Page 187 of Quicksilver
BOOM!
The sky was falling.
Not the sky. The amphitheater.
A huge section of stone, sheering from the stand, toppling in slow motion.
BOOM!
“I swear to the gods, if she doesn’t make it through this—”
Lorreth, fisting Carrion’s shirt, dragging him back.
Fire, everywhere. Flames roaring up to meet the splintering sky.
Flames surging in my veins. In my neck.
Gods, my neck…
“Form a shadow gate!”
Fisher’s voice, full of panic. “I’m fucking trying!”
The world, on its side, crumbling apart.
All chaos. All pain. All doubt. All fear. All—
Everything stopped.
I was lying in Fisher’s arms. The world went silent, but I could see my mate’s face above me, and the awful grief there, the tendons in his neck standing proud as he yelled something to Lorreth. He’d come for me. Even with the world ending all around us, hehadme.
“The mountain that weathers all storms,”a voice said very clearly in my mind. I had no control over my body. No energy or care left to react to the voice. I was aware enough to realize that it was different now, though. Calm. Focused. Direct. I watched my mate, my vision drifting in and out of darkness as it spoke.
“He is the storm. You are the peace that must come after it. Tell me, do you believe in the fates, Alchemist?”
I closed my eyes, tears streaming from the corners of my eyes. Fisher was opening a gate. He was taking me home. I would die at Cahlish, in the comfort of his bed perhaps. I—
“Do not drift too far from the shore, Saeris Fane. Come back now. Come back.”
I opened my eyes, my pulse suddenly careening away from me. Adrenalin soaked my blood, an electric current charging through my chest, jump-starting my heart. “Fuck!” I gasped. “Oh, gods.Fuck!”
“It’s starting.” Taladaius’s grim announcement came from behind me somewhere.
Fisher looked down at me, eyes swimming. “It’s going to be okay. Hold on, Saeris.”
The voice came again, clear and concise. “You stand before a door. Your hand is poised to knock. Are you ready to walk through it? Will you leave this place and see what lies beyond in the next?”
The next?Leave?I blinked slowly.“No. I don’t want to go. Not yet.”
The voice sounded gruff but also curious.“A shadow falls across Yvelia. It will alter all it touches. You would rather remain here, knowing that suffering and hardship looms on the horizon? That sacrifices will need to be made?”
I looked at Fisher. At the broad, beautiful wings that spanned the side of his neck. I felt his heart, racing in his chest, thrumming in time with my own, as he stretched out his hand, reaching for a shadow gate. I didn’t need to consider my answer. Whatever the cost would be for staying with him, I would pay it.“Yes,”I said.
“As you wish. Then we call in our favor, Saeris Fane. Will you honor your word and grant us our favor?”
Of course it was the quicksilver. And of course it was calling in my debt now, when I was a hair’s breadth from death. “What is it you want from me?”
The answer came immediately.“We require an audience with you, Saeris Fane.”
