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“It’s not,” Bryce said quietly.
Something crumpled in Ithan’s chest as he met her whiskey-colored eyes.
“Morven’s castle collapsed,” Bryce said sadly. “Sofie’s body is underneath tons of rubble, even if it is intact.”
Ithan put his face in his hands and breathed hard.
Flynn put a consoling arm around his shoulders, squeezing. “Maybe there’s another way—”
“We needed a thunderbird,” Ithan said through his hands. There was no fixing this. No undoing it. He’d brought this upon an innocent wolf, upon his people—
“Look,” Bryce said, and the gentleness in her tone almost killed him. She blew out a long breath. “An alternate Fendyr heir would have been amazing. But …”
Ithan lowered his hands from his face. “But what?”
Hunt’s eyes flashed at Ithan’s snarl. But Bryce didn’t back down as she said, “We have bigger problems right now. And time isn’t our ally.”
“I killed her,” Ithan said, voice cracking. “I fucking killed her—”
But Athalar said to Hypaxia, “Rigelus collected some of my lightning—for a similar purpose, I think.” Bryce started, as if this was news to her. “Are you sure it wouldn’t help with Sigrid?”
“It might be worth a try,” Hypaxia admitted, “but I don’t have any of the supplies I’d need to contain your sort of power.”
Ruhn’s head lifted. “Like a bunch of crystals?”
They all turned to the prince, but he was looking at Lidia. The Hind explained, “We found a cache of them in the archives.”
Ruhn added, “Rigelus used one to grab Athalar’s power in the dungeons. Would it work for you, too?”
Hypaxia nodded slowly and said to Hunt, “I wouldn’t require much.”
Bryce glanced around at the others. Ruhn took her meaning and motioned to his friends. “Come on. Let’s grab those crystals from the archives. Hopefully it’s still standing.”
Flynn, Dec, Lidia, Baxian, and Tharion—his wife in tow—headed down the hill with Ruhn. Only Tharion glanced back, just once, his eyes full of pity. Like the mer understood what it was to have fucked up so royally. To regret.
But Bryce grabbed Ithan’s hand, bringing his attention back to her. “What’s done is done, Ithan.”
“Jesiba said the same thing,” he said glumly.
“And she’s right,” Bryce said. At her side, Athalar nodded. But Bryce motioned with a hand to Hypaxia. “The whole fucking world’s changing so rapidly—we’re all changing, faster than we can process. For Cthona’s sake, Hypaxia isn’t even queen anymore. Have either of you really reflected on that?” A punch of guilt went through Ithan. He’d been so focused on himself that he hadn’t thought to check in with the witch. But Hypaxia’s face remained grave, determined. And Bryce went on to Ithan, “So look: you killed Sigrid, and she’s a Reaper, and I think it’s … really admirable that you’re trying to raise her—”
“Don’t patronize me,” he snarled, and again Athalar threw him that warning glare.
“I’m not,” Bryce said. She was the Queen of Avallen, and Ithan could see it in her eyes: the leader glimmering there. “Part of why I love you is because you’ll stop at nothing to do the right thing.”
“Trying to do the right thing led me to the debacle with Sigrid,” he said, shaking his head in disgust.
“Maybe,” Bryce said, and glanced at Hypaxia. “But the two of you … I need your help. I have to believe that Urd sent you here for this.”
“For what?” Hypaxia said, head angling.
Bryce and Hunt swapped glances. The angel motioned to his mate, as if to say, Your story to tell.
“I, uh,” Bryce said, pulling at some blades of grass, “have a lot to update you guys about.”
* * *
“You weren’t kidding about the big update,” Ithan said when Bryce had finished.
