House of Earth and Blood
“Turn off that screen, Lehabah, before I throw it in the fucking tank.”
Her sharp words cut through the library. The rustling creatures in their cages stilled. Even Syrinx stirred from his nap.
Lehabah dimmed to a faint pink. “Are you sure there’s nothing we can—”
Bryce slammed the book shut and hauled it with her, aiming for the stairs.
She didn’t hear Lehabah’s next words over the front door’s buzzer. Work had proved busier than usual, a grand total of six shoppers wasting her time asking about shit they had no interest in buying. If she had to deal with one more idiot today—
She glanced at the monitors. And froze.
The Autumn King surveyed the gallery, the showroom stocked with priceless artifacts, the door that led up to Jesiba’s office and the window in it that overlooked the floor. He stared at the window for long enough that Bryce wondered if he could somehow see through the one-way glass, all the way to the Godslayer Rifle mounted on the wall behind Jesiba’s desk. Sense its deadly presence, and that of the golden bullet in the wall safe beside it. But his eyes drifted on, to the iron door sealed to her right, and finally, finally to Bryce herself.
He’d never come to see her. In all these years, he’d never come. Why bother?
“There are cameras everywhere,” she said, staying seated behind her desk, hating every whiff of his ashes-and-nutmeg scent that dragged her back twelve years, to the weeping thirteen-year-old she’d been the last time she’d spoken to him. “In case you’re thinking of stealing something.”
He ignored the taunt and slid his hands into the pockets of his black jeans, still conducting his silent survey of the gallery. He was gorgeous, her father. Tall, muscled, with an impossibly beautiful face beneath that long red hair, the exact same shade and silken texture as her own. He looked just a few years older than her, too—dressed like a young man, with those black jeans and a matching long-sleeved T-shirt. But his amber eyes were ancient and cruel as he said at last, “My son told me what occurred on the river on Wednesday night.”
How he managed to make that slight emphasis on my son into an insult was beyond her.
“Ruhn is a good dog.”
“Prince Ruhn deemed it necessary that I know, since you might be … in peril.”
“And yet you waited three days? Were you hoping I’d be crucified, too?”
Her father’s eyes flashed. “I have come to tell you that your security has been assured, and that the Governor knows you were innocent in the matter and will not dare to harm you. Even to punish Hunt Athalar.”
She snorted. Her father stilled. “You are incredibly foolish if you think that would not be enough to break Athalar at last.”
Ruhn must have told him about that, too. The disaster that had been this thing between her and Hunt. Whatever it had been. Whatever using her like that could be called.
“I don’t want to talk about this.” Not with him, not with anyone. Fury had disappeared again, and while Juniper had messaged, Bryce kept the conversation brief. Then the calls from her mother and Randall had started. And the big lies had begun.
She didn’t know why she’d lied about Hunt’s involvement. Maybe because explaining her own idiocy in letting Hunt in—being so fucking blind to the fact that he’d led her around when everyone had warned her, that he’d even told her he would love Shahar until the day he died—was too much. It gutted her to know he’d chosen the Archangel and their rebellion over her, over them … She couldn’t talk to her mom about it. Not without completely losing what was left of her ability to function.
So Bryce had gone back to work, because what else was there to do? She’d heard nothing from the places where she’d applied for new jobs.
“I’m not talking about this,” she repeated.
“You will talk about this. With your king.” A crackling ember of his power set the firstlights guttering.
“You are not my king.”
“Legally, I am,” her father said. “You are listed as a half-Fae citizen. That places you under my jurisdiction both in this city and as a member of the House of Sky and Breath.”
She clicked her nails together. “So what is it you want to talk about, Your Majesty?”
“Have you stopped looking for the Horn?”
She blinked. “Does it matter now?”
“It is a deadly artifact. Just because you learned the truth regarding Danika and Athalar doesn’t mean whoever wishes to use it is done.”
“Didn’t Ruhn tell you? Danika stole the Horn on a lark. Ditched it somewhere in one of her flying-high-as-a-fucking-kite moments. It was a dead end.” At her father’s frown, she explained, “The kristallos were all accidentally summoned by Danika and the others who took synth, thanks to the black salt in it. We were wrong in even looking for the Horn. There was no one pursuing it.”
She couldn’t decide whom she hated more: Hunt, Danika, or herself for not seeing their lies. Not wanting to see any of it. It haunted every step, every breath, that loathing. Burned deep inside.
“Even if no enemy seeks it, it is worth ensuring that the Horn does not fall into the wrong hands.”
“Only Fae hands, right?” She smiled coldly. “I thought your Chosen One son was put on its tail.”
“He is otherwise occupied.” Ruhn must have told him to go fuck himself.
“Well, if you can think where Danika unloaded it in her synth-high stupor, I’m all ears.”
“It is no trivial matter. Even if the Horn is long defunct, it still holds a special place in Fae history. It will mean a great deal to my people if it is recovered. I’d think with your professional expertise, such a search would be of interest to you. And your employer.”
She looked back at her computer screen. “Whatever.”
He paused, and then his power buzzed, warping every audio feed before he said, “I loved your mother very much, you know.”
“Yeah, so much you left a scar on her face.”
She could have sworn he flinched. “Do not think I have not spent every moment since then regretting my actions. Living in shame.”
“Could have fooled me.”
His power rumbled through the room. “You are so much like her. More than you know. She never forgave anyone for anything.”
“I take that as a compliment.” That fire burned and raged inside her head, her bones.
Her father said quietly, “I would have made her my queen. I had the paperwork ready.”
She blinked. “How surprisingly un-elitist of you.” Her mother had never suggested, never hinted at it. “She would have hated being queen. She would have said no.”
“She loved me enough to have said yes.” Absolute certainty laced his words.
“You think that somehow erases what you did?”
“No. Nothing shall ever erase what I did.”
“Let’s skip the woe-is-me bullshit. You came here after all these years to tell me this crap?”
Her father looked at her for a long moment. Then strode for the door, opening it in silence. But he said before he stepped into the street, his red hair gleaming in the afternoon sunlight, “I came here after all these years to tell you that you may be like your mother, but you are also more like me than you realize.” His amber eyes—her own—flickered. “And that is not a good thing.”