House of Earth and Blood characters

Appears from the start

A twenty-three-year-old half-human, half-Fae woman living in Crescent City, where she works as an assistant at Griffin Antiquities, a gallery dealing in rare and dangerous artifacts. Sharp-tongued, sociable, and devoted to her small circle of friends, she spends her nights in the city's clubs and her days cataloguing objects most people never see. Her Fae father never claimed her; she was raised by her human mother, Ember, and her human stepfather, Randall, and she uses her mother's name deliberately. Beyond Fae speed and quick healing she has no magic worth speaking of, and full-blooded Fae are quick to remind her of it.

Appears from the start

Alpha of the Pack of Devils and heir to the Prime of the wolf shifters, and Bryce's closest friend and roommate. Reckless, funny, and fiercely protective, she leads her pack through the Aux, the city's civilian auxiliary force, and takes private security work on the side. In the weeks before the book opens she has been strained and secretive about a job she will not discuss, and she talks Bryce into having a long line of old Fae script tattooed down her spine.

First appears in chapter 2

Danika's Second in the Pack of Devils, a wolf shifter who has been openly and patiently interested in Bryce for years. Steadier than the rest of the pack, he finally persuades her to agree to a real date rather than another night out with the group.

Appears from the start

A sorceress and Bryce's employer, owner of Griffin Antiquities, where she trades in artifacts and books too dangerous for open sale. Once a witch, she now belongs to the House of Flame and Shadow, and she is rumored to turn people who displease her into animals. She is exacting, unsentimental, and rarely explains herself.

Also known as the Umbra Mortis, the Shadow of Death

First appears in chapter 9

A malakh, or angel, known across Midgard as the Umbra Mortis. Two centuries ago he fought in a failed rebellion against the Archangels and was captured; since then he has been enslaved, his brow marked with the halo tattoo that binds most of his power and his forearm bearing the mark of whichever Archangel currently owns him. He works off an enormous debt of assassinations for Micah Domitus, Governor of Valbara, and is offered a chance at freedom if he can find the killer Bryce is hunting. Grim, exhausted, and slow to trust, he is assigned to her as much to watch her as to work with her.

First appears in chapter 9

The Archangel who governs Valbara from the Comitium towers in Crescent City, answerable only to the Asteri who rule Midgard. Immaculate, unhurried, and absolute, he owns Hunt Athalar outright and treats the city's other leaders as subordinates. He takes a personal interest in the killings and puts Bryce and Hunt on them together.

First appears in chapter 9

A fire sprite the size of a doll who lives in the climate-controlled library beneath Griffin Antiquities, where she minds the collection and keeps Bryce company. She is indentured to Jesiba, watches soap operas obsessively, and is romantic, talkative, and frightened of nearly everything outside her library.

First appears in chapter 12

Crown Prince of the Valbaran Fae and Bryce's half-brother, son of the Autumn King. He keeps company with two Fae lords' sons, wears his hair long enough to irritate his father, and bears Gwydion, the Starsword, an ancient blade of the Starborn line that only he can wield. His gift is mind-to-mind speech. He and Bryce have been estranged for years after a confrontation neither has forgiven, and the murders push him back into her life.

First appears in chapter 12

Danika's mother and Prime Apparent of the wolf shifters, waiting to inherit leadership from her aged father. Cold and openly contemptuous of Bryce, she blames her for her daughter's death and has spent two years making that clear.

First appears in chapter 12

Commander of the 33rd Imperial Legion in Crescent City and, like Hunt, a survivor of the failed angelic rebellion who has spent two centuries in an Archangel's service. Polished and diplomatic where Hunt is blunt, he is Hunt's oldest friend and the one holding their unit together.

First appears in chapter 20

Connor's younger brother, a wolf shifter and a star player on a university sunball team. He and Bryce were close before the massacre took his brother and the rest of the pack, and the loss has left the two of them unable to face each other.

First appears in chapter 20

The Fae King of Valbara, Ruhn's father and Bryce's biological father, who has never publicly acknowledged her. Ancient, precise, and interested in his children mainly as instruments, he keeps a private laboratory and a very long memory, and he wants to know exactly what Bryce has been asked to investigate.

First appears in chapter 25

A human assassin for hire and one of the friends Bryce ran with before Danika's death, with a reputation on two continents and a habit of appearing without warning. She has resources and contacts the investigation badly needs, and a long, complicated history with Bryce's other friends.

First appears in chapter 25

A faun and a principal dancer with Crescent City's ballet company, another of Bryce's old circle. Warm and disciplined where Bryce is chaotic, she was hurt by Bryce's withdrawal after the murders.

First appears in chapter 30

A mer male who serves as Captain of Intelligence for the River Queen, whose court lies beneath the Istros. Easygoing and quick with a joke, he handles anything that surfaces in the river, which makes him useful to Bryce and Hunt as bodies begin turning up.

First appears in chapter 60

The newly crowned Witch-Queen of Valbara, young and quiet, recently succeeded to a throne her mother held for centuries. Trained as a healer, she keeps to herself among the region's louder leaders and is watched closely by those who expected an easier queen.

First appears in chapter 60

One of the seven Princes of Hel, master of the Chasm, who spoke to Bryce once when she was a small child and has taken an unexplained interest in her since. He is courteous, amused, and unwilling to say plainly what he wants from her.

First appears in chapter 70

Archangel and Governor of a swathe of Pangera, and the twin sister of Shahar, the Archangel Hunt loved and followed into rebellion. She is notorious for what she does to those she owns, keeps the empire's cruelest soldiers in her personal guard, and arrives in Crescent City for the Summit with an obvious interest in acquiring the Umbra Mortis.