House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2) by Sarah J. Maas

Right. The faun was a vegetarian. But Juniper shrugged. “Anything for the little guy.”

Bryce smiled, then surveyed them all. “Nothing?”

“Nothing,” Hunt said.

“Me neither,” Bryce said, sighing.

“What now?” Fury asked, monitoring the crowd.

“Even if Declan and Ithan can’t find any footage of Emile around the Black Dock,” Bryce said, “the fact that there’s no hint of him here at the Meat Market leads us right back to the Bone Quarter again. So it gives us a bit more reason to even ask the Under-King about whether Emile is there.”

Hunt’s blood sparked. When she talked like that, so sure and unflinching … His balls tightened. He couldn’t wait to show her just how insanely that turned him on.

But Juniper whispered, “A little boy in the Bone Quarter …”

“We’ll find him,” Bryce assured her friend, and threw an arm around Juniper’s shoulders, turning them toward the exit. Hunt swapped a look with Fury, and they followed. Hunt let Bryce and Juniper drift ahead a few feet, and then, when he was sure they wouldn’t be overheard, asked Axtar, “Why does your girlfriend hate this place so much?”

Fury kept her attention on the shadows between the stalls, the vendors and shoppers. “Her brother was a fighter here.”

Hunt started. “Does Bryce know?”

Fury nodded shallowly. “He was talented—Julius. The Viper Queen recruited him from his training gym, promised him riches, females, everything he wanted if he signed himself into her employ. What he got was an addiction to her venom, putting him in her thrall, and a contract with no way out.” A muscle ticked in Fury’s jaw. “June’s parents tried everything to get him freed. Everything. Lawyers, money, pleas to Micah for intervention—none of it worked. Julius died in a fight ten years ago. June and her parents only learned about it because the Viper Queen’s goons dumped his body on their doorstep with a note that said Memento Mori on it.”

The elegant dancer strode arm-in-arm with Bryce. “I had no idea.”

“June doesn’t talk about it. Even with us. But she hates this place more than you can imagine.”

“So why’d she come?” Why had Bryce even invited her?

“For Bryce,” Fury said simply. “Bryce told her she didn’t have to join, but she wanted to come with us. If there’s a kid running around lost in this place, June would do anything to help find him. Even come here herself.”

“Ah,” Hunt said, nodding.

Fury’s eyes glittered with dark promise. “I’ll burn this place to the ground for her one day.”

Hunt didn’t doubt it.

An hour later, Bryce’s arms and stomach trembled as she held her plank on the floor of her apartment building’s gym, sweat dripping off her brow and onto the soft black mat beneath. Bryce focused on the droplet as it splattered, on the music thumping in her earbuds, on breathing through her nose—anything other than the clock.

Time itself had slowed. Ten seconds lasted a minute. She pushed her heels back, steadying her body. Two minutes down. Three more to go.

Before the Drop, she’d usually managed a decent minute in this position. After it, in her immortal body, five minutes should be nothing.

Master her powers, indeed. She needed to master her body first. Though she supposed magic was ideal for lazy people: she didn’t need to be able to hold a plank for ten minutes if she could just unleash her power. Hel, she could blind someone while sitting down if she felt like it.

She chuckled at the idea, horrible as it was: her lounging in an oversize armchair, taking down enemies as easily as if she were changing the channel with a remote. And she did have enemies now, didn’t she? She’d killed a fucking Reaper today.

As soon as those Death Marks arrived from Jesiba tomorrow morning, she’d demand answers from the Under-King.

It was why she’d come down here—not only to validate her excuse for leaving the apartment. Well, that and seeing Danika on Declan’s laptop as it scanned through footage. Her head had begun spinning and acid had been burning through her veins, and sweating it all out seemed like a good idea. It always worked in Madame Kyrah’s classes.

She owed June a massive box of pastries for coming tonight.

Bryce checked the clock on her phone. Two minutes fifteen seconds. Fuck this. She plopped onto her front, elbows splaying, and laid her face directly on the mat.

A moment later, a foot prodded her ribs. Since there was only one other person in the gym, she didn’t bother to be alarmed as she craned her neck to peer up at Hunt. His lips were moving, sweat beading his brow and dampening his tight gray T-shirt—gods-damn it. How could he look so good?

She tugged an earbud out. “What?” she asked.

“I asked if you were alive.”

“Barely.”

His mouth twitched, and he lifted the hem of his T-shirt up to clean his dripping face. She was rewarded with a glimpse of sweat-slicked abs. Then he said, “You dropped like a corpse.”

She cradled her arms, rubbing the sore muscles. “I prefer running. This is torture.”

“Your dance classes are equally grueling.”

“This isn’t as fun.”

He offered her a hand, and Bryce took it, her sweaty skin sliding against his as he hauled her to her feet.