Somehow, Athalar only looked better soaked with rain, his shirt clinging to every hard, sculpted muscle. Bryce was all too aware, as she extended a hand, of how her hair now lay flat on her head thanks to the rain, of the makeup that had probably smeared down her face.

Viktoria took Bryce’s hand, her grip firm but friendly, and smiled. Winked.

Hunt grumbled, “She does that flirty smile with everyone, so don’t bother being flattered.”

Bryce settled into one of the twin black leather seats on the other side of the desk, batting her eyelashes at Hunt. “Does she do it for you, too?”

Viktoria barked a laugh, the sound rich and lovely. “You earned that one, Athalar.”

Hunt scowled, dropping into another chair—one with the back cut low, Bryce realized, to accommodate anyone with wings.

“Isaiah said you found something,” Hunt said, crossing an ankle over a knee.

“Yes, though not quite what you requested.” Viktoria came around the desk and handed a file to Bryce. Hunt leaned in to peer over her shoulder. His wing brushed against the back of Bryce’s head, but he didn’t remove it.

Bryce squinted at the grainy photo, the sole clawed foot in the lower right corner. “Is that—”

“Spotted in Moonwood just last night. I was tracking temperature fluctuations around the main avenues like you said, and noticed a dip—just for two seconds.”

“A summoning,” Hunt said.

“Yes,” Viktoria said. “The camera only got this tiny image of the foot—it mostly stayed out of sight. But it was just off a main avenue, like you suspected. We have a few more grainy captures from other locations last night, but those show it even less—a talon, rather than this entire foot.”

The photo was blurry, but there it was—those shredding claws she’d never forget.

It was an effort not to touch her leg. To remember the clear teeth that had ripped into it.

Both of them looked to her. Waiting. Bryce managed to say, “That’s a kristallos demon.”

Hunt’s wing spread a little farther around her, but he said nothing.

“I couldn’t find temperature fluctuations from the night of every murder,” Vik said, face turning grim. “But I did find one from when Maximus Tertian died. Ten minutes and two blocks away from him. No video footage, but it was the same seventy-seven-degree dip, made in the span of two seconds.”

“Did it attack anyone last night?” Bryce’s voice had turned a bit distant—even to her ears.

“No,” Viktoria said. “Not as far as we know.”

Hunt kept studying the image. “Did the kristallos go anywhere specific?”