House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3)

by Sarah J. Maas

“Had it not been for my sons, I might very well have become the person the world believes me to be, forever ignoring that small voice whispering that it was wrong.”

“How the fuck did you know to get out here, anyway?”

“Because I’ve been here before,”

“These caves,” Bryce said, pointedly not looking at him, “are nearly identical to the ones I walked through in the original world of the Fae.”

“Flynn and Dec … I don’t think they’re here. And neither are my creep cousins. Or Morven.”

“I’m saying let’s think through a strategy before we go rescue them.”

The lone object in the chamber was a sarcophagus carved from white marble, the hue striking against the deep black of the stone walls. A statue of an armored Fae male lay atop the sarcophagus, hands clasped around a missing object.

the sarcophagus slid away. Revealing a small, secret staircase beneath.

“This place was built by Helena.”

“That’s black salt.”

“These caves are made entirely of black salt,”

“It’s to summon demons. To commune with Hel.”

It’s a thin place as well. Judging by all the mists in here, maybe Avallen, these caves, are an even stronger thin place than the one in the Fae world. The Prison—the court it had been before that … Vesperus said that she chose it originally because it was a thin place, good for traveling between worlds.

“She knew the Fae males would never tear this place down or disturb it

She knew if she hid this under here, it’d be preserved, and remain undisturbed.”

The vessel and bowl, too, had been carved from black salt. “The Starborn could mind-speak.

“Maybe the salt helped her mind-speak with Hel. Maybe someone in Hel can tell us how to kill the Asteri. Apollion himself ate Sirius … Maybe he’s had the answer all along.”

Together, then. As their powers, their souls, were linked, so they’d drink the salt-laced water together.

“Apollion appeared to both me and to Bryce in dream states. Maybe he was using the same communication method he’d used with Helena.”

Something in this world had to change. And as Ithan piled up the dead, as he laid child after child in that building lobby, he realized that change had to start with him.

“This is where our beloved dead come to rest, with all the comforts of life around them.”

Apollion lifted a hand. Pure, sizzling lightning danced around it, arcing out to meet Hunt’s. “Welcome, son,” said the Prince of the Pit.

They were ghosts here.

“You will find that you cannot harm us, nor we you, in such a state.”

“Helena learned black salt would allow her to commune with us while protecting her mind and her soul.”

Thanatos scoffed. “You are no son of his.”

“If anything, you are mine.”

“Spells, crafted by the Asteri to enslave us. They were a binding, one the Asteri adapted in their next war—upon Midgard.”

the Princes of Hel cannot be contained by the black crowns. The Asteri learned that—it was their downfall. As you were made by Hel’s princes, it should not be able to hold you.”

“The Asteri ordered Pelias to use the Horn to close the Northern Rift, to defend themselves against attack. He did, sealing out all the other worlds in the process, but the Horn broke before he could close it entirely on Hel. The tiniest of wedges was left in the Rift for my kind to sneak through.

Unless the Rift was fully opened, we could not strike. And our numbers were so depleted that we would not have stood a chance.”

“The vampyrs and Reapers had defected to the Asteri.

We needed time to rebuild.”

“Theia used the Harp to divide her magic—all her magic—between the three of them. A third to Silene. A third to Helena. And the remainder stayed with Theia.”

“But she did not keep enough to protect herself.

“Theia endeavored to keep the Asteri from being able to wield her power to use the sword and knife. Both weapons were keyed to her power, thanks to Theia’s assistance in their Making,” Aidas explained calmly. “It is why the Starsword calls to the descendants of Helena—of Theia. But only to those with enough of Theia’s starlight to trigger its power. Your ancestors called these Fae Starborn. The Asteri have no power over the blades; they lack Theia’s connection to the weapons. Since the Starsword and the knife were both Made by Theia at the same moment, their bond has always linked them. They have long sought to be reunited, as they were in their moment of their Making.”

“They are similar in their ability to destroy, but the Asteri’s power is a blunt, wicked tool of destruction.”

“Starfire’s ability to destroy is but one facet of a wonderous gift.

The greatest difference, of course, lies in how the bearer ...

all that remained of Theia’s power lay in the Starsword.

“Theia didn’t want them to be able to access the full strength of the star in her bloodline, even through her corpse.

together, they can unleash ultimate destruction.

“There are ley lines across the whole of the universe. And the planets

atop those lines are joined by time and space and the Void itself. It thins the veils separating us. The Asteri have long chosen worlds that are on the ley lines for that exact purpose. It made it easier to move between them, to colonize those planets. There are certain places on each of these worlds where the most ley lines overlap, and thus the barrier between worlds is at its weakest.”

“The mists are a result of the ley lines’ power,”

“They’re an indication of a thin place.

The mists parted for her—as if they had been waiting. She found the small network of caves on Avallen … and the black salt beneath the surface.”

the sword and knife are needed to destroy the Asteri.

Theia’s power, when whole, is the only thing that can unite and activate the true power of those blades and stop the Asteri’s tyranny.”

“The black salt, in such high quantity, keeps them away. They never realized that its presence drew us as much as it repelled them,” Apollion said with satisfaction. “It has the same properties that made us immune to the thrall of their black crowns.”