House of Flame and Shadow: The INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER third instalment in the Crescent City series
House of Flame and Shadow: Part 2 – Chapter 41

Hunt had left his body. Maybe he’d died. That was Bryce in the doorway, smirking at the Ocean Queen.

She was Bryce and yet she was … not.

She wore her usual casual attire—skintight jeans and a soft white T-shirt topped with a navy athletic jacket. Hel, she even sported those neon-pink sneakers. But there was something different in her posture, in the way the light seemed to shimmer from her.

She was older, somehow. Not in any line or wrinkle, but in her eyes. Like she’d been through some major shit, good and bad. Hunt recognized it, because he knew it lay etched in his own face, too.

The Ocean Queen eyed Bryce unflinchingly. “And who, pray tell, are you?”

Bryce didn’t miss a beat. “I’m Bryce Danaan, Queen of the Valbaran Fae.”

Hunt let out a strangled sound—a sob.

Bryce looked at him then, scanning his face, the tears he couldn’t stop. Her gaze flicked to the halo, then down to his wrist—but her expression yielded nothing. She just walked up to where he sat, and it was her, her fucking scent, and that was her soft skin brushing his hand as she peered down into his face.

“Hey,” he said, voice rough, eyes stinging.

Bryce squeezed his hand, tears filling her eyes as well. “Hey.” She blinked her tears away, twisting back to the Ocean Queen, who monitored every move. Every breath.

The Ocean Queen said to Bryce, shark’s teeth flashing, “I recognize no queen bearing that title.”

“I do,” Hunt said, folding his wings behind him as he stood, coming to Bryce’s side. Her fingers grazed his own, and a chill of pleasure soared through him. “She’s my mate.” He sketched a bow to the Ocean Queen. “Prince Hunt Athalar Danaan, at your service. I can testify that Tharion Ketos serves my queen and mate. Any other claims to him are false.”

Bryce shot him a wry glance that seemed to say, You’re a big fucking liar, but I love you.

The Ocean Queen still surveyed Bryce with a face as cold as the northern reaches of the Haldren Sea. “That remains to be seen.” She pointed to Tharion, her fingernail made of pure nacre. “Tharion Ketos, you are confined to this ship until I decide otherwise.”

Tharion bowed his head, but remained still and silent.

The Ocean Queen lowered her finger and shot a sharp glance at Bryce. It was instinct for Hunt’s knees to bend, to prepare to leap between them, to shield his mate. But there was no amount of lightning, no gun, no weapon that could save Bryce, should the Ocean Queen bring the full wrath of the sea down upon them. This deep, they’d have no chance of reaching the surface in time. That is, if their bodies didn’t explode first from the pressure.

But the near-divine being declared, a shade haughtily, “Queen or no queen, you are all now guests on my ship—and will leave only when I bid you to.”

Hunt refrained from saying that her checkout policy wasn’t very guest friendly. Especially as the Ocean Queen asked Bryce, dark eyes narrowing, “Does your father the Autumn King still draw breath?”

Bryce smiled slowly. “For the time being.”

The Ocean Queen weighed the words—then answered Bryce’s smile with her own, revealing all those hooked shark’s teeth. “I don’t recall inviting you onto this ship.”

Bryce checked her nails—it was such a thoroughly Bryce movement that Hunt’s chest tightened. “Well, someone sent me an e-vite.”

Hunt lowered his head to keep the grin from his face. He’d forgotten how fun it was—to see Bryce in her element. Leading these shitheads along by the nose. It lightened some of that weight in his chest, some of that primal terror—just a fraction.

The Ocean Queen said flatly, “I do not know of any such thing.”

Amusement glimmered in Bryce’s whiskey-colored eyes, but her tone was dead serious as she explained, “I teleported here. I needed to replace my mate.”

“You and your mate are dismissed,” the Ocean Queen said, waving that nacre-tipped hand. A hermit crab skittered through her dark locks and then vanished again. “I have important matters to discuss with Captain Ketos.”

Tharion looked up, grimacing. Maybe his death sentence hadn’t been delayed after all.

But again, Bryce didn’t miss a beat. “Yeah, see, my matters are a bit more pressing.”

“I replace that highly unlikely.”

Two queens facing off. And there was no doubt in Hunt’s mind that Bryce was a queen now. The poise, the strength radiating from her … She didn’t need a crown to rule this room.

Bryce sucked in a breath, the only sign of nerves. And said to the ruler of the seas, “You’re wrong.”

It was only through sheer will that Bryce didn’t throw her arms around Hunt immediately and kiss him silly. Only through sheer will that she didn’t start raging and crying at the halo inked anew on his brow, the brand stamped on his wrist.

She’d kill the Asteri for this.

She’d already planned to, of course, but after what they’d done to Hunt while she’d been gone … she’d make sure they died slowly.

That is, once she figured out how to kill them.

And as soon as she held Hunt, she wasn’t letting go. Ever. But they had so much shit to do right now that giving in wasn’t an option, holding him and loving him weren’t options.

She didn’t dare ask where Ruhn was, not with the Ocean Queen present. Baxian was with Hunt, so maybe her brother was nearby, too. The Autumn King had said they were all rescued. Ruhn had to be here. Somewhere.

But she couldn’t wait for her brother. He’d have to be filled in later.

“I journeyed to the original world of the Fae,” she began, “through a Gate in the Eternal Palace. I possess Luna’s Horn, which helped clear the pathway between worlds.”

Stunned, breathless silence filled the room. Hunt practically thrummed with lightning and curiosity, but Bryce kept her eyes on the Ocean Queen as the female said neutrally, “I’m assuming you learned something.”

Bryce gave a shallow nod. “I knew already that the Asteri are intergalactic parasites. But I learned that the Asteri infected Midgard’s waters upon invading this world.”

“Infected,” the Ocean Queen mused.

Bryce nodded again. “The Asteri put an actual parasite in the water—or something like a parasite. I don’t really know what it is, specifically. Whatever it is, it makes everyone on Midgard have to offer up firstlight via the Drop. Or else we’ll lose our powers—we’ll wither and die.”

“Fuck,” Hunt breathed. Bryce still didn’t look at him, though. At Tharion or Baxian or Sendes, who were all gaping in absolute dread.

Only the Ocean Queen didn’t appear surprised.

Bryce said, narrowing her eyes in realization, “You—you knew this.”

The Ocean Queen shook her head. “No. I always wondered, though, why my people still needed to make the Drop, even down here. But now that you have revealed this terrible truth, what shall you do?”

“I guess I’ll take on the Asteri,” Bryce said. “Banish them from this world.”

“How?” The Ocean Queen shifted, the coral beading on her gown tinkling.

Bryce hedged, not quite willing to lay out everything for this stranger. “I don’t suppose an eviction notice would do the trick?”

The three males around them didn’t bat an eye, but Sendes shifted on her feet.

The Ocean Queen said plainly, “This is folly. You’d need entire armies to fight the Asteri.”

“Care to supply one?” Bryce countered.

“My people are skilled in the water, not on land. But Ophion has forces, what little remain. I believe Lidia Cervos mustered them the other day to devastating effect. Though I have not yet learned how many survived the mission.”

Bryce said to the queen, “So you do work with Ophion?”

“We assist each other when we can—I harbor their agents if they make it here. But Ophion is as prejudiced against us as a Vanir against a mortal. They replace accepting our help to be … unsavory.”

“Plenty of Vanir have helped Ophion over the years,” Baxian cut in with soft strength.

Bryce’s heart tightened as Danika’s face flashed through her mind. If Danika could not be here, it was only fitting that her mate stood here instead.

“And Ophion resents all of them,” Commander Sendes said from where she still stood beside the doorway. “We’d need a solid bridge between us to get talks going about unifying armies.”

Hunt turned to Bryce and asked quietly, “What about Briggs?”

Her blood chilled. “No fucking way. He’ll turn around and kill us.” The former rebel leader’s gaunt, hollow face flashed in her mind, along with those deep blue eyes that had seemed to bore right through her.

“She is correct,” the Ocean Queen said, folding her hands over her stomach once more in a portrait of regal poise. “Another route is required.”

Bryce said as casually as she could, “Hel will aid us.”

The Ocean Queen scoffed. “You trust those demons?”

“I do.” At the ruler’s raised brows, Bryce said, jaw clenching, “Hel’s known all this stuff for millennia. And tried their best to make it right. To help liberate us. That’s what they were trying to do during the First Wars.”

Again, her friends were stunned into silence.

But the Ocean Queen let out a small, disbelieving snort. “You learned that in this other world as well?”

“Yes.” Bryce kept her tone even, refusing to be baited.

“You trust Hel enough to fully open the Northern Rift to allow their armies through?”

“If it’s our only shot at defeating the Asteri.”

“You’d trade one evil for another.”

Bryce couldn’t stop the starlight that began pulsing under her skin, condensing and sharpening into that thing that could cleave through stone. “I’d hardly call the Princes of Hel evil, when they’ve refused to let the Asteri win all these years. When they’ve gone out of their way to try to help us, even though it’ll cost them. Hel owes us nothing, yet they’re so convinced of the importance of ridding the universe of the Asteri that they’ve been at this for thousands of years. I’d say that’s a pretty solid commitment.”

The Ocean Queen seemed to grow an inch, then another. She jerked her chin toward Hunt. “Your mate hunted demons for centuries—has seen their brutality and bloodlust up close. What does he have to say about their supposed altruism?”

Hunt squared his shoulders, utterly unshakable. Bryce’s throat tightened to see it—to know even before he spoke that he had her back. “It’s tough for me to accept, especially when they wrecked Lunathion this spring, but if Bryce trusts them, I trust them. Besides, we’re out of options.”

Bryce spared him from dwelling further on the topic by saying, “There is another thing.”

All of them turned to her. Hunt, at least, had the good sense to look nervous.

Bryce kept her gaze on the Ocean Queen as she said, “We need to head to Avallen.”

“Why?” the Ocean Queen demanded. A tsunami roared in her tone.

“There’s some research I need to do in its archives that might help our cause.” It was at least partially the truth. “About the First Wars and Hel’s involvement.”

Okay, the last part was a lie. But she wasn’t about to explain what she really needed on the mist-shrouded isle.

The Ocean Queen drawled, “I don’t recall becoming a ferry service. Do you assume my city-ship is at your disposal?”

“Do you want to win this war or not?”

Shock rippled through the room at her words. Hunt tensed, readying for a physical confrontation.

But Bryce blazed with starlight as she said, “Look, I know nothing is free. But for fuck’s sake, let’s talk plainly. Name your price. You’ve gone out of your way to try to help people for years, working toward bringing down the Asteri. So why are you making things more difficult when we finally have a chance at beating them?”

“This is becoming tedious,” the Ocean Queen said. “I did not come here to be ordered about by an impostor queen.”

“Call me what you want,” Bryce said, “but the longer we don’t act, the easier it will be for Rigelus and the rest of the Asteri to move against us.”

“Everything seems urgent to the young.”

“Yeah, I get that, but—”

“I was not done speaking.”

Bryce hid her wince as the Ocean Queen surveyed her. “You are young. And idealistic. And inexperienced.”

“Don’t forget ill qualified and always inappropriately dressed.”

The female cut her a warning glare. Bryce held up her hands in mock surrender.

The Ocean Queen loosed a long breath. “I do not know you, Bryce Danaan, and so far have seen little to recommend you as a reliable ally. My people have managed to evade the Asteri’s influence for millennia now—to remain safe down here, fighting against them as best we can. And yet you have informed me that even here, we are not untouched. Even here, in my domain, the Asteri’s parasite infects us all.”

“I’m sorry to have been the bearer of bad news,” Bryce said, “but would you rather I had kept it from you?”

“Honestly? I don’t know.” The Ocean Queen studied her hand—a banded sea krait twined around her wrist like a living black-and-white bracelet. Poisonous as Hel. The ruler said quietly, “Have you thought about an evacuation?”

Bryce started. “To where? There’s nowhere on Midgard, except maybe this ship, that isn’t under their control.” Avallen was apparently shielded by its mists, yes, but King Morven still bowed to the Asteri.

The queen lifted her head. “To the home world of the Fae.”

Hunt shifted, wings rustling. “You mean leave this planet completely?”

The Ocean Queen didn’t take her eyes from Bryce’s as she said, “Yes. Use the Horn, allow as many through as you can, and then seal the way forever.”

Horror twisted through her. “And what—abandon the rest here? To be slaves and feeding troughs for the Asteri?” She’d be no better than Silene.

The Ocean Queen asked, “Isn’t it better for some to be free, than for all to be dead?”

Hunt let out a low laugh, stepping closer to Bryce’s side as he said to the Ocean Queen, “You can’t mean that. Who the fuck would even get chosen to come? Your people? Our families? In what universe is that fair?”

Seated at the conference table, Baxian nodded his agreement, but Tharion kept still as stone. Maybe he didn’t want to attract the queen’s attention or ire once more. Spineless asshole. But Bryce squashed her distaste. She needed all the allies she could get.

“I do not say it is fair,” the Ocean Queen said, stroking the sea krait on her wrist. “But it might be what is necessary.”

Bryce swallowed the dryness in her mouth. “I came back here to help everyone, not to abandon them to the mercy of the Asteri.”

“Perhaps Urd sent you to that other world to establish a safe harbor. Have you considered that?”

Bryce exploded, “What was all this for, then? The stealth, the ships, the Ophion contacts? What the fuck was it for if you just want to run away from the Asteri in the end?”

Eyes blacker than the Melinoë Trench pinned her to the spot. “Do not dare question my dedication, girl. I have fought and sacrificed for this world when no one else would. Once, my kingdom was vaster than you can imagine—but the Asteri came, and entire islands withered into the sea in despair, taking the very heart of this world with it. The very heart of the mer, too. If there is anyone who understands how futile it is to stand against the Asteri, it is I.”

Bryce’s breath caught in her throat. “Wait—you were here before the Asteri? The mer were here? I thought only humans lived on Midgard then.”

The Ocean Queen’s face became distant with memory. “They had the land—we had the seas. Our people met only occasionally, the root of the humans’ legends about the mer.” A wistful smile, then her eyes again focused on Bryce, sharp and calculating. “But yes, we have always been here. Midgard has always had magic, as all nature has inherent magic. The Asteri just did not deign to recognize it.”

Bryce filed away the information. “Fine—you win the award for longest-suffering people on Midgard. That doesn’t entitle you to jump to the front of the Evacuate Midgard line.” Hunt touched her shoulder lightly, a gentle warning. But Bryce ignored him and laid her hands flat on the table, leaning over it to breathe in the Ocean Queen’s face. “I refuse to open a gate like that. I won’t help you condemn the majority of Midgard’s people while a select few dance off into the sunset.”

The sea krait on the Ocean Queen’s wrist hissed at Bryce. Even as its mistress’s face remained as cold as the ice floes of the north. “You will come around to the idea when your friends and loved ones start dying around you.”

“Don’t you dare condescend to her,” Hunt growled at the queen.

Sendes cleared her throat, trying to bail them out of this clusterfuck, but all Bryce could hear was a roaring in her ears, all she could see was a blinding white creeping over her vision—

“You’re a coward,” Bryce spat at the Ocean Queen. “You hide behind your power, but you’re a coward.”

The ship shuddered, as if the very sea tensed with rage.

But the Ocean Queen said, “Against my better instincts, I will deposit you and yours in Avallen, as requested. Consider that my last gift.”

Bryce ground her teeth so hard her jaw hurt.

“But when you fail in whatever uprising you think you can muster,” the Ocean Queen said by way of dismissal, striding for the door, leaving a trail of water in her wake, “when you realize that I am right and fleeing is the best option, I ask only this in exchange for my services: take as many of my people as you can.”