Page 125 of Thorns & Fire
The nape of Wren’s neck prickled.
She looked up, expecting to see someone watching her, but Dessa and Thea were immersed in their game.
Turning back to her workbench with a frown, Wren checked the crucible she had over a small burner.The concoction within was simmering, just as it should—
A shiver raked down Wren’s spine and she startled, whirling around.
Dessa was laughing gleefully at the hand she had just played, but Thea, with her warrior instincts, had noticed and was looking around suspiciously.
‘What is it?’she asked, getting up to check the doors.
‘I...I just had a strange feeling,’ Wren murmured.Her fingers tightened around the vial she held, her earlier ease evaporating.The prickling at her nape intensified, spreading across her shoulders and arms.She shifted at her bench, eyes darting around the room, searching for the source of her disquiet.
‘Strange how?’Thea pressed, her eyes bright with concern.
‘I...’Wren’s voice trailed off as a new sensation overtook her.A faint golden glow began to emanate from her skin, visible only in the shadows cast by her sleeves.She clenched her fist, trying to quell the light, but it pulsed stronger, in time with her quickening heartbeat.
‘What are you doing, Wren?’Thea asked.
Wren glanced from the gilded glow across her skin to her sister.Thea’s blank expression told Wren that she couldn’t see it, which made Wren wonder if she was finally losing her mind...
A golden thread.That was the description of a soul bond manifesting.But...Torj had destroyed it.He had told her himself.And she hadfelt it– every agonizing second of it – when he had.
Still, the magic crept across her body, tugging something inside her, something familiar.Wren opened her mouth to respond to Thea, but instead, a gasp escaped her lips as a vision flashed before her eyes.
Dark stone walls.The acrid scent of chemicals.A feeling of suffocation – and Torj’s face, contorted in pain.
‘Wren,’ Thea said, more loudly this time.‘Tell me what’s going on.’
‘It’s Torj,’ Wren heard herself say, her voice tight.‘Something’s happened.’
Thea’s expression hardened instantly.She didn’t question how Wren knew.She simply gathered her swords.‘Where?’
Wren’s legs were unsteady as she stepped away from her work, the cure forgotten.As she took a step, she felt it – an invisible thread tugging at her chest, pulling her towards the door.‘I don’t know exactly, but I can feel it.This way.’She turned back to call to her friend, ‘Dessa?Can you please watch over these potions?’
‘Of course.’
‘Thank you.In another thirty minutes you can take them off the flames and let them rest.Don’t let anyone in here.Don’t let anyone else touch anything.’
Dessa nodded.‘Consider it done.’
The Embervale sisters left the academy.Feeling panicked as the foreign sensation grew stronger and more gold flickered in her vision, Wren turned to Thea.
‘I think we need to go to Highguard.We’re going to need a horse.’
‘Luckily I have one of those,’ Thea replied.‘And he’s the fastest Tverrian stallion there is.’
Thea wasn’t boasting; her mount, ridiculously named Pancake, streaked across the grounds and onto the road to the city with both women in his saddle.Wren clung to her sister for dear life, unable to remember the last time she had ridden at a speed this terrifying.
Neither storm wielder spoke as the stallion hurtled towards Highguard.The scenery was nothing but a dark blur either side of them, the crisp night air stinging Wren’s cheeks.
At last, the torchlight of the city came into view, and Thea guided them through the gates.‘Now where?’she asked.
The cord grew taut within Wren.‘Follow the road to Old Town.’
Highguard’s underbelly was as she remembered it, with its neglected buildings and dark side streets.Raucous noise from various taverns spilled out across the cobbles.
‘On foot from here,’ Wren said.
