QUICK LINKS: Brimstone Recap by Chapter P–13 | 14–25 | 26–38 | 39–47 // Fae & Alchemy Book 1 Summary
Brimstone Chapters 48–52 Summary
This chapter-by-chapter summary of Brimstone by Callie Hart contains spoilers.
Brimstone Chapter 48: Folly
Saeris calls out Kingfisher’s birth name, and the dryad tree shatters. Kingfisher breaks free to find Saeris covered in blood and Belikon pinned to the ground by two magical swords. Belikon orders Kingfisher to kill Saeris using his true name, but it doesn’t work. Saeris has already used a breaking rune to protect Kingfisher before she ever spoke it. Kingfisher drives his blade into the king instead.
When Orious tries to stab Saeris, Onyx the fox jumps in the way and takes the strike. Saeris rips out the seneschal’s throat, and Kingfisher uses his magic to finish him. Onyx dies in Saeris’s arms shortly after.
Before Saeris and Kingfisher flee through a shadow gate, Kingfisher takes Belikon’s head. It doesn’t kill him permanently, but it buys them the head start they need.
Brimstone Chapter 49: When We Need Them Most
Saeris and Kingfisher rest on a snowy mountain near Ajun after a long series of shadow gate jumps. Mourning Onyx, Saeris notices a faint glow from one of her runes and summons the Hazrax to ask if the fox’s spirit is nearby. The creature will only answer if she can describe the true feeling of loss. She does, and the Hazrax confirms that the fox’s soul is still there, following her like a shadow.
Determined to bring Onyx back, Saeris listens as the Hazrax warns that the attempt will permanently destroy the rune she uses to break magical oaths, her only tool for freeing her other friends. She chooses to do it anyway, and Kingfisher stands by her. She pushes a massive amount of magic into Onyx, and it nearly kills her.
Onyx briefly wakes, but his wounds are too severe. Saeris has nothing left, so she reaches deeper and finds a different kind of energy she’s never felt before. She channels it into the fox, and a surge of power rolls through the mountainside just as the sun rises over Ajun.
Brimstone Chapter 50: Knight
Saeris comes to as Kingfisher carries her up the mountainside. Onyx is alive and acting like himself, which makes the cost worth it. The breaking rune is gone, and her other marks cause her real pain, but Kingfisher tells her she’s done something miraculous.
They reach Ajun Sky just ahead of Belikon’s soldiers. Renfis meets them at the entrance, lets them in, and the city’s defenses turn back the arrows and spells. He explains that his oath mark pulled him back to the mountain. He had buried his twin sister at the peak, which made him a member of the Ajun Fae and earned him a place among the Knights of Orrithian guarding the second gate.
Kingfisher has a grim history with that gate. Belikon forced him through it at eleven to get rid of him. He survived, but it left him with silver‑rimmed eyes and deep trauma. Renfis adds that the gate has grown unstable. A creature came through and killed the previous six knights, and now it opens for three hours every day while the wards are close to breaking.
Renfis leads Saeris and Kingfisher straight to the gate. Kingfisher says they have to go through it for the brimstone they need to stop the rot. As Renfis opens the door to reveal a roiling black pool, Kingfisher tells Saeris the place on the other side is called Diaxis. He usually just calls it hell.
Brimstone Chapter 51: The Obvious . . .
Kingfisher makes it very clear that he hates dragons.
Brimstone Chapter 52: Promises and Hope
Saeris and Khydan step into Diaxis and face a massive dragon named Arissan. Khydan demands a meeting with Styx, the god who rules the realm. Arissan blasts fire at them but aims wide, not out of mercy, only to keep Khydan alive for judgment.
Soon after, Saeris and Khydan lose consciousness and wake in chains above a huge crowd. When lowered down, Khydan kills one attacker and cuts the arm off another before an invisible force slams them to their knees. Two brothers step forward, Crave and Githrand. Crave wants to know how Khydan got his sword. Githrand says Khydan will be executed for killing a dragon’s child and Ereth, a holy emissary, and he threatens Saeris with a life of misery.
Khydan breaks free, raises a wall of shadows, and overpowers both brothers. Their magic is no match for his. He pulls Saeris close, tells her he loves her, then grabs Crave and demands to see Styx and make a trade. The god of this realm is his father.
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