Page 49 of Silver & Smoke
‘Hide things from me. I saw your hand. I know the poison is working its way through your system faster than we anticipated. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.’
‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘Or do I need to prove it to you?’ he added suggestively.
Ignoring the innuendo, Wren took his weakened hand in hers. He tried to snatch it back, but she held firm, shooting him a warning look before she started to examine it.
‘How long?’ she asked.
‘Not—’
‘I won’t ask you again, Bear Slayer.’
He had the good sense to look sheepish. ‘A while...’
‘I figured,’ she said. ‘I’m working on getting the information about it from Lucian, and I have Zavier and Dessa working around the clock here—’
‘There are more important things, Embers,’ he started gently.
‘More important than you?’ she demanded. ‘Imagine if I had said those words to you. Don’t cast your worth aside, not to me. You areeverything, and I will not let this happen to you. There is no scenario in which you do not survive this, do you understand me?’
‘Always so bossy, Embers.’ A smile sounded in his voice.
‘Someone’s got to be with you Warswords. So stubborn.’ She turned his hand over in hers, looking for any additional outward signs. ‘Anything else you need to tell me?’
Torj sighed. ‘There was a moment, in the sparring ring, with Cal. My muscles locked up, and...’
‘And?’ she pressed. She had seen it with her own eyes, but she needed to know the cause, the symptoms.
Torj’s cheeks flushed. ‘I fell. I had no control. And before I sent word to you just now, I fainted.’
Wren hated the shame she saw in his gaze, that he didn’t want to share this part of himself with her.
‘Darian helped me, and I feel fine now. But...’ He didn’t need to say that he was embarrassed. Torj Elderbrock did not fall, not from his horse, not from anything. He’d told her so several times himself.
So Wren simply nodded. ‘Thank you for telling me.’
‘We should assign you more guards once we get to the mainland,’ he said slowly. ‘In case it happens again. In case I can’t—’
‘There is no “in case”,’ she told him. ‘I have all the guards and protection I need. As long as I have you, I’ll be fine. Are you ready for what lies ahead at Thezmarr?’
Torj looked like he wanted to argue, but instead he reached for her. ‘I’m always ready.’
Warmth bloomed in Wren’s chest at that. She cupped his face, smiling softly. ‘There’s the Bear Slayer I know and love. Now, what were you saying about proving it to me? Or do you have more hard truths you need to get off your chest?’
‘Hard truths? No.’ Torj tucked her hair behind her ear with a soft smile. ‘My truth, the only truth that matters, is that you areeverythingto me. My friend. My lover. My soul-bonded... Myqueen. My truth is that I love you more and more every day, if that’s even possible after the past thirteen years of loving you. If life has taught me anything, Embers, it’s that not much can stand in the way of that.’
‘That’s quite a speech, Bear Slayer...’ she murmured, ignoring the sting of welling tears.
‘You think?’ He fitted himself between her legs, still smiling. ‘In that case, there’s something I need to ask you, Embers...’
Heat radiated from his torso against her legs, and she breathed in his black-cedar-and-oakmoss scent. ‘So ask.’
CHAPTER 25
Torj
‘A soul bond is too strong to be broken by an individual’
– Tethers and Magical Bonds Throughout History
