“Well?” Ruhn asked when she’d finished, his face drained of color. “Was Danika a rebel?”
“No!” Bryce splayed her arms. “Solas, she was more interested in what junk food we had in our apartment.”
“That’s not all she was interested in,” Ruhn corrected. “She stole the Horn and hid it from you. Hid it on you. And all that shit with Briggs and the synth …”
“Okay, fine. But the rebel stuff … She never even talked about the war.”
“She would have known it’d endanger you,” Tharion suggested.
Hunt said to Tharion, “And you’re cool with being press-ganged into working on this shit?” His face remained paler than usual. Tharion just crossed his long, muscular arms. Hunt went on, voice lowering, “It won’t end well, Tharion. Trust me on that. You’re tangling in some dangerous shit.”
Bryce avoided looking at the branded-out tattoo on Hunt’s wrist.
Tharion’s throat bobbed. “I’m sorry to have even come here. I know how you feel about this stuff, Athalar.”
“You really think there’s a chance Sofie is alive?” Ruhn asked.
“Yes,” Tharion said.
“If she survived the Hind,” Hunt said, “and the Hind hears about it, she’ll come running.”
“The Hind might already be headed this way,” Tharion said thickly. “Regardless of Sofie, Emile and his powers remain a prize. Or something to be wiped out once and for all.” He dragged his long fingers through his dark red hair. “I know I’m dropping a bomb on you guys.” He winced at his unfortunate word choice, no doubt remembering what had happened last spring. “But I want to find this kid before anyone else.”
“And do what with him?” Bryce asked. “Hand him over to your queen?”
“He’d be safe Beneath, Legs. It’d take a damn long while even for the Asteri to find him—and kill him.”
“So he’d be used by your queen like some kind of weaponized battery instead? Like Hel am I going to let you do that.”
“Again, I don’t know what she wants with Emile. But she wouldn’t harm him. And you’d be wise to keep out of her path.”
Ithan cut in before Bryce could start spitting venom, “You really think the kid is coming here? That the Hind will follow?”
Hunt rubbed his jaw. “The 33rd hasn’t heard anything about the Hind coming over. Or Ophion being in the area.”
“Neither has the Aux,” Ruhn confirmed.
“Well, unless one of the marsh sobeks swam all the way across the Haldren to take a bite out of an Ophion soldier, I can’t think of any other reason why I found dismembered body parts of one here,” Tharion said.
“I don’t even know where to begin with that,” Hunt said.
“Just trust me,” Tharion said, “Ophion is on its way, if not already here. So I need to know as much as possible, and as quickly as possible. Find Emile, and we potentially find Sofie.”
“And gain a nice child soldier, right?” Bryce said tightly.
Tharion turned pleading eyes on her. “Either the River Queen puts me in charge of hunting for them, or she assigns someone else, possibly someone less … independently minded. I’d rather it be me who finds Emile.”
Ithan burst out, “Can we discuss that you guys are talking about rebels in this city? About Danika potentially being a rebel?” He snarled. “That’s a serious fucking claim.”
“Sofie and Danika exchanged a number of intentionally vague emails,” Tharion said. “Ones that included an allusion to a safe hiding place here in Lunathion. A place where the weary souls find relief from their suffering. I’m guessing the Bone Quarter, though I’m not sure even Danika would be so reckless as to send them there. But anyway, it’s not a claim. It’s a fact.”
Ithan shook his head, but it was Hunt who said, “This is a lethal game, Tharion. One I’d rather not play again.” Bryce could have sworn his hands shook slightly. This had to be dragging up the worst of his memories and fears—he’d been a rebel, once. It had won him two hundred years of servitude.
And today had been long and weird and she hadn’t even told Hunt about Cormac’s visit at lunch.
But to let this boy be hunted by so many people … She couldn’t sit by. Not for an instant. So Bryce said, “I can ask Fury tomorrow if she knows anything about Danika and Sofie. Maybe she can give some insight into where Danika might have suggested hiding.”
“Ask her right now,” Tharion said with unusual seriousness.
“It’s Wednesday night. She and Juniper always have date night.”
It was half a lie, and Hunt must have known it was for his sake, because his wing gently brushed over her shoulder.
But Tharion ordered, “Then interrupt it.”
“Don’t you know anything about Fury Axtar?” Bryce waved a hand. “I’ll call her tomorrow morning. She’s always in a better mood after she and June get it on.”
Tharion glanced between her and Hunt, then to Ruhn and Ithan, both silently watching. The mer reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded stack of papers with a resigned sigh. “Here’s a sampling of the emails,” he said, handing them to Bryce, and aimed for the door again. He paused near Syrinx, then knelt down and petted his head, his thick neck. He straightened Syrinx’s collar and earned a lick of thanks. Tharion’s mouth curled up at the corners as he stood. “Cool pet.” He opened the front door. “Don’t put anything in writing. I’ll be back around lunch tomorrow.”
As soon as the mer shut the door, Hunt said to Bryce, “Getting involved with this is a bad idea.”
Ruhn said, “I agree.”
Bryce only clutched the papers tighter and turned to Ithan. “This is the part where you say you agree, too.”
Ithan frowned deeply. “I can ignore the shit about Danika and Ophion, but there’s a kid out there on the run. Who probably has nothing to do with Ophion and needs help.”
“Thank you,” Bryce said, whirling on Hunt. “See?”
“It’s Tharion’s business. Leave it alone, Bryce,” Hunt warned. “I don’t even know why you had to ask about any of this.”
“I don’t know why you wouldn’t ask,” Bryce challenged.
Hunt pushed, “Is this really about finding the kid, or is it about learning something new about Danika?”
“Can’t it be both?”
Hunt slowly shook his head.
Ruhn said, “Let’s think this through, Bryce, before deciding to act. And maybe burn those emails.”
“I’ve already decided,” she announced. “I’m going to find Emile.”
“And do what with him?” Hunt asked. “If the Asteri want him, you’d be harboring a rebel.”
Bryce couldn’t stop the light from shimmering around her. “He’s thirteen years old. He’s not a rebel. The rebels just want him to be.”
Hunt said quietly, “I saw kids his age walk onto battlefields, Bryce.”
Ruhn nodded solemnly. “Ophion doesn’t turn away fighters based on their age.”