And to tick off those deaths one by one. Bryce’s stomach twisted.
Declan’s amber eyes dropped to the tattoo on Hunt’s wrist. “It’s fucked up.”
Flynn grumbled his agreement. At least her brother’s friends were on the same page as her regarding the politics of the Asteri.
Hunt looked the males over again. Assessing. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “It is.”
“Understatement of the century.” Bryce surveyed the murder scene, her body tightening again, not wanting to look. Hunt met her eyes, as if sensing that tightening, the shift in her scent. He gave her a subtle nod.
Bryce lifted her chin and declared, “We’re going now.”
Declan waved. “I’ll call you soon, B.”
Flynn blew her a kiss.
She rolled her eyes. “Bye.” She caught Ruhn’s stare and motioned her farewell. Her brother threw her a wave, and continued talking to the witch.
They made it all of one block before Hunt said, a little too casually, “You and Tristan Flynn ever hook up?”
Bryce blinked. “Why would you ask that?”
He tucked in his wings. “Because he flirts with you nonstop.”
She snorted. “You wanna tell me about everyone you’ve ever hooked up with, Athalar?”
His silence told her enough. She smirked.
But then the angel said, as if he needed something to distract him from the pulped remains they’d left behind, “None of my hookups are worth mentioning.” He paused again, taking a breath before continuing. “But that’s because Shahar ruined me for anyone else.”
Ruined me. The words clanged through Bryce.
Hunt went on, eyes swimming with memory, “I grew up in Shahar’s territory in the southeast of Pangera, and as I worked my way up the ranks of her legions, I fell in love with her. With her vision for the world. With her ideas about how the angel hierarchies might change.” He swallowed. “Shahar was the only one who ever suggested to me that I’d been denied anything by being born a bastard. She promoted me through her ranks, until I served as her right hand. Until I was her lover.” He blew out a long breath. “She led the rebellion against the Asteri, and I led her forces—the 18th Legion. You know how it ended.”
Everyone in Midgard did. The Daystar would have led the angels—maybe everyone—to a freer world, but she’d been extinguished. Another dreamer crushed under the boot heel of the Asteri.
Hunt said, “So you and Flynn …？”
“You tell me this tragic love story and expect me to answer it with my bullshit?” His silence was answer enough. She sighed. But—fine. She, too, needed to talk about something to shake off that murder scene. And to dispel the shadows that had filled his eyes when he’d spoken of Shahar.
For that alone she said, “No. Flynn and I never hooked up.” She smiled slightly. “When I visited Ruhn as a teenager, I was barely able to function in Flynn’s and Declan’s presence.” Hunt’s mouth curled upward. “They indulged my outrageous flirting, and for a while, I had a fanatic’s conviction that Flynn would be my husband one day.”
Hunt snickered, and Bryce elbowed him. “It’s true. I wrote Lady Bryce Flynn on all my school notebooks for two years straight.”
He gaped. “You did not.”
“I so did. I can prove it: I still have all my notebooks at my parents’ house because my mom refuses to throw anything away.” Her amusement faltered. She didn’t tell him about that time senior year of college when she and Danika ran into Flynn and Declan at a bar. How Danika had gone home with Flynn, because Bryce hadn’t wanted to mess up anything between him and Ruhn.
“Want to hear my worst hookup?” she asked, throwing him a forced grin.
He chuckled. “I’m half-afraid to hear it, but sure.”
“I dated a vampyr for like three weeks. My first and only hookup with anyone in Flame and Shadow.”
The vamps had worked hard to get people to forget the tiny fact that they’d all come from Hel, lesser demons themselves. That their ancestors had defected from their seven princes during the First Wars, and fed the Asteri Imperial Legions vital intel that aided in their victory. Traitors and turncoats—who still held a demon’s craving for blood.
Hunt lifted a brow. “And?”
Bryce winced. “And I couldn’t stop wondering what part of me he wanted more: blood or … you know. And then he suggested eating while eating, if you know what I mean?”