Title: Quicksilver
Series: Fae & Alchemy #1
Author: Callie Hart
Genre: Fantasy Romance, Adult
Published: June 4, 2024 by Grand Central Publishing
Kindle Page Count: 615 pages
Audio Length: 20 hours and 41 minutes (Podium Audio)
Goodreads: 4.34 (out of 5)
My Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)
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In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn't much a girl wouldn't do for a glass of water.
Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen's reservoirs for as long as she can remember.
But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.
When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently re-opens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares... but it turns out they're real, and Saeris has landed herself in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.
The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist's magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him . . . or her.
Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he's the only way Saeris is going to make it home.
Be careful of the deals you make, dear child. The devil is in the details . . .
TROPE GUIDE: Enemies to Lovers | Different Worlds | Forced Proximity | Slow Burn | Touch Her and Die
QUICK LINKS: Quicksilver Recap by Chapter 12–19 | 20–26 | 27–35 | 36–41 | 42–45 // Fae & Alchemy Book 2 Summary
Disclaimer: This is a Quicksilver summary. The original work is the property of Callie Hart and Grand Central Publishing.
Quicksilver Book Summary
This Callie Hart Quicksilver chapter summary contains spoilers.
Quicksilver Chapter 1: The Climb
Saeris Fane slips into the forbidden Hub of Zilvaren City and almost immediately runs into a royal guardian, the same kind of soldier who murdered her mother and her neighbor years ago. She keeps her real name hidden but admits she’s from the Third Ward. That detail alone sets the guardian on edge since the ward is notorious for a deadly plague. Saeris fakes a few symptoms, and the soldier backs off in disgust. He tears off his golden gauntlet and throws it to the ground rather than risk infection.
With quick hands, Saeris snatches the gauntlet and climbs the massive wall separating the city wards. That much gold is a small fortune, maybe enough to finally get her and her brother Hayden out of Zilvaren for good. At the top, she notices a faint pulse coming from inside the metal but shakes it off. She plans to melt the gauntlet down, take the money, and leave their old lives behind.
Quicksilver Chapter 2: Glassmaker
Saeris brings the gauntlet to Elroy’s workshop, but the old glassmaker refuses it outright. He warns her that holding stolen armor from the queen’s guard will doom everyone involved. He then brings up the execution of her mother and her secret ability to manipulate metal. Saeris brushes off his fears and walks out, the gold still clutched in her hands.
Later, Saeris finds Hayden sprawled in the sand outside a tavern called The House of Kala. Carrion Swift, a notorious smuggler and her former lover, beat him up. She hands the satchel to Hayden and goes inside to deal with Carrion, who claims Hayden tried to stab him first. Carrion then admits he already knows about the stolen gauntlet. He warns that if the guardians find it in the Third Ward, they’ll burn the whole place down.
Carrion offers to move the gauntlet to his warehouse outside the ward. Saeris knows he’s right and promises to sort it out. But when she steps back outside, Hayden is gone and so is the satchel.
Quicksilver Chapter 3: The Kindest Purpose
Saeris rushes to The Mirage and finds at least thirty guardians surrounding Hayden, who’s holding the stolen gauntlet and looks frozen with fear. He tries to claim he stole the armor to protect his sister, but Saeris steps forward and confesses to the crime herself.
Violence erupts when Saeris refuses arrest. She pulls a hidden blade and fights with startling skill. By the end, she has killed two guardians and maimed a third. The captain declares she’s signed her own death warrant.
Saeris knows she’ll be executed, so she pushes Hayden away before the fallout reaches him. She turns cruel on purpose, tells him he’s been a burden his entire life, and orders him never to follow her. Her words cut deep, and Hayden grows angry and hurt.
Quicksilver Chapter 4: The Price
Saeris sits in a tiny cell for six hours, thinking about her old dreams of the palace, the innocent kind that died the day the crown executed her mother. Since then, her only goal has been to kill Queen Madra. When Harron finally arrives for her, he questions her combat skills. Saeris stays stubborn and sarcastic the whole way to the queen.
Badly dehydrated, Saeris drinks greedily from the canteen Harron offers. She confronts him about the cruelty of the crown, arguing that the government is slowly poisoning the Third Ward and turning common people into a force for rebellion. Harron ignores her and keeps moving.
Saeris and Harron enter a locked chamber that once served as a hall of mirrors, with a strange platform in the center. Queen Madra appears, younger and more beautiful than Saeris expected.
The queen calls Saeris a liar and accuses her of being an assassin sent by the mythical Fae. Saeris reels, baffled, because she believes the Fae exist only in legends. Madra explains the room exists as a barrier against her Fae enemies, orders Harron to execute Saeris, and promises to destroy the entire Third Ward so no one else ever dares to rebel.
Quicksilver Chapter 5: Heretic
Before Queen Madra leaves, she orders Harron to torture Saeris until her screams fill the palace. Harron stabs Saeris in the stomach and shoulder, but the pain wakes something hidden inside her. When he moves to strike again, the dagger stops an inch from her chest. Saeris melts the blade with her will alone, and the molten silver crawls toward Harron as if hunting him.
Bleeding fast, Saeris crawls to an ancient sword buried in the stone platform, cuts her bindings with it, and pulls the weapon free. She wounds Harron, but the moment she draws the sword out, the floor shifts into a roiling pool of liquid silver.
A figure in black armor rises from the pool. Saeris recognizes him as Death. He kills Harron, places a warm silver chain around her neck, and carries her down into the silver as the world goes dark.
Quicksilver Chapter 6: Everlayne
Saeris wakes in Yvelia, her wounds already healed by Fae magic. Everlayne has been caring for her, but their conversation breaks off when Renfis storms in and demands the silver chain the stranger in black had fastened around Saeris’s neck. Saeris hands the chain over, then panics as she realizes how much time has slipped away since she blacked out. She insists on returning to Zilvaren for her brother, but Everlayne blocks her path. Because Saeris drew the ancient sword, the Fae consider her too important to release.
Before Saeris’s meeting with King Belikon De Barra, she takes a bath, and guilt gnaws at her as she thinks of her family back home, who could never have afforded that much water. Afterward, Everlayne ignores Saeris’s protests, dresses her in a royal blue gown, and braids her hair.
When Saeris looks into the mirror, she barely recognizes herself. She sees a highborn stranger, not the street‑hardened woman she’d been only days ago.
Quicksilver Chapter 7: The Dog
Saeris walks through the Winter Palace with Everlayne and discovers a surprising connection between the Fae gods and the twin suns of her homeland.
When guards bring Saeris before King Belikon, he delivers devastating news. Queen Madra has already destroyed the Third Ward and killed Saeris’s brother. Belikon brushes past her grief and declares she owes a life debt to the Fae. He commands her to use her connection to the sword to reopen ancient portals.
The mood shifts when guards drag forward a feral prisoner named Kingfisher for judgment. Belikon intends to execute him, but an oracle named Malwae interrupts, claiming the gods forbid Kingfisher’s death and demanding his pendant be returned. General Renfis also pleads for Kingfisher’s life, arguing the Fae army needs him to win their failing war. The king agrees to spare him on the condition that Kingfisher stays for one week to assist Saeris.
Once Kingfisher has the pendant, he regains his sanity. Saeris gets her first clear look at the man who saved her and finds him deeply unsettling. As Saeris and Everlayne leave, Everlayne warns her that the Fae are masters of deception and their friendly smiles often hide dangerous secrets.
Quicksilver Chapter 8: Alchemist
Everlayne takes Saeris to the grand library the next morning, the structure a sharp contrast to the decaying archives back in Zilvaren. A friendly librarian named Rusarius meets them, and Kingfisher and Renfis soon join them too. During their discussion, Rusarius suspects Saeris might be an Alchemist with enough Fae blood to have drawn the ancient sword.
When the group tries to start a history lesson, Saeris tells them she has no interest in Fae etiquette while her home is in ruins and her brother is missing. Kingfisher offers a different angle. Queen Madra likely conscripted the people of the Third Ward to build an army against a Fae invasion instead of killing them all. That possibility is enough to make Saeris cooperate.
The conversation turns to the war the Fae are losing against Sanasroth. Kingfisher asks about Saeris’s abilities. She admits she’s spent years in a forge, can sense the energy inside different metals, and has used that power to manipulate objects before. Her confession is exactly what the Fae hoped to hear.
Quicksilver Chapter 9: Righteous Purpose
Kingfisher ignores Everlayne and Renfis and leads Saeris straight to an abandoned forge. On the way, he reveals that the Fae once suffered from a blood curse and that he’s Everlayne’s brother. His callous attitude reduces Everlayne to tears, and she leaves with Renfis close behind. Saeris stays, knowing Kingfisher is her best chance at finding a way home.
The forge is in total neglect. Kingfisher explains that the royal archivist let the place fall apart, but he refuses to help Saeris clean it, believing magic should only be used for things that truly matter. He also admits he saved Saeris only because her ability to activate the quicksilver makes her useful. He then explains that his silver pendant protects him from the madness of the quicksilver, the substance that forms the pools between realms.
After Saeris spends hours cleaning by hand, Kingfisher restores the entire room with a single use of magic. Saeris is furious. He shows no remorse and tells her he wanted to see how she handled a difficult task.
Quicksilver Chapter 10: Crumbs
The next morning, Saeris apologizes to Everlayne and joins her in the library, where Rusarius is already locked in an argument with Renfis over Kingfisher’s insistence on eating at the clerk’s table.
Kingfisher storms out, telling Saeris to meet him at the forge that afternoon. Renfis and Everlayne grieve over how much Kingfisher has changed. Everlayne fears the kind brother she once loved has been lost to his long exile.
As Saeris begins her first lesson in Alchemy, she’s surprised to find she can already read Fae script. Everlayne suspects this is due to Queen Madra’s cultural influence over centuries. The group discusses the mystery of Madra’s unusually long life and her use of an Alchimeran sword to block the quicksilver portals. Saeris also learns that Fae can live for thousands of years. Everlayne is over fourteen hundred years old, and Kingfisher is older than seventeen hundred.
Kingfisher, who’s been listening nearby, corrects Everlayne about his exact age and takes Saeris to the forge.
There, Saeris confronts Kingfisher about his dark past and the destruction of a city. He doesn’t deny it and only says his punishment was a form of hell. He forces her to hold raw quicksilver in her palm, a sensation somewhere between freezing and burning. Saeris endures his insults, pushes past the pain, and takes control of the liquid metal. Kingfisher admits he’s surprised. Saeris punches him in the mouth.
Quicksilver Chapter 11: Swallow
Everlayne helps Saeris dress but still feels frustrated that Saeris struck Kingfisher. She lets the matter go and begins sharing Kingfisher’s complicated family history. Kingfisher is Everlayne’s older half‑brother, the son of their mother’s first husband, a Southern lord branded a traitor. The king married their mother only to seize her wealth and has resented Kingfisher ever since.
Alone, Saeris turns over the mysterious phrase she spoke to the quicksilver. Kingfisher arrives with food and starts teasing her, but Everlayne storms in and accuses her brother of spending the night in a brothel. Kingfisher realizes the smell is coming from Saeris, yet he takes the blame to spare her the embarrassment. Before leaving, he warns Saeris to prepare for another intense training session.
At the library, Rusarius explains that any Alchemist traveling through a quicksilver pool must hold their destination firmly in mind, and he confirms that a gateway lies deep beneath the Winter Palace. Saeris listens carefully. She’s already planning her escape and knows she can use that pool to return to Zilvaren, but she wants to finish one final task first.