Page 158 of Thorns & Fire
He motioned to where Wren was emerging from the side of the stage, her head held high, her back straight as she approached the Prince of Naarva.
She looked like royalty, and it made Torj’s warrior heart ache.
Wren addressed the gathered crowd.‘Prince Zavier speaks the truth.I will be taking my kingdom back from its usurpers.And I will do so as Queen of Delmira.’
Hushed murmurs broke out across the crowd.
‘But I will not do it alone,’ Wren called.She gestured to another standing in the wings, and Torj’s blood ran cold as the last person he expected strode across the stage, taking her hand in his.
Torj felt the moment his heart fractured.
He heard the rattling gasp leave his lips as his lungs constricted painfully.
The wordbetrothedrang out across the hall.
And an arrogant smirk found him in the crowd.
Darian fucking Devereux.
CHAPTER 67
Torj
‘The lone flame flickers, but a fire blazing bright has the power to rewrite fate’
– Tethers and Magical Bonds Throughout History
TORJ FLEDHIGHGUARDon his stallion, tearing through the city gates so fast that tears streamed from his eyes.Wind whipped through his hair and stung his cheeks, but he had to get out of there, had to leave that rotten place behind.He rode blindly towards Drevenor, his heart racing, nausea swirling low in his gut.He’d gather his things and get back to the port.He could board a ship.He could sail beyond the Veil border.
Darian Devereux...After everything Torj had told her.Whyhim?The man was a fucking monster, a blight upon the midrealms.
Kipp had outlined the plan.A marriage of alliance to Zavier – her friend, who they could trust; a fellow magic wielder, a smart match with resources of his own.Torj had hated the thought of Wren wearing anyone else’s ring, but he’d told himself he could live with it.That if it meant peace in the midrealms, he’d stomach being the Queen of Delmira’s secret lover.But Devereux?The man was poison.
Torj could barely remember the ride from the city by the timehe got back to the academy.He didn’t recall climbing the stairs or unlocking the door to his room.He stumbled inside, thoughts of Wren consuming him.
I could never tell you goodbye.She had said those words into his very mind, allowing them to burrow inside his heart as her soul connected with his.
She was everywhere.The spring rain and jasmine scent that lingered in the air; the bushel of dried lavender that still sat on the windowsill; the strands of bronze hair on his pillow, and the apron she’d discarded over the back of his chair.He could feel the echo of her storm magic too, ghosting across his skin, his lips...
With an anguished shout, he swept his forearm across the desk, sending books, parchment and a glass clattering to the floor.His thoughts were chaotic, panicked.One second, he was sure there must be an explanation, some plan he wasn’t privy to, and the next...
Devereux.She chose Devereux.
He had told her he would stick by her through anything.That he would be with her until the very end, but this?
He looked to his pack.He could leave.Right now.He could be on the open seas within hours.He could...
His eyes fell to something else.
The dagger.The dagger he had taught her how to use, the dagger he’d secretly had altered just this week to fit her smaller hand...In the final rays of sun streaming through the window, the inscription he’d had engraved along its blade glittered back at him.
Iron & Embers.
He sank to the floor, his back against the bed, head in his hands.Devereux...For her to marry Darian fucking Devereux...How could she—
But still he heard her voice.Meet me at dusk.No matter what.
Breaking apart at the seams, Torj watched the shadows lengthen across the room.Dusk was approaching...and with it came a reckoning.
