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

Tharion didn’t think twice before he began running.

“Thanks again for getting me in here,” Ithan said to Hypaxia, who sat in the waiting room of the Prime’s study at the Den. It was weird to have needed to ask a veritable stranger to get him safely into his own home, but … this was the only way.

The witch-queen offered him a soft smile. “It’s what friends do, isn’t it?”

He bowed his head. “I’m honored to be called your friend.” He’d been proud to walk through the gates moments before at the side of this strong, kind female. No matter that the wolves on duty had sneered as he’d passed.

A reedy voice grunted his name, and Ithan rose from the leather chair, offering Hypaxia a smile. “I’ll be quick.”

She waved him off, and Ithan braced himself as he entered the old wolf’s formal study. Wood-paneled walls crammed with bookshelves gleamed in the midday light. The Prime sat at his desk, hunched over what seemed to be a stack of paperwork. Sabine stood above him. Monitoring every shaking stroke of his hand.

Ithan stiffened. Sabine’s teeth gleamed.

Yet the old wolf lifted his head. “It is good to see you, boy.”

“Thank you for meeting with me.” Sabine knew that Danika had been sworn to a mate. That Baxian was in this city. Ithan shoved the thought away. “I know you’re busy, so—”

“Out with it,” Sabine snarled.

Ithan let her see the wolf in him, the dominance he didn’t shove down like he always had. But the Prime said, “Go ahead, Ithan.”

Ithan squared his shoulders, tucking his hands behind his back. The same pose he’d taken when getting instructions from Coach. To Hel with it, then.

“One of the Astronomer’s mystics is a wolf. An Alpha wolf.” The words were met with silence, but Sabine’s eyes narrowed. “She’s from Nena—sold so young she doesn’t know her name, or her age. I’m not even sure if she knows she’s an Alpha. But she’s a wolf, and she’s no better than a slave in that tank. I … We can’t leave her there.”

“What business is it of ours?” Sabine demanded.

“She’s a wolf,” Ithan repeated. “That should be all we need to help her.”

“There are plenty of wolves. And plenty of Alphas. They are not all our responsibility.” Sabine exposed her teeth again. “Is this part of some scheme you and that half-breed whore are concocting?”

She sneered as she said it, but … Sabine had come to Bryce’s apartment that night to warn her to stay out of wolf business. Out of some fear, however unfounded, that Bryce would somehow back Ithan—as if Sabine herself could be at risk of being overthrown.

Ithan tucked that aside. Tossing out wild accusations wouldn’t help his cause right now. So he said carefully, “I just want to help the mystic.”

“Is this what you’ve dedicated your time to now, Holstrom? Charity cases?”

Ithan swallowed his retort. “Danika would have done something.”

“Danika was an idealistic fool,” Sabine spat. “Don’t waste our time with this.”

Ithan looked to the Prime, but the old wolf said nothing. Did nothing. Ithan turned to the door again and strode out.

Hypaxia rose to her feet as he appeared. “Done so soon?”

“Yeah, I guess.” He’d told someone about the mystic. He supposed … Well, now he supposed he could go to Pangera with few regrets.

Sabine strutted out of the study. She growled low in her throat at Ithan, but faltered upon seeing Hypaxia. Hypaxia held the wolf’s stare with steely calm. Sabine only snorted and stalked away, slamming the hall door behind her.

“Let’s go,” Ithan said to Hypaxia.

But the door to the study opened again, and the Prime stood there, a hand on the jamb to support himself. “The mystic,” the Prime said, panting slightly, as if the walk from his desk to the door had winded him. “What did she look like?”

“Brown hair. Medium brown, I think. Pale skin.” A common enough description.

“And her scent? Was it like snow and embers?”

Ithan stilled. The ground seemed to sway. “How do you know that?”

The old wolf bowed his silvery head. “Because Sabine is not the only Fendyr heir.”

Ithan rocked back on his heels at that. Was that why Sabine had come to the apartment that night to warn off Bryce? Not to keep Ithan from becoming the Prime Apparent, but to scare Bryce away before she could discover there was a true alternative to Sabine. A legitimate one.

Because Bryce would stop at nothing to find that other heir.

And Sabine would kill them to prevent it.





67

Tharion burst into the Viper Queen’s nest. He had only minutes until all Hel broke loose.

Ariadne was sprawled on her belly on the carpet, a book splayed open before her, bare feet bobbing above her ample backside. The sort of ample backside that on any other day, he’d truly appreciate. The dragon didn’t remove her focus from her book as she said, “She’s in the back.”

Tharion ran for the rear room. The Viper Queen lounged on a couch before the window overlooking the fighting pit where the current match was unfolding, reading something on her electronic tablet. “Mer,” she said by way of greeting.