House of Earth and Blood
A life. These were the photos of someone with a life, and a good one at that. A reminder of what it had felt like to have a home, and someone who cared whether he lived or died. Someone who made him smile just by entering a room.
He’d never had that before. With anyone.
The screen went dark, and then the photos began again.
And he could see it, this time. How her eyes—they had been so cold at the start. How even with her ridiculous pictures and poses, that smile hadn’t reached her eyes. But with each photo, more light had crept into them. Brightened them. Brightened his eyes, too. Until those last photos. When Bryce was near-glowing with joy.
She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Sandriel was smirking like a cat. “Is this really what you wanted in the end, Hunt?” She gestured to the photos. To Bryce’s smiling face. “To be freed one day, to marry the girl, to live out some ordinary, basic life?” She chuckled. “Whatever would Shahar say?”
Her name didn’t clang. And the guilt he thought would sear him didn’t so much as sizzle.
Sandriel’s full lips curved upward, a mockery of her twin’s smile. “Such simple, sweet wishes, Hunt. But that’s not how these things work out. Not for people like you.”
His stomach twisted. The photos were torture, he realized. To remind him of the life he might have had. What he’d tasted on the couch with Bryce the other night. What he’d pissed away.
“You know,” Sandriel said, “if you had played the obedient dog, Micah would have eventually petitioned for your freedom.” The words pelted him. “But you couldn’t be patient. Couldn’t be smart. Couldn’t choose this”—she gestured to their photos—“over your own petty revenge.” Another snake’s smile. “So here we are. Here you are.” She studied a photo Hunt had taken of Bryce with Syrinx, the chimera’s pointed little teeth bared in something terrifyingly close to a grin. “The girl will probably cry her little heart out for a while. But then she’ll forget you, and she’ll find someone else. Maybe there will be some Fae male who can stomach an inferior pairing.”
Hunt’s senses pricked, his temper stirring.
Sandriel shrugged. “Or she’ll wind up in a dumpster with the other half-breeds.”
His fingers curled into fists. There was no threat in Sandriel’s words. Just the terrible practicality of how their world treated people like Bryce.
“The point is,” Sandriel continued, “she will go on. And you and I will go on, Hunt.”
At last, at last, he dragged his eyes from Bryce and the photos of the life, the home, they’d made. The life he still so desperately, stupidly wanted. His wings resumed their itching. “What.”
Sandriel’s smile sharpened. “Didn’t they tell you?”
Dread curled as he looked at his phone in her hands. As he realized why he’d been left alive, and why Sandriel had been allowed to take his belongings.
They were her belongings now.
Bryce entered the near-empty bar just after eleven. The lack of a brooding male presence guarding her back was like a phantom limb, but she ignored it, made herself forget about it as she spotted Ruhn sitting at the counter, sipping his whiskey.
Only Flynn had joined him, the male too busy seducing the female currently playing billiards with him to give Bryce more than a wary, pitying nod. She ignored it and slid onto the stool beside Ruhn, her dress squeaking against the leather. “Hi.”
Ruhn glanced sidelong at her. “Hey.”
The bartender strode over, brows raised in silent question. Bryce shook her head. She didn’t plan to be here long enough for a drink, water or otherwise. She wanted this over with as quickly as possible so she could go back home, take off her bra, and put on her sweats.
Bryce said, “I wanted to come by to say thanks.” Ruhn only stared at her. She watched the sunball game on the TV above the bar. “For the other day. Night. For looking out for me.”
Ruhn squinted at the tiled ceiling.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m just checking to see if the sky’s falling, since you’re thanking me for something.”
She shoved his shoulder. “Asshole.”
“You could have called or messaged.” He sipped from his whiskey.
“I thought it’d be more adultlike to do it face-to-face.”
Her brother surveyed her carefully. “How are you holding up?”
“I’ve been better.” She admitted, “I feel like a fucking idiot.”
“You’re not.”
“Oh yeah? Half a dozen people warned me, you included, to be on my guard around Hunt, and I laughed in all your faces.” She blew out a breath. “I should have seen it.”
“In your defense, I didn’t think Athalar was still that ruthless.” His blue eyes blazed. “I thought his priorities had shifted lately.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you and dear old Dad.”
“He visited you?”
“Yep. Told me I’m just as big a piece of shit as he himself is. Like father, like daughter. Like calls to like or whatever.”
“You’re nothing like him.”
“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Ruhn.” She tapped the bar. “Anyway, that’s all I came to say.” She noted the Starsword hanging at his side, its black hilt not reflecting the firstlights in the room. “You on patrol tonight?”
“Not until midnight.” With his Fae metabolism, the whiskey would be out of his system long before then.
“Well … good luck.” She hopped off the stool, but Ruhn halted her with a hand on her elbow.
“I’m having some people over at my place in a couple weeks to watch the big sunball game. Why don’t you come over?”
“Pass.”
“Just come for the first period. If it isn’t your thing, no problem. Leave when you want.”
She scanned his face, weighing the offer there. The hand extended.
“Why?” she asked quietly. “Why keep bothering?”
“Why keep pushing me away, Bryce?” His voice strained. “It wasn’t just about that fight.”
She swallowed, her throat thick. “You were my best friend,” she said. “Before Danika, you were my best friend. And I … It doesn’t matter now.” She’d realized back then that the truth didn’t matter—she wouldn’t let it matter. She shrugged, as if it’d help lighten the crushing weight in her chest. “Maybe we could start over. On a trial basis only.”
Ruhn started to smile. “So you’ll come watch the game?”
“Juniper was supposed to come over that day, but I’ll see if she’s up for it.” Ruhn’s blue eyes twinkled like stars, but Bryce cut in, “No promises, though.”
He was still grinning when she rose from her barstool. “I’ll save a seat for you.”
70
Fury was sitting on the couch when Bryce returned from the bar. In the exact spot where she’d gotten used to seeing Hunt.
Bryce chucked her keys onto the table beside the front door, loosed Syrinx upon her friend, and said, “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.” Fury gave Syrinx a look that stopped him in his tracks. That made him sit his fluffy butt down on the carpet, lion’s tail swaying, and wait until she deigned to greet him. Fury did so after a heartbeat, ruffling his velvety, folded ears.