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

by Sarah J. Maas

Then Azriel said in a soft, lethal voice, “Explain or you die.”

I missed azriel

But inside him, beyond that sea of pain and despair, Bryce was the entirety of his world. His mate. His wife. His princess.

The last carving before the river had been one of transition: a Fae King and Queen seated on thrones, a mountain—different from the one with the palace atop it—behind them with three stars rising above it.

But my mother, Theia, used the time she served the Daglan to learn all she could about their instruments of conquest. The Dread Trove, we called it in secret. The Mask, the Harp, the Crown, and the Horn.

The female in the sarcophagus was an Asteri.

And Hunt knew he’d treasure this moment forever: the moment when Lidia Cervos pulled out her gun and fired it right between the Hawk’s eyes.

Get fucked

Lidia sobbed as she leapt, as the open air embraced her. As the rocks and surf spread below. For a heartbeat, she thought the water might be rising to meet her. But that was her. Falling. A gunshot cracked like a thunderhead breaking. Pain ruptured through her chest, bone shattering, red washing over her vision. Lidia let out a choked, bloody laugh as she died.

Crying nooooo

“But … I thought you were a witch.” She shrugged. “I was, for a time. How do you categorize a human woman who stops aging? Who always reverts to the same age, the same physical condition as she was when she was cursed? I’d cherished my years with my fellow priestesses at Parthos. When the witch-dynasties rose, I thought I might find similar companionship with them. A home.” “You … you were a priestess at Parthos?” She nodded. “Priestess, witch … and now sorceress.”

And for Bryce, home was—and always would be—Hunt.

😭

And then a boy, golden-haired and blue-eyed, looked away from his teacher and toward the window. The kid wasn’t mer. The ground slid out from under Ruhn. The boy had Lidia’s face. Her coloring. Another boy to his left, also not mer, had dark hair and golden eyes. Lidia’s eyes. Behind them, Flynn grunted with surprise. “You’ve got brothers on this ship?” “They’re not my brothers,” Lidia whispered. Her fingers curled on the glass. “They’re my sons.”

“You hand him over,” a female voice drawled from the open doorway, “and you’ll have a third queen pissed at you.” Tharion’s stomach bottomed out. Bryce Quinlan swept through the doorway and winked at the Ocean Queen. “Tharion serves me.”

Crying ily bryce

“If you pitched this place as a luxury vacation, you’re about to get a bunch of one-star reviews,”

Aidas was smiling faintly—joy and hope brightening his remarkable eyes. “It seems you got a little lost on your way to find me, Bryce Quinlan. But welcome to Hel.”

Before Aidas could answer, the boat approached a small quay leading to what appeared to be a temple. A figure emerged from between the pillars of the temple and descended its front steps. Golden-haired, golden-skinned. Hunt’s lightning sparked, illuminating the whole city and river. Apollion lifted a hand. Pure, sizzling lightning danced around it, arcing out to meet Hunt’s. “Welcome, son,” said the Prince of the Pit.

:o

“But there was one thing Theia and Helena did not anticipate: that you would bear the Horn, reborn, in your body. Another way to open doors between worlds.” “And what’s she supposed to do with that?” Hunt snarled. Aidas smiled slightly. “Fully open the Northern Rift, of course.”

Ugh i love aidas

The Autumn King only made it halfway before light burst from his chest. Hunt’s lightning had— No. It wasn’t Hunt’s lightning that shone through the Autumn King’s rib cage. It was the Starsword. And it was Ruhn wielding it, standing behind him. Ruhn, who had driven the sword right through their father’s cold heart.

Yaaaaaas ruhn get itttttttt

The line will end with me, you fucking prick, Ruhn said into his father’s mind, because I yield my crown, my title, to the queen.

All hail queen Bryce

Friends worth fighting for. Worth dying for.

The old wolf let out a heavy sigh. “Danika might have led us back to what we were before we allowed ourselves to be collared by the Asteri. I have long believed that she was killed for this goal—by the powers who wish the status quo to remain in place.” The Prime looked down at the wolf kneeling at his feet. “But it must be broken.” He extended the sword to Ithan. “Ithan Holstrom is my heir.”

Home—he was home. Her ability to teleport to him had only proved that. Home wasn’t a place or a thing, but him. Wherever Hunt was … that was where home was. She’d find him across galaxies, if need be.

The shifters were Fae from another world, Danika had explained. Blessed with a Fae form and a humanoid one, gifted with elemental powers. It confirmed what Lidia had long guessed. Why she had named Brannon after the oldest legends from her family’s bloodline: of a Fae King from another world, fire in his veins, who had created stags with the power of flame to be his sacred guards.

stop it my girl is related to aelin ashryver galathynuis

Bryce had a heartbeat to take in what—where—she’d opened a portal to: a black, airless place, dotted with small, distant stars. A heartbeat, and then she was yanked in, too. Straight to deep space.

Um no thx SJM

And he finally let the Mask say the word he’d been ignoring since he’d grabbed her in the depths of space. Dead.

No

“So I want you to take the Starsword.” Bryce held the blade between them. “Gwydion—whatever you call it here. The age of the Starborn is over on Midgard. It ends with me.” “I don’t understand.” But Bryce began backing toward the portal, taking Hunt’s hand, and smiled again at the female, at her mate, at their world, as the Northern Rift began to close. “I think that eight-pointed star was tattooed on you for a reason. Take that sword and go figure out why.”

👀

Thanatos giving her a look that said she might have destroyed the Asteri but he was still mad about his dog,

LOOOL

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.

“Rain check on the desk sex?” “For Jelly Jubilee in the flesh?” Hunt grinned. “Anything.”