“You’ve been right there, taking everything with me, you—”

“Synth is synthetic magic, Bryce. To replace real magic. Of which you have none. It gives humans Vanir powers and strength for like an hour. And then it can seriously fuck you up. Make you addicted and worse. For the Vanir, it’s even riskier—a crazy high and superstrength, but it can easily turn bad. Danika didn’t want you even knowing something like that existed.”

“As if I’m so desperate to be like you big, tough Vanir that I’d take something—”

“Her goal was to protect you. Always. Even from yourself.”

The words struck like a slap to the face. Bryce’s throat closed up.

Fury blew out a breath. “Look, I know that came out harsh. But take my word for it: don’t mess with synth. If they’ve actually managed to mass-produce the stuff outside of an official lab and make it in even stronger concentrations, then it’s bad news. Stay away from it, and anyone who deals in it.”

Bryce’s hands shook, but she managed to say “All right” without sounding like she was one breath away from crying.

“Look, I gotta go,” Fury said. “I’ve got something to do tonight. But I’ll be back in Lunathion in a few days. I’m wanted at the Summit in two weeks—it’s at some compound a few hours outside the city.”

Bryce didn’t ask why Fury Axtar would attend a Summit of various Valbaran leaders. She didn’t really care that Fury would be coming back at all.

“Maybe we can grab a meal,” Fury said.

“Sure.”

“Bryce.” Her name was both a reprimand and an apology. Fury sighed. “I’ll see you.”

Her throat burned, but she hung up. Took a few long breaths. Fury could go to Hel.

Bryce waited to call her brother until she’d plunked her ass down on the couch, opened her laptop, and pulled up the search engine. He answered on the second ring. “Yeah?”

“I want you to spare me the lectures and the warnings and all that shit, okay?”

Ruhn paused. “Okay.”

She put the call on speaker and leaned her forearms on her knees, the cursor hanging over the search bar.

Ruhn asked, “What’s going on with you and Athalar?”

“Nothing,” Bryce said, rubbing her eyes. “He’s not my type.”

“I was asking about why he’s not on the call, not whether you’re dating, but that’s good to know.”

She gritted her teeth and typed synthetic magic in the search bar. As the results filtered in, she said, “Athalar is off making those muscles of his even nicer.” Ruhn huffed a laugh.