Page 11 of Thorns & Fire
‘Untamed sovereign magic has always been a threat to the common folk of the midrealms’
– The Midrealms Chronicles
‘WHAT DID YOUsay?’
The words rang through Wren – a surreal ripple, tying her to another place.For a moment, she was not aboard theSea Serpent’s Destinyon her way to Delmira, but somewhere else entirely.The scent of black cedar and oakmoss surrounded her, consuming her senses, and she could feel the echo of a familiar spark in her chest.
‘When I’m nothing but ash among the embers, I’ll still be yours...’
It hit her like a bolt of lightning to the heart: the rush of his impassioned words against her skin, the slide of him deep inside her, that piercing storm-blue gaze that saw right into her soul—
‘Wren?’Thea nudged her.‘What did you say?’
Wren blinked, coming back to herself as the crisp, briny sea air swept away any trace of what she thought she’d smelled in the wind.‘I...I was saying that for the first time since we discovered our heritage, we’re...’
‘Together?Going home?’Thea finished for her.
Home.It should have stirred something within her – excitement, relief, perhaps a piece of some long-forgotten puzzle falling into place.Instead, it left an ache in her chest, a void she couldn’t name.
Thezmarr.Delmira.Drevenor.Each place had meant something to her.
But none of them had ever beenhome.
For a whisper of time, home had smelled of black cedar and oakmoss, had tasted of dark promises and desire...had sounded like a husky laugh dancing along her skin.
‘It’s bittersweet, isn’t it?’Thea asked, leaning on the weathered railing beside her, and for a moment Wren thought her sister had read her mind.But Thea sighed.‘The last time we travelled together, Anya was with us.’
Wren stared at the waves on the horizon.‘She was.’
‘We don’t talk much about her,’ her sister observed.
‘It hurts to talk about her.About Sam and Ida, too.’Wren picked at the skin around her nails, bracing herself against the rush of grief flooding her chest.
‘I miss them,’ Thea said.
‘Me too.Every day.It feels so unfair that we lost them.And Anya...We had only just got her back.We were only just getting to know her.’
‘I know.’Thea reached out and stilled Wren’s fingers.‘But it’s not just them you’re sad about.’
‘I don’t—’
‘Want to talk about it, I know.But you can listen,’ Thea snapped.‘I’ve tried to give you your space.I’ve tried to ask how you are.I’ve triedeverythingI can think of, and I still don’t understand what happened between you and Torj.’
‘That makes two of us, then,’ Wren muttered, wincing at the sound of his name.
‘Then why in the name of the Furies aren’t you figuring it out?’Thea cried.‘For someone whose head is always buried in a bookand questioning everything, you’ve left this mystery unsolved.Why?’
Wren bit her lip hard to stop it from quivering.She had practically begged him to stay.She’d told him that shelovedhim.She would not cry, not over him.Not any more.
‘Because it’s not a fucking mystery, Thee.He ended things—’
‘Butwhy?That man ishead over heelsin love with you.Has been for years, Wren.’Thea threw her hands up, clearly exasperated.‘We found something while you were in the Gauntlet.’
Wren’s narrowed gaze slid to her sister.‘What do you mean, “found something”?’
Thea sighed.‘A book.Wilder and I don’t know what it meant exactly, but it meantsomething.’
‘What book?’Wren demanded.
