Fury eyed her, but Bryce winked. “I’m a big girl, Fury. I’ll be fine.”
Hunt grunted, but suppressed any hint of objection.
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Fury said. Then asked quietly, “Who is this kid again?”
“His name is Emile,” Bryce whispered. “He’s from Pangera. Thirteen years old.”
“And possibly very, very dangerous,” Hunt warned, glancing at Juniper. “If you spot him, come find us.”
“I can take care of myself, angel,” Juniper said with impressive cool.
“She’s a big girl, too.” Bryce high-fived her friend. “Right. Meet back here in thirty?”
They parted, and Hunt watched Bryce weave through the tables of the dining area—watched the many patrons note her, but keep well away—before slipping between the stalls. Gazes slid back to him, questioning. Hunt bared his teeth in a silent snarl.
Moving off toward the area she’d ordered him to sweep, Hunt opened his senses, calmed his breathing.
Thirty minutes later, he’d returned to the dining area, Juniper appearing a moment later. “Anything?” he asked the faun, who shook her head.
“Not a whisper.” The dancer frowned. “I really hope that kid isn’t here.” She scowled at the warehouse. “I hate this place.”
“That makes two of us,” Hunt said.
Juniper rubbed at her chest. “You should talk to Celestina about it—the things that happen here. Not only that fighting pit and the warriors the Viper Queen practically enslaves …” The faun shook her head. “The other things, too.”
“Even Micah let the Viper Queen do what she wanted,” Hunt said. “I don’t think the new Governor is going to challenge her anytime soon.”
“Someone should,” she said quietly, eyes drifting to the Memento Mori on the wall. “Someday, someone should.”
Her words were haunted and strained enough that Hunt opened his mouth to ask more, but Fury sauntered up, smooth as a shadow, and said, “No sign of the kid.”
Hunt searched the space for Bryce, and found her at a stall far too close to the Fae-guarded door to the Viper Queen’s private living area. The towering Fae sentries a mere fifty feet from her didn’t so much as blink at her presence, though. She had a bag swinging from her wrist, and she was chatting away.
Bryce finished and walked toward them. Again, too many eyes watched her.
“She’s got some pep in her step,” Juniper observed, chuckling. “She must have gotten a good bargain.”
The tang of blood and bone and meat stuffed itself up Hunt’s nose as Bryce approached. “I got some lamb bones from the butcher for Syrinx. He goes crazy for the marrow.” She added to Juniper, “Sorry.”
Right. The faun was a vegetarian. But Juniper shrugged. “Anything for the little guy.”
Bryce smiled, then surveyed them all. “Nothing?”
“Nothing,” Hunt said.
“Me neither,” Bryce said, sighing.
“What now?” Fury asked, monitoring the crowd.
“Even if Declan and Ithan can’t find any footage of Emile around the Black Dock,” Bryce said, “the fact that there’s no hint of him here at the Meat Market leads us right back to the Bone Quarter again. So it gives us a bit more reason to even ask the Under-King about whether Emile is there.”
Hunt’s blood sparked. When she talked like that, so sure and unflinching … His balls tightened. He couldn’t wait to show her just how insanely that turned him on.
But Juniper whispered, “A little boy in the Bone Quarter …”
“We’ll find him,” Bryce assured her friend, and threw an arm around Juniper’s shoulders, turning them toward the exit. Hunt swapped a look with Fury, and they followed. Hunt let Bryce and Juniper drift ahead a few feet, and then, when he was sure they wouldn’t be overheard, asked Axtar, “Why does your girlfriend hate this place so much?”
Fury kept her attention on the shadows between the stalls, the vendors and shoppers. “Her brother was a fighter here.”
Hunt started. “Does Bryce know?”
Fury nodded shallowly. “He was talented—Julius. The Viper Queen recruited him from his training gym, promised him riches, females, everything he wanted if he signed himself into her employ. What he got was an addiction to her venom, putting him in her thrall, and a contract with no way out.” A muscle ticked in Fury’s jaw. “June’s parents tried everything to get him freed. Everything. Lawyers, money, pleas to Micah for intervention—none of it worked. Julius died in a fight ten years ago. June and her parents only learned about it because the Viper Queen’s goons dumped his body on their doorstep with a note that said Memento Mori on it.”