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CHAPTER

ONE

I prefer metal to people, which is why the forge is my safe space.

The heat is relentless in here, even with all the windows open for ventilation. Sweat beads on my forehead and drips down my back, but I wouldn’t give up being a smithy for anything.

I love the way a hammer feels in my hand; I love the sounds of metal chiming against metal, the slight give of heated steel, the smell of a raging fire, and the satisfaction of a finished weapon.

I pride myself on making each of my weapons unique. My customers know that when they commission a Zivan blade, it will be one of a kind.

I drop my hammer and inspect my current project.

The flange has the right shape. It’s the sixth and final of the identical pieces that will be attached to the mace’s head. After quenching the blade, I take it to the grindstone to sharpen every curve of the outer edge. I’ve already made grooves into the mace using a hammer and chisel. Now all that’s left is to weld all the pieces together. Using separate tongs, I place everything into the kiln and wait.

There’s plenty to do in the meantime. Tools need cleaning. Scraps of metal need disposing of. I work the bellows to keep the kiln over 2,500 degrees.

Shouts interrupt the peace of my workspace.

My sister, Temra, runs the shop at the front of the forge when she’s not assisting me with larger weapons. From there, customers can purchase more simple items, such as horseshoes, buckles, and the like. My magicked horseshoes ensure the horses run faster, and my buckles never break or lose their shine. It’s a simple magic—nothing like what’s involved in bladesmithing.

“Ziva is not seeing customers now!” Temra yells from the other side of the door.

That’s right. No one steps into the forge. The forge is sacred. It ismyspace.

Judging the steel to be ready, I pull the mace head and first flange from the oven, lining up the blade with the first groove.

“Shewillsee me!” a voice screams in response. “She needs to answer for her defective work.”

That word prickles.Defective?That’s unnecessarily rude. If I were a person who handled confrontation well, I might go out there and give the customer a piece of my mind.

But I needn’t have worried; my sisteristhat person.

“Defective? How dare you? Get yourself to a healer and stop blaming us for your idiocy!”

I wince. That was maybe a bit too far. Temra never has been much good at controlling her temper. Sometimes, she can be downright terrifying.

I do my best to block out the argument and focus on my work. This is the part where the magic will set. The metal is heated, primed. I thought long and hard about how I would make this weapon special. A mace is used for bashing and smashing, something that requires brute strength to wield. But what if I could increase the power behind it? What if every time the weapon absorbed a blow from an opponent, I could transfer that energy into the next swing?

I close my eyes, thinking on what I want the magic to do, but I jolt upright as, to my utter horror, the doors of the forge slam open.

I feel the extra presence in the room as though it were a weight pressing down on my shoulders. For a moment, I forget entirely what I’m working on, as I’m unable to think about anything but the discomfort coursing through my veins.

I hate feeling as though I don’t fit right in my own skin. As though the anxiety takes up too much space, pushing me aside.

As footsteps draw closer, I try to compose myself. I remember the mace and focus on it like my life depends on it. Maybe the intruder will take the hint and leave.

No such luck.

Whoever he is, he stomps to the other side of my anvil, where he’s now in my line of sight, and shoves an arm under my nose.

“Look at this!”

I take in the large gash across the man’s lower arm. Meanwhile, a ball of nerves roils in my stomach to have a stranger so close.

“Get out of here, Garik. Ziva is working!” Temra says futilely as she joins us.

“This is what your blade did to me. Myswordarm! I demand a refund!”