Page 151 of Quicksilver
“We all are. Three out of the five of us need to see Te Léna. And then we're going to tear that library apart until we find a way to help Everlayne. We have time. Not much of it, but some. We need to use it wisely.”
Renfis was white as a sheet. If I wasn’t mistaken, his hands shook with relief rather than anxiety now. Fisher had taken charge of the situation, which meant he wasn’t responsible for finding a solution to this disastrous situation. He opened his mouth, ready to speak, but Fisher got there first.
“Before we can leave this tent, there's something we need to do, though.” He looked back at me, resolved. “Our Alchemist faced the enemy tonight and stood her ground bravely. We have among us a newly blooded warrior.”
Oh no.
Gods.
No.
I didnotwant any of them looking at me like this. Fisher's quiet pride. Ren's warm approval. Lorreth's wolfish grin. Under normal circumstances, it might have been nice to be recognized for the feeders I'd taken down, but with Everlayne's outlook so bleak, I couldn't bear it. “I don’t want a fuss,” I said.
“You don’t want a fuss?” Lorreth laughed. “This isn’t aboutyou, Saeris. This is about us recognizing one of our own and paying due respect. You don’t get a say in the matter.”
I looked to Ren for help, but he shrugged apologetically. “Sorry. He’s right.”
“Look, whateverthisis can wait. We’re in the middle of a crisis. There’ll be time later for…I don’t even know what you’re planning on doing, but it can wait!”
Fisher wasn’t persuaded by my argument. Not one little bit. He leaned back against the table, folding his arms across his chest. “We don’t let things like this wait. We’re at war. There’s no guarantee any of us wake up tomorrow. We celebrate our wins as they come. And we damn well make sure our warriors know their worth.”
Lorreth was first to step forward. He drew Avisiéth and sank to his knees, running his palm along the blade. A streamof crimson blood ran in its wake. He pressed his hand against my chest, right between my breasts. The contact wasn't sexual, but Kingfisher still huffed a little. “My blood in thanks, sister,” Lorreth said softly.
He got up, still grinning at me like an idiot, and moved out of the way so that Renfis could take his place. The general sank to his knees, then nodded as he sliced open his own hand with a dagger and placed it over the bloody print that Lorreth had made. “It was my honor to fight alongside you,” he said. “My blood in thanks, sister.”
My cheeks were burning, a thousand degrees and climbing, when Fisher quietly came forward and knelt at my feet. His halo of dark hair was all over the place, his skin pale in the flickering torchlight. His eyes were steady, though. They ran me through as he withdrew Nimerelle and closed his fist around her edge. When he placed his hand against my chest, he tapped his index finger and middle finger against my sternum, in time with my racing heart. Giving me a very tired, very sad smile, he said, “I give you my blood in thanks, Saeris Fane.”
34
A SECRET
“Human’had come first. Then ‘Oshellith,’ or ‘Osha,’ said with a hefty amount of disdain. Then ‘LittleOsha,’ which had first been mocking but had then shifted to an endearment.
But Fisher had said my name.Finally.And it was...weird.
Lorreth rubbed his knuckles up and down his sternum, frowning. Ren laughed under his breath, ducking his head. Danya said something in Old Fae and spat on the ground, still cradling the smoking stump at the end of her right arm. But fuck Danya. Danya was the worst. And me? I just stood there like an idiot, not sure what to do or say, as the shock sank into my bones.
Fisher was immediately all business, opening up a shadow gate. I passed through first and found myself transported into the dining room, where I had first encountered the feeders. I sat at the table, impatiently rapping my fingernails against the wood as I waited for the others. Danya came next. She scowled when she saw me. Her thick blond war braid was spattered with blood. “Well, look at you. The jumped-up little Alchemist, sitting in pride of place at the family table. You'd better move before the others arrive, or you're gonna find yourselfveryembarrassed.”
I was sitting where I always sat now, to the right of Fisher's chair. But the way Danya sneered at me made me think I'd made a very grave social error. It wasn't the first time someone had reacted to me sitting here. First, there had been the fire sprites. Archer had burst into flames when he'd seen me sitting in this seat. Then, there had been Ren, choking on his food. I looked up at the ceiling, leaning back into my seat.
“What's the big deal? It's just a chair.” I said it oh-so-flippantly. If she knew I was really interested in the answer, she probably wouldn't tell me just to be difficult.
Danya kicked the legs of the chair opposite me, shoving it back so she could sit down. “That seat is reserved for the lady of the house, you stupid girl. Etiquette dictates that only Fisher's wife is permitted to sit there. It's a position of high honor meant for a Fae female born into one of the old houses, and you're just sprawled out there like you own the damn seat. It's offensive that he even lets a human sit at the sametableas him. But this...” She waved at me with her remaining hand. “This is just too much. Like I said. You shouldmove.”
While she spoke, Ren stepped through the swirling gate, carrying a pile of books, leather bags, and six or seven long, rolled-up scrolls under his arm. Danya smirked, as if I was in for it now and she couldn't wait to watch me get dressed down. But Ren assessed the scene, shot me a wink, and said, “Don't you worry, Saeris. You're perfect right where you are.”
Danya's mouth fell open. “What the fuck? You all treat her like some important foreign emissary. She's just a human. What other rules will she be allowed to break?”
I hadn't heard Fisher come through the gate. I felt his presence, though—a pleasant warmth in the back of my mind. The scent of the forest enveloped me as strong, tattooed hands rested on top of my shoulders. “No rules have been broken,Danya. And even if they had, that wouldn't be any of your business.”
Aghast, the female took him in, standing there behind me, his hands on my body. “Youcan'tbe serious, Fisher. We all know you’ve fucked her. The whole camp can smell it on the two of you. But she's ahuman—”
“And?” Ren dumped everything he was carrying down onto the ground with a snarl. “She's honorable and brave, not to mention the most powerful Alchemist ever documented. She disarmed you in half a fucking second if you recall. Who the fuck are you to say she and Fisher don’t belong together?”
Whoa.Belongtogether? Behind me, I felt Fisher stiffen. Any moment now, he'd spit out some scathing remark, telling them not to be so fucking stupid. I would laugh off the sting of his contempt at Ren's suggestion, and we'd all go back to worrying about the truly important matter at hand: Everlayne.
But Fisher said, in averycalm tone, “My personal life isn't up for public discussion.”
