House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J. Maas

Ruhn planned to find out why. Starting with finding that Horn.





17

Bryce had just succeeded in nudging Hunt into oncoming traffic when he asked, “Do I get an explanation for why I’ve had to trail you like a dog all night?”

Bryce shoved her hand into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a piece of paper. Then silently handed it to Hunt.

His brow furrowed. “What’s this?”

“My list of suspects,” she said, letting him glance at the names before she snatched it away.

“When did you make this?”

She said sweetly, “Last night. On the couch.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “And you were going to tell me when?”

“After you’d spent a whole day assuming I was a dumb, vapid female more interested in getting my nails done than solving this case.”

“You did get your nails done.”

She waved her pretty ombre fingernails in his face. He looked half-inclined to bite them. “Do you know what else I did last night?” His silence was delightful. “I looked up Maximus Tertian some more. Because despite what the Governor says, there was no fucking way Danika knew him. And you know what? I was right. And you know how I know I’m right?”

“Cthona fucking save me,” Hunt muttered.

“Because I looked up his profile on Spark.”

“The dating site?”

“The dating site. Turns out even creepy vamps are looking for love, deep down. And it showed that he was in a relationship. Which apparently did nothing to stop him from hitting on me, but that’s beside the point. So I did some more digging. And found his girlfriend.”

“Fuck.”

“Aren’t there people at the 33rd who should be doing this shit?” When he refused to answer, she grinned. “Guess where Tertian’s girlfriend works.”

Hunt’s eyes simmered. He said through his teeth, “At the nail salon on Samson.”

“And guess who did my nails and got to chatting about the terrible loss of her rich-ass boyfriend?”

He ran his hands through his hair, looking so disbelieving that she chuckled. He snarled, “Stop with the fucking questions and just tell me, Quinlan.”

She examined her gorgeous new nails. “Tertian’s girlfriend didn’t know anything about who might have wanted to murder him. She said the 33rd did vaguely question her, but that was it. So I told her that I’d lost someone, too.” It was an effort to keep her voice steady as the memory of that bloody apartment flashed. “She asked me who, I told her, and she looked so shocked that I asked if Tertian was friends with Danika. She told me no. She said she would have known if Maximus was, because Danika was famous enough that he’d have been bragging about it. The closest to Danika she or Tertian got was through two degrees of separation—through the Viper Queen. Whose nails she does on Sundays.”

“Danika knew the Viper Queen?”

Bryce held up the list. “Danika’s job in the Aux made her a friend and enemy to a lot of people. The Viper Queen was one of them.”

Hunt paled. “You honestly think the Viper Queen killed Danika?”

“Tertian was found dead just over her borders. Ruhn said she pulled her people in last night. And no one knows what kind of powers she has. She could have summoned that demon.”

“That is a big fucking accusation to make.”

“Which is why we need to feel her out. This is the only clue we have to go on.”

Hunt shook his head. “All right. I can buy the possibility. But we need to go through the right channels to contact her. It could be days or weeks before she deigns to meet with us. Longer, if she gets a whiff that we’re onto her.”

With someone like the Viper Queen, even the law was flexible.

Bryce scoffed. “Don’t be such a stickler for the rules.”

“The rules are there to keep us alive. We follow them, or we don’t go after her at all.”

She waved a hand. “Fine.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw again. “And what about Ruhn? You just dragged your cousin into our business.”

“My cousin,” she said tightly, “will be unable to resist the urge to inform his father that a member of the Fae race has been commandeered for an imperial investigation. How he reacts, who he contacts, might be worth noting.”

“What—you think the Autumn King could have done this?”

“No. But Ruhn was given an order to warn me to keep out of trouble the night of Maximus’s murder—maybe the old bastard knew something, too. I’d suggest telling your people to watch him. See what he does and where he goes.”

“Gods,” Hunt breathed, striding past gawking pedestrians. “You want me to just put a tail on the Autumn King like it’s not a violation of about ten different laws?”

“Micah said to do whatever was necessary.”

“The Autumn King has free rein to kill anyone found stalking him like that.”

“Then you better tell your spies to keep themselves hidden.”

Hunt snapped his wings. “Don’t play games again. If you know something, tell me.”

“I was going to tell you everything when I finished up at the nail salon this morning.” She put her hands on her hips. “But then you bit my head off.”