Bound by Magic, Marked by Ink
Part 4
Chapters 19-24
The Wheel of Fortune
Today’s chapters spin with the unmistakable force of The Wheel of Fortune. Is the moment in a story when fate stops whispering and starts shoving. Everything around Saeris is shifting. This is the turning of a cosmic wheel, the pivot between who she was and who she is becoming. The Wheel reminds us that destiny doesn’t ask permission. It arrives, it disrupts, and it sets a new path in motion. And in these chapters, Saeris is standing right at the center of that unstoppable rotation.
Feeders, Fever Dreams & Fisher’s Bed of Sin
Chapter 18 finally unleashes the feeders we’ve been hearing about and seeing them in action is every bit as horrendous as promised. Saeris barely survives a poisoned scratch and slips into a fever dream that feels disorienting and terrifying. When she wakes, it’s immediately obvious from the black sheets, the black pillows, the black everything that she’s in Kingfisher’s bed. And honestly, is it weird that I want to wake up there too? Because same.
I can’t help wondering what the quicksilver is whispering to Fisher about her, because something is clearly influencing him.
He’s still using the oath bond, commanding her to stay in bed to heal, and while part of me sees the protective instinct, I really don’t like that he’s taken away her free will. Then he disappears to Irrín, a war camp, leaving her in his bed for five days with nothing but her own spiraling thoughts. Thoughts that swing wildly between lusting after him and hating his guts.
If I haven’t mentioned it before, let me do so now: there is something odd about that fox, Onyx. I’m watching him. He acts too domesticated for my liking.
For the record, I need a bed like Fisher’s. One that magically keeps the sheets clean and cool. Carrion literally ate a piece of toast and smeared his muddy boots on the sheets and seconds later the sheets were pristine. Luxury. Speaking of Carrion, he continues to be my favorite character. I have a soft spot for comedic relief, and the way he described his bath with the water sprites had me laughing out loud.
After another long day in the forge, Saeris is still unsuccessful at making relics, but Renfis returns with a message: Fisher wants her to dine with him again. This time, Saeris invites Renfis and she somehow wrangles Carrion into coming too.
Renfis drops a fascinating nugget about Nimerelle, Fisher’s Godsword. She once shone brilliant silver, but over the centuries she blackened and tarnished. Nimerelle, or her magic, stayed with Fisher even after all the other Godswords went silent.
Dinner quickly becomes a vibe, when Carrion strolls into the dining room loudly praising Saeris’s body and announcing he “didn’t have to use his imagination,” prompting Fisher to growl.
Renfis’s reaction, combined with Fisher’s response, makes me think the chair to Fisher’s right, the one Saeris keeps sitting in, is meant for his mate. It would explain the fire sprites’ reaction when she moved her seat at the last dinner.
Saeris eventually confronts Fisher about using the oath bond to his advantage, and Kingfisher shuts that theory down immediately. If he were truly nefarious, he says, he’d order her to do some very naughty things indeed. He mentioned something about ordering her on her knees for him, he would order her to suck, and… My word. Is it hot in here? He also tells her he knows she wants him — and the funniest part is that Renfis can hear all of this… and smell her too. The dinner scene had me hollering.
War Camps, Dark Magic & A Bookshelf
The party arrives at the war camp, and the first thing Saeris notices is the looming fortress of Ammontríeth in the distance and its radiating “you don’t want to go in there” energy. Kingfisher had warned her not to bring Onyx, which I find oddly adorable considering he’s basically letting her keep the fox as a pet. But as I’m reading, I can’t help wondering why Fisher has such a strong dislike for humans, and why he insists on remaining hidden from his own people. Something deeper is going on there. Saeris’s descriptions of how she reacts to Fisher, the way she feels his presence before she sees him, how his scent affects her, the pull she feels when he leaves a room, all make it clear that whatever is happening between them is more than the oath bond. And then, out of nowhere, things escalate dramatically. One moment Saeris is fussing at Fisher, asking him to trust her and that she actually WANTS to help save his people, and the next they’re surrounded by his dark magic as tables flip across the room. Suddenly her back is against a bookshelf, her legs wrapped around his waist, and I’m over here absolutely jelly. But the moment ends as quickly as it began, and her reaction afterward — regret, nausea, the urge to throw up — is confusing and intriguing. Something is off, and I’m dying to know what.
Later, Carrion and Saeris sharing food in the war room is the cutest thing ever. The are passing the plate, each taking a bite and passing it back. You can tell that they grew up where food was scarce for some. They’re the only two humans in the room, passing a plate back and forth and taking in the tea like two old gossips at a family reunion. Danya enters the chat, and I’m not sure how I feel about her yet, but she is clearly pissed at Fisher. Carrion mentions she’s been stirring the pot, and that becomes obvious when she confronts Fisher with murderous rage. She feels he abandoned them for a century, left them high and dry, and now has the audacity to return without speaking to any of them. She attacks him, ready to open his throat, and Fisher just stands there and takes it. Saeris intervenes instinctively. With magic? Shattering her sword into a thousand shards and imbedding them into the stone wall. Danya’s shock is palpable as she say “We have a fucking Alchemist?” And then Fisher delivers the two words every woman wants to hear: “She’s mine.” Before anyone can process what just happened, a ground-shaking boom echoes through the camp and the alarm sounds. ICEBREAKERS. The Sanasroth are at the riverbank, and Fisher’s warriors have to break the ice before the enemy crosses.
Fifty Thousand Problems
Thanks to Holgoth, the earth sprite who greeted them upon arrival, we learn the Sanasroth are vampires. Actual vampires. My theory was that the fae were cursed to be vampires, and when the curse was lifted, they were still vampires but didn’t need to drink blood to survive. Now I’m wondering whether the Sanasroth are still under that ancient curse or if something even darker is at play. Either way, the real problem is the number: 50,000 of them. Fifty thousand vampires gathering at the riverbank is the kind of detail that makes your stomach drop. And as if that revelation weren’t enough, another new character enters the chat. Malcolm, king of the vampires. Not only is he powerful and terrifying, but he’s also been in contact with Fisher recently. The implications of that are enormous, and I’m already bracing myself for whatever secrets Fisher is still hiding.
Jealousy, Vampire Lore & Finally Some Action
Once the immediate threat is delayed, Fisher wastes no time seeking out Saeris and whisking her back to his rooms at Cahlish. And for reasons I cannot fully explain, I found it absolutely hilarious that the first thing out of his mouth is a demand that she never share food with Carrion again. “You were trading cake back and forth with him for ages,” he says — as if two bites of quiche constitute a torrid affair. His jealousy is so transparent it’s almost adorable. Much to my frustration, they do not immediately fall into bed. Instead, they start talking about Malcolm. Malcolm, it turns out is a high fae vampire. He embraced the curse willingly, and when a cure was created, he refused it, in order to keep his immortality. Fae may live extremely long lives, but they still die. Vampires do not.
I love that Callie Hart has created a fresh take on vampire lore here; it’s absolutely going in the CAWPILE review.
Malcolm’s bite can fully turn someone while allowing them to remain themselves, but when his princes bite someone, when the victim dies, they return without a soul. The implications are chilling.
As they talk, Saeris begins piecing together who Fisher really is. She asks where he’s been, why he was with Malcolm, and when he tells her he can’t say, she recognizes the same expression she wears when he gives her a command. She realizes he might be bound, just like she is.
And then, finally, the tension that has been simmering for chapters boils over. They are about to get busy, and I swear I will cry when Fisher finally calls her by her actual name instead of “human” or “osha.”
The sex scene is incredible, but one detail stands out above everything else: when Saeris touches Fisher, some of his ink — his tattoo — moves from his body to hers, forming the shape of a Kingfisher. And its path? Directly over her stomach. I cannot help but wonder… did they just create new life? The symbolism is too pointed to ignore.
A Stunning Declaration
The morning after their explosive night together, Fisher collects Saeris and practically drags her toward the healers’ tent so she can “take something,” and Saeris is absolutely livid — which, honestly, is fair considering she now has a shiny new Kingfisher tattoo in the middle of her chest. Once the shock and irritation settle, the chapter hits us with a devastating truth: Saeris is sterile. She cannot have children. She was “cleansed” at fourteen because Madra and her healers decided the people of the Third Ward shouldn’t be allowed to procreate, claiming they wouldn’t be able to support themselves. I’m telling you, Madra is a grade‑A diabolical bitch. For over a hundred years, seven out of ten female teenagers have been sterilized and tagged like livestock. And it begs the question: what in the hell is Madra so afraid will come out of the Third Ward?
Fisher sends Saeris back to the forge to continue her experiments, and he hides the quicksilver again, this time in a place that is decidedly unkind. When she finally reaches the cave, Carrion is there tending a fire and reading what appears to be a fae history book. Saeris is annoyed that he seems to be taking all of this in stride, but Carrion explains that his grandmother told him stories about the fae and let him read a book with a chilling note on the first page: “Never forget. Monsters thrive best in the dark. Commit all you read here to memory. Prepare for war!!” And suddenly, something clicks for me. Epiphany moment: is this why Zilvaren has two suns and it’s NEVER DARK? Is Madra a high fae vampire? Because the pieces are lining up a little too neatly.
Carrion’s grandmother, Gracia, clearly trained him well and left him with quite a bit of knowledge about the fae. Saeris enlists his help in the forge as she continues working with the quicksilver. And do I even need to say it? She still doesn’t succeed in making relics. But the moment Fisher arrives, the entire atmosphere shifts. Carrion calls Saeris “sunshine,” and Fisher immediately shuts that down with a line so powerful it stopped me in my tracks:
“Don’t call her sunshine… 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.”
That was… strong. Bold. And absolutely unforgettable. It shut Carrion up swiftly.
Godswords, Wolves & the Weight of a Soul
We were introduced to Lorreth a couple of chapters back, the dark‑haired warrior who’s been hovering at the edges of scenes and he continues to intrigue me. I can’t help wondering how his character will shift the story as things escalate. But Chapter 24 wastes no time diving into the fallout of Saeris shattering Danya’s sword. It turns out that blade wasn’t just any weapon; it was one of the Godswords, a relic that marked Danya as one of the original members of the Lupo Proelia, Kingfisher’s Wolves. There were eight of them, Renfis included, which suddenly explains the wolf emblems everywhere.
And let me just say it plainly: I don’t like Danya. Her attitude is shitty, and this chapter did nothing to change my mind.
The mystery around Saeris only deepens. Danya’s sword was forged with quicksilver, and historically, alchemists have only ever been able to transmute quicksilver between solid and liquid, never shatter it. The fact that Saeris did the impossible has everyone whispering that she might be the strongest alchemist ever known. She also pieces together something chilling: every metal she’s been able to manipulate contains trace amounts of quicksilver. And THAT is why Madra ensured there were no weapons in the Third Ward. Madra knew exactly what someone like Saeris could do. Renfis then drops a devastating bomb. They are at risk of losing the war they’ve been fighting for centuries, and they have one year left.
Later, while drinking with Lorreth at a tavern, Saeris learns that the fae still drink blood, sometimes, but now it’s a euphoric, sexual act. And then Lorreth reveals something that floored me: Fisher once saved his life after a vampire attack by giving him a piece of his soul. The price of that sacrifice is brutal. If Fisher dies before Lorreth, he will become something like a ghost, unable to move on until Lorreth dies too. The weight Fisher carries, the fact that he gave a stranger a piece of his soul to save his life, the burdens he never speaks of, suddenly feels even heavier. This chapter pulls back the curtain on the Wolves, the war, and Fisher’s past, and every revelation lands like a blow.
THEORY SECTION
These chapters cracked open a treasure chest of possibilities, and my theories are spiraling in the best way. First and foremost, Madra is absolutely hiding something big. The sterilization of the Third Ward females isn’t just cruelty. It’s a strategy. If Saeris’s abilities are tied to quicksilver, and quicksilver is tied to ancient magic, then Madra has been suppressing an entire population’s potential for generations. That alone is chilling, but when you pair it with Carrion’s grandmother’s warning in the book: “Monsters thrive best in the dark” the two suns of Zilvaren suddenly feel less like worldbuilding flavor and more like a deliberate, magical barricade. If the Sanasroth are vampires, and if Madra herself is potentially a high fae vampire, then a world without darkness is a world where she cannot be challenged. It reframes everything we’ve seen so far.
Saeris’s power is awakening. She shattered a Godsword forged with quicksilver. Something no alchemist in recorded history has ever done. If she can manipulate metals with trace amounts of quicksilver, she may be capable of something world‑altering, something Madra has spent a thousand years trying to prevent.
Fisher’s soul‑bond with Lorreth adds another layer to the mystery. If he can give away pieces of his soul, what else is he capable of? And what did he sacrifice to earn a century in the worst place imaginable? His magic, his ink, his refusal to reveal where he’s been this whole time, all of it feels connected to something ancient and binding.
And then there’s the Kingfisher tattoo on Saeris. Its placement. Its timing. Its symbolism. The way it moved from Fisher’s body to Saeris’s skin during their coupling. It doesn’t feel like an accident. Something was created in that moment. Whether magical, emotional, or literal remains to be seen, but the story is clearly signaling that Saeris is stepping into a destiny far bigger than she realizes. They have mentioned multiple times that fae babies are rare, Saeris believes herself to be sterile, and Kingfisher needs an heir if Belikon is never to cross into Fishers lands. I think there’s a little Kingfisher on the way.
Let’s talk about it
1. The Feeders & Fisher’s Bed
• What was your reaction to finally seeing the feeders in action — did they match what you imagined earlier in the book?
• If you woke up in Fisher’s all‑black, magically self‑cleaning bed… what would your first thought be?
2. Saeris’s Power Awakening
• Do you think Saeris’s reactions to Fisher — his scent, his presence, the pull she feels — are tied to the oath bond, or something deeper?
• What do you make of her instinctive magic when she shattered Danya’s sword?
3. The Wolves & the Godswords
• Do you think Danya’s anger is justified?
4. Fisher’s Secrets & Soul-Bonds
• Do you believe Fisher is bound by something similar to Saeris’s oath bond?
5. The Vampires
• Do you think Madra is connected to the vampires — or even one of them?
6. The Tattoo Moment
• What do you think the Kingfisher tattoo means — magic, fate, or something more literal?
• Did you catch the symbolism of where it appeared?
7. Saeris’s Sterilization Reveal
• How did the revelation about the Third Ward sterilizations change your view of Madra?
• What do you think Madra is so afraid of?
