When the Coin Falls, The Realms Will Tremble

Finale

Chapters 39-45

Make it stand out

No card captures the energy of Chapters 39–45 better than Judgement.

This is the moment of reckoning, the moment when every choice, every lie, every sacrifice comes due. The labyrinth is a trial. The coin is a verdict. Malcolm’s death is a release. Saeris’s transformation is a rebirth. Judgement is the card of awakening, of stepping into a destiny that cannot be undone, and that is exactly what this finale demands of every character.

Annorath Mor!

That was one hell of a fall, straight into freeze black water at high speed! Saeris is pretty sure she’s cracked some ribs. Thank the gods that Ren was able to launch Lorreth through the portal before it closed.

At the top of the cliff they stumble into a large amphitheater packed with a roaring crowd shouting Annorath Mor. Lorreth finally tells us what Annorath Mor means: Release us. Far below Saeris sees Kingfisher, a speck of dark but she knows its him. The dread barely has time to settle before someone slips up behind them. Harron, Madra’s captain of the guard, appears out of nowhere, pressing a knife to Lorreth’s throat. What the hell is he doing here?!

Introductions

Aint this some sh—?

The party reunites with Fisher, but there’s nothing joyful about it because they are immediately face to face with Malcolm and standing on the dais beside him are Belikon and Madra. I knew Belikon was involved the moment Everlayne appeared on Malcolm’s side of the Darn but seeing him here still hits like a punch. My theory about Madra being a High Fae vampire feels entirely possible at this point. Madra calls Belikon her brother, which raises even more questions for me. Are they true siblings or are they calling each other brother and sister like Ren and Fisher call each other brother? The hits just keep on coming. Apparently Belikon has known all along that Madra was the one who stilled the quicksilver (I think we knew this from the very beginning).

This chapter is so unhinged.

Belikon has been feeding his own people to Malcolm’s army, and the horror of that revelation barely settles before we find out that Belikon is the one who has Fisher bound. Belikon releases him from the bond only so Fisher can finally tell everyone the truth about the deal he made and what happened in Gillethrye.

Gillethrye

Fisher’s account of Gillethrye holds steady under scrutiny. For a minute there, I thought he was going to tell us he did something unforgivable. Belikon even admits to murdering Fisher’s mother, which is somehow both expected and still sickening. The truth of the coin toss is worse than anything I imagined. They flipped a coin to decide the fate of the sons and daughters of Gillethrye. While the coin was in the air, Fisher couldn’t make a move against any of them. He also couldn’t speak of the deal or that Malcolm and Belikon are brothers. Malcolm tricked him by catching the coin midair, trapping Fisher in silence. The coin never hit the ground. The feeders rampaged. The people of Gillethrye were starting to turn. Fisher burned Gillethrye and everyone in it to the ground. 200,000 souls. Malcolm somehow managed to gather all of them into the amphitheater never allowing them to move on and stuck in their perpetually burning bodies. The only way to end their suffering was to find Belikon’s coin at the center of the labyrinth and make it hit the ground. This is where Fisher vanished for more than a century. The taunting of Fisher’s torment drags on until Carrion finally snaps back with his sarcasm, drawing Malcolm’s attention. Malcolm notes that Carrion smells wrong and is a second away from biting him. Fisher manages to distract him, saving Carrion’s life, grabbing Solace from Saeris, and driving the blade straight through Belikon. Revenge.

That’ll Cost You

All hell breaks loose the moment Fisher pulls his sword from Belikon’s body. Fisher orders everyone into the labyrinth, likely toward the quicksilver pool hidden somewhere inside. Belikon is somehow still alive, Harron attacks Saeris and ends up with a snapped neck, Lorreth manages to land a blow on Malcolm, and Fisher is cutting down feeders like it is nothing. The labyrinth itself is a nightmare. The walls shift, the paths twist, and the first obstacle is a demon that looks like a massive spider with a fae torso, a creature that respawns every time it dies. Fisher’s century inside this place is so much worse than I imagined. I figured he had to fight his way to the center, but Malcolm had spelled the labyrinth so Fisher never needed food, water, or sleep, trapping him with a mountain of identical coins and no way to know which one would end the curse. When the group reaches the center, Belikon, Madra, and Malcolm are waiting, and the horrifying truth becomes clear. To kill one, they must kill all three. Carrion steps forward and baits Malcolm into biting him, letting the vampire drink his blood. When Malcolm pulls away, Carrion calmly finishes his introduction and reveals his true name: Carrian Daianthus, firstborn son of Rurik and Amelia Daianthus. THE TRUE ROYAL FAMILY! Malcolm has just consumed Daianthus blood, whatever that means for him. It can’t be good. He is horrified. The mission shifts. The coin contains quicksilver, and Saeris has the ability to find it. It is somewhere in the labyrinth. The quicksilver refuses to help without a bargain, and Saeris refuses to make another. She finally says out loud that she loves Fisher and accepts the mating bond. This is when the quicksilver asks for a small favor instead. She agrees, and it leads her straight to the corpse of the spider demon Morthril. The coin is inside the monster’s gullet. The moment she grabs it, Malcolm appears.

Another Way

Carrion’s blood is tearing Malcolm apart. The coin flips, the imprisoned fae are released, and Malcolm’s head rolls across the ground, but the victory is brutal because Saeris will not survive the blow he landed. Malcolm punched a hole straight through her stomach right before she took his head, and she is dying. The only way to save her is to turn her, and in a twist I didn’t see coming, Tal, Malcolm’s second, steps forward as an ally.

Axis

The quicksilver speaks to Saeris while she is dying, demanding she make a choice. Death or Fisher. When she chooses Fisher, the quicksilver immediately calls in its favor and asks for an audience. The moment she agrees, it tears her from Fisher’s arms and drags her into the quicksilver pool deep in the labyrinth. She opens her eyes to find herself in the company of two identical young women, and the shock only grows when she learns they are the twin gods Bal and Mithin. Their father is Zareth, the god of chaos, and he tells her a rot is spreading through the realms, one he has already tried to stop by destroying entire worlds. Billions of lives gone. Saeris learns she should have been born fae, but Zareth altered the circumstances of her birth. Fisher and Saeris together could end the universe, and Zareth saw a future he could not predict, so he acted against the other gods to protect them. He shields the two of them from divine wrath, but the cost is steep. To save Fisher’s life, Saeris must become something the universe cannot recognize, something the other gods cannot track. She agrees.

Choose Wisely

Saeris wakes with Tal at her side, calmly explaining what she has become. She is now half fae and half vampire, a transformation no one has ever seen before. This actually brings up a theory for me: Zareth told Saeris that she should have been born fae but he moved things surrounding her birth. Then we have Edina who drew Saeris with fae ears. Stay with me. What if Edina knew that Saeris was going to be half fae, half vampire with fae ears all along??? What if she drew Saeris not as the fae she was BEFORE Zareth intervened, but AFTER?

Carrion reveals his own truth, and it is staggering. He is fae and the rightful heir to the throne. His blood is the blood that created the curse in the first place, which explains why Malcolm couldn’t drink from him.

Meanwhile, Iseabail and Te Léna have success in their experiments in drawing the quicksilver out of Kingfisher a little at a time, finally freeing him from the torment that has shaped his entire life. And then the final blow lands creating a cliffhanger. In two days, Saeris was the one who killed Malcolm, and Malcolm had no heir. In two days, Saeris will be crowned the new Vampire Queen.

Finale Wrap‑Up: Blood, Gods, Labyrinths, and the Birth of a Queen

The finale of this story hits! We fall into the labyrinth, crawl through its horrors, face the monsters that shaped Fisher’s century of torment, and watch Saeris make choices that rewrite the fate of entire worlds. The betrayals are deeper than expected, the bloodlines more tangled, and the gods far more meddlesome than I guessed. This ending doesn’t just tie threads together. It rips them open, rewinds them through divine hands, and weaves something entirely new. Saeris rises from near death as an immortal. Fisher is finally freed, Carrion returns as the long-lost royal with a crown to retrieve from Belikon, Everlayne is safe and healing, though she is in a deep slumber, and the realms themselves tremble at what comes next. It is brutal, beautiful, and absolutely unforgettable.

For the full arc of this book, the card that reigns supreme is The World.

Completion. Transformation. Integration. A cycle ending so another can begin. Saeris and Fisher’s journey closes one era and opens another, not just for themselves but for entire realms. The World is the card of crossing thresholds, of becoming something new, of stepping into a role you were always meant to claim. It is the perfect mirror for a story that ends with a queen rising, and a universe shifting to make room for what comes next.

Engagement Questions

• What moment from the finale hit you the hardest, and why did it stick with you?

• Which revelation shocked you the most: Carrion’s lineage, Saeris’s transformation, or the truth about the gods?

• If you had to choose one tarot card to represent your own reading journey through Yvelia, which would it be?

• Are you planning to read Brimstone soon, or are you waiting for the right moment like I am?

• What are your memories of reading the Harry Potter series for the first time, and which book are you most excited to revisit with me?

• Which character from Yvelia are you still thinking about now that the story is over?

• What theories are you carrying into the sequel once we both dive into Brimstone?

Let’s chat in the comments section.

Thank You for Traveling Through Yvelia With Me

To everyone who walked this path with me, who theorized, screamed, gasped, and cried, I mean sniffled, right alongside me: thank you. Sharing this journey with you made every twist hit harder and every revelation shine brighter. Whether you came for the romance, the chaos, or the sheer emotional devastation, I’m grateful you were here. Until our next adventure, may your blades stay sharp, your bonds stay true, and your heart stay open to whatever magic finds you next.

What I’m Deep Diving Into Next

Now that we’ve survived Quicksilver, it’s time to look toward the next adventure. I’m holding off on diving into the sequel, Brimstone, until after my move into my new home next month. That book deserves my full attention, and a fully settled reading nook. Until then, I’m shifting gears and stepping into a world I’ve been wanting to visit (don’t judge me). I’ll be deep diving into the Harry Potter universe next. If you’ve enjoyed this deep dive stay close. A new journey is opening its doors, and I can already feel the magic humming.