House of Sky and Breath

Tharion soon spots the Harpy, the Hind, and Pollux on the cliffs as well. The forces with them are possibly armed with torpedoes to sink the boat and snipers to shoot them down in case Hunt tries to fly them away. Tharion asks everyone to jump into the water, and uses water-magic to propel them away, just as a torpedo hits their boat. The Hind approaches them on a speed-boat. Tharion doesn’t use his magic to upturn the Hind’s boat since as the Captain of Intelligence for the River Queen he should not confront the Asteri’s forces directly. The Hind says she now has proof of the treachery of Ruhn, Bryce, and the others. She pulls out a small white stone and drops it in the water, gloating that she showed a similar stone to Sofie before she died. The Hind says they have two options: accompany her willingly or be killed by an approaching Omega-boat. Just then, Tharion senses a large and invisible entity near them. Meanwhile, Hunt’s lightning begins to surge, sensing Bryce in danger. The hull of a massive boat hits them from below and carries them down.

Bryce realizes this is not an Omega-boat because it doesn’t carry the Asteri’s insignia. It is a ship that has rescued them. Someone from the ship asks the group to quickly climb down the hatch. The ship then dives deep underwater. The friends meet the ship’s captain, Commander Sendes, who works for the Ocean Queen. The ship is the Depth Charger, a vessel as large as a city. Commander Sendes says she rescued Bryce and the others as they sent for her. Bryce assumes this means Sendes saw her flaring light. Hunt continues to buzz with lightning. Ruhn tells Bryce telepathically this is because Hunt is her true mate and wired to protect her from perceived danger. Ruhn realizes the reason Bryce’s scent has changed is because it has merged with Hunt's.

Ithan brings the box with the astronomer’s rings to Ruhn’s place. Declan’s boyfriend Marc tells him this constitutes to theft so Ithan should return the box to avoid being arrested. The box begins to shake. Ithan opens the box and sees the rings with their four trapped sprites. Declan breaks the rings open to release the sprites. Three are small fire sprites like Lehabah, but the fourth entity is a human-sized woman whose eyes blaze blood-red and skin seems to move like scales. Ithan and his friends realize she is a dragon.

From the glass port-windows of the Depth Charger, Ruth can still see Omega-boats search for them. Sendes explains that the boats won’t be able to detect their ship since it is built for camouflage. The squid-shaped ship is not detectable on radar since it is powered not by firstlight, but the Ocean Queen’s magic. The Asteri are not aware of the technology possessed by the Ocean Queen; but the Queen is not allied with the Ophion rebels either. She and her court are politically neutral. Meanwhile, a medwitch—a healer—takes Cormac in for surgery to remove the gorsian bullets.

Sendes asks the group to rest in the barracks until they reach the Istros, from where Tharion’s people will take over. Hunt is still consumed by his power, so Bryce requests Sendes for some privacy to calm him down. Sendes allows the couple into a bio-dome, clears it off people, and seals it.

The biodome contains a quiet, lush forest with streams and waterfalls. Despite the beautiful surroundings, Hunt is unable to settle down. His protective magic has been out of control ever since he saw the Hind on her boat and needs an outlet. Bryce finds a clearing so the two can make love. The two finally have intercourse; Hunt’s lightning flows through Bryce, and her light through Hunt. Powered by their combined magic, Bryce accidentally teleports them out to the ship’s airlock. Hunt goes back to normal.

The three fire sprites released by Declan, Flynn, and Ithan are triplets called Rithi, Malana and Sasa. The dragon is called Ariadne. Dragons are lowers, belong to the House of Flame and Shadow. The sprites explain that they were bewitched by the Astronomer and trapped into his rings so they can light his way when he descends into Hel. Before they can reveal how Ariadne was trapped, the dragon cuts them off. She says she cannot change into her dragon form and fly away as she is magically bound by the letters SPQM—the mark of a slave—branded on her wrist. Ariadne explains that the Astronomer tortures the mystics for the smallest transgression; especially the mystic woman. That is why she was too scared to come with Ithan. To learn about Connor, Ithan will have to contact a necromancer, a sorcerer who can raise the dead and speak to them.

Bryce and Hunt visit a recovering Cormac in the ship’s hospital. Bryce tells Cormac she was able to teleport Hunt out while they were having sex. Cormac thinks this shows she needs Hunt’s power to channel hers. Aidas, the Prince of the Pit, had indicated the hidden potential of the combined powers of Bryce and Hunt. Now that they are mates, Bryce and Hunt’s powers have merged. Commander Sendes enters the scene and says Cormac was mumbling about Sofie Renast when he was sick. She is familiar with the name, as someone called them to rescue Sofie from the North Sea a while ago. By the time they reached Sofie, she had drowned. Sendes’s crew took Sofie’s body. It is on the Depth Charger.

Cormac kneels by Sofie’s body kept in the ship’s morgue. Tharion apologizes for giving Cormac false hope that Sofie was alive, but Cormac says that “kept her alive in my heart a little longer” (519). The coroner has found numbers carved on Sofie’s bicep, but no one knows their significance. It is also unclear who signaled Sendes’s crew to rescue Sofie. Bryce promises Cormac to make Sofie’s killers pay for what they have done.

Sendes tells Tharion that the Ocean Queen has had six city ships, including the Depth Charger, for two decades now. Tharion did not know of the existence of such ships, despite being a mer. Sendes believes the Ocean Queen too wishes to overthrow the Asteri. She secretly uses the ships to help the rebels whenever possible. She wants to restore the world to the democratic system of rule before the Asteri. A jaded Tharion finds this hard to believe. He tells her his master—the River Queen, sister to the Ocean Queen—is power-hungry. The River Queen wants Sofie’s corpse, perhaps to reanimate it with the help of a necromancer and thus create a weapon. Sendes says she cannot give Tharion the body as only prince Cormac, her lover and commander in the rebellion, has claim to it.

Sleeping aboard the Depth Charger, Ruhn is approached on the mind-bridge by Day. She is worried about his well-being, having learnt of the attack on the rebel base at Ydra. Ruhn tells her about Pippa killing innocent Vanir civilians on the base. Day says Pippa is now more motivated by personal vendetta rather than a just cause. Ruhn wants to know why the Ophion Command and other agents continue to work with Pippa. Day says that no one else mustered a force as great as Pippa in the 15,000-years-long rebellion against the Asteri. To distract an unsettled Ruhn, Day tells him a story. As Day speaks of a young, beautiful witch who was shot down in her hawk-form by a prince she had spurned, Ruhn’s mind travels too close to her, almost glimpsing her form. Day gets offended, and abruptly ends the story. She says the wounded witch fell to the ground and the forest changed her into a clawed monster. She ripped apart the prince and his hounds.

Back at her apartment, Bryce considers it a miracle that the Hind and her dreadwolves haven’t come to arrest her and the others. Baxian drops in for a visit and says he wants to join the mission in which Hunt and Bryce are involved. Bryce says they only blew up the ammunitions on Ydra so that the Ophion rebels wouldn’t disrupt the peace in Valbara. Baxian doesn’t buy her spiel. Bryce wants to know why the Hind hasn’t told everyone about their presence at Ydra. According to Baxian, the Hind has spared them because she thinks they can lead her to something she wants. Despite Baxian’s request, Hunt refuses to let him join the group. After Baxian leaves, Hunt suddenly recalls Pippa’s comments about Emile being chased not by her but the Vanir in their snake’s nest (Chapter 44). Hunt joins the dots between Pippa’s words and Bryce’s visit to the Meat Market and realizes Bryce might have sent Emile to the Viper Queen.

Hunt asks Bryce about Emile as they head to the Meat Market. Bryce had asked the Viper Queen to find Emile. It was the Viper Queen’s henchwoman, and not Pippa, who killed the selkie (Chapter 23) and the others on Emile’s trail. Bryce hadn’t planned the killings. She had only asked the Viper Queen to retrieve Emile at any cost. On the night to their visit to the Meat Market, Bryce had warned the Viper Queen to stop killing people. Bryce’s actions anger Hunt. They meet the Viper Queen, who brings out Emile, a pale, bony child. Bryce and Hunt gently inform Emile Sofie is dead. Away from the Viper Queen, Hunt reassures the child that they will keep him safe, even though his extraordinary powers are much coveted. Emile looks confused. Bryce reveals to Hunt that Emile doesn’t have special powers. Only Sofie was a thunderbird. Bryce fed the rumors about Emile so that everyone would think he was valuable and worth saving. Hunt is still angry with Bryce but is also impressed by her dedication to save a human child. Bryce now owes the Viper Queen a favor in exchange for Emile.