Page 194 of Quicksilver

“Well, it's hardly something you justtellpeople, Fane. And anyway, my grandmother made me promise not to.”

“Except she wasn't your grandmother, was she!”

Carrion pulled a face. “No, not really. She was more of a ward. Or a playmate when she was little. And then a friend. And thenIwasherward. I don't know, it always got very complicated as people aged.”

I shook my head, still valiantly trying to put all of the pieces together. “So, Fisher's father took you to Zilvaren when you were little to save you from Belikon. He glamored your ears and your canines so you wouldn't stand out. He brought a bag of books along with you, so you could learn about your heritage and return when the time was right. And…some woman saved you?”

“Her name was Orlena,” Carrion said. “Orlena Parry. She was a slave in Madra’s palace. But that night, the night she pulled me out of the quicksilver, she fled the palace and escaped. She went to the Third, knowing she could get lost in the crowd there. And that’s where she stayed. She found work as a seamstress andsecured somewhere for us to live. She raised me like I was her own son.”

I couldn’t believe it. I squinted at him, this Fae version of him, his true form, and almost burst out laughing. “And you were trapped there when Madra closed the gates. And then you spent the next thousand odd years just...livingin Zilvaren?”

“That’s pretty much the long and short of it,” Carrion said. “I had the books that Finran brought for me, about the Fae and my people. Orlena got married when I was nine and took the name Swift. She had a daughter not long after. Petra. Petra grew up and had a daughter, too. The books were passed down the female line, and so was I. They kept me out of trouble as best they could and made sure I kept a lookout for signs that the quicksilver had opened again. They thought it was cruel that I was stuck in the Silver City and that I should go home and rule my people. The females of the Swift line have always been very bossy and overly concerned about my love life.”

“So you knew what to expect when the quicksilver awakened again?”

He laughed. “Nope. Not even a little bit. But I felt it, that day when you were taken up to the palace. Something shifting in the air. A kind of energy that felt familiar somehow. I recognized it the second time it happened, and somehow, I justknewit had something to do with you. I went to The Mirage to see if you’d escaped, and that’s where Fisher found me. I really did say I was Hayden because I thought I was protecting him, Saeris. I hope you believe that.”

“It’s okay. I know.” I really did believe him.

Gods, how interlinked this all was. Fisher’s father had been the one to secret the true heir to the throne out of Yvelia. A thousand years later, his son had been the one to bring him back. It meant something. What, I couldn’t say, but I was sure we were all going to find out soon enough.

And all of this time, there had been a Fae royal living in the Third, smuggling goods, starting fights, and generally making a nuisance of himself. I was on the verge of asking Carrion how he preserved his sanity while the people he cared about were born, grew up, lived their lives, and died of old age, but I already knew the answer to that question, and I didn't want to hear him say something lewd about whiskey and women.

Speaking of which. I glared at him even harder. “Yousleptwith me.”

He grinned shamelessly. “You're welcome.”

“Carrion!”

“What? You've been fucking Fisherfor the past gods only knows how long!”

“Yes, but I knew what he was when I decided to sleep with him. And he was my mate.”

Carrion huffed. Folding his arms over his chest, he rolled his eyes and sighed. “All right. I'm sorry I didn't disclose to you that I was a magic-wielding political asylum seeker, posing as a human when I slept with you. Does that make you feel better?”

“No.”

“Ahh, come on, Fane!” He nudged me with his elbow. “I’m Fae now. You’re Fae now. Kind of. It’s all water under the bridge. You're only grumpy with me because you were worried about me. Go on. Ask me how I survived Malcolm's all-powerful venom. I can tell you're just dying to know.”

“Lorreth already told me, actually. So there.” Lorreth had been the second person to visit me after Taladaius had left my room. He’d laughed when he’d seen my Fae ears. Laughed a little less enthusiastically when he saw just how sharp my teeth were. The first thing he'd told me was that Everlayne was alive, and Ren was watching over her, though she had fallen into a deep sleep and couldn't be roused. Te Léna and Iseabail were confident that she would wake any day, though. He'dthen stayed for over an hour and explained much of what had happened after I'd bolted back into the labyrinth. I'd been sick with guilt when he'd told me how all three of them had nearly died at Belikon's hands while they bought me time to find the coin. He'd called me crazy when I'd apologized for taking so long and said that it had felt like a miracle when the wind had swept away all of the death magic and allowed their swords to channel again. Madra had fled through the quicksilver immediately. Belikon had put up a prodigious fight, but the second Lorreth's angel breath had torn out of Avisiéth, he, too, had fled like a fucking coward.

“Oh really?” Carrion quirked a dubious eyebrow at me. “And how did Lorreth of the Broken Spire tell it? Let me guess. He said my blood was too rancid to be affected by vampire venom.”

“No, he said that your father's blood was used to create the blood curse that allowed Malcolm to become a vampire, and that a vampire can't drink from the living members of the bloodline that created them, nor can they enthrall them. He said that drinking from you should have killed Malcolm instantly, but because he had lived for so long, he was too powerful.”

“Hmm.” Carrion grunted. “That's pretty accurate, actually.”

“He also said that's why Malcolm had Belikon kill your parents. That they were the only thing that posed a threat to him.”

Again, Carrion grunted. He wasn't grinning anymore. “I barely remember them.”

“I do.”

My heart stuttered in my chest. I'd been waiting for him to come for what felt like an age. Fisher stood just inside the door, a stony look on his face as he nodded to Carrion. His expression softened for me.

Hey, you,he whispered into my mind.

Hey back, I answered.