House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City) (38 page)

You guys never talked about it?

Never. But Jesiba was always monitoring those cameras, so … maybe she saw something. Danika was down there without me plenty of times. Though Lehabah was usually there, too.

Ruhn noted the pain that filled his sister’s face at the fire sprite’s name.

We’ll figure it out
, Ruhn offered, and Bryce gave him a thankful smile in return.

“Don’t forget to keep an eye out for Emile around the docks,” Bryce said to Ithan. Cormac had turned down the invitation to join them here—he’d said he wanted to continue hunting for Emile on the ground.

“I already added it to the program,” Declan said. “It’ll flag any Reaper or any person whose facial features and build match the kid’s.” Dec had managed to pull a still from the security footage in the town of Servast the night Emile and Sofie had separated.

Ruhn again considered his sister, who was peering over Declan’s shoulder with an intensity he recognized. She wouldn’t let go of any of this.

Would she be able to teleport? She’d told him that Cormac had agreed to try to teach her. And wouldn’t that be something for the Autumn King to chew on—Bryce plus teleporting plus Starborn power plus Starsword with crazy killing abilities plus Bryce magically outranking their father equaled …

Ruhn kept his face neutral, tucking away thoughts of what a leveled-up Bryce might mean for the Fae.

Ithan finished typing in the code, and said without looking up, “Hilene is going to win this one.”

Ruhn checked the sunball game just beginning its first period. “I thought Ionia was favored.”

Ithan stretched out his long legs, propping his bare feet on a cushioned stool Bryce had dragged over from the windows to be a temporary replacement for the coffee table. “Jason Regez has been off the last two games. I played with him at CCU—I can tell when he starts to get in a funk. He’ll fuck it up for Ionia.”

Ruhn eyed Ithan. A few years off the sunball field hadn’t gotten rid of the muscles on the male. He’d somehow gotten even bigger since then.

“I hate Ionia anyway,” Dec said. “They’re all swaggering assholes.”

“Pretty much.” Ithan typed in the next line of code that Declan fed him.

Bryce yawned audibly. “Can’t we watch
Veiled Love
?”

“No,” everyone answered.

Bryce elbowed Hunt. “I thought we were a team.”

Hunt snorted. “Sunball always trumps reality shows.”

“Traitor.”

Ithan snickered. “I remember a time when you knew all the players on the CCU team and their stats, Bryce.”

“If you think that was because I was remotely interested in the actual sunball playing, you’re delusional.”

Hunt laughed, some of the tightness on the angel’s face lightening, and Ruhn smiled, despite the old ache in his heart. He’d missed out on those years with Bryce. They hadn’t been speaking then. Those had been formative, pivotal years. He should have been there.

Ithan flipped Bryce off, but said to Declan, “Okay, I’m in.”

Bryce scanned the screen. “Do you see any Reapers crossing in boats?”

“This is showing nothing landing at the Black Dock at all today. Or last night.”

Athalar asked, “When’s the last time any Reaper docked?”

Ithan kept typing, and they all waited, the only additional sound the swift clack of Declan’s fingers on the keys of his computer. The wolf said, “Yesterday morning.” He grimaced. “These two look familiar?”

Bryce and Ruhn scanned the image Ithan had pulled up. Ruhn had no idea why the fuck he bothered, since he’d been unconscious, but a shiver went down his spine at the sagging, graying faces, the crepe-like skin so at odds with the jagged, sharp teeth that gleamed as the Reapers stepped from the boat. Both had pulled back their veils during the trip across the Istros, but tugged them over their faces as they stepped onto the Black Dock and drifted into the city.

Bryce said hoarsely, “No. Gods, they’re awful. But no—those weren’t the ones who attacked.”

“They might have been hiding out for a few days,” Athalar said. “The Prince of the Pit only threatened us the other night, but he might have had them in place already.”

Ruhn had no idea how the angel spoke so calmly. If the Star-Eater had come to
him
and wanted to have a one-on-one chat, he’d still be shitting his pants.

“I’m not seeing any kids lurking around the Black Dock, either,”
Ithan muttered, scanning the results. He twisted to Bryce. “No sign of Emile at all.”

Ruhn asked, “Possible the kid took another way over? Maybe Danika found some sort of back door into the Bone Quarter.”

“Not possible,” Athalar said. “Only one way in, one way out.”

Ruhn bristled. “That’s what we’ve been taught, but has anyone ever tried to get in some other way?”

Athalar snorted. “Why would they want to?”

Ruhn glared at the angel but said, “Fair enough.”

Ithan stopped on an image. “What about this one? He didn’t take a boat over, just appeared from within the city—”

“That’s the one,” Bryce hissed, her face paling.

They all studied the still—the Reaper was half-turned to the camera as it entered the frame from a street near the Black Dock. He was taller than the others, but had the same grayish, soft face and those terrifying teeth.

Athalar whistled. “You sure know how to pick them, Quinlan.”

She scowled at the angel, but asked Dec, “Where’s it coming from? Can you add its face to the program and run a search on the city’s footage?”

Declan’s brows rose. “You know how long
that
will take? Every camera in Lunathion? It’s why we’re not even doing it for Emile. It’d take … I can’t even calculate how long we’d need.”

“Okay, okay,” Bryce said. “But can we … track this one for a while?” She directed the last bit at Ithan, but the wolf shook his head.

“There must be a logical reason for this—like a gap in the camera coverage or something—but that Reaper just seems to … appear.”

“Micah had the kristallos stay in known camera gaps,” Hunt said darkly. “These Reapers could know about them, too.”

Ithan pointed to the screen. “Right here is where they first appear. Before that, nothing.”

Ruhn pulled up a map of the city in his Aux app. “There should be a sewer entrance right behind them. Possible they came out of there?”

Ithan moved the footage around. “The cameras don’t cover that sewer entrance.”

Bryce said, “So they probably knew it’d be a good entry point. And it’d make sense, given that they dragged us into the sewers.” Where there were no cameras at all.

“Let me look around a little more,” Ithan offered, and clicked away.

Athalar asked none of them in particular, “You think they were waiting for you, or for Emile?”

“Or both?” Ruhn asked. “Clearly, they wanted to stay hidden.”

“But did the Prince of the Pit send them, or did the Under-King?” Athalar pushed.

“Good thing we’ve got a date with the being who can answer that,” Bryce said.

Ruhn winced. He’d paid for the Death Marks that Jesiba had promised, but he wasn’t happy about it. The thought of Bryce confronting the Under-King scared the Hel out of him.

“We need a plan for how we question him,” Athalar warned her. “I doubt he’ll appreciate being questioned at all.”

“Hence the research,” Bryce shot back, gesturing to the computer. “You think I’m stupid enough to go in and fling accusations around? If we can confirm whether or not those Reapers came directly from the Bone Quarter, we’ll have steadier footing when we question him. And if we can get any hint of Emile actually going over to the Bone Quarter, then we’ll have a good reason to ask him about that, too.”

Ithan added, “Considering what Tharion thinks Pippa Spetsos has done while hunting for Emile, I’m half hoping the kid’s already in the Bone Quarter.” He dragged a hand through his short brown hair. “What she did to that selkie we found this morning was no joke.”

The wolf had filled them all in on the work he’d done with Tharion earlier—the tortured body they suspected had been left behind by the rebel fanatic.

Bryce pivoted and began pacing. Syrinx trotted at her heels, whining for a second dinner. Ruhn refrained from remarking on
how similar the motion was to one he’d seen their father do so many times in his study. Unable to stand it, he turned back to the sunball game.

Then Ithan said to Ruhn, picking up the thread of conversation from earlier, “See? Regez should have nailed that shot, but he balked. He’s second-guessing himself. He’s too deep in his head.”

Ruhn glanced sidelong at the male. “You’ve never thought about playing again?”

A muscle ticked in Ithan’s jaw. “No.”

“You miss it?”

“No.”

It was an obvious lie. Ruhn didn’t fail to note that Bryce’s eyes had softened.

But Ithan didn’t so much as look in her direction. So Ruhn nodded to the wolf. “If you ever want to play a pickup game, me, Dec, and Flynn usually play with some of the Aux in Oleander Park over in Moonwood on Sundays.”

“Where’s my invite?” Bryce asked, scowling.

But Ithan said roughly, “Thanks. I’ll think about it.”

Hunt asked, “I’m assuming I don’t get an invite, either, Danaan?”

Ruhn snorted at the angel. “You want an excuse for me to beat the shit out of you, Athalar, then I’m down.”

Athalar smirked, but his gaze drifted to Bryce, who was now staring over Declan’s shoulder at the lightning-fast footage zooming by on his laptop. Footage of Danika from years ago.

She straightened suddenly. Cleared her throat. “I’m going down to the gym. Call me if you find anything.” She aimed for her bedroom, presumably to change. Ruhn watched Hunt glance between her disappearing form and the sunball game. Weighing which one to follow.

It took Athalar all of thirty seconds to decide. He ducked into his room, saying he was going to change for the gym.

When Ruhn was alone with Dec and Ithan, his beer half-finished, Ithan said, “Connor would have picked the game.”

Ruhn raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize it was a competition between them.” Between a dead male and a living one.

Ithan just typed away, eyes darting over the screen.

And for some reason, Ruhn dared ask, “What would you have picked?”

Ithan didn’t hesitate. “Bryce.”

27

Bryce didn’t go to the gym. Not yet, anyway. She waited in front of the elevator, and when Hunt appeared, she tapped her wrist and said, “You’re late. Let’s go.”

He halted. “We’re not working out?”

She rolled her eyes, stepping into the elevator and hitting the Lobby button. “Honestly, Athalar. We’ve got a kid to find.”

“You really think Emile is
here
? What about the Bone Quarter?” Hunt asked as Bryce strode through the warren of stalls that made up one of the Meat Market’s many warehouses. There was no missing her, not with her neon-pink sneakers and athletic gear, that high ponytail that swished back and forth, brushing tantalizingly close to the glorious curve of her ass. “The Reapers practically told you that he and Sofie are lying low over there. You’re having Emmet and Holstrom comb through footage
because
you think Emile’s over there.”

She paused at an open seating area, surveying the crammed array of tables and the diners hunched over them. “Forgive me if I don’t take those half-lifes at their word. Or want to wait around while Declan and Ithan stare at their screens. Jesiba said the coins will arrive tomorrow, so why not look at alternatives in the meantime?
What Danika said …
Where the weary souls find relief …
Couldn’t that be here, too?”

“Why would Danika tell them to lie low in the Meat Market?”

“Why tell them to lie low in the
Bone Quarter
?” She sniffed and sighed with longing toward a bowl of noodle soup.

Hunt said, “Even if Danika or Sofie told Emile it was safe to hide out, if I were a kid, I wouldn’t have come here.”

“You were a kid, like, a thousand years ago. Forgive me if my childhood is a little more relevant.”

“Two hundred years ago,” he muttered.

“Still old as fuck.”

He pinched her ass and she squeaked, batting him away, drawing more than a few eyes. Not exactly inconspicuous. How long until the Viper Queen heard they were here? Hunt tried not to bristle at the thought. He had zero interest in dealing with the shape-shifter tonight.

Hunt marked the faces that turned their way, the ones who moved off into the stalls and shadows. “And if this is where Sofie told him to hide, Sofie was a fool for listening to Danika. Though I really doubt Danika would have suggested it as a rendezvous point.”

Bryce glared at him over a shoulder. “This kid stole
two
boats and made it all the way here. I think he can handle the Meat Market.”

“Okay, buying that, you think he’s simply going to be sitting at a table, twiddling his thumbs? You’re no better than Cormac, stomping around the docks for any sign of this kid.” Hunt shook his head. “If you do find Emile, don’t forget you’ll have Tharion and Cormac fighting you for him.”

She patted his cheek. “Then it’s a good thing I have the Umbra Mortis at my side, huh?”

“Bryce,” he growled. “Be reasonable. I mean, look at where we are right now. This market’s huge. Are we going to search through every warehouse ourselves?”

“Nope.” Bryce put her hands on her hips. “That’s why I brought backup.”

Hunt’s brows rose. She lifted her hand, waving at someone across the space. He followed her line of attention. Let out a low growl. “You didn’t.”

“You’re not the only badass I know, Athalar,” she trilled, approaching Fury and Juniper, the former in her usual all black, the latter in tight jeans and a flowing white blouse. “Hi, friends,” Bryce said, smiling. She kissed June’s cheek as if they were meeting for brunch, then gave Fury a once-over. “I said casual clothes.”

“These are her casual clothes,” Juniper said, laughter in her eyes.

Fury crossed her arms, ignoring them as she said to Hunt, “Gym clothes? Really?”

“I thought I
was
going to the gym,” he grumbled.