Page 56 of Quicksilver

Would it be the same here with this quicksilver? Or was I going to have to pass another test with this pool? The pain that I'd borne dealing with that tiny amount of silver in the forge had been crippling. The pain that would be meted out by this amount of quicksilver would break me.

There was only one way to find out.

The silver in the forge had felt like a small weight in the center of my mind. Just a slight pressure. When I closed my eyes and reached out here, the silver was a sea, bottomless and vast, andIwas the small weight floating on top of it.I wasn't drowning in it, though. I felt safe, bobbing on the surface of it. I could sink down into it if I wanted to. Let it rise up over me and cocoon me from the world.

I breathed deep and reached out with my hand, reaching my fingertips to the cold, hard surface of the silver, and I spoke to it.

Wake up.

It happened fast. One second the pool was solid. The next, it was a shining banner of liquid silver, glinting as it undulated in the torch light. A loud hum filled my ears, unnatural and discordant. An unpleasant sound, but I found myself mesmerized by it, my mind drifting away from itself...

Come. Join us, Saeris. Come...

Yes. I would go. I would enter the pool, and everything would be all right. I would go back to...back...Wheredid I want to go?

My foot hovered above the surface of the pool. Just an inch. That's all it would take, and I would go...

A terrible wind howled through the cavern. The tip of my slipper kissed the silver, but before I could step forward, a wall of shifting, glittering black sand slammed into me, knocking me back.

I went down hard, landing on my side, my hip exploding with pain. Breath rushed into my lungs, ice-cold, so freezing that I let out an audible gasp of shock. I was—I—

Oh, gods.

Kingfisher.

He emerged from the cloud of black smoke like a night terror stepping through the shadowy gates of hell. He wore the same shirt he'd been wearing in the forge. The same pants, too. But now, he also wore his chest protector and his gorget, and in his hand, he held Nimerelle aloft, the black sword crackling with an unseen power that drew that darkness to it like a shroud.

Kingfisher's boots planted firmly on the lip of the pool. There he stayed, blocking the path between me and my brother. His eyes blazed. “I'm hurt. Leaving without saying goodbye?”

I propped myself up on one elbow, then managed to sit up, wincing at the sharp bolt of pain that fired through my side. “I don't owe you a goodbye. I don't owe you anything!”

“YOU OWE ME YOURLIFE!”His fury echoed through the cavern, setting the quicksilver churning. Stepping down fromthe pool, he prowled forward, a predator about to fall on his prey, and for the first time in my life, I knewtruefear.

Fisherwasdeath incarnate, and he was coming right for me.

Whatever pain I'd worried about waking so much quicksilver, paled in comparison to the horrors Kingfisher's cold expression promised. He grabbed me by the ankle and yanked me roughly toward him, dragging me across the floor. In less than a second, I was pinned beneath his massive body, and Nimerelle was at my throat.

“Rule number three. Do not make me do any physical activity,” he snarled. “What part about'I am hungover'did you not fucking understand!”

My eyes burned brightly, promising tears.“I'm going home, Fisher. You can't stop me.”

He jabbed me with his sword, pricking me with its wicked point. “Apparently, Ican.”

“You're such a bastard,” I hissed.

He bared his teeth. “And you are a lying little thief.”

“I am not!”

His eyes were greener than ever. The quicksilver within them jittered, vibrating wildly. Fisher glowered down at my hand. At my thumb specifically, and the plain silver signet ring I was wearing on it. “Really? Because I believe you're wearing my ring, and I don't remember fuckinggivingit to you.”

“Fine, yes, I took your stupid ring, but I didn't lie to you!” I tried to swat Nimerelle away, but the second my hand touched the blackened blade, ungodly agony tore through me. I screamed, pulling my hand back, but the flesh where my palm had met the metal was charred to a crisp.

“Only the person sealed to it can touch an active Alchimeran sword. I would have warned you not to do that, but you never listen to me, do you, human? I decided not to waste my breath,” he spat.

The tears came hot and fast now, brought on by anger more than the pain. I hiccupped softly. “Bastard.”

“You like calling me that, don't you. Knock yourself out. Youdidlie. You lied with your body. With your mouth. You crawled up into my lap, and kissed me, and rubbed yourself all over me, and used the opportunity totakesomething from me.”