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

by Sarah J. Maas

A rare benefit of being able to switch between human and Vanir identities—and of being a rare human who’d made the Drop.

They had no idea that Sofie also carried with her, hidden in her head, information that could very well be the final piece of this war against the Asteri. The blow that could end it.

When you find him, lie low in the place I told you about—where the weary souls find relief from their suffering in Lunathion. It’s secure.

It means that he’s going ballistic in the way that only mates can when the other is threatened. It’s what happened then, and what’s happening now. You’re true mates—the way Fae are mates, in your bodies and souls. That’s what was different about your scent the other day. Your scents have merged. As they do between Fae mates.

“Level me up, Athalar.”

I cackled

“Light it up, Athalar.”

Hesperus. The Evening Star.

Polaris. The North Star.

Plaque after plaque, pipe after pipe, Bryce read the individual names of each Asteri.

Eosphoros. Octartis....

Sirius. The Asteri the Prince of the Pit...

Rigelus. The Bright Hand.

The Asteri fed on firstlight. The Asteri … needed firstlight.

A conduit of power. Exactly like the Gates in Crescent City.

They’d built their entire palace out of it. To fuel and harness the firstlight that poured in.

This area was seven levels below the throne room, where the Asteri sat on crystal thrones.

In plain sight, they fueled up like batteries, sucking in this firstlight.

Cut off the firstlight, destroy this funnel of power, get people to stop handing over their power through the Drop in those centers that funneled off their energy, stop the dead from becoming secondlight … And they could destroy the Asteri.

Cormac hadn’t just gone rogue. He’d never intended to get out of here alive.

Rentharr. Conq. A.E. 14000.

A bellicose, aquatic people. Primordial land life. Little supply. Terminated A.E. 14007.

Iphraxia. Conq. A.E. 680. Lost A.E. 720.

Denizens learned of our methods too quickly. We lost many to their unified front. Evacuated.

Midgard, the map read. Conq. A.E. 17003.

Ideal world located. Indigenous life not sustainable, but conditions prime for colonization. Have contacted others to share bounties.

The aquatic shifters can hold a hybrid form far more easily than those on land.

She read the next page, with a drawing of a Fae female. They did not see the old enemy who offered a hand through space and time. Like a fish to bait, they came, and they opened the gates to us willingly. They walked through them—to Midgard—at our invitation, leaving behind the world they knew.

The Asteri had lured them all into this world from other planets. Somehow, using the Northern and Southern Rifts, or whatever way they traveled between worlds, they’d … drawn them into this place. To farm them. Feed off them. Forever.

Hel. The ground seemed to slide away from beneath her. Hel. Lost A.E. 17001. She had to sink into one of the chairs as she read the note. A dark, cold world with mighty creatures of night. They saw through our lures. Once warring factions, the royal armies of Hel united and marched against us. We were overwhelmed and abandoned their world, but they gave chase. Learned from our captured lieutenants how to slip between the cracks in realms.

They found us on Midgard in 17002. Tried to convince our lured prey of what we were, and some fell to their charms. We lost a third of our meals to them. War lasted until nearly the end of 17003. They were defeated and sent back to Hel. Far too dangerous to allow them access to this world again, though they might try. They developed attachments to the Midgard colonists. “Theia,” Bryce whispered hoarsely. Aidas had loved the Fae queen, and … Hel had come to help, exactly as Apollion had said. Hel had kicked the Asteri from their own world, but … Tears stung her eyes. The demon princes had felt a moral obligation to chase after the Asteri so they might never prey upon another world. To spare others.

Hel had tried to save them. For fifteen thousand years, Hel had never stopped trying to find a way back here. To free them from the Asteri.

“Go!” Cormac yelled again, and Pippa’s rifle thundered. Tharion twisted to see the prince collapse to his knees, a gaping hole in his chest.

He was half a mile away when the entire building exploded, taking Cormac, the suits, and the rebels with it.

“Our love is stronger than time, greater than any distance. Our love spans across stars and worlds. I will find you again. I promise.”

The male stepped forward, tucking in his wings. He smiled slightly and said in the Old Language, in a voice like glorious night, “Hello, Bryce Quinlan. My name is Rhysand.”