A covenant in blood can never be broken.
In the aftermath of the Casting, Kulika and Quick are both irrevocably changed: Quick by Kulika's blood, and Kulika by her love for Quick.
Under normal circumstances they might be celebrating, but not only is Quick struggling to control her powers, she's also sworn to Bartholomew and his crew by a blood covenant she cannot break. With Kulika bound to Quick, and Quick bound to Bartholomew, they're both detained at Bartholomew's pleasure for the foreseeable future.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Kulika's mission is an abject failure. The person she came to South Carolina to find has simply vanished, which means no cure for the fatal poison that's killing her new master. Soon she'll have no master at all, and no home to return to.
That'll work out just fine for Bartholomew. With Quick's life in his hands, he has all the leverage he needs to force Kulika back to his side.
Kulika is left with a terrible decision: surrender herself to Bartholomew's covenant, or die trying to free Quick from his control. If Quick's ever going to learn how to use her powers, then she'd better do it, well, quick.
A Quick Study is the second book in Josie Jaffrey's QuickSilver series, a sapphic dark fantasy series set in Charleston, South Carolina.
