K: Welcome back to another episode. We're picking up right where we left off in Crescent City and covering chapters 43 through 50. These chapters feel like the moment in every great murder mystery where the detective realizes they've been looking in the wrong direction the entire time. Just when Bryce and Hunt think they're getting closer to the truth, the ground shifts beneath them and suddenly the story isn't nearly as straightforward as it seemed. But it's not all shocking twists and impossible theories. We also get a glimpse of one of Bryce's most vulnerable moments as she's alone on a rooftop overwhelmed by the weight of everything she's been carrying, and she wonders what would happen if she simply let go. It's a powerful reminder of just how deeply Danika's death shattered her and how dark those days truly were. Of course, Sarah J. Maas doesn't let us sit with our feelings for long, but Another attack sends the investigation spiraling once again, and somehow in true Crescent City fashion, we're also gifted the cutest little otters imaginable, because apparently emotional damage and adorable river mammals can coexist. Refill your coffee and prepare to rewrite your suspect list again. The pieces are finally starting to come together, but the picture they're forming is nothing like we expected. Let's dive in and see where the investigation takes us next.

C: Okay, so we finished the last set of chapters with them thinking now that Sabine is the one who is summoning the Kristallos demon and that she is actually behind the death of her own daughter, Danika two years ago. So they have decided that they're going to take this to the wolves and go over to the wolf den in Moonwood. Hunt has offered to do it himself, but she refused. She wanted to come along, she felt she had to step up for Danika so they get to the wolves den and of course there is a pack of wolves on duty on guard just outside the gate. It is Amelie. Amelie Ravenscroft. She is the alpha of the Black Rose Wolf Pack, which is the wolf pack that Ithan Holstrom, Connor's younger brother, has joined after Connor's death and the death of the pack of devils. this is kind of from Hunt's perspective, and he's looking at this pack and remembering how strong the pack of devils was. Even though they were a young pack, they were one of the most revered and talented wolves in generations, and that Danika had been the most powerful alpha to grace Midgard's soil. So like of all time most powerful alpha and that the black rose pack was a far cry from that that it was not nearly as strong they come up to the gate and Amelie is a total bee. She's super mean. The entire wolf pack, in all honesty, all of the wolves are just super mean to Bryce. We know that that's because Bryce agreed to go out with Connor the night that he died, but then right after she agreed, she does go out and parties, gets drunk and high and all that stuff that happens the night of, and she does sleep with a completely different guy in a bathroom at the bar. And that she's texting Danika And all of those text messages got leaked after Danika and the pack of devils were killed. So we learn that the wolves hate her because their way of thinking is that since she agreed to date Connor, that means that she was Connor's and vice versa. And so Bryce shouldn't have been out with any other guys. after she agreed to go out with Connor. Bryce, as we know, doesn't see it that way, that she is her own person. All she agreed to do was go on a date with him. But that is how the wolves think of it. That's kind of the wolf's motto is everybody hates Bryce. so they have some name calling and things to say to her. some taunting of her and some of the things that she and Danika were rumored to have done. Hunt attempts to protect her, stand up for her. But Bryce isn't having it. She doesn't want anyone to do that for her. And so she kind of pulls him along, but they do end up getting in to see Sabine. And it is actually Ithan who comes out to lead them into the gates and to Sabine. and that Bryce has a second where she's thinking through that Amelie was chosen as the alpha for this wolf pack by Sabine because Sabine had wanted someone similar to herself, regardless of Ithan's higher power ranking. She chose Amelie because she is less of an actual alpha. And therefore Sabine has a little bit more control over Amelie. Whereas Ithan is more powerful, more of the alpha attitude, the leader attitude, but he was not chosen as the alpha. He is the second. we do get some information, additional information on Ithan from Hunt's perspective, that he had made the drop that right after Connor died, he did give up Sunball, gave up on going to school as well and just kinda put it all in his past and nothing and no one could t change his mind. that it was Connor who had gotten him to go to college in the first place, that Connor had told him sports come second, education comes first, that everybody else tried to talk Ithan into going pro before graduating, but in the end, because Connor dies, he ends up not graduating at all and not going pro and stops playing completely. as they're walking to Sabine's office, we kind of get an idea of Ithan's personality, or at least how he is treating Bryce. We learned at the beginning of the book that they used to be friends. I mean, they were very, very close, almost to the point where they were like brother and sister. They were so close. They talked all the time, hung out all the time, and then After everything happened, now Ithan doesn't talk to her at all, taunts her, even, smiles because he knows that she is thinking about the shame of what she did after agreeing to go on a date with Connor, and everything that she did the night that they were killed. I personally don't really like Ithan, but that's just my opinion. At this point, he's just kind of a butthole. he redeems himself by the end of the book, which we'll see. But yeah, I'm still not a big, big fan of him because he wasn't interested in learning or asking Bryce about what actually happened or what her thoughts or feelings were. He just immediately took him as face value. Because we find out the reason Bryce agreed to Connor's date and then went and slept with someone else is because she was too afraid. She was afraid of what dating Connor meant because she knew that they were most likely destined for each other. At least at that time in her life, that's what she assumed or what she felt. So she was afraid of taking that next step in their relationship.

K: But technically though, didn't Bryce not give him a chance at all because he or she completely ignored him. So would you have given him the benefit of the doubt if she had actually tried talking to him? Cause at the beginning, 'cause it shows where he reached out to her and He wasn't hostile at the or I hostile, you know, at beginning of it. But he she just kept ignoring.

C: No, but he he is hostile after he finds the messages, after he sees the messages. Because she talks about it that the messages have started out as like that night, where are you? Are you okay? I've checked in the major hospitals. You're not listed, what's going on? Are they really dead? And then it ends with a couple days later. after and it it his messages literally say the inspectors showed me all of the messages and that

K: Mm.

C: Connor had practically told you that he loved you and you finally agreed to go out with him and then you go out and sleep with some stranger in a bathroom while he was dying. Are you kidding me with that crap? Don't come to the sailing tomorrow. You're not welcome there. So yes, she does avoid talking to him because she feels shame. in her actions that night. But I think even if she had talked to him, I think he would have had the exact same response. Because at that point he's just too upset over his brother and the pack of devils dying. But that's my opinion. I don't we don't know for

K: Mm-hmm.

C: sure because that's not how it happened. So

K: Yeah.

C: who knows? So they do get in to see Sabine because the Prime is taking a nap, supposedly. Not really the case, it's just that Sabine doesn't want Bryce talking to the Prime. And the reason that they're there is to confirm that Danika was at the temple, Luna's temple, the night the horn was stolen. That's what they're there to confirm. And they're not giving Sabine all of the information that they know because they're trying to catch Sabine in a lie, which is exactly what happens. they tell Sabine that that's what they're looking for, that they're trying to put a picture together of Danika's movements before the Kristallos demon killed her. And that they need the prime to confirm that she was stationed at Luna's temple. And Sabine's response is to lie and say that Danika was not at the temple that night and she had nothing to do with the horn being stolen. So we do know now that she is lying because they've uncovered the footage that sounds like it is something that does was recorded elsewhere. But they take Sabine lying to mean that Sabine is the one behind it, which isn't the case. We're gonna find out in a couple of chapters, but that's how they are moving forward now. Is that Sabina is the one behind it, she's the one who actually killed Danika, or set the Kristallos on to killing them. Sabine essentially throws them out because she doesn't want to hear about the questions anymore. She tells them not to continue this line of Questions, don't continue this case, that kind of thing. so Ithan walks them out again, isn't very nice about it, but he does ask what's going on, and Hunt's response is this is classified. So Bryce gives him at least enough to say it's starting again, what happened two years ago. Trying to figure out who it is, who's behind it. Three murders so far, but the same way, so be careful, have your pack, be careful, that kind of thing. So she does give him a little bit of A warning as a kindness to him. And then they leave. But right before they leave, Bryce does have a parting shot for Ithan, saying that Connor would be ashamed for you letting Amelie run rampant for letting a piece of crap like that be your alpha. And Ithan's response is, Don't you ever say his name again. So that's when they walk away with Amelie and her pack shouting additional taunts at the at them. Bryce is kind of in a mood after that. She's kind of in a mood through most of these chapters. She's tired of not having answers and she's tired of not making an arrest, not pushing, not taking the next steps for the case. So she wants to push to have Sabine Arrested, Hunt's response is we don't have enough evidence. Micah isn't gonna do that because she's essentially the head of the wolves, the wolves in Lunathian. so then Hunt kind of adjusts the conversation and switches it, asking about Amelie why she hates Bryce so much. So Bryce tells her tells him that Amelie had a thing for Connor since they were kids, and Connor had a thing for her. So when Amelie saw the messages, She realized that there was never going to be anything between the two of them and so now because of that Amelie hates Bryce. Yeah, we find out how bad it got right after or shortly after Danika's death. That the messages from Bryce's phone were leaked. So all the messages between her and Danika, that some of the messages were put into a song and spread online and that Bryce had to shut down all of her accounts because she couldn't bear going on them. People were constantly tormenting her. and that's when we find out that she ended up going on to the rooftop a couple months after everything happened. That she wound up just staring over the edge, wondering what would happen if she just jumped. and it just so happens that Juniper calls her, right? As she's about to brace her hands on the railing to jump over the edge. And Juniper can tell something is wrong based on Bryce's voice. Bryce mentions also that she's on the roof. So Juniper talks to her long enough to get there in time to go up on the roof and to stop Bryce from doing anything. And then Juniper stays with her for like the next three days, doesn't leave her side because she wants to make sure that Bryce is gonna make it through without trying something. She doesn't tell Hunt any of that, but this is all stuff going through her head that she lets us know of. And Hunt, like we said, we've started talking about both of them kind of seeing the issues the other one has and still being there for the other. So Hunt takes this moment to kind of tell her, I know that the visit today was hard and I know I didn't act like it at first, but I'm glad you got put on this case. You've been really great. That's his best way of putting it.

M: Did you not get the vibes from Cassian with the whole you look the awkwardness when she was coming down the stairs? I that was

C: No

M: exactly what my mind went to with that. Just like he was trying to be sweet, but at the same time like

C: Yeah.

M: Hey

C: That's funny. No, I didn't put that together at all. But yes, I do kind of see some of Cassian in Hunt.

M: I'm it's interesting. I'm realizing now that I'm going back through this book, I'm seeing the way Sarah's writing is so fluid between the three books. Not with the theories, but just how she writes. Things that she uses again don't come off as repetitive, but more like that. it's like a good memory. You know what I mean? You get some

C: Yes.

M: authors where it's the same story again and again. But this trait's the same, but they're with this person and they have this different trauma and I I love the blend of it where it kind of takes you back to the other stories organically without all the theories. 'Cause you know, sometimes it's nice just to have an odd moment. But

C: Yes, yep. And I feel like we get a little bit of like I I feel like Hunt is kind of a little mix of Cassian and a little mix of Azriel because I think he's I don't think he's a mix of Reese a whole lot, but I feel like he's just a combination of Cassian and Azriel. Very similar to both of them.

M: I can see that.

C: Then Bryce tells him about her stepdad, that he was the captain in the twenty-fifth legion. They had him stationed up front for all three years of his military service, but that he was the one who taught her most of this. And Hunt's response is, I know, not about you being taught, but who your stepdad is, I'm assuming he's the one who taught you how to shoot and she just nods. And he says, I never fought beside him, but I heard a lot about him the last time I was at the front. Heard about his sharp shooting and how good he was. So then he goes so far as to ask, Well, what does he think about you living in Lunathian? And her response is, He wants me to move back home, of course. I had to go to the mat with him, literally, to win the fight. about going to CCU and Hunt's like, you physically fought him. And she's like, Yeah He said if I could pin him, then I knew enough about defense to hold my own in the city. Turns out I'd been paying more attention than I'd let him believe because she did win, obviously, 'cause she is at the city. and so she tells him that she was taught with rifles, handguns, knives, swords, everything. And Hunt asks if she's ever had to use it outside of practice and she says, When I had to, yes. And then Jesiba calls and talking about getting a client there. And a long list of things. So Bryce then has to go back back to the and the gallery to work on a couple of things for work. Hunt is gonna go off to check in with Isaiah. So he'll check in with her later, and then he goes so far as to say that Isaiah needs something from him, so he's going to step away for a little bit, and Justinian is going to be watching. Her instead and her response is is Justinian Hott. And his response is who's the pervert now? Then we switch to Hunt's perspective. that he hadn't realized how rough it was going to be for Bryce to go and see Sabine or how much Sabine hated her, hadn't realized how much all of the other wolves had it out for Bryce. And he realizes he probably shouldn't have brought her, but she wanted to go, so there's really no saying no to her. So he is back on the roof. pulling up the footage that the thirty-thirds archives have compiled on the Kristallos Demon. It was a gray blur. He's looking at the footage from two years ago, the night Danika died. The Kristallos was a gray blur as it exploded from the front door of the apartment building. They hadn't been able to get footage of it actually entering the building, which suggested it had either been summoned on site. Or had snuck through the roof and no nearby cameras had picked it up. But here it was shattering the front door so fast it was just grey smoke. And then he can see Bryce hurtling through the door, barefoot, running on shards of glass, table leg in her hand, and her face twisted with pure rage. and then he kind of watches the footage that's been pieced together of her chasing down. the Kristallos, and like jumping over cars, hurtling over hoods, like doing kinds of crazy parkour stuff. And then the video footage cuts off. and then he's watching, kind of looking out over the city, does kind of look to the bone quarter, talks about no one knew what went on in the sleeping city, if the dead roamed through the mausoleums, if the reapers patrolled and ruled like kings, if it was merely mist and carved stone and silence, no one flew over it, no one dared. So we get little hints of the bone quarter, the seventh area in Crescent City, but we don't get a ton of information on it. But he does also talk about two years ago when he actually went to Danika's sailing. He was there whereas Bryce wasn't. that's he had watched Sabine push the boat, Danika's with the rest of Danika's body parts in a box, into the waters, holding her breath with all those on the shore to see if the boat made it across or not. that Danika's boat had headed straight for the misshrouded island and that more than one person heaved a sigh of relief when it made it there and she was found worthy. So we'll come back to that a little bit later on. But he also does mention that when he was there he saw Ithan as well and that he was very different from the male that he saw that day compared to what he saw today. and then later that evening she is back in her apartment. And I think it's interesting because we have a complete 180 compared to how things started out, that Bryce gets in there and signals to Hunt she has made it and she is safe and she is locked in the apartment before Hunt leaves. Where she never would have done that at the beginning of the book. She actually tried to hinder him from knowing that she was there safe and sound. So it's a complete 180. But Hunt has left because he is going to hang out at a bar with the rest of the Triari And they're taking the night off. Bryce is left in the apartment by herself. She calls Juniper to see if Juniper wants to do something, but Juniper is busy. Juniper does tell her that one of her instructors is going to be teaching a class and if Bryce is interested, there's a spot for her. Bryce says I'm not doing it because she hasn't danced since Danika. And Bryce asks if she'll come over, and her response is, Well, is hunt there. And Bryce says, Well, would it make a difference if he was? And she says, I'd be over there a heck of a lot faster. And then Bryce tells her about meeting Tharion the other day and says, I met a Mer the other day who was so hot you could have fried an egg on his 10 billion abs. And Juniper's response is, Well, none of that makes sense. But I understand what you're trying to say, which is such a girl thing to say. But Juniper is busy training, so she cannot come over. and Bryce gets to the point where the the silence is too much. It grew heavy in her apartment and she wasn't able to shake it off. she turns on the news and it is Rigilis, who is the bright and hand of the Asteri and he's given some speech about new trade laws. So she switches and sees a couple different things. Most of it is the Asteri and something in regards to the government. so she ends up turning it off. And decides she's gonna actually go out, even though she promised Hunt she wouldn't. She is still gonna go out because she doesn't want to stay in the apartment by herself. She's kind of gotten used to having Hunt around, so now that he's not there, it's weird and she's she's not enjoying being alone again. then we switch to Hunt's perspective. He's in the bar. He's made it halfway through his beer before his phone rings and he's like, I knew exactly who was calling and why they were calling. And he picks up and immediately says she left, didn't she? And Naomi, who was in charge of guarding and looking after Bryce says, yep, all glammed up to. And Hunt's responses, well that's how she always dresses. he's like, okay, he can't stay out with the guys. He needs to go figure out what she's getting into. What is she doing now? so Naomi follows her to where she ends up and then sends the coordinates to Hunt. Isaiah says you could let Naomi handle her and Hunt's response is I have a feeling that would result in them unleashing hell together and I'd still need to end their fun. So they're like, Okay, that's probably true. You might as well go. Hunt apparently was not surprised at all that she bailed and left when she promised that she wouldn't, but he is surprised that she actually waited this long to do it. he does land, gets to her, and she is walking into a night garden. So a garden that blooms at night. So it's very beautiful. like luminescent, bioluminescent flowers are already starting to open and glow. So he walks up to her wanting to know if she's going somewhere in particular. And her response is no, just out. And then she's waiting for him to start yelling at her. And he says, Well, I'll yell when I find out what was so important that you broke your promise. And she says nothing. And he's like, Okay. Nothing. That's it. And she says nothing important. So he asks if she's all right and she says yeah and he's like that's a definite no. And so if she finally tells him that the quiet bothers her sometimes. that he invited her to the bar, but because she's a civilian she didn't want to go because she didn't think that they would be able to relax with her around, which is probably the case. they start talking about Naomi Bryce says she looks intense and Hunt's responds is she is and then Bryce asks if anything happened between him and Naomi and he says no, but in his thoughts he's thinking Naomi has hinted to it a couple of times and he says no but it it would complicate things too much. So he asks if she was on her way to meet with friends and she says, No, I only have one friend these days and she's too busy. She's talking about Juniper. And he says, So what, you were just going out alone? To do what? And she says, Just to walk through this garden. Alone is his response, and she says, Well, I knew you would send a babysitter.

M: Mm-hmm.

C: And then she turns to him and says, Is this the part where you start yelling? And he's like, Do you want me to start yelling? And her response is, Maybe. 'Cause then maybe she'll she'll feel something if he starts yelling. And he's like, Okay, that can be arranged. But then all of his focus narrows on the dip of her eyes to his mouth. and he is so focused on her face that no one and nothing existed outside of her. And because of that, he doesn't hear anything behind him. The bushes rustling, the branches cracking, until the Kristallos crashes into him and sinks his its teeth into his shoulder. So we finally have an interaction between them and the Kristallos. It hits him with the force of an SUV. Bryce knew he had enough time to either draw a weapon or to shove her out of the way, and he chooses to shove her out of the way. And so he kind of goes sprawling onto the the ground, tumbling with the Kristallos. The Kristallos ends up pinning him. And it is holding on to Hunt's shoulder. Hunt tries to tell her to call for backup. He's trying to summon his lightning to be able to strike it with his lightning. she he pulls out a blade instead and shoves that into the creature and it doesn't make a difference. It is still holding on to Hunt. At one point the demon does switch from his shoulder to his forearm and crunches. And at that point, Hunt's lightning dies out completely. And we're gonna find out why in a little bit. Hunt slams his fist into the creature's face hard enough that it breaks bone, but it still does not unclamp from biting Hunt. So he managed to say Bryce's name and she goes for the gun holstered at his hip. She's able to pull it out, get the safety off, but as she's able to shoot it, the Kristallos demon realizes that she's doing something. It has enough awareness. it can sense her. And she does mention it is blind, which I don't know that we have mention of that prior to this, but it is blind because it was created in the darkness, in complete darkness. But that it sensed her, its nostrils flaring. So it can kind of smell her or what is in her. And that's when it starts to lunge for her instead. She shoots. It lunges away out of the way of the bullet. she kind of ends up falling back down to the pavement as well. Hunt then comes behind the Kristallos and shoves another knife into its head. It keeps lunging for Bryce, but Hunt manages to wrap his arms around it and grab the blade and start twisting it. Puts another blade into it. Finally. He is able to kind of get it down, she shoots it a couple of times, and then Hunt pulls out another sword, he cuts off its his head, and then cuts it into multiple pieces Like splits it in half and then in quarters and then plunges another strike through its heart so that it is well and truly dead. at this point there are plenty of people coming in, trying to figure out what's going on. multiple angels land, police, that kind of thing. The aux show up. Bryce is kind of looking around the park, almost as if she thinks she'll be able to see Sabine, as in Sabine summoned the demon and is close by. That's not the case. There's no one, everyone else in the park had scattered. Hunt kind of falls forward because he's losing a lot of blood. We find out there was venom and poison in the Kristallos's saliva. in that his shoulder is gushing blood and a silvery slime. So this is the poison. And Bryce can remember the burn of that slime, like it was living fire, because she still has that feeling in her thigh sometimes. a med witch then just kind of sweeps in out of nowhere, I love this about hypaxia because she just kind of like sneaks in there, uses some leeches, which let's pause for a moment and talk about these leeches because so freaking gross. So she takes these little worms and puts them on the wound and they suck all the venom out. and that their black bodies like swell when they suck up the venom, and then she pulls it off, puts it back in her little glass container, and then puts another one on. So when she's done, then the Medwitch just kind of speaks back off and then she's gone. Like she just slides in there, does what she needs to do, and she's gone. But she does bandage his arm up as well, which I think is really cool because Bryce mentions they were silk strips imbued with the healing power that will will the skin and muscle to knit back together. and stave off any infection and that they will dissolve once the the wounds are healed. Which I I think is super cool. Like I feel like we really need these two. but then Hunt comes to tell us that he thinks the venom nullified his power as soon as it bit into him that he couldn't summon his lightning. And that's why they're thinking, okay, assuming the same thing happened to Micah when Micah was attacked by the demon, if it bit him once, then that would nullify his powers completely. And Bryce wonders, well maybe that's what happened to Danika and the pack as well. And then Micah actually lands. wants to know which one the Kristallos attacked. Who did it attack? And Bryce points a finger at Hunt and tells him that it attacked Hunt. And then Micah wants to know which one killed it. And Bryce starts to say Hunt again, but Hunt cuts her off and says it was a joint effort. So then Micah uses the excuse that he doesn't want the press to find out about this or any others coming for the summit. So he uses that as an excuse to just burn the body of the Kristallos. White flame erupted around the demon and its head. Within a second, it was nothing more than ash. Hunt is a little frustrated because he needed that for evidence to try and figure it out. We're gonna find out why Micah wanted to just get rid of the evidence later on. But the Kristallos demon is nothing but ashes. Nobody knows that it's there. Bryce is kind of trying to figure out why the Kristallos demon attacked them. She's wondering if the po the horn is somewhere in the park or had she somehow unwittingly gotten near it. and she's mentioning to Hunt that it doesn't make any sense. That they had killed it so quickly, and that the entire pack of devils was in the apartment that night, and yet it had shredded each one of them. So how could Bryce and Hunt take it down even after it had bitten Hunt and the pack of devils, who all of them would have been just as strong? And skilled as Hunt is, how would they not have been able to take it down? So Bryce is kind of picking, putting the pieces together, realizing that maybe it wasn't a Kristallos demon that killed the pack of devils, that it could have been something else, even if it had nullified their powers. And Hunt says, Well, even Micah himself didn't walk away from the Kristallos demon. Bryce's response, yeah, but I did twice. And she is like, compared to all of the rest of them, she has zero power. And yes, she can fight, she can wield a sword, a gun, that kind of stuff, but so can everybody else. So how did she walk away from it and no one else did? Or most of the others didn't. and it's just not adding up for her. she hasn't quite put all of the pieces together yet, but Micah then Or hunt then goes to Micah to explain everything that they want to, look into Sabine further. after they tell Micah everything, including that there might be a way to repair the horn, Micah's response is you need more evidence before we can arrest Sabine and to come and get him when they have concrete proof or if they've found the horn. So they do head back to the apartment. and then we kind of shift gears back to the garden as Ruhn is getting there. he has gotten there right after Bryce and Hunt leave, but he does see the Medwitch, Hypaxia, before she sneaks off. because he is trying to get a sample of the venom. from the Kristallos or the blood of the Kristallos that is on some moss in the garden. And she kind of stops him, cautions him that they know the venom lies in the saliva, but they don't know what other horrors might be in its blood. And Ruhn's response is, well, it's not affecting the moss. And she says, True, but this demon was bred for specific purposes. Its blood might be harmless to non-senent life, but might be dangerous to something else. And Ruhn kind of realizes that she recognizes what type of demon it is. And so he asks her about it. And she says, I had very old tutors. As I told you before, they required me to study ancient texts. So we're kind of starting to get hints that Hypaxia knows more than she is leading on. and we're gonna find out she knows a lot more later on, not just in this book, but in other books as well. She knows a crap ton. And Ruhn's response is, Well, we could have used your help years ago when this first happened. And her response is, Well, I had not completed my training at that point. But then she does tell him she has to go away for a couple of days. But when she comes back, that she saw she's found some potential research that she wants to review, and then she'll send it over to him if she finds out anything. and before he is able to get her name again, she pulls out her broom and flies off. And that's right when Flynn walks up and she's he's like, who is that? And Ruhn's response is, I don't know. But he watches her fly off into the distance. then we switch back to Hunt and Bryce. And he has flown them back to the apartment. They land on the roof of the apartment. And she is a little distant from being attacked by the Kristallos demon. enough that he doesn't let go of her immediately after setting her on the roof. So he kind of is holding her arms wrapped around her. So she helds, wraps her arms around him, kind of gives him a hug, and then things slowly, like super slowly for them, progress to the point where they're holding each other tightly, kind of stroking each other's side or back. he buries his face against her neck, starts snuzzling her neck a little bit, doing a little kissing on her neck, breathing her in. she tips her chin back a little bit, arches into him a little bit, he pulls her in closer. All the things like that. It's super, super slow burn. We don't actually get a kiss or anything along those lines, but we start to kind of get it leading up to that. and Hunts to the point where this is overriding every instinct, every pained memory, every vow he has sworn. feeling S Bryce just at this point she's just stroking his back. Like that's all she's doing as she's holding him and he's holding her and he's nozzling into her neck. and he's starting to move his hands down to her butt because it's been tormenting him since he met her. But the door to the roof opens and Sabine walks out and snarls at them. So Hunt then grabs his gun. Immediately he responds. So he has a gun pointed at Sabine's head, but Sabine has a gun pointed at Bryce's heart. And so Hunt is away in all of his options. Bryce is turned to Sabine, so Hunt reaches his arm around and kind of pulls Bryce against him. realizing that if at with the close range that they're at, if Bryce is shot in the heart, there's not enough time to try and heal her that she will die. So he is trying to raise his arm high enough to be able to protect her heart with the armor that he's wearing. Sabine stops him from doing that. she is there to essentially threaten them to stop asking questions, stop looking into this case. Bryce then says what they assume or what they think Sabine is doing, that she killed Danika or summoned the demon to kill Danika because Danika was gonna be the future prime, and that sh Sabine had stolen the horn to undermine Danika. And then she sent the demon to kill them to humiliate Micah before the summit. And Sabine's just bought and said it is utter BS. And so where Bryce took the approach of what they thought, Hunt take the takes the approach of this is the evidence they have so far, that she switched the footage, that they have it confirmed, and that Sabine lied about it. that she ranted about her daughter not being able to keep her mouth shut, And Sabine's response is, I didn't steal anything and I didn't kill my daughter. I was protecting her because Danika stole the horn. Sabine then goes on to tell us that Danika Sabine assumes Danika did it just for the heck of it because she liked to do those types of things. She liked to push the boundaries and Sabine had to clean up after her. That Danika didn't consider that they might be audio rolling during the blackout. She's not sure if Danika actually made the blackout hack. Or if she just took advantage of an opportunity and stole the horn because of it. But that Danika was a brat who wanted to see what she could get away with. And Sabine has spent her entire life, or Danika's entire life, cleaning up after her, and that she didn't kill her, but she isn't surprised that Danika died because Danika couldn't keep her mouth shut in front of her enemies. So we don't know who these enemies are just yet, but we assume Sabine knows who they are or has a good idea. She does tell us that Amelie Ravenscroft is across the street waiting to make the call if they step out of line. Not that that's all that important. But then Sabine does end by saying I didn't kill my daughter, but if you jeopardize her legacy, then I will kill you. And then she leaves with that. So then this last chapter for our episode today is over the next couple of days. Bryce is struggling with processing everything that Sabine kind of threw at her because she essentially threw a bomb into the things that Bryce knows about Danika. Because Bryce never thought that Danika would steal the horn. She still doesn't know why Danika stole it. and she's doing all this processing. Hunt is trying to give her some space. knows that it isn't the right time to ask what was starting to happen on the roof before Sabine interrupted. That it was the least of their concerns with everything else that was going on. Hunt tries to make her food so that she eats, but she doesn't eat a whole lot. She doesn't sleep a whole lot because she's dealing with all of the trauma again. So they are at the the gallery at one point. Ruhn shows up. Because they haven't talked to Ruhn in a couple of days. he does have the star sword with him this time. And he does ask if they've heard anything. Bryce doesn't really want to talk, so Hunt does kind of give Ruhn an update on their waiting to hear back from a contact in the many waters Tharion to see if there are any patterns with the demon attacks. Outside of that, they haven't really found anything, but has Ruhn found anything? And he says, no, I still haven't found anything about the creation of the Kristallos, except that it was made from the blood of the first starborn prince, Prince Pelias and the essence of the star eater himself himself, but nothing about it negating magic. And then he asks Hunt if he's ever caught come across a demon who could do that. Hunt tells us no, he's never seen a demon that can do that. And he is we find out that Hunt has had to deal with negating magic in a couple different forms, that there has been witches spells or Gorsian stones that negate magic, but that it was different. that he had been shackled before with manacles hewn from the Gorsian stones in a specific set of mountains, so it sounds very similar to the iron handcuffs that we saw in ACOTAR that were also able to nullify powers. But that it was different. Wearing those manacles were different than the Kristallos' bite. he does mention that some of the rebels in the human rebellion on Pangera are trying to find ways to grind the metal from those stones and make it into a spray that could be unleashed on the vanir during the battles. Also, very similar to things that we saw in ACOTAR with the faebane Ruhn mentions that if the star eater himself put his essence in the Kristallos, there that's probably what gave the demon the ability to eat magic is the way he's describing it. Not nullifying, not negating, but actually eating the magic. And Bryce wants to know if If he has been able to sense anything in regards to the horn, and he says no, but he talks about the med witch, Hypaxia that he's been talking to. We find out that she has recently sent him information, because now it's been a couple of days, that there is mention of a relatively new drug on the market that's just starting to come into use. It's a synthetic healing magic. It has some wicked side effects. if not carefully controlled, but it is capable of healing at rates nearly double that of first light. So it heals a lot faster than what their current methods are. that it's kind of what a sim no that it's possible it could repair the horn. Because it is like the riddle said, it is not it's light but not light, magic but not magic. That's kind of what a synthetic compound is like. But it's not readily available. So it entered the market at some point in the past few years. No one has tested it on inanimate objects. So who knows? Bryce kind of ruminates that they have a potential way to repair the horn and they don't have the horn itself. they still don't know if Danika stole the horn on a like on a lark or for some other purpose. And that's when Ruhn is like, Well, wait a minute, when did Danika steal the horn? So then Hunt has to go back and tell him everything in regards to Sabine and Danika. Bryce comes to the conclusion that Danika has stol stole the horn to keep it away from someone else and then was killed because she had taken the horn. But whoever killed Danika still doesn't have the horn because the Kristallos demon is- So they're starting they're trying to put the pieces together. Some of them they are. Some of them are just still kind of laying out there in no man's land. Ruhn brings the sword up. Because Bryce wants to know if the sword can help them find the horn. And he says the sword doesn't work like that, aside from being picky about who draws it. The sword has no power without the knife. And Hunt's like, wait a minute, what knife? What are we talking about? So then we get a little bit of a prophecy that the sword was part of a pair. That it's a long bladed knife was forged from the iridium mined. From the iridium mined from the same meteor which fell on the old world. So meteor falls on the old world. This is not the crescent city, not Midgard. This is a previous fae World. And so two blades were forged from the Iridium mined from that meteor. But that the knife was lost eons ago, even the fae archives have no record of how it might have been lost, but it seems to have been sometime during the first wars. So pretty much from the beginning, this the knife has been lost. It's another of the fae's countless inname prophecies. Bryce says, When knife and sword are reunited, so shall our people be. Ruhn tells us it is literally. Carved above the fae archives entrance, whatever the heck it means. So we do have another prophecy that we are going to see come into play later on. So we'll talk about it when we get there. But there is a knife that goes with the sword. And then Hunt, since everything on the rooftop from a couple of nights ago, is his mind is spiraling a little bit more into the things that he and Bryce might get up to if they take things to the next level. and that rune is kind of giving him a look, a heart a sharp look, thinking that Ruhn might know what Hunt is thinking. and Hunt's response is crap. He is definitely in deep Crap, unrelenting. And Ruhn just kind of snorts as if he knows exactly what Hunt is thinking about. Lehabah talks about wanting to see the fae archives and all of the ancient history that is in them. Bryce is again in a little bit of a mood in this chapter and is just kind of giving giving Lehabah a hard time. Bryce says that that only a few on an approved list are able to get into the fae archives. Lehabah says, Well, I would be. Because I'm a descendant of the initial sprite queen, Queen Ranthea Drawl. And Bryce's response is to kind of tease, yeah, and I'm the seventh Asteri. Like, really, really, Bryce, why are you being mean to Lehabah? And she goes so far as to say, that the story changes every time, and Lehabah's like, No, it doesn't, it's the same every time. That Lehabah Her six times great grandmother was dethroned in the elemental wars and that her family was cast from favor at that point. And that her great great grandmother was booted from the Eternal City for a false accusation for trying to steal the royal consort from the imposter queen. We don't know who the imposter queen is yet. And that her great grandmother fought with Hunt and the Angels, and that that was the end of her people's freedom. And so the words kind of bug Hunt, obviously, since he's the one who led that rebellion. And so Lehabah backtracks a little bit so she doesn't blame him. And he says, Well, I led everyone to battle. I don't see how you can blame anybody else. And Ruhn chimes in and says, Well, it was Shahar who led you. And Hunt bristles from that a little bit, but he looks to Bryce, thinking that Bryce is gonna give the same judgment that they've given him, and she doesn't, because she is giving him the same understanding that he has given her in the last couple of episodes. as if she saw all of him and didn't mind the jagged bits. Lehabah then asks Ruhn if he has ever visited the fae archives in Avallen that she has heard they are grander than what was brought here. And he says no, but the fae there are even less welcoming to anyone who wants to come see. Flynn ends up calling Ruhn to have Ruhn come back and break up like a a little pissing contest between a couple of the soldiers. And Hunt's response is like, Why do you do little stuff like that? Why aren't you doing bigger things? Because you are the prince the Autumn King's son, the prince of the fae. And before Ruhn can say anything, Bryce chimes in and says because his daddy is scared of him. And Ruhn's response is he outranks me in power and title. And she says, and yet he made sure you to get you under his thumb as early as possible, as if you were some sort of animal to be tamed. Ruhn kind of grumbles, Well it was going well until you came along. So they're getting really close in this instant hinting at the fact that Bryce and Ruhn are brother and sister. And that the Autumn King is her father as well. And Bryce then says that the Autumn King was alive the last time a starborn prince appeared. Have you ever asked him what happened and why he died before he made the drop? So that's all we learn about it, but we get the the hint, the insinuation that Bryce thinks the Autumn King killed the last starborn prince. Ruhn's response is don't be stupid, it was an accident. And don't believe all of that crap. Bryce response is, if you say so, then it was an accident, but whatever you say. and then we find out that she had tried to tell Ruhn that and convince Ruhn of how bad the Autumn King was. And Ruhn's response is, Trust me, I've known I was the one who actually had to live with him. So then he leaves. And the front door buzzes again. And Bryce is a little frustrated because she doesn't want to talk to anybody. She doesn't want anyone to be coming around. But it is a otter in its little reflective yellow vest that stood on its hind legs, its little paw on the lower level level, the lower lever to ring the doorbell for shorter people because she made Jesiba put in a doorbell that is on the lower side for the shorter Yeah, shorter people. and it is a message from Tharion that it the message says, I think you'll find this of interest. Kisses, Tharion. And Hunt's response is kisses, really? And she says, well they're for you, obviously. So it is Tharion's letter as well as a pile of pages. there are also some photographs that these are additional bodies, dead bodies that were found in the river. And we do get mention of an additional type of animal in the water, that it was a 25-foot, nearly 3,000 pounds scale-covered muscle, and they are called sobek And they're among the worst of the apex predators in the river. that Tharion had actually taken one of these dead bodies out of the lair of a Sobek, which is why it gets brought up. but this is where Bryce starts putting things together. So the bite marks on the torso of some of the pictures aren't consistent with the Sobek's bite marks. So they're assuming that this person then was actually killed by the Kristallos. Because the chest cavity had been ripped open, the heart and internal organs removed, and bite marks kind of peppered inside it, and that they had also found the clear venom in the wounds, and that Tharion could actually sense it. He could feel it inside the corpse even before they did their tests. Because we find out that most of those in the house of many waters can sense what flowed in someone's body. Illness, weakness, and now apparently venom. and then when they tried to test it, it didn't work well because they were testing it with magic and it negates magic. So then Tharion went into the records for all unidentified bodies that the Mer had found in the last couple of years. They found two with identical wounds and this clear venom right at the time around the time of Danika's death. And that they had found five in the last couple of weeks, and that the one that he pulled out of the sobek's lair. Was from five days ago, which is the night that Hunt and Bryce were attacked by the Kristallos. And this is when Bryce realizes that whatever creature had killed these people, that it was not the same creature that killed Danika, that the Kristallos didn't kill Danika. And Hunt's response is Well, you were at the scene though, you saw it. And she says, I saw it in the hall, not in the apartment. The Danika, the pack, and the other three recent victims were in piles. And she says, these wounds aren't the same. The Kristallos wanted to get at your heart, your organs, not turn you into a heap. Danika, the pack of devils, Maximus, the acolyte, and the temple guard, none of them had wounds like this. And none had this venom in their system. So she's wondering, what if something else came through? What if the Kristallos was summoned to look for the horn? But something worse was also there that night. Bryce is wondering if maybe there were two things there that night, the Kristallos demon and something else, something worse. Hunt can't think of a demon that demolishes its victims like that, unless it's another ancient horror straight from the pit. If the Kristallos killed the dryads and killed these people whose bodies washed into the river through the sewers, then why summon two kinds of demons? If the Kristallos is already incredibly lethal, why aren't they just using that? And Bryce doesn't know, she has no idea, but if everything we know about Danika's death is wrong, then we need to figure out how she died and we need someone who can weigh in. Hunts like any ideas? And her response is yes, but please don't go ballistic. So they need to figure out what actually killed Danika, because at first it was Philip Briggs, and then maybe the Autumn King, and then maybe Sabine, and now the Kristallos demon, and maybe not the Kristallos demon, maybe something else, maybe something worse. So at this point, they really have no idea who killed Danika and the pack of devils. But based on what they're outlined, is it sounds like the bodies found in the river were killed by the demon, and Hunt and Bryce were attacked by the by the Kristallos Demon. And Micah was attacked by the Kristallos Demon. So the only people that actually walked away from the demon are Micah, Hunt, and Bryce. Everyone else has been killed by it. And then Danika and the pack of devils. The Acolyte and the guard from the temple and Maximus weren't killed by the Kristallos demon they were killed by something else. So now they gotta figure out what could have killed them. So I feel like they have more questions than they have answers than when we started this episode. But the next one is gonna be quite amusing because Bryce decides they're going to summon a demon to get these answers. Which is kinda like why didn't you think to do that to begin with, since it's a demon that's attacking people? summoning a demon is super bad and they're not supposed to do it. But they already have all the black salt because they bought the seven times seven black salt, so they're ready to go. But I'm excited for this chapter. So we get to see Adios And that's a wrap for chapters 43 through 51. Just when we think we have a handle on what's happening, Sarah J. Maas reminds us that we're actually several steps behind and happily along for the ride. These chapters gave us plenty to think about, a few answers that we desperately needed, and somehow even more questions to obsess over until the next episode. Bryce and Hunt continue to steal our hearts. The mystery keeps twisting in unexpected ways, and we're officially too invested to turn back now, or even to stop reading. Thanks for hanging out with us. We'd love to hear your thoughts, favorite moments, and all of the theories you're cooking up after these chapters. Join us next time as we dive even deeper into the chaos that is Crescent City. Until then, keep reading, keep theorizing. And remember, if everything finally starts making sense in a Sarah J. Maas book. It's probably c because she's about to flip the entire story upside down. We'll see ya next time.