Page 52 of A Kiss of Hammer and Flame

As she and Wyldaern were leaving, Cahra heard the Queen ask after Lady Delicia, one of her attendants replying the woman was in her quarters in the palace.

In Thierre’s room?

Stop.Cahra bit the inside of her cheek, then ground her teeth against the pain.Don’t think of her, or him. Just get through tonight.

Endure.

Sleep’s oblivion was looking good.

Cahra retreated to her guest room, shutting the arched door behind her as Wyldaern bid her good rest. She slumped against the wood, sinking to the cool alabaster tiles. Vision blurring, she could just make out the patchwork of her smithing leathers next to her, the last remnants of her old life in Kolyath with Lumsden, before lords and swords and prophecies and princes. And bitter, utter heartbreak.

Thierre.

Hot tears arrived before she could blink them away, the hurt, the anger, swelling. Before she knew it, Cahra was stripping off her dress, dumping it on the floor and, with it, every piece of her defences. When she finally stood in her underclothes, she had no energy left to bathe. To eat. To do anything. Except not be awake.

Cahra staggered to the bed, threw back the blankets and buried herself in its centre.

Silently, she let the tears fall.

CHAPTER 23

Thierre counted soundlessly after Cahra and Wyldaern departed, knowing exactly how long to wait before he could raise his voice. He had overheard enough quarrels from the hall as a child to know, straining to listen through the passage’s far door while his father and Tyne scrutinised campaign after campaign.

The room’s grandfather clock struck then.

So did Thierre.

‘You should have dismissed them hours ago,’ he fumed. ‘Did you not notice their fatigue? Raiden’s men only rescued the Seer this morning, and C—’

‘You did not heal her?’ His mother arched a sculpted brow. ‘Luminaux has not welcomed a Seer in decades. This is how you honour them?’

‘I take responsibility.’ Raiden cleared his throat. ‘After the attack, my priority was the Prince. We rode hard for Luminaux.’

Thierre’s father nodded sharply.

Commander Tyne’s frown, however, deepened. Tyne had always seen their missions as a liability, regardless of his seals of approval.

‘And why were you vulnerable? I’ll tell you. You lost your focus, and your operation was compromised, in an enemy kingdom. You were damned lucky to escape with your lives!’

‘Compromised because of the prophecy,’ Thierre corrected, his jaw tightening. ‘You cannot be looking to blame me for the Oracles’ will?’

‘And how exactly was buying a foreign kingdom’s weapon part of your mission?’ Tyne crossed his arms, armour clanking to punctuate his point.

‘Would you rather I had paraded my princely rapier?’ Thierre threw up his hands, turning to face his father. ‘This is preposterous.’

Meanwhile, Sylvie was studying Cahra’s longsword. She lifted it from the table, the sword’s weight no bother, and swept the two-handed blade from her shoulder into a cut.

Her gaze locked onto Thierre’s, eyes big and bright. ‘Oh, sheisgood. Perhaps your blacksmith could fashion something for me?’

‘She is not my blacksmith,’ Thierre retorted, earning one of Sylvie’s classic looks. ‘Besides, you have weapons by Luminaux’s finest masters.’

‘I do,’ she replied, stooping to peer at Cahra’s pommel and the little blue stones that formed the Sigil of the Seers. She traced the symbol with her fingertip, eyes on her brother, her own glittering as she said, ‘But none of them have ever made me anything likethis.’

‘Indeed,’ Tyne conceded gruffly. ‘She is skilled, for such youth.’

‘She was nearing the end of her apprenticeship.’ Thierre recalled Lumsden proudly telling him when he had first come to enquire about one of Cahra’s pieces.

Thierre should have brought Lumsden and everyone he and Raiden had befriended. Had he doomed all who had known him in Kolyath to their deaths? He swallowed. But now was not the time for sentimentality.