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If you’ve read the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas, you’re probably very familiar with the main characters in this urban-fantasy world!
I am in love with everything SJM, and Bryce and Hunt’s relationship is one of those things I can’t help but obsess over.
If you haven’t read House of Earth and Blood, House of Sky and Breath, or House of Flame and Shadow, read on with caution, because there are some major spoilers below!
Who Is Bryce Quinlan?
Bryce is half-human, half-fae, and lives in Lunathion, AKA Crescent City!
Bryce graduated from CCU (Crescent City University), where she met her BFF, Danika, whose murder at the beginning of the first novel shapes Bryce as a person.
Bryce is the daughter of the Autumn King, but this is a secret to the public and is only known between her, her father, and her brother Ruhn.
She works for Jesiba Roga, who is a sorceress, a total baddie (she turns her enemies into small animals), and the owner of Griffin Antiquities.
Bryce is known as a party girl and is widely believed to be a vapid, trashy person. However, there is so much more to her once you get to know her and see behind the mask she puts on for everyone around her!
Who Is Hunt Athalar?
Hunt, whose full name is Orion Athalar, is also known as the Umbra Mortis (the Shadow of Death). Hunt is a Malakh, and even though he is not an archangel, he is one of the most powerful Malakh. Plus, he has really cool lightning powers!
Hunt was a part of the rebellion against the Imperial Senate (and also a lover of the leader of the rebellion, the archangel Shahar).
However, this rebellion went very poorly, and now Hunt is a slave to the very powers he rebelled against.
He is stationed in the 33rd Legion and serves as an officer, though he has no choice where he is stationed due to being enslaved.
Part 1: House of Earth and Blood
When Do Bryce And Hunt First Meet?
Bryce and Hunt first meet in chapter 6 of House of Earth and Blood. After Bryce finds Danika and the Pack of Devils dead in their apartment, she chases the Kristallos demon out into the streets and finds it attacking a Malakh.
She calls for help, and Hunt, along with Isaiah, are the Legion members who are sent to the crime scene.
Bryce is very shaken up (and also very high). At this first meeting, Hunt assumes that she is just a party girl.
“Seems like she’s your standard spoiled party girl…And what a surprise: she’s Danika Fendyr’s roommate. The Party Princess.”
Bryce And Hunt Start Working Together
We jump ahead twenty-two months, and Bryce is working at the gallery when two angels arrive at her door, Hunt and Isaiah.
They have been sent by the governor, Archangel Micah. Micah has sent them ahead to warn Bryce of his own arrival and to get her boss, Jesiba, on video call (I love that this SJM world has Zoom ahaha).
In chapter 11, Bryce, Hunt, Isaiah, Micah, and Jesiba (via video call) are all discussing just why the Governor is filling Bryce in on information regarding Danika’s death.
It is no longer believed that Philip Briggs (the man imprisoned for Danika’s murder) is actually responsible, and he wants Bryce to work alongside Hunt to find the true murderer.
“I am out of options, and shall soon be out of time. If there is someone who might retrace Danika’s steps in her final days and discover who murdered her, it would be you. You are the only tie between victims.”
“Hunt Athalar is experienced in hunting demons. He shall be on protection duty, guarding you during your search for the person behind this.”
Hunt Assumes The Worst About Bryce
Hunt and Bryce do not exactly start off with great first impressions of one another. Bryce thinks Hunt is an alphahole and Hunt still only sees Bryce as a vapid party girl.
Some examples of this is when Hunt first sees Bryce’s apartment. He assumes she is rich, though we later find out that Danikaa left it to her after her passing.
He also thinks she is spoiled and rich because of her pet chimera, Syrinx, though later he finds out that she bought his freedom from Jesiba (Lele has a big mouth) and is still paying off the debt.
He thinks when she goes and gets her nails done in chapter 15 that she is just being vain, but we learn in chapter 17 that the woman who did Bryce’s nails is the girlfriend of the other murder victim (who was killed in the same way as Danika).
At her nail appointment she learns that there is no way that he had any connection to Danika.
Hunt Meets Lehabah
Hunt first meets the fire sprite in chapter 20. After Lehabah has begged Bryce to allow the angel inside instead of sitting on the roof all day as well as talking about how dreamy she thinks he is, Bryce finally lets Hunt into the gallery.
“Hunt almost crashed into her as Lehabah floated up between them, her fire shining bright, and purred, “Hello.”
Bryce also admits to herself that maybe Hunt is as attractive as Lehabah keeps saying.
Hunt Tells Bryce That She Saved Micah’s Life The Night Of Danika’s Murder
Bryce knows that it was Hunt there the night of the murder of the Pack of Devils, but she hasn’t told him that she knows, and he hasn’t told her that it was him who was there. Really loving this miscommunication here!
In chapter 23, Hunt brings Bryce along to see the body of another murder victim of the Kristallos, and she is triggered by seeing another person killed the same way Danika was.
Hunt feels like a jerk when he sees her reaction, but he tells her to walk it off.
They are walking away from the crime scene when Hunt comes clean about being one of the legions that were there, and he asks her how she survived the Kristallos that night.
“I didn’t survive,” she mumbled, crossing a street and edging around a car idling in the intersection. “It got away.” “But the Kristallos pinned Micah, ripped his chest–”
OOPS! Hunt spilled the beans!
Bryce is pretty pissed that this was kept from her, especially since after her friends’ deaths she tried to find out about the angel she had saved in the alley to see if any good came out of that horrible night, but she was never able to find anything out.
And now she knows that’s because it was deemed better to keep the Governor being saved by a high half-fae should be a secret.
Hunt tries to apologize but only digs himself into a deeper hole by also telling Bryce that she was on his suspect list…
“Look, I know it was shitty. And I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry for all of it, Quinlan. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you, and I’m sorry you’re on my suspect list, and I’m sorry–”
The Explosion At The White Raven
At the end of chapter 25, Hunt follows Bryce to the night club, The White Raven, where she is drinking with her friend Juniper, who is very mad at Hunt still.
When Hunt takes a sip from Bryce’s drink, he realizes that it’s only water, and he once again has perceived her all wrong.
“Not a party girl at all—just content to let the world believe the worst of her. Including him. Hunt rolled his shoulders, wings moving with him, as he watched her on the dance floor. Yeah, he’d fucked up.”
Then the club explodes!
When the explosion is set off, Bryce uses her body as a human shield (or half-human half-fae) over Juniper and takes the brunt of the injuries.
Hunt rushes to Bryce to inspect her body and see if she has more injuries, and he finds the scar from the night that Danika died and Bryce was attacked by the Kristallos.
He is shocked to find that she never has gotten it healed and is filled with guilt about how he is the one who poorly stapled her injury that night.
As he is staring at her scarred upper thigh, Bryce snaps him out of it with a little flirting only Bryce can pull off.
“When males are kneeling between my legs, Athalar,” she said, “they’re not usually grimacing.”
And this makes the Umbra Mortis blush 🤭
When Do Bryce And Hunt Start Living Together?
In chapter 26, Ruhn tells Bryce that the Autumn King is concerned about what kind of liability Bryce is.
He also tells her that the fae king wants to know what Bryce will do with Luna’s Horns if she finds them. He thinks Bryce needs a guard to remain with her at all times and even live with her.
Bryce says fine but that he never said WHO the guard needed to be and that her guard would be Hunt and not Ruhn. So, Hunt becomes Bryce’s new roomie!
When Does Hunt Tell Bryce About His Deal With Micah?
Hunt tells Bryce in chapter 27 about his deal when they get back to Bryce’s apartment after the attack on The White Raven. In a rare moment of honesty, Bryce tells Hunt that she HAS to learn who is behind all this.
She doesn’t even care about Micah’s true motives behind putting her on his care, but it will “eat her alive” if she doesn’t find the real killer.
Hunt tells her they will “because we don’t have another choice. I don’t have another choice” because Micah offered him a deal. He follows Bryce’s lead of taking a moment to be honest and tells her the truth.
“When I first came here, Micah offered me a bargain: if I could make up for every life the 18th took that day on Mount Hermon, I’d get my freedom back. All two thousand two hundred and seventeen lives.”
When Bryce doesn’t think that Hunt is a horrible person for this deal, he is moved by her. And this is the beginning of a true friendship between them.
And then he buys her a cheeseburger, so that’s awesome, too!
Bryce Meets Sandriel For The First Time
Hunt and Bryce make a quick pitstop at the barracks of The Comitium (where Hunt and the other slaves that serve in the Leigon live) to pick up some of Hunt’s belongings.
As they are leaving The Comitium, they have a VERY awkward run-in with Sandriel and Micah. Hunt is shell-shocked when he sees Sandriel because she is mad evil, and they have a real tough past.
“He looked lost, stranded, somewhere between rage and terror.”
This is when Bryce puts her party-girl mask back on and puts on a little show to distract the archangels from Hunt.
Bryce pulls out her phone and starts taking selfies and deflates the situation immediately by everyone going into shock by her crazy behavior saving Hunt from having to bow to Sandriel.
“Then Bryce had made her move. Played that irreverent, vapid party girl she wanted them to believe she was, that he’d believed she was, sapped those photos, giving him an out.”
Miach demands an explanation and then ASKS HER TO DINNER!!! Like, what the heck dude? And Bryce simply responds, “Not interested,” and Hunt loves this answer.
Is Hunt Still In Love With Shahar?
In chapter 37, when Bryce and Hunt talk about the other’s hookups, we see a bit of jealousy in each of them.
Hunt starts it by asking if Bryce had ever hooked up with Tristian Flynn, to which Bryce responds by asking him about his own hookups, with Hunt telling her that none of them mean anything because Shahar has “ruined him for anyone else.”
This affects Bryce WAY more than she thought it would. She asks him if he still feels for Shahar, and he tells her, “till the day I die.”
Bryce starts to feel silly for starting to see Hunt differently and thinks that maybe she had been reading into all the flirting and subtle touching.
Hunt Meets Jelly Jubilee
Any Crescent City fan knows exactly who Jelly Jubilee is and knows exactly what Hunt thought the purple glittery unicorn was when he went rifling through Bryce Hall’s closest.
Bryce is just getting out of the shower when she hears Hunt calling her name. She is spooked and rushes out into the hallway!
She finds him standing there with “a purple glittery unicorn” in the palm of his hand, asking for an explanation as to what she has hiding in her closet.
Bryce is not embarrassed about her Starlight Fancy collection and calls Hunt out immediately for snooping for and looking at her toys of the other variety.
Bryce confides in Hunt that these little collectible horses helped her to feel like she fit in with the other kids growing up and bridge the gap between her and them that her half-fae heritage created.
She ends this heartwarming story by telling Hunt that the toys he was looking for are not in her hall closet but actually on the left nightstand…check out chapter 41 if you want to read their whole interaction!
Bryce And Hunt ALMOST kiss
In chapter 47, Bryce and Hunt land on the roof of Bryce’s apartment building after being attacked by a Kristallos demon.
After flying home in the rain, they both just nearly escaped death, and rain and a near-death experience is the PERFECT time for guards to be dropped and some weird nuzzling to begin.
They are on the edge of kissing or hooking up, just a kiss to the neck, and Bryce starts to cozy up to Hunt, which leads to him starting to feel her up, and just when things are about to get going…
Sabine opens the door that leads to the roof and points a gun at them!
Sabine is pissed off because they were looking into her being the killer of her daughter, Danika. She tells them that she didn’t kill Danika and that she was protecting Danika and hiding the fact that Danika is the one who stole the Horn.
This shakes Bryce, and let’s just say there is no more nuzzling between these two for a while.
When Bryce and Hunt get into a fight after Bryce is drinking again, she chooses to lash out at Hunt.
Specifically, she references the night mentioned above on the roof and, in a way, hurts Hunt’s feelings.
“Weren’t you going to tell me your heartbreaking story about your amazing girlfriend? What would she think about the way you manhandled me and practically devoured my neck the other night?”
Byrce feels bad instantly, but Hunt leaves the bar and heads back to the apartment.
Bryce returns to the apartment and makes Hunt a meal as an apology for her asshole behavior. The two make up (not out yet, UGH), and Bryce tells Hunt about the time she killed the Asp shifters with Danika.
She also brings up how Hunt referred to the apartment as “home” when he left the bar. Bryce tells Hunt that after all this is solved, the room is still his if he wants it.
They share the meal Bryce prepared, and Hunt accepts her apology.
Bryce Showers Hunt
Micah sends Hunt on another “mission” (a hit, really), and Hunt knows that he is doing this to punish him for Sabine being mad about being on the suspect list. He knows it’s a punishment because Micah orders “no guns”.
When Hunt doesn’t come home after being summoned to the Commitium, Bryce begins to freak the freak-out. She is so worried about him, and when he comes home covered in blood, finally, she is so relieved.
“He couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t stand the look of pure, knee-wobbling relief on her face when he’d walked into the apartment. He’d come right back here after he’d finished because he thought she’d be asleep and he would wash off the blood without having to go back to the Commitium barracks first, but she’d been just standing in the living room. Waiting for him.”
Hunt goes past Bryce and hops in the shower, turns the water to scolding hot, and tries to wash the night off of him.
However, Byrce isn’t horrified about what Hunt did but how it has affected him. Bryce sees through the orders that Micah sends him, and she sees Hunt.
When Bryce goes into Hunt’s bathroom to check on him and finds him just standing there burning his skin and it just healing over and over again from the hot water, she hops in the shower and tells him she is going to clean him off.
Hunt is still very out of it, and he lets Bryce start to clean him.
“His eyes lifted at last. Met hers, as his head leaned back into the stream of water. “You look how I feel,” she whispered, her throat tight. Every day.”
Bryce and Hunt sleep together for the first time in chapter 54 of House of Earth and Blood. She gets him cleaned up and into bed, but he tugs on her wrist as she gets up to go and knows that he wants her to stay.
She puts on one of his shirts, slides off her pants, and crawls into bed with him. This is the first time they sleep together. Though nothing romantic happens, it is a very sweet and tender moment between them.
When Hunt wakes up with Bryce in his bed and realizes that she took care of him and comforted him, he is moved.
“She’d taken care of him. Washed and clothed and soothed him. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done that.”
Bryce Gets Hot And Bothered
Us Sarah J. Maas girlies love the smut in her books, and the first time we really get some steamy tension between Hunt and Bryce is in chapter 55.
The two are in the kitchen, Hunt making Bryce some breakfast the morning after she cleaned him up from his hit that Micah ordered him on.
Bryce is somehow never wearing any pants, and Hunt is very aware of it this morning… And Bryce becomes very aware that Hunt, as a Vanir, can sense arousal.
When he asks her what she’s thinking about, she lies and tells him she is thinking about a clothing sale, to which he responds with a purr in his voice.
“I didn’t know clothing sales got you so hot and bothered, Quinlan.”
Right when Hunt is about to move in on Bryce and start something between them finally, the eggs on the stove start smoking, and the moment is gone.
Hunt Meets Bryce’s Parents
In chapter 56, Bryce has a video call with her mom, Ember Quinlan, and stepdad, Randal Silago. It’s a very cute scene between the four of them, and you get to see how much her parents care for her.
Her parents get to meet Hunt for the first time, even though they can’t figure out why the Umbra Mortis is their daughter’s new roommate. Right at the end of the call, Hunt traps Bryce by bringing up her injured leg in front of her mom.
Ember and Hunt gang up on Bryce, and Ember insists that she sees a medwitch. Bryce is pissed that Hunt told on her to her mom.
Hunt Gives Bryce the Opal
Bryce and Hunt are at the Meat Market working on their case when they stop at a stand of opals run by a Magpie in chapter 58.
Hunt asks what they are for, and he is told by the Magpie that they are luck charms and the different colors are for different things: “white is for joy; green for wealth; red for love and fertility; blue for wisdom…”
Hunt pays for the white one, and the two begin to walk away as Hunt presses the white opal into Bryce’s hand. “You could use some joy,” Hunt said quietly.”
“Bryce’s face warmed again, and she looked anywhere but at him as she smiled. Even though she could feel his gaze lingering on her face while she slid the opal into the pocket of her jacket.”
Hunt Fights Amelie
In chapter 60, Bryce gets get a box of chocolate croissants and tells Hunt that they were Danika’s favorite and that today is her birthday.
When she opens the box, she sees that on one of the croissants, written in chocolate, is the word “trash”. When Hunt sees how crushed Bryce is by this message, he knows just who wrote it and goes out to get even.
Hunt flies over to the Moonwood bar, where Amelie Ravenscroft and other members of the pack are drinking and laughing.
Hunt uses his lightning on her and threatens her telling her, “You leave her the f*ck alone. Forever. Got it?”
Bryce And Hunt’s First Kiss
Chapter 61 is a big one for Bryce and Hunt! We have their first kiss.
Hunt tells Bryce that he was at the crime scene the night of Danika’s murder, and Bryce gets her leg healed!
Bryce finally agrees to go to the medwitch to get the poison out of her leg and heal her injury after all these years.
Hunt goes along with her, and he holds her hand as has her operation done on her leg. The poison is deeper than previously thought, so it is very painful for Bryce, and as she screams, Hunt tells her “I’ve got you” over and over.
Hunt laces his hand with hers and strokes her brow, and tells her that he was there the night of Danika’s murder.
“I thought to myself, There’s someone I want guarding my back. There’s a friend I’d like to have. I think I gave you such a hard time when we met up again because…because some part of me knew that, and was afraid of what it’d mean.” “I was there in the interrogation room, too.” His fingers drifted through her hair, gentle and calming. “I was there for all of it.”
As the medwitch gets closer to getting it out, the pain gets worse. “I’ve got you,” he murmured. “Sweetheart, I’ve got you.”
Bryce and Hunt kiss for the first time on page 567 after Hunt tells Bryce that they can get through this together.
“Get through it—together. Get through this mess of a life together. Through this mess of a world. Bryce sobbed, not entirely from pain this time. And Hunt, as if he sensed it, too, leaned forward again. Brushed his mouth against hers. Just a hint of a kiss—a feather-soft glancing of his lips over hers. A star bloomed inside her at that kiss. A long-slumbering light began to fill her chest, her veins.”
Hunt Gets The Living Death
As we touched on before, Hunt defended Bryce by attacking the Pack of Devils alpha, Amelie, and he gets punished for this in chapter 62.
Because he attacked a member of the wolf shifters, Sabine can ask for his punishment to be death. Micah orders Hunt to be given a living death, which for the Malakim means getting their wings cut off!
Bryce takes the bloody and injured Hunt back home after a medwitch has seen to his back where his wings were cut off. When Hunt wakes in the middle of the night, he finds that he is in Bryce’s room, lying next to her in her bed.
“Something deep in him shifted and settled. What she’d said and done today, what she’d revealed to the world in her pleading for him…It was dangerous. For both of them.”
Hunt fears that whatever is between them will end very badly, but he can’t bring himself to pull away from her.
Bryce And Hunt’s First Hook-Up
Okay, so the same day they finally kissed, Hunt got his wings chopped off so that put a little bit of a damper on their sexy times, but the first real hook-up scene between Bryce and Hunt is in chapter 64, the iconic couch scene…
If you have read this book, you know EXACTLY what I am talking about. This scene is imprinted in my mind just like Hunt’s blood on Bryce’s white couch.
So what got Bryce and Hunt so in the mood that they couldn’t wait a few more days for Hunt’s back to heal?
Well, big duh, verbal commitment to trying to have a future together! It’s what makes all the girls swoon.
After Bryce shows Hunt the video of the effects of synth she found from Danika, Hunt tells Bryce his plans: “to find the murderer and maybe the Horn, and to make sure there’s an afterward for you and me.”
Byrce goes googoogaga in the face and asks him what kinda “afterward” he has in mind for them.
She asks him if the kiss and what he said in the medwitch’s office was real, and when he tells her yes, she asks if he wants to kiss again. Bryce begins to tease Hunt until he can’t take it anymore.
“For f*ck’s sake, just kiss me, Quinlan.” She did. Dark Hel, she did. His words had barely finished sounding when she slid her hand over his jaw, around his neck, and hauled his lips to hers.”
This kiss leads to a little handsy moment, and the super awkward moment happens when Bryce realizes that the sound Hunt is making is not from pleasure but from pain!
The nasty open wounds on his back have re-opened and are free bleeding all over her white couch.
I die of embarrassment every time I read this chapter. From hot to NOT real quick.
Hunt Betrays Bryce
Bryce gets a message from Tharion that a synth deal is going down on the river, and she meets up with him to see who it is that is dealing synth.
However when she gets there and sees who is on the boat on the river, she is MIND BLOWN in chapter 66 because the people who are buying the synth are Hunt, Viktoria, and Justinian.
Bryce learns that Hunt and the others were planning on buying the synth to use it to overthrow the governors and continue the rebellion.
After Hunt saw the video of the synth user tearing themself to bloody ribbons, he tried to stop Viktoria and Justinian, but they were too deep in it.
The Viper Queen betrayed the three members of the 33rd, and as Bryce is trying to get to Hunt to rip him a new one, Micah arrives and arrests the three rogue members of the 33rd.
Bryce is heartbroken that Hunt knew about the synth for days and never told her, as well as that he had figured out what happened but used that information for his own gain and kept her out.
She leaves with Tharion and goes back to her apartment.
Sandriel Looks Through Hunt’s Phone Pictures
In chapter 69, we find Hunt in prison, and when Sandriel comes in, he asks her if she is going to kill him.
Unfortunately, she has something that, to Hunt, is much worse than death. She pulls out Hunt’s phone and begins to go through all the photos that he has taken of his new life with Bryce.
Sandriel pulls up his texts where he has a message from Bryce Thinks Hunt Is the Best: “I know you’re not going to see this. I don’t even know why I’m writing to you.”
She then starts going through all his pictures, and he is heartbroken over everything he has lost.
“He didn’t hear what Sandriel was saying. The photos had begun as an ongoing joke, but they’d become real. Enjoyable. There were more of the two of them. And more photos that Hunt had taken, too. Of food they’d eaten, interesting graffiti along the alleys, of clouds and things he normally never bothered to notice but had suddenly wanted to capture. And ones where he looked into the camera and smiled.”
Hunt realizes why he has been left alive, and it’s because his ownership has transferred to Sandriel, and she plans to torture him for a lifetime.
Bryce Tries To Take Hunt’s Place
In chapter 71, Bryce goes to the Commitium to try to buy Hunt’s freedom. She begins to beg for them not to take Hunt away, and then she pulls something from her pocket and says, “Then let me buy him from you.”
Sandriel starts laughing at Bryce about how much Hunt would cost, and Bryce says that she will pay ninety-seven million gold marks for him.
Hunt begins to panic about what kind of deal she must have made with Jesiba to get that much money. Sandriel still won’t agree to give up Hunt to Bryce. Bryce’s last resort, she begs Sandriel to take her in Hunt’s place. “Take me in his place.”
Hunt knows that Sandriel might take Bryce up on this because of how much it will hurt him, so he tries to hurt Byrce in a way that will make her give up on trying to save him.
“I owe you nothing, and you owe me nothing. Don’t ever come looking for me again.”
Bryce FOR SURE sees through this, though.
Hunt Learns About Bryce’s Powers
Hunt, along with the world, learns about Bryce’s starborn powers in chapter 87. Bryce had just called Hunt, thinking it would go to voicemail, but Ruhn made Sandriel let Hunt answer the phone.
After killing Micah and the whole chaos of Micah using the Horn (that is inked into Bryce’s back) to open a portal, she calls Hunt to tell him goodbye.
She was surprised when he picked up, and Hunt told her to keep going, and that help was on its way. She asks him to call her mom and her dad (Randall) and tell them her goodbyes.
“Hunt.” The entire world went quiet. “I was waiting for you.” “Bryce, sweetheart, just get back to your apartment and give me an hour and—” “No,” she whispered, closing her eyes. She put her hand on her chest. Over her heart. “I was waiting for you—in here.”
She forgives him for everything that went down with the synth and tells him that none of that matters to her anymore. Bryce runs to the gate and uses her starborn power to try to close the gates to Hel that Micah had opened.
“The ground slid out from under Hunt as the light between her hands, the star she’d drawn from her shattered heart, flared as bright as the sun.”
Hunt Saves Bryce’s Life
Bryce is just out here killing demons and slaying (in more ways than one) but also she is about to be blown away! By a BOMB! AAAHHH!
In chapter 90, a brimstone missile, to be more specific, was being sent from the capital.
“The brimstone hit, the entire city bouncing beneath its unholy impact. Black after block ruptured in a tidal wave of death. Wings splaying, lightning erupting, Hunt threw himself over Bryce as the world shattered.”
When Bryce comes to after the impact of the brimstone missile, she looks around her and sees grey ash falling around her. However, she realizes that it isn’t ash; it’s grey feathers.
“Bryce twisted to look behind herself. Her head emptied out. A scream broke from her, rising from so deep that she wondered if it was the sound of the world shredding apart. Hunt lay sprawled on the ground, his back bloodied, burned mess, and his legs…”
She screams for help, but there is no one around to help her…
“I believe it happened for a reason. I believe it all happened for a reason.”
Bryce Saves Hunt
Because Bryce is a girl BOSS, after Hunt saves her life, she saves his right back!!
In chapter 93, after Bryce solo takes the drop, she is talking to Danika (ghost version), and Danika is trying to convince Bryce to make the ascent and not die here alone.
Danika tells Bryce that Hunt is alive and that Bryce healed him with the firstlight when she took the drop. Without an anchor, Bryce survives the drop and wakes up to Hunt, giving her CPR.
“I heard what you said.” Pump, pump, pump went his powerful arms. “What you waited to admit until I was almost dead, you f*cking coward.” His lightning surged into her, sending her body arching off the ground as he tried to jump-start her heart. He snarled in her ear, “Now come say it to my face.”
“It was the answer to the ancient Prime’s word…Through love, all is possible.”
Bryce And Hunt Celebrate Saving The World By Getting It On
After Bryce wakes up from her drop in Hunt’s arms, she saves the whole city by closing the gates. Sweet!
They go back to their apartment and begin to FINALLY get it on after a whole SJM book with hardly any steamy scenes…
Well, in chapter 95, when it looks like they are finally going to seal the deal, Bryce gets a call from her mom, and the mood dies a little…
Right after she gets off the phone with her mom, Bryce gets a call from the Asteri, and they both threaten the couple and free Hunt from his slavery.
“We also trust that this favor will serve as a reminder for you and Hunt Athalar. It is our deepest wish that you remain in the city, and live out your days in peace and contentment. That you use your ancestors’ gift to bring yourself joy. And refrain from using the other gift inked upon you…Use your starlight as a party trick, and never, ever use the Horn.”
House of Earth and Blood ends with Bryce and Hunt together and happy and looking forward to the future that they now have ahead of them.
But this series is NOT done, so keep reading, babes!
Part 2: House of Sky and Breath
We find our couple at the beginning of the second book in the Crescent City series to be just about where we left them at the end of House of Earth and Blood.
Bryce and Hunt have agreed to get to know each other and take things slow until Winter Solstice.
Turns Out Bryce Is Engaged
In Chapter 4, we are introduced to Cormac Donnall, Ruhn and Bryce’s cousin and the Crown Prince of the Avallen Fae. He announces that through their parents’ arrangement, he and Bryce are now engaged to be married.
Kinda weird, kinda gross he wants to marry his cousin, but the Avallen Fae are not exactly progressive.
Bryce and Hunt are not exactly thrilled about this arrangement.
Later, we find out that Cormac has no desire to actually marry his cousin (thank goodness) but he needed a cover to come to Crescent City and to work for the rebellion group Ophion and look for Sofie Renast.
Bryce and Hunt, through Cormac and Sofie’s connection to Danika, end up also joining the rebellion.
Bryce And Hunt Decide To NOT Wait Till Winter Solstice
After learning about Emile Renast, Bryce has a heart for the lost boy and sees him as the child that he is, not as a powerful weapon to be used in this uprising war.
Bryce and Hunt also talk about what it could cost them if they join in the rebellion against the Asteri and their rule over Pangera in Chapter 17.
“A world without them, without the Archangels and the hierarchies…I’d like to see that world one day. But…But I don’t want to live in that world if the risk of creating it means…If it means that we might not make it to that world.”
Bryce tells Hunt she feels the same way and that while they are on a serious topic she also no longer wants to wait till the Winter Solstice to be intimate with each other.
“I’ve never stopped wanting it—wanting you. I thought it was obvious.”
Ithan Interrupts Bryce And Hunt Before They Can Go All The Way
In chapter 21, Hunt admits to Bryce that it has been a while for him. They tell each other about the last people they hooked up with, and let’s be so real, nothing gets people in the mood more than talking about sex.
They are concerned about Ithan hearing them through the walls, but that concern becomes less and less of a priority the more they talk.
I’m not gonna spell this out for you, so just go read the chapter!
BUT, Bryce makes Hunt feel veEeeEery good, and before they go all the way with each other, Ithan shouts from the other side of their apartment, “Please: have sex a little louder! I didn’t hear everything that time!”
Bryce and Hunt make a plan to get a sleazy motel to avoid the Ithan problem.
Hunt Tells Celestina How He Feels About Bryce
One of my favorite Hunt quotes from this book comes from chapter 22, after Celestina tells Hunt that she tried to buy him years ago to get him away from Sandriel and all that she did to torture Hunt.
“You don’t need to feel guilty, you know. About the shit that happened to me.” She angled her head. “Why?” He gave her a half smile. “If I’d gone to you in Nena, I never would have come here. To Lunathion.” His smile broadened as he walked out. “I never would have met Bryce.” And every horror, every nightmare…all of it had been worth it for her.”
Bryce and Hunt Get It On in the Gym
The whole sweaty workout thing is weird to me.
When Hunt takes her nasty stinky shoes off after a workout, I want to barf, and this chapter gives me the ick one hundred times over. Whatever, it’s a trope for a reason, so for all you workout hookup trope lovers, go read chapter 27.
They don’t go all the way just yet; that’s not till chapter 46!
Bryce Tells Hunt She Loves Him
Chapter 27 is a big moment for our love birds. In the throws of their epic gym hookup, Bryce says she loves him. Hunt doesn’t respond at the moment, but after he finishes doin’ his thing to her, he tells her he loves her too.
“He met her stare from between her thighs, panting against her bare skin, lightning in his eyes. “I love you, too, Quinlan.”
We learn from Hunt’s POV that no one other than his mom has ever told him that they love him, not even Shahar, and Bryce telling him means so much to him.
Bryce And Hunt Are Mates
Still in Chapter 27, Bryce and Hunt are trying to DTR, and Bryce feels a little silly calling Hunt her boyfriend.
Hunt asks about calling each other mates, and after they tell each other that they mean everything to one another and that calling each other mates means forever to the Fae, they decide that it’s the perfect way to define what they mean to each other.
“He kissed her temple, breathing in her scent. “Of everything I’ve ever been called, Quinlan, your mate will be the one I truly cherish.”
Bryce And Hunt Use Their Magic Together
The first time Hunt uses his lightning powers to charge up Bryce’s powers is in chapter 32.
Apollion had hinted that their powers would work together which leads Bryce to jump in front of Hunt’s lightning while they are trying to escape the Under King.
This charge-up power gives Bryce the ability to channel that power into the Starsword and kill the beasts the Under King sent to kill them. Bryce and Hunt escape, and now they have a new magic trick woo-hoo!
Hunt Is Forced To Stay At The Barracks
As a punishment for leaving Celestina the night of her mating with Ephraim to make sure Bryce is safe, Hunt is forced to stay in the Barracks for two weeks.
Celestina is pissed because he left her, and it looked bad politically because he left her for Fae royalty. But let’s be real, she’s just being petty!
Hunt is very salty about this because he wants to make some sexy moves on his girl, and now he is cockblocked by his boss. Isaiah gives him a hard time:
“I never thought I’d see the day when the Umbra Mortis came crying to me about a relatively light punishment because it interferes with his sex life.”
Though he can’t sleep next to Bryce, they still manage to find a way to have some fun over the phone in the same chapter…
Bryce And Hunt Meet The Rebels
Bryce, Hunt, and the rest of their crew of new rebels travel to the Coronal Islands to meet with Pippa to talk her out of using her mech suits on the Vanir in chapter 43.
All parties want information about Emile, and Hunt realizes that Bryce knows something she isn’t telling him when she talks with Pippa about the boy.
After Hunt witnesses the new mech suits that have the power of the Gorsian stones and Pippa murder a bunch of Vanir (just for being Vanir), Hunt goes crazay mad and destroys the suit and all the trucks in the area.
Hunt, Ruhn, Therion, and Cormac all run from the sea cave where the rebel’s base is set up and steal a boat to get away after Hunt blew up all their crap.
Bryce tells Cormac that she is done with the rebellion and that she’s out after this.
Hunt is relieved when Bryce says that she doesn’t want to participate in the rebellion because he just wants them to be safe and alive and together.
On the cliffs surrounding them, Hunt sees Baxion trying to warn him that the Hind is close behind them. The Hind appears right after this on a different boat and begins to chase them down.
Their identity hasn’t been compromised by the Hind yet, but this doesn’t last long. After a torpedo from the Hinds speedboat hits their boat, they are sent into the water.
The Hind uses a wave skimmer to approach Bryce, Hunt, and the others. Hunt’s power grows and brews, getting close to him losing control (which would be bad because, ya know, lightning and water don’t really mix).
Just as Bryce goes to blind the Hind, a ship appears right under their feet, and they all escape into the Death Charger, a ship owned by the Court of the Ocean Queen.
Ruhn Learns That Bryce And Hunt Are Mates
As they meet the Ocean Court in chapter 44 and are finally safe, Hunt still is all lightning god alpha charged aggro boy, and Ruhn becomes aware that his “primal” need to keep Bryce safe is because they are MATES!
“Ruhn glared at her as Hunt continued to glow and menace. It means that he’s going ballistic in the way that only mates can when the other is threatened. It’s what happened then, and what’s happening now. You’re true mates—the way Fae are mates, in your bodies and souls. That’s what was different about your scent the other day. Your scents have merged.”
Turns out there is only one way to calm down your mate when they have gone into psycho-powerful protector mode, and that is to make sweet, sweet love.
Bryce And Hunt Sleep Together
Bryce and Hunt sleep together for the first time in chapter 46.
After the near-death escape from Pippa and the Hind, Bryce and Hunt find themselves on the Death Charger, an Ocean Court submersible, and Hunt is still in full-on lightning protector mode.
His one and only thought is to keep Bryce from harm, and Bryce snaps him out of this by taking all her clothes off in the biodome of the ship, where they seal the deal.
In the big yippie moment, Bryce teleports them into the airlock!
Hunt Learns What Bryce Knows About Emile
Hunt first becomes suspicious of Bryce’s knowledge about Emile in chapter 43. Once they arrive back in Lunathion and in their apartment in chapter 48, Hunt confronts Bryce about what she is keeping from him.
Hunt is mad when Bryce tells him that she hired the Viper Queen to find Emile and that this whole time, Emile has been in the meat market. She has also been working with Fury, which makes him mad to have not been in the know.
However, once Bryce tells Hunt that Emile has no powers, he sees that she didn’t save him as a power move like Shahar would have, but just because he is a kid. His heart is softened, and he loves her so much for who she is.
Bryce has it all worked out for Emile to be adopted by her Mom and stepdad, Randel. Bryce and Hunt kiss and makeup, and all is good in the world of our love bugs…for now…
Hunt Is A Prince!
In chapter 57, Hunt learns that the Autumn King has declared Bryce a Princess and a Danaan, making Hunt her mate, a Fae Prince.
Hunt isn’t thrilled about this, but he is more concerned about how upset Bryce is.
Because Bryce used her Princess status for a few favors, it gave the Autumn King the opportunity to force this on her, and she is heartbroken that she is now stuck with him and under his rule.
She is also freaked out because the Autumn King can marry her off to Cormac without needing her consent. Bryce comes up with a crazy plan to go over the Autumn King’s head and seal her relationship with Hunt for good.
Bryce and Hunt arrive at the Equinox party hosted by Celestina and Ephraim, and the Asteri are also present via Zoom or some video chat bs.
When Bryce is congratulated on her relationship, she pulls quite a zinger and thanks them about her and HUNT, not Cormac.
“Prince Hunt and I plan to be quite happy…Hunt and I are mates.” A charming, brilliant smile. “That makes him a prince. Prince Cormac was good enough to escort me tonight, as we have become good friends.”
Now that Hunt has been declared as her mate in front of an archangel and the Asteri, the deal is sealed, and he is now the Prince to her Princess.
Bryce And Hunt Escape Pippa And The Under King And A Whole Lotta Other People
In chapter 64, Bryce, Ruhn, Hypoxia, and Hunt go to meet the Under King at the Temple.
Here, he tells them that the Asteri actually sent the reapers that attacked them earlier, and then Pippa and the rebels show up, and the Under King is all, hehe, I’m gonna eat your soul!
Bryce and Hunt use their teamwork magic, where he charges her up with lightning, and she uses magic to teleport the other out until it is just her and Hunt.
Bryce used the gates (when she teleported out) to send out a message about the rebels, so now the Hind and the Hammer and all the other H-nick-named baddies are there, too!
Baxian shows up to bail them out again, and Bryce becomes hella suspicious and pulls a gun on him. Then Baxian tells Hunt and Bryce that Danika was his mate…
Bryce is shocked by this revelation and hurt because Danika has kept so much from her.
Baxian gives her the whole he-and-Dankia lowdown, and then she asks him about Sofie Renast and the numbers that were carved into her arm. Baxian knows exactly what it is because he gave that number to Dankia.
It turns out to be numbering runes that are only used is the Asteri archives…and that leads us to Bryce and Hunt’s next big discovery!
When they are talking about their plans to leave for the Crystal Palace, Bryce tries to tell Hunt he should stay behind, but Hunt is having none of it!
“It’d be safer not to go at all, but here we are, going,” “I want a future with you. That’s why I’m going. I’m going to fight for that future.”
Bryce And Hunt Get Imprisoned By The Asteri
After Bryce has learned the truth about the Asteri, Bryce, Hunt, and Ruhn are captured by the Harpy and Mordoc and put into the prisons of the Crystal Palace.
Hunt wants to get Bryce free because of the information that she knows, along with wanting her to be safe.
After the Hind reveals herself to be agent Daybright and kills the Harpy, our three heroes are taken to the the throne room and are met by Rigelus.
In chapter 76, Rigelus hits them with one zinger after another!
We learn that the Asteri are feeding off the first light from the Vanir of Midgard and that they use Midgard planets to funnel all sorts of powerful beings (Vanir) to feed off of forever.
Also, the Asteri have defeated all sorts of other planets and eaten all their people. Rigelus now tells them that Celestina is the one who snitched about Bryce and Hunt lying about visiting Bryce’s parents and Hunt leaving the 33rd armed to the teeth.
The Asteri lured Bryce to the Eternal City to use her starborn powers combined with Luna’s Horn on her back to go back to that world to seek revenge on the Fae that they deem responsible for the death of their fallen brothers and sisters.
Bryce bargains to save her mate and her brother. She agrees to open a gate for Rigelus if he lets them go unharmed. Rigelus agrees to this and lets her say goodbye to her brother and her mate.
“Bryce turned to Hunt, and the terror and pain and grief on her gore-splattered face threatened to bring him to his knees...“I love you. I wish I’d said it more. But I love you, Quinlan, and…” His throat closed up, his eyes stinging. His lips brushed her brow. “Our love is stronger than time, greater than any distance. Our love spans across stars and worlds. I will find you again. I promise.”
What Did Hunt Whisper In Bryce’s Ear?
Hunt whispered to Bryce a getaway plan! Next!
What Happens To Bryce And Hunt At The End Of House of Sky and Breath
Bryce escapes through the gate to try to go to Hel to team up with Aidas to take down the Asteri but actually ends up in Prythian. She meets the Night Court inner circle
Hunt is taken to the dungeons of the Eternal City and thinks that he will be killed before Bryce is able to team up with the princes of Hel and save their world from the Asteri.
Rigelus uses his Asteri power to tattoo a halo on Hunt as he screams.
Part 3: House of Flame and Shadow
We pick up the story basically right where we left off in House of Sky and Breath.
Bryce uses the gate to travel to what she thought was going to be Hel, but it turns out to be Prythian. Hunt is imprisoned in the Crystal Palace, tortured, and all that jazz.
Also, if you thought Bryce and Hunt did not have that much chemistry in the last book, well, sorry to disappoint, but it really doesn’t get much better in this one…
Hunt Gets Tortured
In Chapter 4, we get a nice introduction to Hunt’s torture. The only thing getting him through is the idea of Bryce.
“But inside him, beyond that sea of pain and despair, Bryce was the entirety of his world: his mate, his wife, his princess.”
He thinks of Bryce and it’s the only thing keeping him together.
Hunt Learns Bryce Isn’t In Hel
In chapter 8, Hunt is still imprisoned. The shadows that have been watching him turn out to be Apollion and Aidas, the Princes of the Pit. Hunt asks if Bryce is with him but Apollion tells him that she is not and is confused as to why she would be.
Hunt tells them that she went to find them, and the brothers have a suspicion as to where she went but wont tell Hunt in case Rigelus tortures it out of him.
Before they leave, they tell Hunt that they have been watching him to make sure he is able to accomplish the task that his father brought him into existence for. Hunt is mad confused cause he has no dad…that he knows of at least!
Bryce And Hunt Are Reunited
Bryce returns to Midgard in chapter 29, traveling between worlds and living in the villa of the Autumn King.
She pulls some real shenanigans there and learns from her dad that when the Star Sword and Truth-Teller are put together, they can create a portal to “Nowhere”. She then teleports to Hunt at the end of the chapter 39!
“And for Bryce, home was–and always would be–Hunt.”
It isn’t until the ending of chapter 40 that we see Bryce appear on The Depth Charger where the rest of our characters have escaped to after they broke out of the prison of the Crystal Palace.
Bryce comes in at the perfect moment to save Therion from the Ocean Queen, claiming that he serves her and claiming her Queendom of the Valbaran Fae.
Bryce is broken-hearted to see the new halo inked on Hunt’s brow, and Hunt is in shock to see her again out of Nowhere, still sporting her hot pink sneakers.
Bryce tells them that she traveled to the original world of the fae and about the parasite that the Asteri have put in the water of Midgard, keeping all of their powers restrained as well as forcing them to give up first light when they take the drop.
Bryce also tells the Ocean Queen and her friends that Hel will aid them in the war, and that Hel has been trying to rid the world of the Asteri for centuries.
The Ocean Queen recommends that they evacuate who they can to the old world of the fae, but Bryce is against that idea and doesn’t want to leave anyone behind.
Once the Ocean Queen leaves, they can all finally drop their guard, and Bryce starts thinking about sleeping with Hunt and has an SJM classic toe curl in her nasty sneakers.
Bryce And Hunt Start Fighting
Bryce and Hunt begin having some communication issues in chapter 42 after Bryce learns about all that the Midgard crew has gone through.
Hunt apologizes for not trying harder to stop her from getting them all into this whole mess, and Bryce is caught off guard. She tells him that she is sorry for the pain and the suffering, but not for fighting for what is right.
In chapter 50, they make their way to Avallan and and go to the archives. At this point, Bryce feels like it’s the perfect time to have a public fight in front of their friends.
“Bryce added to him, unable to help herself. ‘You don’t need to feel guilty about that one, you know.’ He glared at her, and the others made themselves scarce. ‘What does that mean?’ Hunt asked quietly. It wasn’t the time or place, but Bryce said, ‘I can’t get a read on you. Like, if you even want to be here or not.’”
They get into the weight of their choices and their own guilt and such and it is very awkward.
Bryce And Hunt Have Makeup Sex!
Later that day in the same chapter, Bryce apologizes for pushing Hunt too far and tells him that no one is holding him responsible for any deaths from this conflict or from his rebellion with Shahar.
Then they start making out and making loveeeeee.
Bryce And Hunt Are STILL Fighting
Oh, did you think Bryce and Hunt were made up? Psch!
They are still pissy with each other in chapter 56. Team Caves has fallen in the water, and Hunt snaps at Bryce, and she snaps back.
Bryce calls him out about his guilt and anger and says that he still seems like he doesn’t even want to be here. Hunt tells her that he has her back, but she says that it’s not enough.
They find themselves in Prince Pelias’s tomb, where they find a secret staircase underneath the sarcophagus that Helana had built. In the room under the tomb, they find an eight-pointed star and a steam, pitcher, and bowl.
Bryce realized that the caves are made of black salt and deduced that Helana built the room to communicate with Hel. The water in the stream is laced with the black salt, and by drinking it the drinker can communicate with Hel in their minds.
Bryce tries to drink from the drinking bowl but Hunt stops her.
“’Do not drink from that–’ ‘This is not the time to go Alphahole!’ ‘ –without me,’ he finished. Bryce could only gape at her mate as he grabbed the drinking bowl and held it out to her. Ready to follow her into Hel.”
Hunt Learns About His Dad
In Hel, Bryce and Hunt learn many things, one of them being that he is a son of Hel! The demon princes told them that they created Hunt to “power up” a world walker to help finish Theia’s plan to take down the Asteri.
We learn that the princes of Hel also made the Thunderbirds, but they were hunted into extension.
His actual dad was Hyrieus, an angel scientist who was studying the Thunderbirds when Hel reached out and was like “heyyyy if you make a baby while we possess you, you can help create a weapon baby who can take down the Asteri!”
His mom never knew and his dad never told the Asteri of the pregnancy when he was captured by the Asteri and killed.
Bryce also learns that she ended up in the ACOTAR world because like calls to like, and the Star Sword was drawn to the Truth-Teller.
She also learns that Theia split her power into thirds between herself and her two daughters, Silene and Helana (and that she now has two-thirds of the power, one from Silene from her travels to the old fae world, and she already had Helana’s).
Bryce needs to find the last part of Theia’s power (which Helana hid) and then she can use the Star Sword and dagger to try and destroy the Asteri.
In Chapter 64, after Bryce has not only gotten the final piece of Theia’s power and became Queen of all the fae of Midgard (after Ruhn kills their dad and she chops Morven’s head off), her and Hunt finally start to talk out their garbage.
Hunt tells Bryce that she’s afraid of her being taken by the Asteri. She tells him that if he needs to talk, she’s there for him, but she needs ALL of him.
“I can’t do this without you. All of you.”
“He would try to put his fear behind him. For her, for Midgard.”
Just Hunt
Sarah J. Mass seemed to want her own version of “maybe okay will be our always” with the “Just Hunt”, “Just Bryce” route, which she went with.
In chapter 79, Bryce and Hunt travel to the Northern Rift, where she opens a portal to the House of Wind. She convinces Nesta to give her the Mask and leave her parents in the ACOTAR world as collateral.
After the portal is closed, they are met by the zombie version of the Harpy, and Bryce puts on the Mask and destroys the Harpy.
Naomi, Isaiah, and Celestina have arrived at the Northern Rift, and Hunt is PISSED and wants to kill Celestina.
Celestina says that she regrets what she did when she betrayed Hunt and Bryce to the Asteri, but when she learns that Bryce wants to open the Northern Rift and let Hel in, she fights Bryce and tries to stop her.
Bryce Talks Hunt Out Of Killing Celestina.
“’You said you’re with me–all of you,’ Bryce murmured, staring at him and only him. ‘Put the past behind you. Focus on what’s ahead. We have a world to save, and I need my mate at my side to do it. No one else– not a son of Hel, not the Umbra Mortis, not even Hunt fucking Athalar. I need my mate. Just Hunt.’ He saw it all in her eyes–that no matter what had happened, who he’d been, and what he’d done…it really didn’t matter to her. Being made in Hel didn’t matter to her. But she’d captured who he was, deep down, in those photos last spring. The person she’d brought into the world. The person she loved, Just Hunt.”
“I love you, Just Bryce.”
So, their BS is behind them, and they are in love, blah blah blah!
Now, it’s time to open the Northern Rift and welcome Hel into Midgard! Bryce’s plan is to use the Mask to have the souls of the fallen from the last rebellion go into the mech-suits. Along with Hel, they will take down the Asteri.
Bryce And Hunt Get It On Before Their Final Battle
Twas the night before their final stand against the Asteri, and Bryce and Hunt need one last bang in case they don’t live to bang again! Go read it in chapter 85, but it’s not very steamy. Sorry!
Bryce And Hunt Head To The Crystal Palace
Before they leave for the Crystal Palace and set their plan in motion, Bryce leaves the group with a real zinger!
“’I remember,’ Bryce said quietly–just to him, even with the others listening. ‘Every movement of Micah’s sword when he cut off your wings. How there was nothing we could do to stop him–stop them. I remember how they sold you back to Sandriel, and that time, too, there was nothing we could do to stop them. I remember every fucking moment of it, Hunt.’ Her eyes glimmered with pure rage and focus. ‘But today we finally fucking stop them…Through love, all is possible.’”
Bryce Sacrifices Herself To Take Down The Asteri
In chapter 98, Bryce has created a portal to Nowhere to take Rigelus (the last standing Asteri) down.
She lets him drag her with him to rid the world of the Asteri. The princes of Hel tell Hunt that she is too far gone and that if he follows her, he will die with her.
One of the mech-suits holds its hand out to him and he knows that the fallen who has possessed the suit is Shahar. He climbs into the suit, thanks Shahar, and follows his mate into the portal.
The fallen are able to give the final blow to Rigelus in Nowhere. Bryce appears to be dead but Hunt grabs her. With the help of Adias and Apollion holding the portal open, he is able to bring Bryce back to Midgard.
All their friends surround Bryce, but she is for sure dead…but, it is a SJM book so of course, there is a loophole to avoid a main character’s death!
This time the loophole is named Jesiba, and she trades her life for Bryce’s (and leaves her all of her books while she’s at it).
“So Bryce turned from Jesiba. From what awaited them, all of them, and walked back toward the archway. Toward life. Toward Hunt.”
Bryce And Hunt, Happily Ever After!
Bryce and Hunt’s story ends with Bryce taking down the fae government system and Hunt making Isaiah the leader of the angels.
Though there is a lot to figure out about going forward without the first light and curing the parasite and such, Bryce and Hunt are together and happy!
“And the Asteri were gone, and the dead were free…and though she knew there was work to do to heal Midgard, the world was out there. Life was out there. So Bryce and Hunt ran out to live it. Together.”
What’s Next For Bryce And Hunt?
This does seem to be the end to the Crescent City series that follows Bryce and Hunt as the main characters, but I would be surprised if this is the last we see of them.
It felt like there was a set up for a new series in the same world, and my guess would be that Bryce and Hunt would be background characters or have some cameos in future books, much like Rhysand and Feyre in House of Silver Flames.
I was all about Bryce and Hunt in House of Earth and Blood, but there was something about House of Sky and Breath where Hunt and Bryce’s relationship goals just didn’t hit right for me. And they did even less for me in House of Flame and Shadow!
Their relationship problems and miscommunications felt very out of character for them and I kept forgetting that they were literally married in this book.
They had such little chemistry and I was really hoping for a plot twist or some Bryce and Azriel action…
Anyways, what are your favorite Bryce and Hunt scenes? Comment below!
Happy reading!
-Paisley
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