#hoeab edit

↳ Hypaxia met his stare again and smiled slightly. An invitation and challenge. Her magic shimmered through him, over his forehead. Sandriel had informed the Asteri-so they'd kill Bryce. His Bryce. Hunt’s attention narrowed on the back of Sandriel's neck. And he rose to his feet as Hypaxia's magic dissolved the halo from his brow

Flynn: Declan and Flynn do it again.

Bryce: You didn’t do anything, it was all Dec.

↳ The male’s head broke the water, and his taloned hands brushed back his jaw-length auburn hair as he flashed Hunt a grin. “Long time no see.”

Hunt smiled at the mer male treading water. “Glad you weren’t too busy with your fancy new title to say hello.”

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Bryce's face crumpled as she lurched to her feet, sprinting to the Gate. She didn't care how it was possible as Danika said again, "Light it up"

Then Bryce was laughing and sobbing as she screamed, "LIGHT IT UP, DANIKA! LIGHT IT UP, LIGHT IT UP, LIGHT IT UP!"

Bryce slammed her palm onto the bronze disk of the Gate. And soul to soul with the friend whom she had not forgotten, the friend who had not forgotten her, even in death, Bryce made the Drop.

↳ Danika grabbed her hand again. “That’s the point of it, Bryce. Of life. To live, to love, knowing that it might all vanish tomorrow. It makes everything that much more precious.” She took Bryce’s face in her hands and pressed their brows together.

↳“No,” she whispered, closing her eyes. She put her hand on her chest. Over her heart. “I was waiting for you—in here.” Hunt couldn’t stop his own tears then. “I was waiting for you, too.” She smiled, even as she sobbed again.

↳ Danaan’s blue eyes simmered like the heart of a flame—though Ruhn himself bore no such magic. Fire magic was common among the Valbaran Fae, wielded by the Autumn King himself. But rumor claimed Ruhn’s magic was more like those of his kin who ruled the sacred Fae isle of Avallen across the sea: power to summon shadows or mist that could not only veil the physical world, but the mind as well. Perhaps even telepathy.