House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City #3) by Sarah J. Maas

She didn’t dare ask where Ruhn was, not with the Ocean Queen present. Baxian was with Hunt, so maybe her brother was nearby, too. The Autumn King had said they were all rescued. Ruhn had to be here. Somewhere.

But she couldn’t wait for her brother. He’d have to be filled in later.

“I journeyed to the original world of the Fae,” she began, “through a Gate in the Eternal Palace. I possess Luna’s Horn, which helped clear the pathway between worlds.”

Stunned, breathless silence filled the room. Hunt practically thrummed with lightning and curiosity, but Bryce kept her eyes on the Ocean Queen as the female said neutrally, “I’m assuming you learned something.”

Bryce gave a shallow nod. “I knew already that the Asteri are intergalactic parasites. But I learned that the Asteri infected Midgard’s waters upon invading this world.”

“Infected,” the Ocean Queen mused.

Bryce nodded again. “The Asteri put an actual parasite in the water—or something like a parasite. I don’t really know what it is, specifically. Whatever it is, it makes everyone on Midgard have to offer up firstlight via the Drop. Or else we’ll lose our powers—we’ll wither and die.”

“Fuck,” Hunt breathed. Bryce still didn’t look at him, though. At Tharion or Baxian or Sendes, who were all gaping in absolute dread.

Only the Ocean Queen didn’t appear surprised.

Bryce said, narrowing her eyes in realization, “You—you knew this.”

The Ocean Queen shook her head. “No. I always wondered, though, why my people still needed to make the Drop, even down here. But now that you have revealed this terrible truth, what shall you do?”

“I guess I’ll take on the Asteri,” Bryce said. “Banish them from this world.”

“How?” The Ocean Queen shifted, the coral beading on her gown tinkling.

Bryce hedged, not quite willing to lay out everything for this stranger. “I don’t suppose an eviction notice would do the trick?”

The three males around them didn’t bat an eye, but Sendes shifted on her feet.

The Ocean Queen said plainly, “This is folly. You’d need entire armies to fight the Asteri.”

“Care to supply one?” Bryce countered.

“My people are skilled in the water, not on land. But Ophion has forces, what little remain. I believe Lidia Cervos mustered them the other day to devastating effect. Though I have not yet learned how many survived the mission.”

Bryce said to the queen, “So you do work with Ophion?”

“We assist each other when we can—I harbor their agents if they make it here. But Ophion is as prejudiced against us as a Vanir against a mortal. They find accepting our help to be … unsavory.”

“Plenty of Vanir have helped Ophion over the years,” Baxian cut in with soft strength.

Bryce’s heart tightened as Danika’s face flashed through her mind. If Danika could not be here, it was only fitting that her mate stood here instead.

“And Ophion resents all of them,” Commander Sendes said from where she still stood beside the doorway. “We’d need a solid bridge between us to get talks going about unifying armies.”

Hunt turned to Bryce and asked quietly, “What about Briggs?”

Her blood chilled. “No fucking way. He’ll turn around and kill us.” The former rebel leader’s gaunt, hollow face flashed in her mind, along with those deep blue eyes that had seemed to bore right through her.

“She is correct,” the Ocean Queen said, folding her hands over her stomach once more in a portrait of regal poise. “Another route is required.”

Bryce said as casually as she could, “Hel will aid us.”

The Ocean Queen scoffed. “You trust those demons?”

“I do.” At the ruler’s raised brows, Bryce said, jaw clenching, “Hel’s known all this stuff for millennia. And tried their best to make it right. To help liberate us. That’s what they were trying to do during the First Wars.”

Again, her friends were stunned into silence.

But the Ocean Queen let out a small, disbelieving snort. “You learned that in this other world as well?”

“Yes.” Bryce kept her tone even, refusing to be baited.

“You trust Hel enough to fully open the Northern Rift to allow their armies through?”

“If it’s our only shot at defeating the Asteri.”

“You’d trade one evil for another.”

Bryce couldn’t stop the starlight that began pulsing under her skin, condensing and sharpening into that thing that could cleave through stone. “I’d hardly call the Princes of Hel evil, when they’ve refused to let the Asteri win all these years. When they’ve gone out of their way to try to help us, even though it’ll cost them. Hel owes us nothing, yet they’re so convinced of the importance of ridding the universe of the Asteri that they’ve been at this for thousands of years. I’d say that’s a pretty solid commitment.”

The Ocean Queen seemed to grow an inch, then another. She jerked her chin toward Hunt. “Your mate hunted demons for centuries—has seen their brutality and bloodlust up close. What does he have to say about their supposed altruism?”

Hunt squared his shoulders, utterly unshakable. Bryce’s throat tightened to see it—to know even before he spoke that he had her back. “It’s tough for me to accept, especially when they wrecked Lunathion this spring, but if Bryce trusts them, I trust them. Besides, we’re out of options.”