QUICK LINKS: Quicksilver Recap by Chapter 1–11 | 12–19 | 20–26 | 27–35 | 36–41 // Fae & Alchemy Book 2 Summary
Quicksilver Chapters 42–45 Summary
This chapter-by-chapter summary of Quicksilver by Callie Hart contains spoilers.
Quicksilver Chapter 42: That’ll Cost You
Belikon is badly wounded but alive. In the scene, Malcolm tries to attack Kingfisher, but Lorreth intercepts him with his sword, stopping the attack. Kingfisher orders everyone to run toward the labyrinth. Saeris stays behind to fight Harron and snaps his neck while Carrion holds off several monsters. The group flees into the maze as Malcolm shouts that it will be their tomb.
Kingfisher uses his knowledge of the shifting obsidian walls to lead them through. They encounter Morthil, a spider demon that senses movement and stuns its victims. Saeris focuses on the resonance of the quicksilver pool to find the hidden path. The group fights past the demon, though Kingfisher warns it will eventually return.
At the center of the labyrinth, the group finds a massive pile of silver coins, and the Triumvirate is already waiting. Belikon boasts that the three rulers can’t be killed individually because they share a single source of power.
Carrion steps forward and provokes Malcolm into biting him, then reveals that his royal blood is a deadly poison to vampires. As Malcolm begins to convulse, Kingfisher tells Saeris to find the original coin and end the game.
Saeris runs back into the tunnels as the Widow’s Bane wears off and the pain returns. She communicates with the sentient quicksilver and promises it a small favor in exchange for its help. In this moment of clarity, she finally accepts that Kingfisher is her true mate, and the magical bindings on her skin become permanent. She locates the demon’s body and reaches into its throat to retrieve the hidden coin.
Just as she grabs it, Malcolm catches her by the wrist.
Quicksilver Chapter 43: Another Way
Malcolm is dying from Carrion’s poison but still fights Saeris for the coin. He demands that she use her Alchemy to heal him, and when she refuses, he throws her against a wall. Malcolm notices the mating marks on her skin and vows she’ll heal him, help him build a new army, and watch Kingfisher submit to his will.
Saeris stabs Malcolm in the throat, but he strikes back with a fatal blow to her stomach. As she lies dying, she reveals she’s already stolen the coin. She flips it and releases hundreds of thousands of Fae souls trapped in the amphitheater. Devastated by the loss of his army, Malcolm is left vulnerable. Saeris uses her last strength to behead him with Solace, and his body is consumed by blue flames. She then uses her mental connection with Kingfisher to guide him to her before losing consciousness.
When Saeris wakes, Kingfisher and Taladaius are standing over her. Her injuries are terminal. Kingfisher offers to give her a piece of his own soul, but Taladaius stops him since he’s already sacrificed too much of his soul saving Lorreth. Saeris refuses the offer and warns Kingfisher she’ll reject their mating bond forever if he uses magic to compel her to live.
Taladaius proposes a different solution and offers to turn Saeris into a vampire, explaining she’ll become a powerful Lord rather than a mindless monster. As Saeris loses her grip on life, he asks for her final consent. Kingfisher answers on her behalf.
Quicksilver Chapter 44: Axis
Saeris drifts in and out of consciousness while the amphitheater falls apart around her. She hears a voice from the quicksilver that offers her a choice to pass on to the afterlife or stay and endure more hardship. Saeris decides to stay because she’s not ready to leave Kingfisher behind.
The quicksilver takes its payment immediately and pulls Saeris away from Kingfisher. An invisible force drags her through the maze and shoves her deep into a pool of liquid metal.
Saeris wakes in a bright field and meets two young goddesses, Bal and Mithin. They lead her to a huge oak tree with roots that reach into the quicksilver. This is where she meets Zareth, the God of Chaos and Change.
Zareth explains that the tree holds all the different worlds and that a sickness is spreading through them. He tells Saeris that she and Kingfisher are a powerful spark that draws disaster. In almost every version of the future where they remain together, the world ends in total destruction.
Then, Zareth admits that he tried to change Saeris’s fate by making her human, but she and Kingfisher found each other anyway. Zareth offers to cut her life’s thread away from the universal tapestry. This would hide Saeris from the sight of the gods and let her live on her own terms. He believes this is the only way to protect Kingfisher and prevent the coming catastrophe. Saeris agrees to the change, and the god shoves her back into the silver pool.
Quicksilver Chapter 45: Choose Wisely
Saeris wakes feeling incredibly sick, with no memory of how she arrived. Taladaius explains she’s successfully transitioned, and when he holds up a mirror, she sees pointed Fae ears and vampire fangs. She immediately asks about Kingfisher. Taladaius assures her he’s safe but withholds his location for now.
Taladaius confesses he suppressed Saeris’s memories to protect her from the initial shock. When he lifts the block, she remembers being bitten and her strange encounter with the god Zareth. She also recalls biting Taladaius, though he assures her she caused no real damage. Saeris feels conflicted about her new immortality. Taladaius speaks of the long centuries he spent under Malcolm’s control and warns her to choose her immortal life carefully.
Later, Saeris confronts Carrion about his true identity. He’s the heir to a lost throne, hidden by Kingfisher’s father to keep him from Belikon. Orlena Parry rescued Carrion from the quicksilver pool, and her family kept his secret until the gates reopened. He explains how the awakening of the quicksilver led him to where Kingfisher eventually found him. Carrion apologizes for the deception but suggests Saeris’s anger is only a mask for how worried she’s been.
Saeris tells Carrion she’s already pieced together part of the story. Lorreth mentioned that Carrion survived Malcolm’s bite because his royal blood was toxic, which is the same reason Malcolm murdered his parents.
Kingfisher arrives and asks Carrion to leave. He tells Saeris they’re in Ammontraíeth and that the healers are finally finding a way to remove the quicksilver from his eyes. Then he delivers startling news that, since Saeris killed Malcolm, the vampire court has declared her the new Queen of Sanasroth.
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