Page 82 of Silver & Smoke
‘I was one of many.’ Wren adjusted her grip on the reins, flexing the ache from her hands.
‘So?’ Thea pressed. ‘It doesn’t make your experience any less.’
‘I don’t like asking for help...’
Thea snorted. ‘Shocking.’
‘You’re one to talk,’ Wren shot back before she sighed. ‘Honestly, I hate it. I hate to ask anyone.’
‘Again, sister... that’s not exactly new information to me,’ Thea said gently. ‘Though it might help if you told me why.’
Wren shifted in her saddle, her posture growing rigid as her scalp prickled. ‘It was me who asked Sam and Ida to stay back at Thezmarr while I left. It wasmyidea that they remain behind and make more of the sun orchid essence. I thought we could use more of it at the fortress. I asked them to do that. It’s my fault they were captured. My fault they’re dead.’
‘Oh, Wren,’ Thea murmured, her voice pained. ‘That wasn’t your doing.’
Wren forced the words out. ‘If I hadn’t asked them to stay back—’
‘You think if you hadn’t asked for their help, they wouldn’t have died?’ Thea finished for her. ‘There’s no way you can know that. They could have just as easily died in the battles! It wastheir choiceto stay at Thezmarr, to continue their work. You can’t let what happened to them stop you from seeking help, from asking for support when you need it. You can’t go through life like that.’
‘I haven’t... I wrote the letters like Kipp told me to. I have asked for allies where I could. I even sent Torj away to—’
‘You’re doing all that you can,’ her sister cut her off. ‘I think Kipp’s right. You should keep writing the letters. Silas got his platform; you should do the same. If people are going to choose sides, let them know what you stand for.’
Wren tried to cling to Thea’s resolve, and as they continued to ride across Delmira, she tried to remain stoic about the fate she and Torj now faced. Under different circumstances, they had been apart before, and she had survived. But now, knowing what they were to one another...
The hollow ache in her chest whispered that she wouldn’t survive a second time, nor would she want to.
A shadow fell across her face. She looked up, expecting to see storm clouds gathering in answer to her turmoil.
But it was a familiar set of broad shoulders that blocked out the sun. Torj Elderbrock sat tall in his saddle before her, his hammer across his back, determination gleaming in his eyes.
Wren’s heart stuttered, then raced, her breath catching painfully in her lungs. The world around her – the army, Thea, even Lucian’s schemes – all faded away. Her fingers trembled on the reins, and she fought the desperate urge to fling herself from her horse to his.
He didn’t reach for her; he didn’t address her, not aloud. But the bond between them, so empty just moments before, now hummed with his presence – stronger and clearer than she had felt in weeks.
Torj guided his horse into the ranks, and it was only then that she saw his stallion pulled a cart behind him. A cart gleaming with pearly white blooms.
With silvertide roses.
And then, Torj’s words echoed through their golden bond and into her mind.
I want to live, Embers. For you. Always for you.
CHAPTER 44
Torj
‘Hope and poison share one critical property: dosage determines outcome. Too little of one or too much of the other can be equally fatal’
– The Poisoner’s Handbook
TORJ SPOKE THOSEwords to Wren soul to soul, with all the reverence and love he could muster, and the relief in her eyes threatened to unravel him completely. Despite the roses he delivered, the news he brought with him was not good, and he hated that her reprieve would only last mere moments.
You’re a sight for sore eyes, Embers, he told her.
Wren’s gaze moved over him methodically, studying him.You look better...
I am. Dessa and Zavier gave me something to help.
