpse, and Fisher tries to stop Carrion. Something is very wrong. Shah grabs Carrion and throws him into another room, where Carrion falls to the ground and he life his hands off the floor. Fisher realizes that this is a demon trap. Over time the magic has deteriorated, and the demon now uses it as a spider web of sorts, with Shah’s help. Not good. Even worse, the demon is Joshin: a big scorpion. Saeris ties the vampire up using a silver belt given to her by Fisher, then gags him using a pair of Algat’s velvet gloves. When Algat sees the hole in the wall, she’s irate but mostly out of worry for Guru, who has escaped. That is, of course, before she sees the gloves in the vampire’s mouth. Saeris ungags the vampire to question him, but she’s not fast enough. He demands to know what she’s done with Fisher, he assumes that Saeris has killed him. He appears to be very out of the loop, so she reveals that she is mated to Fisher and that she is only half-vampire, but half-Fae as well. This stuns the vampire. What Saeris wants to know is how this vampire was able to sidestep her edict. Lorreth comes in and explains. He doesn’t have to follow her rules because he’s never sworn fealty to this court. Because a wolf never becomes a leech. They’ve finally found Foley. Carrion and Fisher can hear the sounds of hundreds of tiny scorpions coming towards them. Their stings each feel like a zap of lightning, it’s not long before Carrion is screaming. Fisher thinks. He can run but it would be leaving Carrion behind to die. Or he could enter the room fully, entering the demon trap, and try to kill the thing. Most Fae don’t know about the old demons, but his mother always told him stories about them. According to legend, Joshin cannot see (like most of the other old demons), but unlike Mithril, he doesn’t have heightened spatial awareness. And he can’t tolerate the light. Fisher steps into the demon trap and over to the wall. Shah taunts him and Fisher realizes that the man is mad. Fisher tries to break open the wall with his magic, but every hit reverberates strangely and does no damage. The venom from the scorpions will start working soon, hallucinations will come first. Fisher breaks his hand on the wall. Carrion points out that the scorpions are retreating but Fisher explains that they aren’t leaving, they are forming one big creature. Hallucinations start and Fisher sees his mother - she is nasty. This snaps him to his senses and out of the hallucination. He can still see her but he knows she’s not real, she was never mean like that. He realizes that the room is warded and he paints a breaking rune in his blood, breaking the ward and allowing him to punch a large hole in the wall. Joshin melts where he is touched by the light. With the ward broken, Carrion can move again and he kills Shah when Shah tries to take him hostage, then approaches Joshin to finish him off. But Fisher stops him. They need to make antivenom or else, even if they kill the demon, they will be plagued with the venom for life. Every time they sleep, they will face terrible nightmares. But the venom to create the antidote must be freely given. Fisher and Joshin make a deal. Fisher and Carrion will not kill Joshin, nor will they entrap him in another demon trap. In exchange, he will not kill them and will willingly give them venom for an antidote, and he will give them a secret - a good one. After a moment to consider it, Fisher agrees and the deal is made in blood. Joshin sends forward one scorpion to give the venom, and Fisher places the scorpion in a box. Joshin tells Fisher that to kill a queen he will have to face the darkest place of all and the deal he will need to make there in order to survive will be much more costly than this one. The beast within will eat him whole and is not easy to trick. Fisher lights Joshin on fire, killing *most* of him. While the scorpion in the box is alive, technically so is Joshin and Fisher has not reneged on the deal. It will take Joshin lifetimes to regenerate. Now they need to make the antivenom. Once she realizes that no one is going to die, Algat decides to leave the library. She gives Saeris a book and lays down some rules. She can come to the library when Algat isn’t there, consisting of an hour before sunrise and an hour after dusk. And don’t remove the books from the library. Afterward, Saeris and Foley chat. It isn’t an easy conversation, but eventually Foley gets the idea that Saeris and Fisher are mated. She learns that Foley was turned, and he came to Ammontraieth because it was where he could do the least amount of damage. He is tolerated by the other vampires because he was also made by Tal, and because he spends most of his time in the library. He can tell that Saeris has not been sleeping and explains that neither did he at first, but she needs to find a way. Her magic will be erratic if she does not. He recommends that she try going into a trance and tricking her body, that’s what worked for him. Foley learns that Saeris is an alchemist, as was his grandfather. He remembers a lot from his grandfather, but he’s also learned a lot from the books in the library, he knows them like the back of his hand at this point. He agrees to help Saeris but only after she rests. Saeris takes her book and leaves, Algat is not the boss of her. Carrion and Fisher stumble back to Shah’s shop, which is packed full. Fisher is sure they can find what they need there to make an antivenom and he knows how if he has the tools. All warriors in Yvelia know. They learn before they pick up a sword. He and Carrion both vomit several times on the way to the shop as the venom sets in, and the hallucinations start again when they arrive. Fisher isn’t the only person seeing dead people, Carrion is being haunted as well. Soon, Fisher’s mom is joined by Merelle who blames Fisher for her death. He knows that is not true though. She chose to bind her spirit to his sword so she could continue to be with his wolves, the people she loved. It doesn’t take long for him to create the antivenom and he splits it with Carrion. They spend an hour seizing and in pain as they purge the venom. Afterward, Carrion takes Fisher back to his home for some rest. They break in and have a glass of whiskey. Fisher asks Carrion if he loves Saeris and Carrion quickly says no before changing it to a yes. Carrion explains that he once loved a human and he still grieves her, one was enough for him. But Saeris was not broken by Zilvaren or the third ward, or the hardship she lived through every day. Not only that, she helped buoy those around her. It’s inspiring. Carrion wanted to love her, he tried to love her, but he couldn’t. So yes, he loves Saeris, but he is not in love with her. It seems like he and Fisher really turned a corner here. Saeris goes to her room and tries to “sleep”. It takes a while, but she does manage it. In her dream state she sees Fisher, and they soon realize that they’re sharing the dream. They can talk, touch, etc. They make good use of their time and then tell each other what has happened in the last two days. Fisher explains that Foley has gold canines because his teeth were removed when he refused to swear allegiance to Sanasroth. Without them, a vampire cannot feed and will starve until they go mad. But Malcolm allowed Tal to keep Foley like a pet, and he was not cast out or executed. Fisher also explains why Ren does not like Tal. Everlayne loved Tal, they were even betrothed. But before they were wed, Tal left the Winter Palace and went willingly to Sanasroth - all because he was in love with Zovena. Fisher wakes up in Zilvaren healed and with a new tattoo, both things that happened in his dream with Saeris. Carrion wakes up with pox from all his extracurricular activities. Not as fun. They are going to find Hayden today, so Carrion tells Fisher to use the bedroom to change his clothes. When he goes in, Fisher sees tons of drawings. Carrion’s mom Amelia, his father Rurik, of Yvelia, of the Winter Palace. He encourages Carrion to keep that hunger, to bring his drawings home with him. Saeris trains with Lorreth then heads to the library. She and Foley still don’t get along, Foley cannot get over the fact that he is a vampire or that his friends no longer care about him. But that’s not true. Lorreth storms in and insists that they all wrote to Foley and asked him to come back, that would find a way to make his existence work in Yvelia, but Foley never received a single letter. Foley tells Saeris to be wary of the stargazer birds that fly around the library, little origami birds, not because they’re bad but because they can be used for nefarious purposes. Like, if a witch wanted a strand of your hair, the bird would retrieve it for them without a second thought since the birds have no sense of right or wrong. He also tells her that Tal denounced him as well. He shows Saeris a book about alchemy and how to control the magic - she realizes that she has no real mastery of it. She’s been forcing her magic into acquiescence instead of working with it. He gives her a book used by inexperienced people on their way to becoming an alchemist. She will need to start at the beginning. As she leaves, a stargazer nips the back of her neck and draws blood. When she turns to leave, it cuts her cheek in the hurry to get in front of her. It seems like it wants to show her something, but it goes too far as it tries to stop Saeris and flies through the library door. As soon as it does, the stargazer falls dead to the ground. Fisher and Carrion find Hayden, who immediately attacks Fisher. It appears that Madra has released fliers saying that Fisher attacked a bunch of prisoners who were being pardoned and magically killed them, Saeris included. Madra is offering a reward for Fisher’s capture. Carrion has to explain that Saeris is very much not dead and they want to take Hayden to her. Hayden agrees to that, but they have to do something first. The woman who cared for Carrion and acted as his grandmother has died; they go to her funeral. Afterward, they go toward the palace as quickly as possible. They see more fliers, these ones with Carrion’s face too. When they see guardians, they are pursued and lead the guards to the square where Fisher can quietly dispatch them. But in the square, Fisher sees guardians rounding up teenaged girls to sterilize them and he decides he’d like to make a scene. He kills fifty guardians with his magic before Carrion pulls him back - there are no more guardians for the moment. Hayden has a place where they can hide, so the others follow him and the quicksilver in Fisher celebrates. It has been relatively quiet lately, but it wants him to go somewhere specific, and he’s headed in the right direction. He doesn’t understand what he’s feeling, his magic is full and he feels powerful though here in Zilvaren it should be the opposite. In fact, when he used his shadows when they first arrived, he had been nearly drained. But now his magic is bursting in him. Saeris heads to the forge in Ammontraieth to make relics but this time, she does what the book and Foley recommended. Instead of commanding the quicksilver, she tries to work with it. It doesn’t work and she quickly becomes frustrated, offering it a memory so it will do what she wants – the memory is quickly taken from her. Then the Hazrax comes to visit. It’s incredibly old and incredibly powerful, it can even turn off gravity. It knows what Saeris is and what she’s doing and points out the fallacy of continuing to use her own blood and bartering with the quicksilver. The Hazrax tells Saeris it knows everything but can’t tell her any of it, there are things she needs to discover on her own. But it wants to make a deal with her. With Malcolm, it was allowed to stay in the court and observe for the cost of one favor each year - whatever Malcolm wanted that the Hazrax could deliver. It would like to make the same deal with her. She accepts on the condition that she can revisit their terms every year, which the Hazrax agrees to. It leaves and Saeris touches the relic. Her walls come down completely, releasing the full power of her magic. She thinks she’s about to destroy Ammontraieth. That she’s about to die. Fisher uses his magic to cast Zilvaren in shadow. The city erupts into chaos, with two suns, it’s never properly night in Zilvaren. It’s never been dark until now. Fisher gives Carrion the sight so he can lead them and he takes them to Elroy’s forge. Hayden, though he can’t see, seems to know where he is and he gets them inside where Elroy tries to hit Fisher on the head. Everything is soon explained as they rest for a while, Carrion telling Hayden and Elroy the whole story. But Fisher is suspicious. Elroy doesn’t seem to be surprised by any of what he’s told or by Fae showing up at his door, and he recognized Fisher for what he was since the glamour has dropped. Elroy wasn’t even surprised to see Carrion’s ears or canines. It turned out, it wasn’t just the Swift family that had a duty to fulfill. Elroy is a forge master like his father and his grandfather before him. They have a duty to protect something, and they have taken that duty very seriously. He shows them what he protects, opening a door concealed by magic and leading them twelve hundred steps down to a quicksilver pool. The quicksilver is delighted to see Fisher, excitedly repeating that he came. Saeris can hear the quicksilver, and she rushes to the pool in Ammontraieth, dropping the relic and leaving it in the forge. Once there, she thinks she knows how to bond with the quicksilver. She stands before it, announcing that she is an alchemist and she is worthy of the power. She walks into the pool unprotected and the quicksilver questions her. She claims not to want the power, just to want peace. For that she will give up her life, but she would not give up Fisher’s. The quicksilver is pleased by that - an alchemist must be afraid of losing something. It surrounds her and goes down her throat before spitting her out of the pool. She hits the wall and passes out. It’s the biggest pool of quicksilver that Fisher has ever seen. Elroy explains that anytime his family would find quicksilver, they would purify it and add it to the pool. It made his grandfather and father hear voices. He had taken Saeris in as an apprentice to protect her, he always knew she had some power. The tools would vibrate on the walls when she came in. But after her mother died, Saeris’ power got stronger and he couldn’t chance having her at the forge. It broke his heart to push her and Hayden out, but it was more dangerous for her to be there where a guardian could come in at any time. The forge felt different, charged, when she was in it and a guardian would have noticed. That’s when Elroy stopped adding to the pool and destroyed any remaining documents that he had that related to the pool at all. Fisher plants to send Carrion and Hayden through this quicksilver pool, but Fisher still needs to figure out where the feeders from Zilvaren are coming from, so he will need to return to the palace and investigate. But before he can explain the new plan, the pool erupts. Something must be wrong. Fisher gives Hayden a relic ring and they all step through the pool, leaving Elroy behind. Saeris wakes up and realizes that the quicksilver pools are still open from when she woke the metal and something is coming through. Orious, Belikon’s seneschal, has come with five warriors and an offer. Belikon wants Saeris to join his court and be his alchemist, swear an oath to him. He also wants Layne back and Fisher in chains. Saeris was never going to accept the offer, but when he says that last bit, she gets mad and tells him never to touch her friends. But Orious reminds Saeris that her friends are all oath bound to Yvelia. They have no choice but to follow Belikon’s orders. Besides, the Winter Palace has heard rumors that Saeris is unable to control her power. That she cannot wield Solace (which Belikon wants back). That her runes are unbound. But she shows Orious her alchemist rune, which is now bound since she had the little talk with the quicksilver. Speaking of Solace, she had planned to reforge it into a smaller sword, but she no longer needs a forge at all. She takes the sword and asks it to become two, it does. But instead of halving the god power, it doubles it with each sword getting the same amount that Solace had before. The words Erromar and Selanir appear on their hilts – mercy and honor. She fights the five warriors and is doing okay but is about to be overpowered when Fisher comes out of the pool and takes care of the rest of them. He’s going to kill Orious too, but Saeris wants to send him back to Belikon instead. To send Belikon a message. They send Orious back through and Saeris locks the pools. Then she sees her brother, passed out and being carried by Carrion. They go through the quicksilver to Cahlish right away, leaving a note for Lorreth to meet them and bring the horses too. They take Hayden to Te Lena, but he probably won’t wake up for a while. Fisher and Carrion take the silver to the armory before Fisher goes to meet Lorreth on the road. The rot is spreading incredibly quickly. Once they’re together, Fisher assures Saeris that even though they are bound to him, Belikon cannot compel them where they are. The wards in Cahlish protect them and even if they didn’t, Belikon would have to be near them to compel them, and he won’t leave his palace. Fisher notices that Saeris’ veins now run silver with the quicksilver she imbibed but she feels fine - not like when he started hearing voices. Fisher is woken by Archer screaming that Te Lena needs his help. Saeris’ thoughts go immediately to Hayden but it’s Layne who is in trouble. Carrion’s room is nearby and he and Danya were minding their own business, together, when he heard Te Lena’s scream and found Layne choking her. Layne is now being restrained as she seizes, Te Lena is shaken up but fine otherwise. Layne starts to beg, repeating “no”, and when Saeris looks at her, she can see a figure in Layne’s eyes. Te Lena explains that she is shrouded in shadow and can’t be reached. Wherever She is, Saeris knows that Layne is not alone. The quicksilver inside her tells Saeris to run, but she reaches out for Layne and when they touch, a voice from a Layne says the gate is open and it cannot be closed before she goes still again. They all gather in the dining room. Lorreth wants to retrieve Ren, but Fisher says no, there is nothing Ren can do right now that’s better than warning others of the rot. Instead, Lorreth needs to get Iseabail. Lorreth hates witches, he is not pleased at the thought of collecting her from the witch stronghold, but they no longer need the witches’ books on alchemy since they have the library at Ammontraieth and Iseabail could help with Layne, so Lorreth agrees. Te Lena will stay with Layne and Hayden. Fisher, Saeris, and Carrion will go back to Ammontraieth. When they arrive, the door leading to the quicksilver pool has been barred and guarded but the guards quickly assure them that it was against Belikon’s men, not them. Fisher goes to find Foley while Saeris and Carrion head for Tal. They see Zovena first and Saeris is forced to remind the vampire of who is in charge. She commands Zovena to collect the centuries of letters that had been sent to Foley which had never been delivered and give them to Foley personally (she is the Keeper of Missives). Zovena is also commanded not to talk about Carrion, if she does, she will rip out her own tongue. Soon enough, Tal opens the door to his rooms naked and covered in blood to find Saeris with Zovena still on her knees in the hallway. Fisher takes Onyx to Saeris’ bedroom first and the little fox gives him a gift: a tiny acorn. Then Fisher goes to find Foley. He meets Guru in the library, and the cat likes him right away, just call him Snow Fisher for now. He climbs to the roof and speaks to Foley. He asks Foley to come back to Cahlish but Foley refuses. Fisher doesn’t understand. He may not be able to feed anymore since the vampires removed his canines for refusing to join the court, but Foley still drinks blood. He just drinks the blood of animals instead, it’s debased and he’s ashamed. And he is called by the blood of the Fae, he’s afraid the Fae would not be safe from him. But Fisher asks when the last time Foley fed from a Fae was - it was the day Foley turned. When was the last time he was driven mad by the scent of blood? Seven hundred years ago and even then, he did not drink. Fisher thinks he would be fine but if Foley insists on staying for now, he has a job for Foley to do. If Foley is still a wolf… in his heart. He gives Foley the box with Joshin inside and recounts the whole tale including the secret Joshin revealed about the dark queen. He can’t leave the box unprotected, but he also can’t keep carrying it around. Foley agrees to watch over it for now. Tal was in the middle of a consensual orgy that he returns to momentarily before dealing with Saeris. Saeris releases and dismisses Zovena. Tal explains that he put the guards outside the pool so that no one could come through the pool without him knowing and yes, it should be Saeris doing these things but she’s too busy gallivanting around with Fisher. He gives her one of the blades carried by Belikon’s guards which Orious called a null blade. Her magic barely works on it, and Tal refuses to touch it with his skin. The last time he did it made him want to rip his skin off. Saeris carries it with a cloth around the hilt. Saeris and Carrion are measured for new outfits as Tal explains there will be a ball and she must be there. She has to start the celebrations as Queen but also, they will need to choose the new Lord of Midnight, and it would be a good time for Tal to publicly renounce her as well. She’s not happy about it but she will be in attendance. Saeris heads to the library to find Fisher next but is distracted by a stargazer. Then three stargazers. Then one hundred. The birds from a tunnel guiding her until one of them scratches Saeris and draws blood. Then they all drop to the ground and unfurl their pages, forming a book with a butterfly on the cover. It’s the book that Fisher’s mother wanted Saeris to find. A book about alchemy written for Saeris by Edina. Edina had told Saeris not to show Fisher but that doesn’t feel right, so as soon as Fisher comes to find Saeris, she shows him the book. He takes one look at the book before returning it to Saeris. He trusts his mother. This book was for Saeris alone. What he saw in the first few pages before returning it was a note to him from his mother, one that Saeris had not yet seen. It tell him that the path forks ahead of them, but their bond will be greatest if Saeris places the book in his hand. That Edina is proud of him. That she loves him. That although it hurts him, it was necessary that her soul linger. And that he must give the book back to Saeris. Saeris tries to read Edina’s book in Ammontraieth and is constantly interrupted so she passes off the planning of the ball to Tal while she heads to Cahlish with Fisher and Carrion. Fisher leaves to collect Lorreth and Ren with shadow gates but Carrion sticks around Saeris, so she decides to look at the null blade instead of the book. Neither she nor Carrion like being near the blade and Saeris cannot figure out what it’s made of. Talk turns to Carrion being the rightful King of Yvelia but he doesn’t want the job. He doesn’t know Yvelia and the people here don’t care about him. Archer interrupts him, that’s not at all true! His parents were kind and decent rulers, and many households still pray that their son is safe and will return one day. The Daianthus line was not perfect, but they tried their best and corrected when they made mistakes. Archer can tell that Carrion would do the same. This makes Carrion introspective. Saeris asks about Fisher’s mom and Archer gives a glowing review. He tells Saeris that some of Edina’s favorite flowers grow just outside and he leaves to bring collect some but screams for help from the courtyard. Saeris grabs the closest thing to her, the null blade, and she and Carrion (with his god-sword Simon) run to help. It’s an infected feeder and it’s trying to carry Archer over the wall where the fire sprite would never be seen again. They try to fight the feeder, but carefully so they aren’t infected, and Saeris throws the null blade at it. The blade sinks into the feeder, and the feeder seems rapturous about it. It throws Carrion into a wall and tries to climb over a different wall but falls directly on top of Saeris. When it tries to attack Saeris, Archer loses it. He erupts and his magma kills the feeder, its ichor pooling like quicksilver but then beginning to boil. Archer, on the other hand, has barely a flicker of flame. He’s dying. Disregarding their own safety, Carrion and Saeris carry him to the forge as quickly as they can. Fisher feels Saeris’ panic and as soon as Lorreth and Iseabail are through the shadow gates, they run to meet the others. Iseabail has returned to Cahlish no longer a novice but a prioress, meaning she has gone through what will likely be the worst trial of her life while she was with the witches. They all take Archer down - well below castle to the tunnels kept for the fire sprites. It’s so hot down here that anyone that is not a fire sprite cannot stay for long or they will die. The boiling pool that Saeris saw was brimstone, it is what gives the fire sprites life. And yes, the brimstone killed the feeder and the rot, even where the rot had spread to the ivy on the wall. But unfortunately, the fire sprites do not regenerate their brimstone. Archer will only live because the members of his pyre, his familial community, donated a small part of their brimstone to him. It’s the same way the fire sprites create new life. And all the brimstone in the country is being used by a fire sprite. They’d have to kill them all to have enough brimstone to make a dent in the rot - and they won’t do that. Afterward, Fisher and Saeris look over the forest, and he shows her a dark place where a graven lives (part troll, part satyr, part basilisk). The graven there used to sell potions and concoctions, Fisher’s dad once went there for a love potion and made a deal with the graven. He gave one of his shadows to the graven as payment but the graven thought he reneged and tried to kill Fisher’s father but only got one of his toes. Plus, the love potion Fisher’s father bought wasn’t real. Later, Fisher takes Saeris to the cottage they were in when they dreamed together. Here, the sun does not burn her. Saeris wakes up to find Archer healed and back at work, and Hayden awake. The last time she spoke to him, they had argued and she had told him he was a burden. She goes to see him. Hayden explains that Madra has set her up as a martyr, saying that Saeris had died while in service to her. Madra gave extra food and water to the Zilvaren citizens to honor Saeris. But the people of the Third now believe that Saeris had spied on them for Madra. They curse her name. But Elroy believes she is innocent, he’s black and blue for the beatings he gets as he defends Saeris. Saeris notices that Hayden has no bruises at all. She realizes that he doesn’t completely believe she wasn’t working with Madra. She punches him in the jaw and yells that the reason that he had enough food was because Saeris begged and borrowed and stole to make sure that Hayden ate, not because she was working for Madra. Her hand starts burning, another rune is on fire. This one is the rune for brimstone, another leg of the alchemist talent tree that most alchemists did not travel. She runs to read Elida’s book. Elida writes that sealing the brimstone rune and binding herself to it like she did to the quicksilver rune will be difficult and will change her in ways she cannot undo, but it may be the only way to save Yvelia. She gives instructions to Saeris about how to reject the rune and how to bind it, depending on what she chooses to do. Elida begs Saeris not to skip ahead in the book, it is laid out in the way that Saeris needs it to be. And she gives Saeris instructions for when to read the next installment – just before she leaves for the ball. Soon, Fisher comes in. He was not able to collect Ren before Archer was hurt and now, he can’t find him. Ren successfully warned the Gilarian Far but that was a day and a half ago and he hasn’t been seen since. Fisher thinks Ren is in trouble, but he is unable to find his friend to help. They ask Iseabail to scry for Ren, but scrying is notoriously unreliable and Saeris needs to get to the ball that night. Saeris and Fisher head to Ammontraieth to get ready (they leave carrion at Cahlish to watch over Hayden), and Fisher helps Saeris to loosen up after they’re dressed. Tal comes to collect them but before they can go, Saeris reads the next installment in Edina’s book. When they arrive at the ball, they are surrounded by vampires drinking wine. They see thralls serving the wine, dripping a few drops of blood into each cup as it’s served. Tal will do the renouncement first. But as Tal makes the announcement that he is disavowing Saeris, Saeris pulls a low born vampire serving the others to her and sends him on an errand, something to do with Edina’s book. Tal officially renounces Saeris and calls back his blood from her. She vomits the blood she drank from him into a bucket. Fisher is confused about why Tal is doing this and plans to question him later. This is a dishonor that Malcolm would often force those that disobeyed him to pay and Saeris needs to look the best she can in front of the court. She cannot afford to look weak like she does now. Also, Tal looks anxious and he’s sporting a brand-new tattoo…a big one. Once she’s done puking, Tal offers a strange toast to Saeris. That she be the last monarch this court sees. May she overcome all and usher in a new era and new beginnings for Sanasroth. Most of the vampires don’t notice the toast since they’re already drunk or well on their way, but Fisher does. After it’s done, Saeris hears the petitions of Lord of Midnight hopefuls. The first wants to become Keeper of Warfare and Fisher recognizes him, Kavan Dahlish. He had been one of Fisher’s warriors and for the first time, Fisher realizes that the men he lost did not always die. Sometimes they used what he taught them to fight for their enemy. Malcolm was picking through the battlefields like a buzzard for Fae to turn. Kavan looks at Fisher with hatred and Fisher feels stupid for not realizing earlier that this was happening. Then they hear from Ibanwae, an engineer who helped design the neighborhoods around Ammontraieth and torture devices. She’d like to become Keeper of Pain. Her petition causes Saeris to announce that the court has been running amok for years while Malcolm squandered their wealth on a war he could not win. They will be going in another direction towards safety and security. Zovena stands and makes a general nuisance of herself again, but Saeris uses the metal candelabra to chain Zovena’s neck to the floor and uses her back as a footrest until after three more petitions are done: potential Keepers of Monies, Truths, and Antiquities. Once those are finished, Saeris allows Zovena to rise. Tal (looking worried for Zovena) announces it is time to pick a lord of Midnight, but Saeris says there is one more petitioner. Foley Briarstone enters the hall in his leathers with his sword on his back. Edina had written that only the golden toothed wolf can be trusted. Foley’s canines have been replaced with gold versions. Algat shows up all of a sudden and declares that Foley cannot be a Lord of Midnight since he hasn’t sworn fealty to the court, but that doesn’t track because neither has the Hazrax and he’s been a Lord for centuries. Algat reiterates that the Hazrax doesn’t weigh in on political issues and Foley would, but Foley puts this argument to rest. He wouldn’t swear fealty to Malcolm, but he will swear to Saeris. He does just that and Saeris names him Lord of Midnight. Then the evenlight comes, which sounds a lot like the northern lights, and everyone is awed by it. Fisher and Saeris dance and as Fisher shows her a flower called widow’s bane, which is deadly to most people with even the smallest touch but can take away pain for a while if the poison is removed from its petals and the leaves are steeped and dried and you don’t swallow them, high blood vampires all around them start vomiting and begging for help. Tal believed that the vampires would never change and decided to make an executive decision so that Saeris and Fisher didn’t have to. He spiked the vampire’s drinks. They’re dying their true deaths. But the thralls have glass vials that are circulating. Those vials will allow the vampires to return reborn to their Fae bodies where they can face what they had become, what they had done. This will be his final act as Lord of Midnight. He drinks what is in his cup, it is a much more concentrated dose of the poison, and he doesn’t vomit at all. He asks them to tell Layne that he’s sorry before he falls to the ground and starts to seize. Saeris finds one of the vials being circulated while Foley tries to pry Tal’s jaws apart. He’s not dying today! Only about 1 in 10 vampires decided to become Fae again. Tal had made sure that Saeris, Fisher, and Foley were served wine that was not poisoned and he’d already forced the antidote on Zovena, who is now Fae again. Fisher takes Zovena to do something outside the ballroom while Foley forces Tal to take the antidote and when Tal lives, Foley tells Tal that he is not the things he was forced to do as a vampire. But he is a hypocrite since he’s been saying the same thing to Foley since he was turned. Tal is foaming at the mouth now and passing out between small periods of consciousness when Fisher and Zovena return. Saeris grabs Elida’s book and makes a few more relics before they all retreat to Cahlish. Algat is probably not a vampire anymore and Fisher insists that they don’t want to see her as a witch. When they arrive in Cahlish, Hayden immediately gets upset when Saeris advises him to go to bed, insisting that she is continuing to hide things from him, so she changes her mind and tells him to stay. He’ll probably wish he hadn’t once he hears what is happening. Te Lena looks them all over and they put Tal in bed. He’s still in and out of consciousness and not able to speak when he’s awake. Fisher calls for Iseabail. He accuses her of working with Tal to make this happen and she doesn’t deny it. The witches have been trying to find a way into Ammontraieth for centuries and she couldn’t pass this chance up. Fisher isn’t mad that she destroyed so many vampires, he’s angry that Iseabail put Saeris in danger without telling them. As soon as the vampires drank, their bonds to Saeris were broken and they no longer had to obey her commands. Iseabail explains that Tal had found willing thralls and brought them to Iseabail, who placed runes on them. When the vampires drank the blood of the thralls that was dropped into each cup of wine, they had actually been drinking blood drawn from Iseabail whose blood is cursed against vampires like all the witches. The antidote was also a witch concoction which is presumably why no one had chosen to use it previously (i.e. Foley) since the witches have sequestered themselves for centuries. When Iseabail finds out that Tal did not die like he had planned, she panics. The runes on the thralls were not enough power alone. She had to put a massive rune on Tal (his new tattoo) that borrowed power from the demon realm. If they don’t undo that rune, Tal will open a portal straight to the demons. They run to his room to find Tal already engulfed in flame along with his bed, although his body is not actually burning. Iseabail hurriedly tries to undo the knots of her spell, but Te Lena doesn’t have much hope since it looks too complex to unravel. Saeris can feel the demons on the other side waiting, they’re hungry. She tries to walk toward Tal, but Fisher grabs her and immediately his own runes start to burn. When he lets her go, Saeris covers Tal’s body with her own (Hayden is being held back by Foley as he tries to stop his sister). The flames around Tal go out. Fisher and Saeris fall asleep as soon as they get to their room, but they meet up again in their dream. This time in Ballard, where they discuss the fact that Iseabail didn’t even bother trying to look for Ren like she was supposed to and that Saeris has a new rune that showed up when she saved Tal. She hadn’t intended on doing it, had wanted to stay away from the fire, but had felt pulled toward him. Fisher asks if she’s excited about the antidote but she’s not sure. What if it kills her since she’s not fully vampire. What if it makes her human again. Fisher doesn’t care either way. He doesn’t think she’ll die and if she becomes human and dies early, he won’t be spending a single day without her. Later, Saeris wants to see Iseabail to get some questions answered but Carrion stops her and asks for some help first. He takes Saeris to his room, he’s carrying a bunch of books about Yvelian history and the like. As if he’s considering one day trying for the throne. Saeris gets excited but Carrion reiterates that he hasn’t decided. He’s just researching. And that’s not what he needs help with. His room is overflowing with plants and as he speaks, one of the plants grows bigger and starts to bloom. He points out that the plants are growing exponentially and the plant that is currently blooming isn’t supposed to bloom at all. Saeris assures him that he’s not imagining it. Before they can discuss more, they see something come out of the trees. Thousands of somethings. It’s the warriors of Irrin who have come from their temporary war camp, led by Lorreth. Lorreth is not surprised about Iseabail but has brought the warriors here for another reason. Danya, who brought up the rear, explains that she saw the rot coming down the mountain causing big rivulets in the snow. It’s moving fast and it’s coming toward Cahlish. It will be there in maybe fourteen hours at the rate it’s spreading. They decide to consult Elida’s book. Saeris realizes that she hasn’t looked since before the ball. The next post advises neither her nor Foley take the antidote right now. And it tells her not to look at the book again until she’s at the white cliffs. Fisher decides they will all evacuate to the white cliffs, but Danya is appalled at the thought of retreating. They should use the brimstone. Fisher refuses to kill the sprites and Danya wonders aloud if he’s still fit to be in charge. Lorreth tries to calm them both and points out that there is another option for using the brimstone, but Fisher refuses to discuss that option at all. Saeris needs more information, she doesn’t know what Lorreth is talking about. Fisher promises to tell her later but not right at this moment. Besides, she needs to deal with Hayden - who is pacing outside in the rain. Hayden doesn’t know who he is here, everything is so different. Problem is, he’s never really known who he was. He just followed Saeris’ lead, believing that she had a plan (she did not). But he wants to stay here with her, and he apologizes for believing the worst of her. They head back inside but Saeris can feel another pull like she did at Tal’s bedside. She sends Hayden inside without her and goes to investigate. She finds the Hazrax waiting. It is the reason she has the new rune, and that she got it just in time to save her friend. The rune is the Hazrax’s name and it gives her the ability to undo or to break. It’s hard to explain. It’s a gift, she need not repay the Hazrax or owe him a debt. The rune will buy her time while she figures out how to seal her brimstone rune. The Hazrax has seen her future - and it is not an easy one. She will need all the help she can get. But there was something the Hazrax did not see coming and that was Iseabail and Tal’s trick. It is too early to tell if the trick comes back to hurt the Balquhidder clan or not. Saeris asks if it will tell her what sort of creature it is but no. Not when she’s almost found the answer herself. Fisher lets Iseabail out of her room so she can scry again for Ren, but she finds nothing. He plans on taking her back to Nevercross (the witch city), but he claims that he wants to visit himself soon. They witches are sticklers for rules and he suspects they know nothing about the rune Iseabail used on Tal, since that sort of dark magic is expressly forbidden but they surely know about Iseabail’s plan to kill the vampires, that must be how she became prioress so quickly. Iseabail confirms that his suspicions are true and tries to convince him not to tell them the truth, but Lorreth attacks her with his magic - using bands of light to hold her to the wall and band her neck. Lorreth’s people do not believe in using their magic, they believe they accidentally steal it from nature at birth, and though he doesn’t really believe that he still rarely uses his magic. This is only the third time Fisher has seen it. Soon Saeris comes in and Lorreth lets Iseabail down. They must leave; the rot has reached them. They’ve already started evacuating warriors as soon as they received the news from Lorreth and Danya, but they pick up the pace now. Once the warriors are through the shadow portal, there is only the core group left. Te Lena tells Fisher that she will set Layne up with someone she trusts in Inishtar and then she goes through with Maynir, carrying Everlayne. Iseabail walks through next; she will continue to Nevercross soon. They decided to send her back without any mention of her wrongdoings for now, since they may need help from the witches in the future. Lorreth then escorts Tal through. Tal is walking and talking, but weak and wants to be sent back to his ancestral seat of Bayland’s End once Fisher comes through. He doesn’t want to be a burden on the camp. Lorreth tells the others to find them at the Randy Swine tavern. He needs a drink after trying to convince the pyre of fire sprites to evacuate. They chose not to, believing their brimstone will protect them from the rot. Carrion heads through next. He, Hayden, and Foley are all carrying as many books as they can. Then Saeris goes with Hayden since it’s his first time through a shadow gate. Fisher holds Onyx and goes through with Foley, who is so amazed to see Fisher mooning over a woman. While they travel through, Fisher hears a familiar voice. When Saeris comes through the gate, she is met by a screaming bloodbath. Feeders are here, fresh ones, some of which have never fed before. She starts fighting but tries to keep an eye on Hayden (she keeps him moving so he doesn’t pass out) while trying to find Fisher. She can’t feel Fisher at all, and usually the quicksilver will call to her. Foley finds her first and tells her he didn’t see Fisher come through; he should have come through directly after Foley. Saeris loses Hayden for a second, but they find him passed out in some weeds, so Foley picks him up and carries him to where Lorreth fights with Carrion. Lorreth tells them he has already sent Te Lena, Maynir, Iseabail, Zovena, and Layne to Te Lena’s friend in the town - they need to follow soon. Tal was supposed to go with the others, but he picked up a sword and waded into the frenzy killing feeders instead, he hasn’t been seen since. Saeris decides to consult the book before moving but all it says is to read the next installment after the trade. The fighting is starting to wane, so they find Te Lena’s friend, Orellis’ house. The town, made up mostly of satyrs, was also attacked. When they arrive, they find out that Zovena took off running as soon as the group started off toward town. They decide not to follow her. Iseabail scries for Fisher but, just like Ren, there’s no sign of him. There’s no quicksilver here, so Saeris cannot begin to make the relics she had planned on starting, but she isn’t as worried about that. The closest quicksilver pools are not anywhere near this town. One is over the sea, one over the mountains. But these feeders were fresh, didn’t respond to Saeris’ commands, and human. They couldn’t have been sent through either of those pools meaning that Madra must have another way of traveling between realms. Saeris asks Foley if there’s a way that Madra could have accumulated enough power to do that. Foley is unsure. He’s never heard of anyone traveling through realms without a pool but if it could happen, it would take an inordinate amount of power. Saeris and Carrion start to make connections quickly. Foley once told Saeris that magic cannot be eradicated from a city the way Madra claimed it had been in Zilvaren. He also said the strongest sigils are circular. It carries magic in a loop, amplifying the magic as it goes around. The city of Zilvaren is designed in a circle, but not as a wheel. Not with spokes. The whole city forms a sigil, Madra has been using it to steal the magic of her citizens, and she’s been doing it for a millennia. Iseabail is doubtful a ward could be created against her if Madra is that powerful. It would require the Fae and witches to work together. A coven of witches and ten strong Fae wielders, plus something personal to Madra. Saeris stands. Well, they’ve got one witch already. Surely if Iseabail’s coven knew the risks, they would be willing to help. And she is about to go track down one of the strongest Fae wielders, so that is a start. As for an item of Madra’s, she might know where to find that. Saeris and Carrion go to the cliffs, off which the satyrs are throwing the dead feeders. They want to search the bodies for something specific, and the satyrs don’t stop them, but they don’t love it either (they also don’t really like Fae). Luckily, they find what they need quickly -a plague bag carried by one of Madra’s faithful guards. It contains ashes of offerings to Madra…and her hair. On the way back to the town, Saeris sees Tal with Zovena. She sends Carrion ahead of her. When Saeris gets closer, she realizes that Zovena is dead, drained by a feeder. Tal explains that he ran into the feeders fully intent on fighting to his death and yet he did not die. When he saw Zovena’s body, he brought her to the cliffs planning on killing himself but then felt the sun on his face for the first time since he was turned and could not go through with it. But what is he supposed to do now? He’s not worthy of anything. Saeris takes the dagger he’s holding as well as her own dagger meaning named for honor. She calls a small amount of her dagger’s quicksilver to bond with his dagger. He’s awed and gives his blood to the new dagger, and it does not find him wanting. He names it Tarsarinn, meaning redemption. He returns to town with Saeris, feeling much better. Later on, she and Lorreth are sitting in the town square watching Carrion and some others play a game with the young satyrs and Lorreth explains his comment about another way to get brimstone. She realizes that Fisher was right, it’s a crazy plan and it probably wouldn’t work anyway. Soon, a mob of satyrs comes towards them with weapons at their sides and demands to see the Forgotten King. Word has gotten around that Rurik’s son is alive and traveling with the warriors. But instead of hurting Carrion, they bow to him. He tells them his name is Carrion and he likes their horns, charming as always. He’s careful not to acknowledge his ancestry as it could be taken as a challenge for the throne. Saeris sees a bird in flight as she watches Carrion address the satyrs and suddenly, she remembers something. She might know how to find Fisher! She runs off alone. At first, she tries to sleep, but her mind won’t be quiet, so Saeris goes to find Danya. Danya isn’t interested in helping her, so Saeris pulls out the big guns. Danya is angry all the time but not at Fisher for deserting them like she claims, but at herself. Because Danya knew that Fisher would never do that, but when he went missing, she chose to believe Belikon’s lies. It was easier than living with the knowledge that she could not find or rescue her friend. Danya can’t lie so she asks what Saeris wants. Saeris asks her to punch her in the face and knock her out. Danya is delighted to help. Saeris wills herself to go to Cahlish as the punch comes and she arrives, but Fisher is not there to meet her. She walks to his bedroom, but the door won’t open. The handle is so cold it burns her hand. After trying several things, she turns to her runes and uses the one the Hazrax gave her. She uses it to break the door. Fisher is inside but he cannot hear her and is listless, sitting in a chair. The Hazrax shows up and tells Saeris not to bother yelling at Fisher. He explains that the deal he made with Malcolm was to observe the vampire king, not his court, so the Hazrax now observes Saeris who took the deal with the same terms. Saeris asks it to wake Fisher or to tell her where he is, but the Hazrax can do neither. She demands that the Hazrax leave her alone for the rest of the year as her favor, but it tells her to reconsider. It knows everything, and it knows that Saeris needs its favor for something else right now. Besides, she didn’t even come here to find Fisher. She had a different task. Saeris realizes that the Hazrax is right. It gives her one minute to complete her task and ask for a different favor, otherwise it will leave for the rest of the year. She finds the small kingfisher trinket that was a favorite of Edina’s, Archer is very protective of it and doesn’t like anyone to touch it. It is how Kingfisher got his name. Under the trinket, Saeris finds a folded stargazer. She unfolds it and reads Edina’s note, then she asks the Hazrax to take her to the Wicker Wood. Somehow the Hazrax collects Saeris’ physical body and transports her to the Wicker Wood where the souls of those who are damned linger. She walks through the woods and is met by some of Belikon’s guards wearing null blades, but she’s come for Fisher and she’s not here to play around. She dispatches several of them and then hears Belikon’s voice and she realizes he is in the wood as well. Soon she thinks it’s just the two of them, but Belikon reveals that Orious is also present. Orious explains that the trees around them used to be dryads that went against the witches and were cursed. Now, the trees consume people. Fisher is in one of the trees now and if the tree closes completely, he will be in a suspended state like death but with more torturous visions. And if Saeris harms the tree, or if Belikon gives the order, the tree will close up immediately. Then Fisher’s bond with his sword Nimerelle will be broken and Belikon will be able to use the sword to wreak havoc. Belikon claims that is Fisher’s punishment for being found guilty of the massacre of Gyllethrie. One problem with that: Nimerelle was given to Fisher by the gods themselves. After closing the Ajun Gate, a feat that he believed would kill him, the gods called Fisher and gave him Nimerelle. It is the only fae sword made out of iron because they knew Fisher was strong enough to wield it. If any other Fae touches it, the iron will kill them. After Fisher received the sword, Merelle bound a piece of her souls to the blade so she would always be with those she loved. It is why the sword is named Nimerelle. Belikon cannot wield it regardless of what happens to Fisher. But there is one other person who can hold the sword. Saeris combines her god blades into Solace once more, holding it in one hand, then calls Nimerelle to her free hand. She can almost hear Merelle laughing as she wields the blade, allowed to do so because of her bond with Fisher. She kills Orious with Nimerelle but not before Belikon gives the order for the tree to close up completely. Belikon punches Saeris so hard that he literally holds her heart in his hand and she stabs him in the chest with both swords. She knows it won’t kill him but maybe it will save her. Once Belikon’s hand is free from her chest, her giant chest wound starts to heal and Saeris goes over to the tree. There is one thing to try that might save Fisher. She uses his true name, which she found on the note under the kingfisher trinket, to nullify all previous oaths made and then she commands him to come out and fight. Khydan Graystar Finvarra. Fisher comes out and he’s angry. But first, he’s worried about the amount of blood on Saeris, but she assures him she’s okay. He sees Belikon with two swords in his chest, Nimerelle’s iron leeching his power and making him weak. Belikon explains that Fisher has really done Saeris a disservice since he did not explain the Fae world to her better. She said Fisher’s true name out loud and now he can use it as well. He commands Fisher to kill Saeris and Fisher removes Nimerelle and turns toward Saeris. He apologizes to her, but she understands. Then he plunges the sword straight into Belikon again. Saeris explains that she couldn’t break Fisher’s oath just by using his true name. She used her breaking rune to break the oath, then she used the rune to break any power his true name had over him. No one will be able to use it against him now. They prepare to leave but Orious appears again (apparently not dead) and almost kills Saeris, but she is saved by Onyx, who attacks Orious and bites his wrist. Apparently, Fisher didn’t take Onyx into the tree, and the little fox has been harassing Belikon’s entourage as they waited for Saeris to arrive. Saeris stabs Orious with her dagger in the side but he brings out a null dagger and nearly stabs her in the chest with it. Unfortunately, Onyx jumps in front of the null blade and the little fox is killed. Saeris rips out Orious’ throat in retribution. She takes the fox and removes Solace from Belikon’s body as Fisher creates a shadow gate behind him. As soon as he removes Nimerelle, Belikon will be able to call for his guards, so they need to move fast. Fisher pulls the sword out, swings it around, and beheads Belikon before he can yell out. It won’t kill him, but it will delay him for a while at least. Fisher’s gates can only take them so far without the amount of power being used would be noticed by Belikon, so they travel from one gate straight into another twelve times until they reach Ajun - on the side of a mountain. Saeris grieves for Onyx but notices something glimmer for a moment on the back of her hand. She has a thought and passes Onyx to Fisher before screaming for the Hazrax to come out and speak to her. It takes the Hazrax a moment, but it finally comes out, if only to tell her that she doesn’t get to talk to it like that! She asks if it can see the dead (one doesn’t ask a lady that question!) and if Onyx has passed or is still around. She tells him what losing someone feels like in exchange. Since Onyx’s spirit is still present, Saeris thinks she can bring him back. Or rather, undo his death for long enough to heal him. She was able to heal her own hands every time the runes maimed them, and Tal believed she had the ability. She really hopes that it is true. The Hazrax warns Saeris that this has never been done by anyone and it may use all the rune’s power so she will not be able to undo her friend’s oaths with it, but she doesn’t care. She undoes Onyx’s death and he lays in her lap, breathing but gravely injured and dying again. But she doesn’t have any power left to heal him with. So, she reaches for the power elsewhere. Saeris passes out and wakes to Fisher running up the mountain carrying her with Onyx running behind them. The undoing rune is gone, her other runes are bleeding and painful, and she has a terrible headache. The Hazrax watches them without moving but disappears when Fisher notices the soldiers pursuing them. Belikon really should not have been able to find them so quickly. They reach the gates of Ajun and request to be let in. The gates open to reveal Renfis. When Fisher and the wolves fought at Ajun Gate and Merelle died, after they killed the dragon tormenting Ajun, Ren asked for Merelle to be buried here. Doing so made him one of the Ajun Fae and he was asked to become an Orrithian Guard. After he had warned the Gilarian Fae about the rot, Ren felt his oath mark burn, calling him back to Ajun to guard the Black Gate. He leads Fisher and Saeris towards it as they explain to Saeris. When the quicksilver pools stilled, this gate did not close. In fact, no one has ever been able to close it though many have tried, including alchemists. Creatures used the gate to enter their world so the Knights of Orrithian were created and given an old magic. Six of them guard the pool always, using their magic to ward the gate and prevent evil from coming through. When this pool didn’t close with the others, Belikon declared it would bring them unimaginable riches. He brought a boy there, gave him a sword, and forced him through it as the first to see the paradise beyond. That boy was Fisher; this was when he was forced through a pool without a relic. They all thought Fisher was dead and Cahlish was given to another before the pool returned him a week later. Fisher was eleven. The pool had taken him to another realm and the gate closed when Fisher was returned, but no one understood why or how. It has been opening again recently, every day for three hours. The first time, a creature came out and killed all six guards, causing Ren to be called into service. Saeris remembers Layne’s words that the gate is open and can’t be closed and realizes they referred to this gate. Now the guards are just waiting for the wards to break completely. The gate is about to close for the day and Saeris realizes that she and Fisher are going to enter it before then. She needs to seal her brimstone rune if they have any chance of stopping the rot and there’s only one source for brimstone. Fisher will go with her, through the gate, into hell. The dragons that live there call it Diaxis. Saeris decides that she can never see Fisher as Fisher again, she only sees Khydan now. I will continue referring to him as Fisher for the rest of this summary. They go through the pool, which is not quicksilver at all but something much nastier, and come out the other side to see a dragon waiting. And not just any dragon. She can hear their silent conversation, and she happens to be the mother of the dragon that Fisher killed at the Battle of Ajun Gate. Fisher requests an audience with the god Styx, who commands this realm. But the dragon wants Fisher to be judged for killing her child, so she breaths a bunch of hot breath over them for so long that they pass out. Saeris wakes up hanging from the ceiling with a chain above a crowd, and she quickly finds Fisher doing the same but still unconscious. They begin to descend toward the waiting crowd, not slowly, and she yells at Fisher to wake up, which he eventually does. They land headfirst on the ground and it’s not terrible, but she does smack her head pretty hard. Fisher somehow unsheathes Nimerelle, killing one guy and removing the arm of a woman before being restrained. Two men come forward. They call each other Crave and Githrand and they look similar enough to be brothers. Fisher goads them. Crave and Githrand notice Nimerelle and ask where exactly Fisher got it. He can’t lie, so he tells them. Saeris notices that Crave carries a poor imitation of Fisher’s sword. The two men believe that it is a forgotten blade of their ancestors, from one of the dead houses. But they won’t take it from Fisher or even try. They explain that yes, they’re angry about the female dragon, Arissan’s offspring but Fisher has done more than that. He killed their emissary as well. They’re talking about Erith, the Lord of Midnight who tries to kill Saeris. They threaten Fisher with death and Saeris with becoming their concubine, and Fisher throws up large semi-transparent walls around himself and Saeris. He tells Saeris that he will explain everything soon. Arissan can see in minds if your shields are not strong enough. Fisher wanted them to be in this position, so he let Arissan see that he killed her child, but he could not tell Saeris his plan. There wasn’t time and her shields are not strong enough. Arissan would likely have seen that it was exactly what Fisher wanted. The two men are kerfuffled by Fisher’s walls, none of this makes sense. Fisher shouldn’t have the sword. He shouldn’t be able to use shadows; they do not belong in his realm at all. Fisher explains that he got the shadows and the sword from the same place. But only half-gods can command the shadows. Fisher tells them that he has come for a dragon, which is his right. He demands that they call his father who is their father too. Fisher has come for a trade.