Page 73 of Silver & Smoke
‘And I’m a warrior...’ Wren said slowly.
‘You are.’ Thea nodded. ‘You always have been.’
‘She’s right,’ Wilder agreed. ‘You and Torj both. And you’ll find a way through it, no matter what.’
The words hit home. Wren drew her blade across the whetstone one final time, testing its edge with her thumb. It was sharp enough to cut. Something that had to be maintained carefully, deliberately, with the right balance of pressure and restraint...
‘Thank you,’ she said, first meeting her sister’s eyes, then Wilder’s. ‘For showing me how.’
From across the camp, she saw Cal signal to her, and so Wren rose from her place by the fire and slipped into the darkness, leaving Thea and Wilder to their quiet companionship.
Wren slipped into the Bear Slayer’s darkened tent and between his sheets with the stealth of a Warsword herself.
‘What are you doing?’ Torj murmured, his voice thick with exhaustion. ‘We can’t—’
‘You needed me. So I came.’
‘I’m fine—’
Wren pressed her index finger to his lips to silence him before sweeping her nightshirt up over her head and pressing her naked body against the hard heat of his muscular chest. She traced the web of scarring over his inked heart – the mark she’d made with lightning when she’d refused to let him go all those years ago.
‘The others told me how you collapsed,’ she said quietly.
‘Traitors,’ he muttered.
‘They’re trying to keep you alive. As am I.’ Wren threw a leg over his thick thighs and pulled herself on top of him, her bare skin sliding over his.
‘Is that so?’ The Bear Slayer’s trembling hands were already tracing her curves. ‘’Cause it feels like you’re trying to kill me, Embers...’
Wren brought a glass vial to his lips. ‘Drink this, you stubborn Warsword.’
He let her tip the liquid into his mouth without protesting. ‘What is it?’
‘A strengthening potion of sorts. It’s not nearly as strong as I’d like it to be, but we’ve had limited time to brew it and increase its potency,’ she replied, noting that the tremors wracking the hand resting on her hip were abating.
‘So, this is how you save me?’ he murmured, trailing circles across her bare skin.
She could feel him growing hard beneath her and bit back a smile. Wren rolled her hips and clapped a hand over Torj’s mouth as he swore. ‘You needrest, Bear Slayer.’
‘I’ll rest when I’m dead.’
‘You’ll rest when I tell you to.’ Wren slid off him to the empty space beside. On the few occasions when they’d had the freedom to share a bed, Torj had always covered her body with his, cocooning himself around her, always her shield against the world. But this time, Wren wanted to hold him.
Gently, she pushed him onto his side and wrapped herself around him from behind, feeling the heat of his back seep into her.
‘I love you,’ she whispered against his spine.
Torj guided her hand around his ribs and clutched it to his scarred chest. ‘I love you too, Embers... but I’m not sure even that is enough to stop this. How do you plan on keeping me here?’
Wren pressed her hand over his heart. ‘By showing you what you’d be missing if you left this world without me.’
‘Believe me, I’m aware,’ he replied thickly.
‘Do you know what my deepest fear is?’ she asked him, threading her fingers through his. ‘It’s not failing as queen, or letting the midrealms down... It’s not a second war, or my role in it. It’s losing you. I can’t lose you, Torj. Not you.’
She could feel the steady rhythm of his heart beating against her palm as he said, ‘My deepest fear is leaving you unprotected... or that I’ll become part of the reason you’re no longer safe.’ He kissed her knuckles. ‘The poison... It’s getting worse, Wren.’
‘I know,’ she whispered. Her eyes burned as hot tears slipped free, tracking down her cheeks.
