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

Hunt groaned and reached for his phone, answering with a snapped “What.”

With her Fae ears, Bryce could hear perfectly clearly as Baxian asked, “Where’s your mate?”

It was the low note of panic and urgency that had Hunt putting him on speakerphone and saying, “We’re both here.”

Baxian let out a shuddering breath, and Bryce’s arousal vanished, cold dread filling her gut. If something had happened already, an attack on Avallen—

“I …” Baxian choked on the word. “There are about two dozen of them.”

Bryce swapped a confused glance with Hunt and asked, “Them?”

Baxian let out a laugh that verged on hysteria. “I swear, it’s like they sprang out of the earth, like they were hibernating or hiding there, I don’t fucking know—”

“Baxian,” Bryce said, heart thundering. “What is it?”

“Flying horses. Horses with wings.”

Bryce blinked slowly. “Horses … with wings.”

“Yes,” Baxian said, his voice rising. “They’re flying around and trampling everything and eating all the crops and I think you might need to come here because they seem to be the sort of thing that might belong to a Super Magical Fancy Starborn Princess …”

Bryce looked at Hunt, pure wonder flooding her.

“There are flying horses in Avallen,” Hunt said, eyes as wide as her own, pure joy sparking there.

“In Silene’s account,” Bryce breathed, “she talked about her mother having flying horses. How some came here … and there were depictions of them in the Cave of Princes and Morven’s castle. I thought they’d all been killed, but maybe …” Bryce shook her head. “Is it possible?” Had Helena somehow secretly kept them alive, suspended, waiting until it was safe again?

She didn’t care. Not right now. “There are flying horses in Avallen,” Bryce repeated to Hunt. “There are pegasuses in Avallen.”

“Please come help me,” Baxian said miserably.

“We’ll be there by dawn,” Bryce said, and hung up for Hunt. She met her mate’s blazingly bright eyes. No more shadows, no more halo, no more pain. Never again. “Rain check on the desk sex?”

“For Jelly Jubilee in the flesh?” Hunt grinned. “Anything.”

Bryce threw her arms around his neck, kissing him thoroughly, then dashed for the door.

There was an angel in her office, and a pegasus herd on Avallen. And the Asteri were gone and the dead were free … and though she knew there was work to do to heal Midgard, the world was out there. Life was out there.

So Bryce and Hunt ran out to live it.

Together.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


Even after so many books, I still wake up every day thankful for the incredible people that I have the honor of knowing and working with, and, with that in mind, my love and deepest gratitude go out to:

The magnificent global team at Bloomsbury: Noa Wheeler (whose editorial genius is unparalleled!), Nigel Newton, Kathleen Farrar, Adrienne Vaughan, Ian Hudson, Rebecca McNally, Valentina Rice, Erica Barmash, Angela Craft, Nicola Hill, Amanda Shipp, Marie Coolman, Lauren Ollerhead, Rebecca McGlynn, Grace McNamee, Eleanor Willis, Katie Ager, Ben McCluskey, Holly Minter, Sam Payne, Donna Mark, David Mann, John Candell, Donna Gauthier, Laura Phillips, Jaclyn Sassa, Britt Hopkins, Claire Henry, Michael Young, Nicholas Church, Brigid Nelson, Sarah McLean, Sarah Knight, Joe Roche, Fabia Ma, Sally Wilks, Inês Figueira, Jack Birch, Fliss Stevens, Claire Barker, Cristina Cappelluto, Genevieve Nelsson, Adam Kirkman, Jennifer Gonzalez, Laura Pennock, Elizabeth Tzetzo, Valerie Esposito, and Meenakshi Singh.

To Kaitlin Severini for copyediting, and Andrea Modica and Hannah Bowe for proofreading. To Elizabeth Evans, for her stellar audio adaptations, and to Carlos Quevedo, for his stunning cover art.

To the badass and brilliant team at Writers House: Robin Rue (marvelous agent and wonderful friend), Beth Miller, Cecilia de la Campa, Maja Nikolic, Kate Boggs, Maria Aughavin, Albert Araneo, Sydnee Harlan, Alessandra Birch, Sofia Bolido, Angelamarie Malkoun, Melissa Vasquez, Rosie Acacia, Lisa Castiglione, and Angela Kafka.

To the amazing team at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz: Maura Wogan, Victoria Cook, Kimberly Maynard, Louise Decoppet, Mark Merriman, Michael Ling, Michael Williams, Gregory Boyd, Edward Rosenthal, Molly Rothschild, Amanda Barkin, and Nicole Bergstrom. To Jill Gillett for her wisdom and guidance.

To my sister, Jenn, who inspires me every day, and to my dear friends who always make me smile: Julie, Megan, Katie, Steph, and Lynette. To Laura and Louisse, whose emails never fail to brighten my day.

To Ana, who takes such amazing care of my babies, allowing me to write these books.

To Josh, Taran, Sloane, and Annie: you are the greatest gifts in my life, and I love you more than words can say.

And to the readers who make all of this even possible: thank you for everything.





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First published in the United States in 2024 by Bloomsbury Publishing

First published in Great Britain in 2024 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc