“We don’t have any fucking master,” Bryce snarled.
The female’s nails gouged deep lines into the crystal, but the lid held. She searched beyond Bryce, her gaze falling upon Azriel. Her lips curled. “A foot soldier. Excellent. Kill this insolent female and free me.” She pointed to Bryce.
Azriel didn’t move. The caged female hissed, “Kneel, soldier. Make the Tithe so I may regain my strength and leave this cage.”
Bryce knew then. Knew what evil had been kept in this coffin all this time.
Beside Azriel, Nesta steadied her stance. Like she’d figured it out, too. The motion drew the creature’s gaze—and her eyes flared in pure rage. She glanced between Nesta and Bryce, and her white teeth flashed as she asked the latter, “Was it Theia who stole the Horn for you? Who put it in your flesh?” Her gaze slid back to Nesta. “And you—you are linked to the other parts of the Trove. Did she give them to you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nesta said flatly.
The creature snickered, and drawled to Nesta, “I can smell them on you, girl. Do you not think a blacksmith knows their own creation?”
Bryce’s mouth dried out.
The female in the sarcophagus was an Asteri.
* * *
Tharion had no words as they walked down the halls of the Meat Market to the car supposedly waiting for them in a side alley. None of them did.
Ithan hadn’t spoken since he’d torn out Sigrid’s throat.
It had been an accident. Tharion had seen Ithan aiming that blow for Sigrid’s shoulder, but the female had dodged so quickly—and chosen the wrong fucking direction, by stupid chance—that the blow had become fatal.
Silence had fallen as Ithan stared at the fist and claws he’d punched clean through Sigrid’s throat. His hand was the only thing keeping her body upright as her eyes went vacant—
“Remove your fist,” the Viper Queen had commanded.
Ithan’s face had gone dead, and the wolf snatched his claws and hand out of Sigrid’s throat.
It was the final indignity. The removal of his hand and claws severed what remained of her thin neck.
And as he yanked his bloody fist back, as her body collapsed to the ring floor … Sigrid’s head rolled away.
Ithan had just stared at what he’d done. And Tharion hadn’t been able to find the words to say that they’d all seen what Holstrom had intended, all knew he hadn’t meant to kill her.
The Viper Queen’s assassins stood at the alley door, holding it open. As promised, a black sedan had been parked there.
Tharion took one step—only one—out into the night before the sweet, beckoning scent of the Istros hit him. Every muscle and instinct in his body came alive, begging him to go to the water, to submerge himself in its wildness and magic, to shed legs in favor of fins, to let the river ripple through his gills, into his very blood—
Tharion shut down the demand, the longing. Kept moving toward the sedan, one foot after another.
Still silent, they filed into the car, Flynn taking the wheel, Dec sliding into the passenger seat. Tharion sat in the back beside the male who’d taken on this unholy burden for him.
“You, ah …，” Flynn began as he started the car and peered over his shoulder to reverse out of the alley. “You all right, Holstrom?”
Ithan said nothing.
Declan announced quietly, looking down at his phone, “Marc’s handling our family stuff. Making sure everyone’s safe.”
Small fucking consolation.
Three bright lights slammed into the windshield, and they all jumped. But—the sprites. They’d forgotten the sprites.
Flynn rolled down his window and Rithi, Sasa, and Malana sped in. Sasa breathed, “Go, go, go,” and Flynn didn’t waste time questioning as they reversed out of the alley at full speed. In a smooth shift, he pulled onto a main street and switched into drive—and then they were zooming off through the labyrinth of streets Tharion had thought he’d never see again.
“What’s happening?” Declan asked the sprites, who had nestled into the drink holders up front.
“We burned it,” Sasa said, a deep orange.
“Burned what?” Flynn demanded.
Tharion could only gape as Malana pointed through the rear window, to where flames were now licking the night sky above the Meat Market.
“She’ll kill you.” Tharion’s voice was hoarse. Like he’d been screaming. Maybe he had been. He didn’t know.
“She’ll have to find us to do that,” said Rithi grimly, then turned to Ithan. “She engineered that perfectly. She used you.”