Page 22 of Thorns & Fire
Torj tipped his head to the stars, silently praying to the Furies to grant him mercy.He could deny it until he was blue in the face, but his body’s reaction to her?The way he looked at her?There was no hiding that.He’d been a fool to think he could.
‘You ended it with me,’ she said.‘Why?’
‘I told you why.’
‘No,’ Wren replied.‘You didn’t.’
‘It was never going to work—’
‘Do we have some sort of magical bond?’she cut him off.‘Beyond when we shared my power during the war?’
It was the last thing he had expected her to say, but clearly Thea had mentioned the damn book.How could she not?
He didn’t recover well.‘Not any more.’
‘But we did?’she pressed, searching his face, her eyes lined with silver.
‘It doesn’t matter now—’
A bolt of brilliant white lightning split the sky and, on instinct, Torj grabbed Wren, shielding her body with his – until he realized the storm closing in above was her doing, her magic singing beneath him.
For the first time in a long while, Wren looked scared.
‘You didn’t mean to do that?’he murmured.
Thunder clapped overhead and he flinched, the realization dawning.Hehaddone this.Because of him, Wren’s magic was out of control...Unbeknownst to her, their severed bond had left her power jagged and wild.The tempest threatening to break around them was a mirror to the pain swimming in her gaze, pain he had caused.
‘Embers...’Torj’s chest was tight as he cupped her face without thinking.
Those willow-green eyes flashed in anger, and she shoved him away with enough force to make him stumble.Her words were charged with all the power of the storm above.‘You don’t get to call me that any more.’
CHAPTER 8
Wren
‘The kingdom of Delmira was once ruled by the Embervales, a family of lightning wielders who held the most prosperous lands in the midrealms, until it fell to the shadow wraiths during the reign of King Soren and Queen Brigh’
– The Midrealms Chronicles
HE HADFLINCHED.Flinched at her magic.In all their years of knowing each other and fighting together, Torj had never done that.He had never feared her, or her power.Until now.
Was that why he’d ended things?Despite all that had come to pass between them, shehadearned that fear.She could still feel the rough texture of his scars at her fingertips.She’d marked him for ever, and she supposed he had done the same to her, only her scars were on the inside.
‘Embers...’
The nickname sparked something painful within her.There had been a bond between them of some kind, he’d admitted as much...but what?Something to do with sharing her power during the war?Something that he wanted no part in?
With the ghost of his touch still lingering on her skin, Wrenwalked away from the Warsword before she fell apart.A sob lodged itself in her throat and familiar panic rose in her chest...but she would not break.Not now.Not because of him.
Forcing down the wave of grief that threatened to knock her legs from beneath her, she returned to the camp that had been set up in her absence.She felt eyes on her instantly, and though she knew there was only concern in her friends’ stares, she resented them.The fact that people knew she was hurting made her feel all the more vulnerable, and it made her sick to the stomach.
As she joined Thea at the fire, her sister studied her.‘You alright?’she asked.
Wren sighed, glancing back at the lone figure at the edge of camp.‘Let’s just find out why he’s here.’
Thea knocked her hip against Wren’s.‘You want him dead, say the word.’
Wren’s answering laugh was hollow.‘I’ll keep that in mind.But I could probably do a better job.’
