QUICK LINKS: Brimstone Recap by Chapter P–13 | 14–25 | 26–38 | 48–52 // Fae & Alchemy Book 1 Summary
Brimstone Chapters 39–47 Summary
This chapter-by-chapter summary of Brimstone by Callie Hart contains spoilers.
Brimstone Chapter 39: Keeper of Secrets
The court erupts when Foley steps forward as a candidate. Saeris silences the room by naming him a friend to the throne, which grants him total protection. When Algat tries a mental attack, she hits back hard enough to leave him bleeding and broken. Foley pledges his life to Saeris and takes his place as a Lord of Midnight.
Later, a beautiful green light fills the sky as Kingfisher and Saeris share a dance. He addresses the dresses he’s been leaving for her. Kingfisher has no interest in changing her or pushing her into a more traditional role. He only wants her to know she can let her guard down because he’s there for her.
The celebration ends when high bloods across the hall collapse and cough up black blood. Taladaius admits he laced the wine himself and gives the dying vampires a choice between a painful return to their Fae forms or a final death. He tells Saeris and Kingfisher he did this so they wouldn’t have to carry the guilt. Then he drinks the poison and falls to the ground. His last words are a plea for them to apologize to Everlayne on his behalf.
Brimstone Chapter 40: Judgment
Saeris and Foley refuse to let Taladaius die. Despite his protests, Foley forces the antidote down his throat. Most high bloods choose the poison over returning to their Fae forms, but a handful accept the cure. Zovena is already safe since Taladaius secretly gave her the antidote before the ball.
Through the quicksilver pool, the group returns to Cahlish with Taladaius and Zovena. Kingfisher explains the massacre to the household just as Iseabail arrives and confesses her role. She worked with Taladaius to poison the court by putting her own blood into the wine through a transference spell. Kingfisher is furious that she put Saeris in danger, but the argument is cut short when they realize Taladaius is in serious trouble upstairs.
Tal’s room is caught in magical fire. The witch mark on his chest is close to opening a portal to a demon realm. Iseabail tries to pick apart the spellwork, but the magic moves too fast. Saeris presses her glowing hands onto his chest and extinguishes the flames, closing the portal before the demons break through.
Brimstone Chapter 41: Processing
In the dream realm of Ballard, Saeris admits she’s terrified of the potential cure. She fears it could be fatal for a half‑vampire or strip away her power and leave her human again. Kingfisher promises he’d follow her even into death rather than stay in this world alone.
Back at Cahlish, Carrion pulls Saeris aside to show her something strange. He has filled his room with plants and noticed they sprout new flowers every time he speaks. Neither of them understands why, but the magic is undeniable.
Saeris also discovers that Carrion has been hiding books. He’s been secretly studying the history of the Winter Court to understand what it means to rule as a king.
Their conversation is cut short when a tremor shakes the estate. Out the window, ten thousand warriors from Irrín march out of the forest straight for the house with Lorreth leading from the front.
Brimstone Chapter 42: Black Dawn
Lorreth and Danya arrive with ten thousand warriors and an urgent warning. The rot will hit Cahlish in less than sixteen hours. Danya urges the group to use brimstone against the infection, even at the cost of the local fire sprites. Kingfisher refuses to kill his own people for a tactical advantage. Saeris consults Edina’s journal, which tells her to keep reading only once she reaches the “white cliffs.” Kingfisher takes this as a sign to evacuate everyone to Inishtar.
While the house prepares to move, Saeris finds Hayden standing in the rain. He apologizes for doubting her and admits he feels lost but promises to stay by her side. After they make peace, a magical pull drags Saeris away to meet the Hazrax.
The creature reveals it gave her the third rune. The mark is its true name and grants her the power to undo or break magical structures. The Hazrax hands over its Lord of Midnight ring for her to pass to Foley and warns that the rune will help her manage the mark on her skin, but it won’t make the road ahead any easier.
Brimstone Chapter 43: Dark Spots
Kingfisher asks Iseabail to keep scrying for Renfis, but she insists he’s being shielded from her magic. Kingfisher realizes that her clan leaders have no idea she used forbidden dark magic to purge the Blood Court. They believe she relied only on persuasion. Lorreth loses his temper and pins her against a bookshelf, but Saeris forces him to stop. They agree to send Iseabail back to her clan after the evacuation.
As the rot swallows the estate, Kingfisher opens a shadow gate to move the last of his people to safety. Saeris, now wearing Fae war braids, tells Kingfisher she feels a duty to return to Ammontraíeth and help the survivors. Kingfisher promises to support her, though he is secretly forming a desperate plan to stop the infection for good.
The household leaves in waves. Te Léna and Maynir take Everlayne to find a healer in Inishtar, while Taladaius asks to eventually return to Bayland’s End. Carrion and the others focus on saving the library’s rare books. The fire sprites remain behind in the pyre. Kingfisher is the last through the gate, and as he enters the void, a mysterious voice addresses him only as “Dog.”
Brimstone Chapter 44: Inishtar
The group steps through the shadow gate into a nightmare. Inishtar is already being torn apart by feeders. Saeris fights through the chaos and finds Hayden, who has passed out from the shock but is otherwise fine. Kingfisher isn’t with them, and when she reaches out through their mental bond, she’s met only with silence.
The survivors gather at a house belonging to a satyr named Orellis. Te Léna and Maynir are already there with an unconscious Everlayne. Zovena has vanished, Taladaius disappeared after throwing himself into the battle, and Iseabail’s magic can’t locate Kingfisher or Renfis. Saeris had checked Edina’s book when they were at the white cliffs, but the next page only told her to keep reading after something called “the trade.”
As the group pieces together the attack, they realize the feeders are people from Zilvaren who were only just turned. With no quicksilver pools nearby, Madra must have found a new way to travel between worlds.
Saeris realizes the circular layout of Zilvaren is a giant magical symbol. Madra spent a thousand years using the city as a battery to drain magic from its people and open her own portals. Saeris tells the group they need to find Kingfisher and build a ward to protect the realm, and she already has a personal item belonging to Madra to anchor the spell.
Brimstone Chapter 45: Redemption
Saeris and Carrion scavenge a plague bag from a fallen guardian just before the satyrs toss the body into the sea. They need the hair inside to fuel their warding spell.
Near the cliff edge, Saeris finds Taladaius with the body of Zovena. He had come there to end his own life at dawn, but when the sun touched his face, he found he could no longer choose death. Saeris transforms a standard blade into a god sword, and the weapon chooses Taladaius as its master. He names it Tarsarinn, which means redemption.
Back at the settlement, Saeris corners Lorreth for answers. She makes a blood oath not to act recklessly without Kingfisher, and only then does Lorreth reveal the terrifying plan Kingfisher had been hiding. The details actually calm her because she realizes Kingfisher couldn’t have attempted it alone.
Not long after, satyrs gather in the town square and recognize Carrion as the lost heir to the Yvelian throne. They begin a somber traditional song to welcome him. Lorreth warns that acknowledging his royal identity means declaring war on Belikon. Carrion responds with a brief, awkward speech about how much he likes their horns. Then Saeris watches the gulls and has a sudden epiphany. She sprints away because she finally knows how to find Kingfisher.
Brimstone Chapter 46: Break
Saeris tracked Danya down at the war camp and wore down the warrior’s resistance. The tension between them was real, but Saeris appealed to Danya’s loyalty to Kingfisher and asked her to knock her out cold. Danya didn’t need much convincing and landed a punch that dropped Saeris into a deep sleep.
In the dream world, Cahlish is crumbling and choked by a dark rot. Kingfisher’s bedroom door is sealed by a magical ward that shrugs off both Saeris’s strength and her magic. She finally remembers the breaking rune from the Hazrax and uses it to shatter the barrier. Inside, she finds Kingfisher alive but completely entranced, unaware of her.
The Hazrax shows up and reminds Saeris that their contract lets it follow her anywhere. Saeris nearly burns her one favor just to make the creature disappear, but the Hazrax warns that she’s about to waste something life‑saving. Saeris searches the room and finds a paper stargazer on a bookshelf, which turns out to be a hidden page from Edina’s journal. After reading it, she uses her favor to ask the Hazrax to take her to the Wicker Wood.
Brimstone Chapter 47: Unless . . .
The Hazrax drops Saeris in the Wicker Wood, where she fights through Belikon’s guards. Belikon and Orious reveal that Kingfisher is trapped inside a cursed dryad tree that’s slowly consuming him. Belikon offers to release Kingfisher only if Saeris becomes his eternal servant. She refuses.
Saeris taunts Belikon by pointing out he can never use Kingfisher’s sword. It’s made of iron and holds the soul of a fallen warrior. She proves it by calling the sword to her own hand, something no one has ever done with a god sword they weren’t bonded to.
When Belikon orders the tree to finish consuming Kingfisher, Saeris kills Orious with a well‑aimed throw. Belikon retaliates by reaching into her chest and grabbing her heart. She doesn’t flinch and tells him his dead wife would never have supported him, then stabs him with both blades. He survives.
Saeris puts her hand to the tree trunk and calls out Kingfisher’s birth name, Khydan Graystar Finvarra. She commands him to rise and declares that every oath he’s ever sworn is now broken.