Quicksilver by Callie Hart is the first book in the Fae & Alchemy series, originally indie released in 2024. Callie Hart is the USA Today bestselling author of this spiiiicy enemies-to-lovers romantasy, and she teleports us into a world of secrets and magic, supernatural creatures, and an intense bond (or two) that defies time and space.
With snarky banter, action, and a romance that blazes hotter than Zilvaren’s two suns, you’ll want to read Quicksilver before its sequel, Brimstone, comes out on November 18, 2025—and definitely before the Netflix adaptation drops. 🤞
Here’s the jump-to:
- Quicksilver character guide
- list of known gods
- locations
- Quicksilver plot summary
- book ending
- left unanswered/predictions
- favorite quotes
- book review
Important: this guide contains MAJOR SPOILERS. If you haven’t read Quicksilver yet, go do that and come back!
Quicksilver characters
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Saeris Fane | A skilled thief from Zilvaren’s Third Ward with hidden Alchemist abilities. She is marked as Kingfisher’s mate (he sometimes calls her Little Osha). |
| Kingfisher (Fisher) | Hunky fae warrior & exiled prince. Bound to Saeris. Carries quicksilver within him. Known as the Bane of Gillethrye. |
| Hayden Fane | Saeris’s dumb af younger brother whom she cares for after their parents’ deaths. Impulsive and often finds trouble. |
| Elroy | Master blacksmith in the Third Ward & Saeris’s mentor and father figure. Was in love with Saeris’s mother. |
| Carrion Swift | Handsome former lover of Saeris with a reputation in Zalvaren as a gambler, cheat, and smuggler. Revealed to be Carrion Daianthus, the lost heir to the fae throne. |
| Queen Madra | The Undying Queen of Zilvaren. Rules oppressively and restricts water. Revealed to be part of the ruling Triumvirate with Belikon (her brother) and Malcolm. |
| Captain Harron | Stern captain of Madra’s guard. Captures and tortures Saeris. Killed by Saeris. Revealed to be infected by quicksilver. |
| Everlayne (Layne) De Barra | Fae princess of Yvelia and daughter of King Belikon. Half-sister to Kingfisher. Befriends Saeris. Enthralled by Malcolm. |
| Renfis (Ren) Orithian | General of the Yvelian army and Kingfisher’s closest friend. Oath Bound fae. |
| Lorreth | Member of Kingfisher’s Lupo Proelia (wolves). Wields the reforged sword Avisiéth after singing to it. Fisher saved him by sacrificing part of his own soul. |
| Danya | High-born fae warrior and member of Kingfisher’s Lupo Proelia. Resentful of Kingfisher. Deservedly loses her hand touching Avisiéth. |
| King Belikon De Barra | King of the Yvelian fae and Everlayne’s father. Kingfisher’s stepfather. Cruel and manipulative, he allied with Malcolm and Madra. Kingfisher kills him. |
| Malcolm | Ancient high fae vampire king of Sanasroth. Allied with Belikon and Madra. Saeris kills him after Carrion poisoned him with his blood. |
| Taladaius | High fae vampire with blonde hair, dark eyes, and luminous skin. Malcolm’s second. Didn’t want to live anymore. With her consent, turns Saeris into a half-fae/half-vampire hybrid to save her life. Might be bonded to her now?? AKA Lord of Midnight. |
| Te Léna | Fae healer at Cahlish who tries to help Fisher with his quicksilver affliction. |
| Iseabail | Granddaughter of the Balquhidder High Witch. Agrees to help break Everlayne’s enthrallment. |
| Onyx | Feisty, small white fox Saeris befriends and adopts. |
| Archer | Fire sprite loyal to Kingfisher at Cahlish. |
Quicksilver gods
| God | Description |
|---|---|
| Styx | God of shadows |
| Kurin | God of secrets |
| Nicinnai | Goddess of masks |
| Maleus | God of dawn and new beginnings |
| Balmithin | Twin sister goddesses—Bal and Mithin. Bal is the goddess of the sun/day, Mithin is the goddess of the moon/night. Zilvaren’s suns, Balea and Min, are named after them. |
| Zareth | God of chaos and change. Fae touch his statue’s foot to guide his attention away from them. Intervenes in Saeris’s fate at the end of the book. |
| Balea and Min | Zilvaren’s twin suns. Tied to the goddesses Balmithin (Bal and Mithin), but not worshipped in Zilvaren. |
| The Corcoran | Collective name for the Fae gods, also referred to as the Seven Gods by Renfis? |
| Forgotten Gods | Mentioned by Saeris as deities whose names and temples were lost to the desert in Zilvaren. |
Locations in Quicksilver
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| Zilvaren City | The “Silver City” where Saeris lives; ruled by Queen Madra. Divided into wards. There is no night due to its two suns. |
| Third Ward | Poorest (and quarantined) ward of Zilvaren. Saeris and Hayden’s home. Characters suffer from lack of clean water and food from Queen Madra’s rule. |
| The Hub | The elite central district of Zilvaren. |
| Elroy’s Forge | Blacksmith shop owned by Elroy in the Third Ward where Saeris apprenticed. |
| House of Kala | Tavern in the Third Ward known for trade and gambling. Owned by Brynn. |
| The Mirage | Tavern where Saeris and Hayden secretly lived in the attic. |
| Yvelia | The fae realm ruled by the corrupt King Belikon (stepfather to Fisher). Characterized by cold and snow. |
| Winter Palace | King Belikon’s royal seat in Yvelia. |
| Hall of Mirrors | Location within Madra’s palace containing the quicksilver pool/gateway to Yvelia. |
| Cahlish | Kingfisher’s ancestral home/fiefdom on the Yvelian borderlands. Near the war front with Sanasroth. |
| Irrìn | The war camp near Cahlish on the border with Sanasroth, across the river Darn. |
| Sanasroth | The enemy realm ruled by Malcolm, land of vampires and feeders. Described as a charred wasteland. |
| Ammontraíeth | Malcolm’s fortress in Sanasroth—Hell’s teeth. |
| Gillethrye | Ancient fae city destroyed by Kingfisher under duress. Location of the amphitheater/labyrinth where Malcolm trapped Fisher. |
| Ballard | Peaceful fae forest village Saeris and Fisher visit. Location of Fisher’s mother’s house/apartment. |
What happens in Quicksilver (plot summary)
Life in the Silver City
At the start of Quicksilver by Callie Hart, we meet Saeris Fane who is scraping by in Zilvaren’s Third Ward, a place quarantined and neglected under the Undying Queen Madra’s rule. Life is harsh, with widespread poverty and the constant threat of Madra’s gold-armored guards. Saeris, a skilled thief with a secret affinity for metal, gets caught stealing while in the Hub to lure a confrontation with a guardian.
Using the Third Ward’s reputation for disease, she steals the guard’s golden gauntlet—a chance for a better life for her and her brother, Hayden. She scales a massive wall separating the Hub from the outer wards, seeming to escape.
The golden gauntlet
Back in the Third Ward, Saeris seeks out her mentor Elroy at his forge. He’s horrified by her possession of the stolen gauntlet, fearing punishment from Queen Madra, and recounts how he lost his loved ones and gave up fighting against the corruption. Saeris, however, refuses to give up the gauntlet—for her, it’s a chance to escape Zilvaren with Hayden.
She leaves Elroy to seek out her brother and finds him beat up without his breathing scarf outside a gambling hall. Carrion Swift punished him over debts, and Hayden admits to no longer having the money Saeris gave him for water.
Hayden does dumb little brother things
Determined to get Hayden’s scarf back (and the water money), Saeris confronts Carrion Swift inside the House of Kala tavern, leaving Hayden outside with her stuff. The tavern owner, Brynn, warns Saeris against causing more trouble. Saeris’s exchange with Carrion is dripping with disdain and complicated by their history together. A note here: Carrion Swift absolutely did NOT give side character energy. 🤣
After admitting he only used Hayden, in part, to lure Saeris to him, she learns Hayden tried to stab Carrion (dumbass), which escalated the conflict. Saeris reluctantly agrees to have one drink with Carrion to get Hayden’s things back. During the drink, Carrion says he knows about the stolen gauntlet and warns Saeris to protect the Third Ward by getting rid of it.
But when Saeris goes outside, she finds that Hayden took off with the gauntlet.
::sigh::
The Undying Queen
Saeris panics and searches for Hayden, finding him surrounded by dozens of Madra’s guardians outside The Mirage tavern, stolen gauntlet in his hand. Both siblings try to take the blame for the theft. When guards move to restrain Saeris, she fights back fiercely, using skills taught by rebels, killing two guardians and maiming another. Despite her skill, she’s overwhelmed. To save Hayden, Saeris pushes him away, urging him to seek safety with Elroy, then surrenders to Captain Harron. She’s taken to the palace dungeons.
Hall of Mirrors
Saeris is brought before Queen Madra in the Hall of Mirrors. Madra is ancient, but appears youthful, and suspects Saeris is an agent of the Fae, which Madra claims to have banished loooong ago. Madra interrogates Saeris about the Fae and her ability to fight, accusing Saeris of being part of a rebellion. Madra orders Captain Harron to torture her for information, promising to destroy the Third Ward in retribution for the theft and the guards’ deaths.
Meet Kingfisher
During her private torture session, Saeris’s Alchemist powers manifest. She influences the metal of Harron’s dagger, causing it to melt. Harron freaks out, calling her a heretic. Suffering a bad gut wound, Saeris yanks out an ancient sword (Solace), that’s embedded in a nearby platform. This awakens the quicksilver pool in the hall—a portal—and from it emerges Kingfisher. Kingfisher quickly deals with Harron. With Saeris dying, he carries her into the quicksilver portal, teleporting them from Zilvaren.
Yvelia, the Fae realm
Saeris awakens in Yvelia at the Winter Palace, healed by magic but basically a prisoner. She meets Princess Everlayne, Kingfisher’s half-sister, and learns that fae are real, live incredibly long lives, and possess magic. She learns that she’s an Alchemist with the rare ability to manipulate quicksilver and reopen portals between realms, a lost power desperately sought by the Yvelian King Belikon (Everlayne and Kingfisher’s manipulative father/stepfather).
Saeris is presented at court, and King Belikon demands she use her Alchemist abilities. Kingfisher is revealed as Belikon’s stepson, the “Bane of Gillethrye.” Without the protective pendant he lent to Saeris, Fisher suffers from the quicksilver permeating his body. An oracle forces Belikon to return the pendant, temporarily stabilizing Fisher. General Renfis insists Fisher return to the war front at Cahlish.
Alchemy
Saeris is taken to Cahlish, Fisher’s ancestral home near the war front, to train her Alchemist powers. Their romantic tension ricochets between animosity and intense, undeniable attraction. Saeris eventually discovers their mating bond through the marks appearing on her skin. We meet her new pet, the white fox she names Onyx!
Vampires & feeders
An attack by feeders (zombielike vampires) at the Irrìn war camp introduces a new enemy named Malcolm Sanasroth. Everlayne is captured and revealed to now be enthralled to Malcolm, the Vampire King, who is allied with Belikon and Queen Madra. We learn the truth about Gillethrye—Fisher destroyed the entire city to prevent Malcolm from growing army—a choice that was forced upon him by Belikon and Malcolm.
Quicksilver ending
The labyrinth in Gillethrye
The group travels through a shadow gate to the ruins of Gillethrye to confront the Triumvirate—Malcolm, Belikon, Madra. Inside the labyrinth, Saeris faces Harron (now altered by quicksilver), and retrieves the real coin. Flipping the coin releases the tormented souls trapped in Gillethrye but enrages Malcolm. Fisher kills Belikon. Saeris manages to kill Malcolm with Solace but is mortally wounded in the process.
Saeris’s destiny
To save Saeris’s life, the vampire Taladaius turns her into a half-Fae/half-vampire hybrid (with her consent). Saeris meets Zareth, the god of chaos, who reveals he altered her destiny (she should have been born Fae), and asks her to fully accept the mating bond with Fisher to potentially save the universe from an imbalance their powerful connection creates. Saeris accepts. The transformation grants her Fae ears and vampire fangs. Fisher struggles with the quicksilver worsening inside him but finds temporary relief through Te Léna and Iseabail’s help. With Malcolm dead, Saeris unexpectedly inherits the Sanasrothian throne, becoming the new vampire queen, facing an unknown future with Fisher at her side.
Unanswered questions
- How will Saeris cope with her new half-fae, half-vampire nature and potential powers and weaknesses (like the SUN)?
- Is she enthralled to Taladaius now since they exchanged blood?? Earlier in the book, Lorreth explained the sexual tension associated with these bite/blood enthrallments…
- Speaking of Taladaius, I find his name very iiiinteresting. He was described as having blonde hair, luminous skin, and dark eyes. And if names have meaning, then Tala could be associated with birth or star, while daius is awfully close to the Latin deus “god.” And his title is LORD OF MIDNIGHT??! I NEED MORE.
- Will Fisher and Saeris accept their mating bond, despite Fisher initiating the waiting period? Duh—yes, right?
- Will Everlayne make a full recovery from Malcolm’s enthrallment?
- What else can Saeris do as an Alchemist? (I’m imagining something like Magneto from X-Men.) If she’s now the queen of the damned, does she still need to forge relics to help Fisher?
- Where did Belikon and Madra run away to? Will the Yvelian fae finally unite under Carrion?
- Does he even want to be king of the fae? I can’t wait for more of his chaos!
Quotes from Quicksilver by Callie Hart
Never forget… Monsters thrive best in the dark.
I gave everything I had, sacrificed every last thing I held dear, but this city is a beast that feeds on misery, and pain, and death, and it’s never full. We can throw ourselves down its throat until there’s none of us left, and we won’t have made the slightest lick of difference.
If you gave it enough time, the wind ate everything in this city, and it had been grinding its teeth against Zilvaren for thousands of years.
This is not my brother, Fisher. This is Carrion fucking Swift!
I’m the thing that puts the fear of the gods into the monsters who would eat you bones and all.
I’ve never been one to trust in the gods, but I choose to believe that all things come from the same place when life begins. I have hope that they return to the same place when it ends. I’ll be waiting for you there, Saeris Fane.
Because she is moonlight. The mist that shrouds the mountains. The bite of electricity in the air before a storm. The smoke that rolls across a battlefield before the killing starts. You have no idea what she is. What she could be. You should call her Majesty.
Final thoughts
Quicksilver by Callie Hart was the first book to completely hijack my attention following my Tairn-sized Onyx Storm hangover. I wanted entertainment, and it delivered!
Here’s a Shorts vlog originally posted on my Instagram to commemorate the fun I had reading Quicksilver for the first time:
Like many of you, I’ll be patiently waiting for Brimstone in November. I have high hopes and want to see what faux love triangle (love square?) Callie Hart will cook up now that Taladaius is potentially blood bonded to Saeris. 🤣
As for the adaptation, I’m cautiously excited for Netflix’s seven-figure deal to turn Quicksilver into a movie. Not sure if that includes Brimstone or any other books, but with Netflix’s track record for canceling series, maybe a movie is the surest route? We shall see!
In the meantime, we discussed Quicksilver on the Story Darlings podcast. You can tune in wherever you listen to podcasts or watch the video version on YouTube. And if you finished Quicksilver and are craving something just as steamy and addictive, have you read Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider? It’s FANTASTIC.
If you’ve read Quicksilver by Callie Hart, what did you think? Tell me all your theories! 👇
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