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“Yeah, yeah,” Fury said, jerking her chin toward the rest of their friends, standing on the other side of the helicopter. “I’ll admit, I’m looking forward to grilling Baxian about him and Danika.”
They stared toward the handsome male, who must have sensed their attention and turned from where he’d been talking to Tharion and Ruhn. Baxian winced.
Juniper laughed. “We won’t bite!” she called to the Helhound.
“Liar,” Fury muttered, earning another laugh from Juniper.
Baxian wisely went back to his conversation. Though Bryce didn’t fail to notice how Tharion poked the angel shifter in the side, grinning.
“I can’t believe she never told us about him,” Juniper said quietly, sadly.
“Danika didn’t tell us a lot of stuff,” Bryce said with equal softness.
“Neither did you,” Fury teased, nudging Bryce with an elbow. “And again: Queen of Avallen?”
Bryce rolled her eyes. “If you want the job, it’s yours.”
“Oh, not for all the gold in the world,” Fury said, dark eyes dancing with amusement. “This is your shitshow to run.”
Juniper scowled at her girlfriend. “What Fury means is that we have your back.”
Bryce kissed June’s velvet-soft cheek. “Thanks.” She looked between her friends again. “If we don’t make it back …”
“Don’t think like that, B,” Juniper insisted, but Fury said nothing.
Fury had dealt in the shadows of the empire for years. She was well aware of the odds.
Bryce went on, “If I don’t make it back, you’ll be safe here. The mists will allow any true refugee through—but I’d still keep an eye out for any Asteri agents. There are plenty of natural resources to sustain everyone, and yeah, there’s no firstlight to fuel your tech, but—”
Juniper laid a hand on Bryce’s wrist again. “We got this, B. You go do … what you need to do.”
“Save the world,” Fury said, chuckling.
Bryce grimaced. “Yeah. Basically.”
“We got this,” Juniper repeated, hand tightening on Bryce’s wrist. “And so do you, Bryce.”
Bryce took out her phone. Popped it free of the case, revealing the photograph she’d tucked in there of them. Of how it had been when there were four. “Keep this for me,” she said, handing it to Fury. “I don’t want to lose it.”
Fury studied the photo—how happy they’d all been, how seemingly young. She folded Bryce’s fingers around the photo. “Take it.” Fury’s eyes shone bright. “So we’ll all be with you.”
Bryce’s throat tightened again, but she slid the photo into the back pocket of her jeans. And allowed herself to look at June and Fury one last time, to memorize every line of their faces.
Friends worth fighting for. Worth dying for.
* * *
Ember Quinlan was waiting on the hill where Bryce and her friends had risen from beneath the Cave of Princes.
Ember peered at the grassy ground, face tight. No trace of the caves remained. “So his body is just … under there.”
Bryce nodded. She knew who her mother meant. “Ruhn decapitated him and, um, impaled his head before the ground swallowed him. There’s no chance of him coming back.”
Ember didn’t smile as she stared at the earth, the Autumn King’s corpse far beneath it.
“I spent so long running from him, fearing him. To imagine a world where he doesn’t exist …” Her mom lifted her eyes to Bryce’s face, and at the pain and relief in them, Bryce threw her arms around her and held tight.
“I’m so proud of you,” Ember whispered. “Not for … dealing with him, but for all of it. I’m so, so proud, Bryce.”
