House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2)

by Sarah J. Maas

“She loved you, Bryce. You were the most important person in the world to her. You were—” “Shut up. Just … shut the fuck up,” Bryce whispered. “I don’t want to hear it.” “Don’t you?” he challenged. “Don’t you want to know all of it? Isn’t that why you’ve been digging around? You want to know—need to know what Danika knew. What she was up to, what she kept secret.” Her face hardened into stone. She said flatly, “Fine. Let’s start with this one, if you knew her so well. How did Danika meet Sofie Renast? You ever hear that name in all your secret little conversations? What did Danika want from her?” Baxian bristled. “Danika learned about Sofie’s existence while investigating thunderbird lineage as part of her research into shifters and our origins. She traced the bloodlines—and then confirmed it by tracking her down and scenting her. Being Danika, she didn’t let Sofie walk away without answering some questions.” Bryce stilled. “What kind of questions?” Hunt put a hand on her shoulder. Baxian shook his head. “I don’t know. And I don’t know how they pivoted to working together on the Ophion stuff. But I think Danika had some theories about thunderbirds beyond the lineage thing. About their power in particular.” Bryce frowned. “Do you know why Sofie Renast might have felt the need to carve a series of numbers and letters on herself while she drowned a few weeks ago?” “Solas,” Baxian murmured. And then he recited the sequence from Sofie’s body, down to the last numeral. “Was that...