Bound in Silver

Bound in Silver is the third book in the Solis Invicti series.

Blurb
If you're living against the clock, try not to do it in a cage.

Exiled from the city and from the affections of the vampire who had loved her, Emmy finds herself pushed into a captivity she never expected to experience. With the bond to her former protector broken, she knows that the chance to turn Silver is now a monstrous obligation rather than a glittering opportunity.

In an unfamiliar place among unfamiliar people, Emmy feels deserted by those Silver she had thought of as friends, out of sight and out of mind. If only her enemies were equally forgetful.

Bound in Silver is the penultimate book in Josie Jaffrey's Solis Invicti paranormal romance quadrilogy, set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic London where a deadly infection threatens to wipe out humanity. The only people who can stem its advance are the Silver, a vampiric race who offer a simple exchange: protection in return for blood and subservience.

Synopsis (Spoilers)
This section will contain detailed spoilers. Many characters in this series also appear in other Silverse books, so clicking any links may lead to spoilers not only for this book but also for other series - use caution!

The prologue is a flash-forward to Emmy just before the Casting where Drew will try to make her Silver, trying to prepare for her imminent death.

Emmy and Oliver are in a truck, leaving the safe zone for Silver Farm, where they have been exiled for their alleged part in the rebel attacks at the end of The Price of Silver. Although Emmy is worried about what exile will be like, the Casting is due to take place in six days, so her time on the farm will be short. They see a large amount of Weepers, and though they do not approach the truck, Emmy notices that they are bolder than they have been before. Oliver asks Emmy to fill him in on what he might need to know about her; she tells him about Benedict's attempts to kill her in order to take control of the Silver. She tells him that the bond she had with Drew is broken; Oliver suggests that maybe she died in the explosion, but the bond's healing power brought her back quickly enough that Drew did not also die. Emmy realises that without the bond, the Casting will fail and she will become a Weeper.

Weepers swarm the truck as it drives through a wooded area, but are repelled by the sunlight when the truck leaves the tree cover. Emmy and Oliver arrive at the farm and are placed into quarantine due to the Weeper contact. They are warned that their life will be hard, and they will be isolated from the other humans on the farm, but that Drew, as Emmy's sponsor, will visit daily. They are put through decontamination, and the Silver take Emmy's parents' wedding rings for safekeeping; Dr Tanner checks them to see if they are carriers for the Weeper infection, but neither is. Oliver is given crutches as his leg is still injured from the explosion. Dr Tanner gets Emmy registered and tells her she will now have to make regular donations, which she had avoided this far by being under Sol's protection. Oliver and Emmy meet Ada, the director of the farm, and are escorted by Martha, a member of the Solis Invicti, to their cell building; it is heavily protected, with three rings of electrified fences forming a dome around the building. Mark and Tessa, their guards, explain that the fence gates are on timers so that only one can be open at a time, and door requires both a remote timer and direct code entry. Inside the cell is a single bed, a toilet, and a sink. Emmy and Oliver talk about their pre-Revelation history and Oliver comforts Emmy about the hopelessness of their situation.

The next morning, they hear a Weeper at the window, inside the fences, which they later find out was placed there by Mark. Oliver panics, and Emmy realises he has seen someone he loved turn into a Weeper. Emmy tells him everything about what has happened to her since the Revelation; Oliver reciprocates, telling her that he saw his sister turn into a Weeper and eat their father. Dr Tanner and the guards arrive to take Emmy's blood, but there is a problem with Emmy's record, so Dr Tanner phones Sol, who tells them that Emmy's donations are to be separated and sent directly to him; Emmy is confused about Sol's reasons for wanting her blood. Later, Oliver tries to reassure Emmy that he doesn't want to sleep with her, which makes her uncomfortable. Drew arrives for his daily visit. He confirms to Emmy that the Casting will fail and she will become a Weeper; he had been hoping that he would silver for her again when he saw her. Emmy tells him that the feelings caused by the bond weren't real, which upsets Drew; scared, she asks him to leave. Oliver comforts Emmy. Mark brings two more Weepers inside the fence; they find them dying in the morning.

The next day, Emmy and Oliver start their duties on the farm; they are assigned to walk the perimeter for 15 miles and alert the Silver with a whistle if they spot any Weepers in the cleared zone outside the fence, but are told to walk in opposite directions to cover more ground, despite Oliver still being on crutches. They are not given any sun protection, and Emmy is badly sunburned and dehydrated, and also badly damages her feet. She finds a Weeper, who attempts to cross the fence to attack her, but is electrocuted; an unseen Silver removes the body. She comes across a part of the fence that has fallen into a river where a Weeper tried to cross; and then a heap of Weeper corpses piled up against the fence. When Emmy completes her patrol, Oliver is still only part of the way through. Mark has put another Weeper inside the fence and forces Emmy to run through the timed gates to get to the cell; he does not give her the door code until it is almost too late, but she makes it inside. Oliver returns and Dr Tanner treats their wounds, which Tessa tells them not to let Mark know about. That night, instead of Drew, Cam visits; he tells her that there are a series of tests prior to the Casting to select the four humans who will be turned, and Emmy resolves to try to fail the one she can control, the aptitude test. Cam reports that tensions are high among the Silver, with more of them supporting Benedict's desire to treat the humans as cattle.

In the morning, Ada tells Oliver and Emmy that Sol will be touring the facilities. He and Tommy arrive, and Tommy brings Emmy a care package of useful items Cam had requested for them (including hats and sun cream), though Sol does not come in. Tommy also gives Emmy a walkie-talkie to contact him or Cam if she is in danger, since she will be alone with Drew for the tests over the next few days. Alyssa arrives to administer the aptitude test, which Emmy does her best to fail; Drew does not speak to Emmy at all during the process. After the test, Emmy and Oliver are sent out on patrol again, but this time, they start 30 miles apart, and can meet anywhere in the middle, so Emmy tries to cover as much ground as possible, to save Oliver from walking far on his crutches. While Emmy walks, she is joined by Ada, who makes it clear that she views Sol as her god, and that she despises Emmy for betraying him; she breaks Emmy's fingers. When they return from the patrol, Emmy begs Tessa to bring Dr Tanner; while they wait for the doctor, Emmy and Oliver argue, then kiss. Dr Tanner splints Emmy's fingers, and when he leaves, Emmy and Oliver continue where they left off, showering together and having sex.

The next day, Mark and Tessa discover Oliver and Emmy naked in bed together; Mark mocks them and Tessa seems to disapprove On the patrol, Emmy sees hundreds of Weepers pressed up against the fence, piled up until they are nearly at the top; she blows her whistle to alert the Silver but this makes the Weepers throw themselves against the fence. Ollie, too, saw a lot of Weepers that tried to attack him. They realise that the Weepers are getting more intelligent. Emmy becomes scared that the Silver will not be able to protect humanity from the Weepers after all. She tells Oliver that she doesn't want to start a relationship with him as she feels she needs love, not just pleasure. Drew arrives with a scientist for the second test, a series of blood tests; the scientist is Sean, Emmy's ex-boyfriend from before the Revelation, who disappeared without a trace; he reveals that he had been unknowingly working for the Silver when they were together, and had a breakdown when he learned of their existence, so the Silver took him away and wouldn't let him return. Now he works for them on blood testing and developing a cure for the Weeper infection. He seems to expect Emmy to welcome him back, but she shuts him down. Sean tries to convince Drew not to go through with the Casting as Emmy will die, but they have no option. Afterwards, Emmy and Oliver talk about Sol, and Emmy reveals some of the extent of her feelings for Sol.

The next day, Tessa tells Emmy and Oliver that there will be no more patrolling. Their new duty is to answer letters from humans asking if their friends and family are still alive, consulting the list of registered humans the Silver are keeping. The task is emotionally gruelling, as there is no sign of most of the people, and they write heartfelt responses. Drew and Sean return for the final test, a mental test involving showing Emmy images and sounds and monitoring her brain's responses. One of the stimuli is Sol reading the Song of Solomon; Emmy hallucinates that he is there, kissing her, and she passes out. When she wakes up, Drew is still there, and he asks her if she loves Sol, which she denies. Drew apologises to Emmy for complicating her life, and for dealing badly with the bond breaking; he explains that he had expected them to fall in love like his parents, who also silvered for each other. Drew tells Emmy that Laila has been meddling with the tests and has convinced Alyssa that Drew and Emmy love each other, so that Emmy won't be able to avoid being selected at the Casting. He explains the ceremony: the selection takes place at midnight, and the actual turning at dawn.

On the day of the Casting, Emmy is depressed, but Oliver makes her work on the letters to distract her; they find one from Alice, asking about her dad, but he is not on the list, and her entry has been removed since she was killed by the rebels. Oliver tries to comfort Emmy. Ada arrives and tells Emmy that she has decided to take Emmy's blood as a gift for Sol, in case she doesn't make it through the Casting alive. She makes Dr Tanner take three bags of blood from Emmy, which almost kills her. Ollie tries to help Emmy recuperate, feeding her and keeping her warm; Tessa arrives to take her to the city for the ceremony and the two of them gently get Emmy dressed and ready. Tessa returns Emmy's parents' rings. Drew carries Emmy to a waiting room where she meets the other seven Candidates; he kisses her cheek, but Emmy feels this is out of pity rather than affection. Benedict escorts the Candidates to the ceremony. Only one Candidate apart from Emmy is approved. When Drew's turn to claim a Candidate comes, Sol seems confused and shocked that Drew is sponsoring Emmy. In private, he berates Drew for allowing Emmy to be put forward to die, and Emmy realises that Sol has not silvered for Laila, but for her. He tells her that he loves her, and only pushed her away to allow her to be happy with Drew, since his brand would override any feelings she might have for Sol. Drew realises that Sol was the one who broke Drew's bond, by healing Emmy after the explosion; Drew is angry, but Sol points out that if Emmy had died, they both would have died. Sol says he did not acknowledge his silvering in order to keep Emmy safe, but she confronts him about the abuse she has suffered at the Farm. He offers to heal her after the ceremony.

Drew tries to escape with Emmy, but is stopped by Tessa, who reveals that she is one of the Solis Invicti, whom Sol assigned to protect Emmy from Benedict and Laila while she was at the farm. Sol arrives and insists he is left alone with Emmy. He heals her and they kiss. Emmy is worried that the bond will force her into false feelings for Sol as it did for Emmy, but he assures her that the bond is the result of his love for her, not the cause of it; he had already fallen for her before he silvered. He tells her that he is willing to leave her human, though it would be safer for both of them if he turned her; he gives her until dawn to decide, and arranges for her to go back to the Farm until then to speak to Oliver. Tessa drives Emmy back to the Farm, but as they arrive they are caught in a sea of Weepers, who have brought down the two outermost perimeter fences and are working on the third. Emmy makes it back to the cell, and calls Tommy on the walkie-talkie; he is unable to come and help immediately, as the Weepers are also attacking the city, but says he and Cam will be there soon. Benedict arrives, destroying the fences around the cell. He tells Emmy that Laila has silvered, but that her eyes did not turn gold, signalling a sealed bond between her and Sol; Benedict has worked out that Sol has not silvered for Laila, but for Emmy. He destroys the cell, and watches as Emmy and Oliver run from the Weepers.