Page 21 of Quicksilver

“I take it...we're not in the Silver City, then,” I said slowly.

She smiled. “We're not.”

My stomach rolled. “Then where are we?”

“Yvelia.” She beamed, as though her one-word answer explained my entire situation.

“And...where is that?”

“Yvelia!More specifically, the Winter Palace. Didn't your mother's bedtime stories tell you anyth—”

The door crashed open.

Cold light flooded in from the hallway beyond, and a monster clad in leather armor prowled into the room, eliciting a gasp out of Everlayne. His eyes were the darkest brown, his fair skinsplattered with what looked like mud. His sandy brown hair hung past his shoulders, the top part sectioned and tied back into a war braid. He was frighteningly tall, his bare, muscular forearms covered in intricate, interwoven tattoos that blurred as my eyes tried to focus on them. The murderous look on his face softened somewhat when he saw Everlayne.

Everlayne, however, had turned purple. “Renfis! What in all five hells! You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Chagrinned, he hung his head. And there they were: another set of pointed ears. This time, they were tipped red with embarrassment. “Layne,” the male said. His voice was lightly accented, the words lilting, though made harsh by his deep register. “Sorry. I didn't know you were in here.”

“Clearly. You nearly ripped the damned door off its hinges. It’s polite to knockbeforeyou hurl yourself into a room.”

The male—Renfis—glanced briefly in my direction, eyes shifting over me where I lay in the bed, before returning his attention to Everlayne. “Right. Sorry. Manners have never been my strong suit. Irrín’s destroyed what little etiquette I had to begin with.”

Everlayne’s mouth twitched. Was she trying not to smile? “Whyareyou bursting in here, anyway?” she asked.

“I came to find the human.” Renfis’s eyes darted to me again. “He needs his chain back.”

“His chain? Oh!” Everlayne's frown mirrored my own, but hers disappeared a split second after it formed. She'd obviously worked out what Renfis was referring to while I was still in the dark. Turning to me, she looked at the hollow of my throat, her lips drawing into a small pout. “She might still need it,” she said.

I raised my hand to my throat. The second my fingertips found the cool metal resting against my skin there, I remembered. Death, dressed in midnight, taking a chain fromhis neck and looping it around mine. Death, scooping me up into his arms. The look of disappointment in his eyes. Death—

“Believe me. He needs it more than she does right now,” Renfis said darkly.

Suddenly, the chain felt like a noose around my neck. What the hell was it? And why had the male who had carried me away from Madra's palace put it onme?

Everlayne got to her feet.“It's only been ten days. He shouldn’t be affected yet, surely?”

“He’sstruggling,” the warrior said awkwardly. “He shouldn't have been without it at all. It gets worse every time he takes it off. If your father finds out he's even here—”

“I know, I know. Gods. I want toseehim, Ren. This is getting ridiculous.”

Renfis looked at his boots. “He wasn’t in any fit state. Still isn’t. The best thing you can do for him right now is help me get the pendant back to him.”

The set of Everlayne’s shoulders was stiff. The two of them traded a tense look, but she dipped her head and sighed. Turning to me, she said, “All right. Fine. Saeris, I hate to ask, but the chain you're wearing around your neck...”

I was already fumbling with the clasp, trying to get the damned thing off. If the savage who owned the necklace wanted it back, I wouldn’t give him a reason to come and get it himself. A cold shiver shot through me as I finally managed to unfasten the chain and offered it out to Everlayne.

I hadn't noticed it before, but there was something dangling from the necklace—a small silver disc. A family crest, perhaps? The disc was engraved with tiny markings, but I'd be damned if I was going to study it up close. Now that it wasn't hanging around my neck anymore, the chain felt like it was humming. The strangest energy fired up and down my arm, not painful but certainly not a pleasant sensation. And it was cold.Socold. Bythe time Renfis strode across the room and stopped by the bed, holding out a small, black velvet pouch, the chain might as well have been made of ice.

“Drop it inside,” Renfis said. He held the mouth of the pouch open, very careful not to let the chain touch his skin while I did as he'd bade me. As soon as the chain had disappeared inside, the warrior pulled a tie on either side of the pouch, cinching it shut. Without another word, he spun away and made for the door.

“I want to see him before he goes, at least,” Everlayne called after Renfis. “There are things I need to ask him.”

Renfis paused, his massive frame filling the doorway. “He has to leave, Layne. I’ve kept him hidden this long by luck alone. The guards are starting to get suspicious. If they find out he’s here...”

Everlayne looked down at her feet. “Yes, you’re right.”

“He's needed back in Cahlish, anyway. Write to him if you have to. Visit in a month or two. But having him stay here a moment longer than necessary would be,”—He chose his last words carefully—”...ill-advised.”