Ungilded

Ungilded is a short story set in the Silverse; it takes place after The Silver Bullet and follows Sol after the Fall. Reading order note: If you’ve read the Solis Invicti series, then I recommend reading Ungilded before The Blue Empress, but if you’re going straight into the Sovereign trilogy then I would read only The Blue Empress, then come back to Ungilded as a prequel after you’ve read the other books in the Sovereign trilogy. Please be aware that this story contains significant spoilers for the Solis Invicti series, and some spoilers for the Sovereign series, so I recommend reading it only after you have already read the novels.

Blurb
She has made a ghost of me...

In the days after the Fall, most of the world is contaminated. The Silver may have defeated the Weepers, but now they're scrambling to find somewhere they can call home.

But their king is scrambling just to keep his mind. With his queen missing in action, the bond between them is stretching thin, and his consciousness is thinning with it.

If he can't find his love soon, then he won't live to lead his people into their new world.

Content warnings
General warning for violence/murder, mostly describing things that happened off page.

General warning for blood/gore, including blood drinking.

Events (Spoilers)
Ungilded is narrated by Sol in the first person. It opens ten minutes after he has discovered that Emmy has been captured by Charles. Cameron, Thomas and Andrew explain that she had been with them at Piraeus, clearing the harbour of Weepers by distributing the vaccine, but had fallen into the water; she was fine and did not seem to be contaminated. After that, she split off with Cam to clear up the stragglers, but there was a fight at Delphi and Cam lost track of both Emmy and Charles. They all searched for her but were unable to find her. Sol is devastated and loses his composure; he knows Charles still holds a grudge against Emmy.

The Solis Invicti look to Sol for guidance on where to find Emmy, since their bond should let him feel her, but he realises that the connection is missing. He also realises that Andrew has become human, and questions him as to why he would let this happen now, when he needs him. Andrew tells him he preferred to make the decision to become mortal himself, on his own terms, rather than wait until it was forced upon him. Sol reflects on the Fall, and how the Silver did not realise until it was too late that drinking the blood of humans vaccinated against turning into Weepers would make them human; now their entire blood supply is contaminated. Sol tells Andrew that he felt the bond with Emmy 'blink out', which Andrew has also never heard of.

Sol searches for Emmy for days at Silver speed. When he returns to London, he finds Laila in his house, ostensibly to see how he is. He asks her to leave, suspecting that she is trying to take Emmy's place again; she attempts to seduce him and tells him to accept Emmy is gone, and that she could be the queen he needs to rule. He considers killing her, but realises this is a test - of what, he doesn't know - and she leaves.

Sol continues to search furiously, curing Weepers and killing Silver who oppose him, taking lots of risk of becoming contaminated but remaining Silver. The Solis Invicti mostly leave him alone, uncomfortable with his grief; Cam tries to talk to him, since he too feels Emmy's loss strongly. They talk about love, with Cam saying that he thought he had been in love before, but realised how much more powerful Silvering was. Cam apologises for losing Emmy; Sol knows he should comfort him, but cannot, and leaves. Sol walks alone through the city, reflecting on how the Silver have struggled to maintain relations with the human community now that they no longer need the Silver for protection; he realises things are going to get much worse.

Later, Andrew tries to cajole Sol to drink, since he has not fed for days. Sol realises he is losing control and decides to contaminate himself deliberately and become human. He tries several ways, including directly injecting the vaccine, but nothing works, and he realises he is permanently immortal and will be alone forever.

A few days later, Sol visits the Invicti headquarters, remembering Andrew had told him there was a problem. He learns that all their systems are on the verge of collapse, because any soil touched by a Weeper blood is also contaminated, so they can no longer grow or farm food to feed the remaining uncontaminated food; they are running out of prepackaged food from before the Revelation. The Invicti are scouting for possible new settlements, and have found a location in Romania that has no Weepers and no local Silver, which is surprising as Sol was aware of some in the area. They have also found a group of Silver in Slovakia that may want to join them. Sol feels like without the bond, his body is becoming chilled and numb.

Laila and Cam bring the four young Slovakian Silver, who call themselves pijavica, to Sol and Andrew. They question them as to the missing Silver, but the pijavica refuse to talk; Sol decides to wait for them to feel safer to talk. That night, Laila comes to Sol again and tells him the pijavica told them that the local Silver fought over the uncontaminated humans in the area and killed each other or fled. Sol questions Laila's motives in getting involved, and Laila insists that she is just concerned for Emmy, which Sol does not believe. She tells him he needs to accept she is gone and they need to look out for themselves. As he shows her out, Sol snaps off the door handle; his numbness is getting worse.

The next morning there is a meeting with the Solis Invicti and Laila to discuss the logistics of the move to Romania. Sol is unsure how they will keep control of the humans; Tommy suggests threatening them into submission, but Laila suggests fabricating a reason for them to need Silver protection again. They will tell the humans that the world outside their settlement is contaminated and dangerous, recreating the bargain they had with the London humans: safety for blood. Sol is uncomfortable with both the lie, and Laila's undermining of his authority, but agrees to the plan. Andrew declines to come with them, saying his place is helping the humans rebuild London. He recommends Thomas be made Secundus. They part on friendly terms; Sol unknowingly stands still for a very long time after Andrew leaves.

The Silver leave London and arrive in the Romanian town. Thomas points out that they should rip out the electrical infrastructure and get everyone used to living without it, so they don't need to deal with it wearing out in the future. The Silver discuss how to deal with the ageing human population too, to ensure a steady supply of new humans. Sol listens to the plans in a barely aware state, feeling number and number. He stays in a fugue state for a week, considering how this move to effectively enslaving humans was everything he didn't want for the Silver. He does not intend to reawaken. The Silver move him to lie in state somewhere. Cam visits him, apologises again, and swears he will never stop looking for Emmy until he can bring her back to Sol.