The call nearly went to audiomail before she answered. “Hey.”
Bryce slumped against her bed and blurted, “I’m shocked you picked up.”
“You caught me between jobs.”
Or maybe Juniper had bitten Fury’s head off about bailing.
Bryce said, “I thought you were coming back to hunt down whoever was behind the Raven’s bombing.”
“I thought so, too, but it turned out I didn’t need to cross the Haldren to do it.”
Bryce leaned against her headboard, stretching out her legs. “So it really was the human rebellion behind it?” Maybe that C on the crates Ruhn thought was the Horn was just that: a letter.
“Yeah. Specifics and names are classified, though.”
Fury had said that to her so many times in the past that she’d lost count. “At least tell me if you found them?”
There was a good chance that Fury was sharpening her arsenal of weapons on the desk of whatever fancy hotel she was holed up in right now. “I said I was between jobs, didn’t I?”
“Congratulations?”
A soft laugh that still freaked Bryce the fuck out. “Sure.” Fury paused. “What’s up, B.”
As if that somehow erased two years of near-silence. “Did Danika ever mention synth to you?”
Bryce could have sworn something heavy and metallic clunked in the background. Fury said softly, “Who told you about synth?”
Bryce straightened. “I think it’s getting spread around here. I met a mer today who said Danika was seen on an Aux boat with a crate of it, right before she died.” She blew out a breath.
“It’s dangerous, Bryce. Really dangerous. Don’t fuck around with it.”
“I’m not.” Gods. “I haven’t touched any drugs in two years.” Then she added, unable to stop herself, “If you’d bothered to take my calls or visit, you would have known that.”
“I’ve been busy.”
Liar. Fucking liar and coward. Bryce ground out, “Look, I wanted to know if Danika had ever mentioned synth to you before she died, because she didn’t mention it to me.”
Another one of those pauses.
“She did, didn’t she.” Even now, Bryce wasn’t sure why jealousy seared her chest.
“She might have said that there was some nasty shit being sold,” Fury said.
“You never thought to mention it to anyone?”
“I did. To you. At the White Raven the night Danika died. Someone tried to sell it to you then, for fuck’s sake. I told you to stay the Hel away from it.”
“And you still didn’t find the chance to mention then or after Danika died that she warned you about it in the first place?”
“A demon ripped her to shreds, Bryce. Drug busts didn’t seem connected to it.”
“And what if it was?”
“How?”
“I don’t know, I just …” Bryce tapped her foot on the bed. “Why wouldn’t she have told me?”
“Because …” Fury stopped herself.
“Because what?” Bryce snapped.
“All right,” Fury said, her voice sharpening. “Danika didn’t want to tell you because she didn’t want you getting near it. Even thinking about trying synth.”
Bryce shot to her feet. “Why the fuck would I ever—”
“Because we have literally seen you take everything.”
“You’ve been right there, taking everything with me, you—”
“Synth is synthetic magic, Bryce. To replace real magic. Of which you have none. It gives humans Vanir powers and strength for like an hour. And then it can seriously fuck you up. Make you addicted and worse. For the Vanir, it’s even riskier—a crazy high and superstrength, but it can easily turn bad. Danika didn’t want you even knowing something like that existed.”
“As if I’m so desperate to be like you big, tough Vanir that I’d take something—”
“Her goal was to protect you. Always. Even from yourself.”
The words struck like a slap to the face. Bryce’s throat closed up.
Fury blew out a breath. “Look, I know that came out harsh. But take my word for it: don’t mess with synth. If they’ve actually managed to mass-produce the stuff outside of an official lab and make it in even stronger concentrations, then it’s bad news. Stay away from it, and anyone who deals in it.”
Bryce’s hands shook, but she managed to say “All right” without sounding like she was one breath away from crying.