House of Earth and Blood

“Reid had the easy manners of someone brought up with money, education, and no doors locked to his desires.” 

Although human, Reid’s family does business with the wealthy Vanir. As a result, he possesses the privileged attitude of the magically gifted. Significantly, he is the only human alphahole in the entire novel.

“Isaiah had tried to ignore the fact that Hunt seemed to exist within a permanent ripple of stillness. It was the bated silence before a thunderclap, like the entire land held its breath when he was near.”

While Isaiah’s perception of Hunt is colored by Hunt’s reputation as the lethal Umbra Mortis, there may be another reason for his stillness. Hunt is living in self-imposed emotional exile. He is still grieving the loss of Shahar decades after her death, and nothing can penetrate the wall of his despair.

“As if the Senate was anything but a puppet ruling body. As if the Asteri weren’t their emperors and empresses, ruling over everything and everyone for eternity, their rotted souls regenerating from one form to the next.” 

Bryce describes the Asteri in terms that evoke images of ghouls or vampires. They are cadaverous parasites who drain the life out of the bodies they wear and discard, just as they drain the hope out of the human inhabitants who ruled Midgard before their arrival.

“He’d never decided, after he’d gone through his Ordeal and made the Drop fifty years ago, whether it was a relief or a curse to have come up short on the power ranking. On the one hand, had he surpassed his father, the playing field would have tipped in his favor. On the other, it would have established him firmly as a rival.” 

Ruhn’s comment indicates his conflicted relationship with his father. This contradicts Bryce’s assumption that the Chosen One is receiving the Autumn King’s favor. In reality, Ruhn may be treated worse than his sibling because he is perceived as a threat while Bryce is ignored as a weakling.

“The outside world saw his sister as reckless, unchecked—but he knew she’d been the master of her fate since before he’d met her. Bryce was just one of those people who, once she’d set her sights on what she wanted, didn’t let anything get in her way.”

Bryce initially sees her brother as a controlling male. She fails to recognize his admiration for her. This quote, taken from Ruhn’s point of view, shows how deeply he respects his little sister.

“Look toward where it hurts the most. That’s always where the answers are.” 

The Viper Queen offers Bryce this advice during the early stages of the investigation. Bryce interprets this statement in a variety of ways over the course of the novel, always looking at others rather than at herself. She doesn’t realize that the initially painful tattoo on her own back holds all the answers.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a party girl. I don’t get why the world thinks there is […] It’s easier for me—when people assume the worst about what I am. It lets me see who they really are.”

It comes as a shock to Hunt and to the reader to learn that Bryce has deliberately adopted her party-girl persona. She uses it as bait to ensnare those who would dismiss her as helpless and frivolous. As her later actions prove, it would be a dangerous mistake to underestimate her.

“Isn’t it exhausting to be an alphahole all the time? Do you guys have a handbook for it? Maybe secret support groups? […] Your favorite hobbies are brooding, fighting, and roaring; you’ve perfected about thirty different types of snarls and growls.” 

Bryce’s favorite derogatory term for a controlling male is alphahole. In many ways, an alphahole corresponds to the standard action hero in fiction. She immediately identifies Hunt as this sort of person. He eventually helps her to understand that a man can be protective and decisive without actually being an alphahole.

“Then Bryce had made her move. Played that irreverent, vapid party girl she wanted them to believe she was, that he’d believed she was, snapping those photos, giving him an out.” 

Hunt has begun to appreciate the value of Bryce’s false persona. While everyone else writes her off and ignores her, she can slip through the cracks to accomplish whatever she wants. In this instance, she prevents a lethal confrontation between Hunt and Sandriel.

“How many males had run from this part of her, their alphahole egos threatened by it? Hunt hated them all merely for putting the question in her eyes.” 

Hunt has just seen a demonstration of Bryce’s skill with a gun. She is prepared for him to react negatively, but he doesn’t. In fact, he has begun to use her favorite term to describe any man who is threatened by a strong woman. Instead, Hunt admires her expertise.

“He hadn’t balked from seeing her shoot that target, and instead answered it with a shot of his own. Like they were two of a kind, like she could throw anything at him and he’d catch it. Would meet every challenge with that wicked, feral grin.” 

When Bryce begins working with Hunt, she views him as an alphahole impediment to her investigation. Just as his attitude toward the vapid party girl has changed over time, so has Bryce’s attitude toward him. This quote reveals how far they have moved beyond superficial judgments of each other.

“Only sorrow lay there. And something like understanding. Like she saw him, as he’d seen her in that shooting gallery, marked every broken shard and didn’t mind the jagged bits. Under the table, the toe of her high heel brushed against his boot. A little confirmation that yes—she saw his guilt, the pain, and she wouldn’t shy from it.” 

Both Bryce and Hunt spend a good deal of time blaming themselves for past offenses. Bryce won’t let herself off the hook for not preventing Danika’s murder. Hunt blames himself for the penalty suffered by all the fallen angels after his failed rebellion. The two function to extend forgiveness to one another since neither can forgive themselves.

“Most days, I feel cold as it was in here with Aidas. Most days, all I want is to go back. To how it was before. I can’t bear to keep going forward.” 

Bryce’s admission explains a good deal about the state of her life. Two years after Danika’s death, she still hasn’t had her leg wound treated. She also remains stuck in the same dead-end job and can’t bring herself to better her situation. Both the injury and the job remind her of Danika, and she won’t let go.

“Because you pretend to be irreverent and lazy, but deep down, you don’t give up. Because you know that if you do, then they win. All the asp-holes, as you called them, win. So living, and living well—it’s the greatest fuck you that you can ever give them.” 

Hunt makes a shrewd observation about Bryce’s deepest motivation. Although she seems immobilized by grief most of the time, she will fight back when it matters most. The conclusion of the novel proves Hunt’s prediction true.

“He’d never realized that it hadn’t just been some slight hurt that had forced her to shut him off from her life, but fear. Absolute terror. He’d wounded her, and it had scared the Hel out of her that he held such power.” 

In this quote, Bryce reveals the real reason why she keeps Ruhn at arm’s length. For his part, the Fae remains guilt-ridden by the awful names he called Bryce during their epic fight. Ruhn takes all the blame on his own shoulders, not realizing that Bryce’s emotional vulnerability terrifies her more than any rude comments uttered by her brother in a moment of anger.

“‘After my mother died, I basically fell into my grief. But Shahar—she brought me out of that. Made me feel alive for the first time. Aware of myself, of my potential. I’ll always love her, if only for that.’ She looked to the river. ‘I never realized it,’ she murmured. ‘That you and I are mirrors.’” 

Hunt explains his gratitude and grief over Shahar. As he speaks, Bryce realizes that these same words could apply to her relationship with Danika. By befriending the half-human nobody, Danika gives Bryce a sense of self-worth. Both Hunt and Bryce have lost the person who made them feel valuable. For the first time, Bryce recognizes the parallel grief that binds them together and makes it so hard for each of them to let go of the past.

“I thought to myself, There’s someone I want guarding my back. There’s a friend I’d like to have. I think I gave you such a hard time when we met up again because … because some part of me knew that, and was afraid of what it’d mean.” 

Hunt recalls his first encounter with Bryce while she was protecting Micah from the kristallos attack. Since losing Shahar, Hunt has never felt anyone guarding his back. Realizing that Bryce might well fill that role terrifies him. He will have to bury his past to make room for a future with Bryce.

“True, broad smiles. Belonging to the people they might have been without the tattoo on his brow and the grief in her heart and this whole stupid […] world around them. A life. These were the photos of someone with a life, and a good one at that.” 

When Bryce and Hunt first start working together, Bryce takes photos using Hunt’s phone just to irritate him. Over time, these photos show the record of a shared life. Hunt looks back at these images and sees himself differently because of his connection to Bryce. At this point in the story, however, the world is still very much in his way.

“Even from nearly six thousand miles away, Hunt could have sworn their power rippled into the conference room. Could have sworn it sucked out the warmth, the air, the life.” 

Hunt is watching a broadcast of the Asteri formally addressing the Summit. The words he uses to describe them convey nothing but death. His comment echoes the one made earlier by Bryce when she describes the Asteri in ghoulish terms

“There was only one testimony to provide: that the humans were wasteful and foolish, and the war was their fault, their fault, their fault, and must be ended. Must be avoided here at all costs. There was to be no sympathy for the human rebellion, no hearing of the humans’ plight. There was only the Vanir side, the good side, and no other.” 

Hunt is paraphrasing the Asteri address to the Summit. They do not want the rebellion in Pangera to cross the sea and come to Crescent City. While the statement is typical of wartime propaganda, it also conveys the haughtiness of the Vanir perspective toward their human underlings. Those without magic are not entitled to civil rights.

“Ruhn rubbed his face. ‘They’ll kill her for this.’ For murdering a Governor. For proving a sprite and a half-human woman could take on a Governor and win. It was absurd. As likely as a minnow slaying a shark.” 

Everyone at the Summit has just witnessed Bryce and Lehabah destroy Micah. This sets a dangerous precedent that might encourage the disenfranchised to act against their oppressors. Those who love power will jealously guard their established hierarchies of privilege.

“Fury didn’t stop her prep. ‘Bryce was a ghost for a long while, Hunt. She pretended she wasn’t, but she was.’ The helicopter finally pulled into the air. ‘You brought her back to life.’” 

Although Bryce accuses Fury of being gone when her support is needed most, the assassin is well aware of Bryce’s emotional state, even from a distance. Bryce’s grief over Danika has kept her from living. She flits through her days like a ghost. The same can be said of Hunt. The Shadow of Death is a fitting name for him. The two must bring each other back to life.

“Danika grabbed her hand again. ‘That’s the point of it, Bryce. Of life. To live, to love, knowing that it might all vanish tomorrow. It makes everything that much more precious.’” 

Bryce is on the point of making her Ascent and is terrified. As her Anchor, Danika gives her this last bit of advice. Throughout the novel, Bryce has remained frozen because she is afraid of advancing into the pain of another loss. That fear protects her but also keeps her from reaching for the joy of a new love.