House of Earth and Blood

Hunt flies Bryce home. They no sooner arrive when he gets a call from Micah ordering both of them to the Comitium. At headquarters, they are confronted by Sabine and her alpha, Amelie. Because he is a slave, Hunt’s attack on Amelie is grounds for execution. Micah resolves the issue by sentencing Hunt to the Living Death. The angel’s wings are hacked off. Though they will grow back in a few weeks, the injury is extremely painful.

Bryce is about to take Hunt home to recover, but Sabine isn’t done with her tirade. She reveals another reason why she hates Bryce. The latter made a deal with the Under-King so that Danika’s soul would receive a favorable judgment. Sabine learned this from the Under-King when she tried to contact her daughter in the underworld:

He told me that you, you piece of trash, had made a bargain with him. For her. That you had gone to him after her death and traded your spot in the Bone Quarter in exchange for Danika’s passage. That you worried she would be denied access because of her cowardly death and begged him to take her in your stead (576).

While Hunt is recovering at the apartment, Bryce goes back to the gallery and peruses Danika’s files during the time she moonlighted for Redner Industries. After cracking the password, Bryce finds photo clues that lead her to Danika’s leather jacket, which Bryce kept after her friend’s death. Hidden in the lining is a flash drive. After watching the horrifying videos it contains, Bryce races home to share the news with Hunt and her brother.

The videos show drug trials for synth. After a human is injected with the drug, she becomes powerful enough to kill several Vanir before tearing herself apart. Bryce wants to investigate the synth cover-up further, but Hunt discourages her. He says they need to keep on track with the search for the Horn. The two begin a torrid lovemaking session that comes to an abrupt halt when Hunt’s wounds reopen. They call a medwitch who advises no sexual activity until the wings heal. After Bryce gets Hunt settled for the night, she receives a call from Tharion. He tells her that a drug deal is going down that evening on the river.

Bryce doesn’t wake Hunt but goes to the rendezvous alone. She and Tharion witness a drug sale between the Viper Queen and three hooded figures. Much to Bryce’s horror, she discovers that Hunt and two other fallen angels are the buyers.

Bryce boards the boat to stop the deal. Hunt tries to explain that he only came to prevent the other two from going through with the exchange. Originally, the three had planned to buy the synth to get their powers back and start a slave rebellion against their masters. When Hunt saw the video that afternoon, he realized how dangerous the substance was.

His protests fall on deaf ears because Micah arrives to arrest the three slaves. Micah tells Bryce that Hunt knew about the synth years earlier and about Danika’s murder. The shifter was using the substance and, under its influence, killed her pack and then herself. Bryce realizes that Hunt has been hiding the truth from her all along. Despite his pleas for understanding, she declares that she never wants to see him again.

Fury arrives in time to witness the arrest on the boat. She takes Bryce home and explains the facts to her. “Danika took the synth the night she died. Took too much of it. It drove her out of her mind. She slaughtered her own pack. And then herself” (603-04). Apparently, the arrival of the kristallos was simply a by-product of her synth addiction because the drug contained obsidian summoning salt.

Although Hunt’s co-conspirators are sentenced to a gruesome end, he is kept in a holding cell at the Comitium. He thinks to himself, “At the end of the day, despite Vik and Justinian, despite the brutal end that would come his way, it was the sight of Bryce’s face that haunted him. The sight of the tears he’d caused” (616). Isaiah comes to visit Hunt, thinking he might never get a chance to say goodbye.

Days later, at the gallery, Bryce’s father comes to visit. She can barely tolerate speaking to the Autumn King, even though he insists that he wanted to marry her mother and cannot forgive himself for striking Ember once. He asks Bryce to continue her hunt for the Horn because it is an important Fae relic.

Hunt remains in his holding cell, awaiting sentencing, when he receives a visit from Shahar’s sadistic twin, Sandriel. When Hunt sees her, he observes, “That had always been the difference between her and Shahar—their eyes. Warmth in one; death in the other” (623). Sandriel casually flips through the photos on Hunt’s phone, taken during his happy sojourn with Bryce. The archangel informs him that he is now her property and will be returning to Pangera with her.

Bryce goes to visit her brother to thank him for his help with her investigation. As a peacemaking gesture, he invites her to a party at his house on Sunday. Bryce has softened enough toward Ruhn that she accepts.

Fury is waiting when Bryce returns home. Bryce is still angry at the assassin for keeping secrets and disappearing out of her life for two years. Fury explains that people deal with grief in different ways. Fury stayed in contact with Juniper because the two are lovers. Now Fury is trying to make amends with Bryce.

The assassin tells her that Hunt has been traded to Sandriel and will be taken away to Pangera. Bryce knows the kind of hell that awaits Hunt once he gets there. After Fury leaves, she has a change of heart. “That roaring fire in her veins halted—and redirected. She wouldn’t lose another friend. Especially not Hunt. Never Hunt” (634). Bryce resolves to help him.