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‘I’m going with you,’ Thea said fiercely.

‘Not a chance, Alchemist.’

But Thea was done with listening, was done with men underestimating her and telling her what to do. She squared upand took a step towards the Warsword, nothing but fire in her eyes. ‘Try and stop me.’

‘Hawthorne?’ Torj peered out from one of the stalls, his brows raising in surprise at the sight of her. ‘What are you doing here, Althea?’

‘I’m getting my friends back.’

Fury blazed in Hawthorne’s silver eyes. ‘I’m not letting some reckless shieldbearer accompany me to the Black fucking Mountains —’

Thea whirled to face him, fury of her own crackling in her veins. ‘You told me to find friends in this fortress, to get myself a team,’ she snarled. ‘And I did that. Cal and Kipp are it. They’re the people I trust more than anyone in this godsforsaken place. And I’m going to get them back, with or without you.’

‘Alchemist…’ Hawthorne warned, his voice low.

‘My name isThea,’ she interjected angrily, ‘whether or not you have the balls to say it. And answer me this: haven’t you ever wanted to protect someone?’ she argued. ‘Would you deny me that?’

Torj watched on, his horse forgotten. ‘I’d wager he’s trying to protect someone right now…’ he murmured.

But Thea ignored the Bear Slayer and focused solely on the Warsword whose path seemed entwined with her own.

His expression darkened for a moment, a muscle flickering in his jaw.

Thea held her breath as the Warsword closed the last few inches of space between them.

He leaned in, closer and closer to her —

The slide of steel sounded.

He drew a sword from the rack on the wall behind her and pressed it into her hands.

‘You tell no one what happens here,’ he said quietly.

‘No one,’ she agreed, her fingers curling around the hilt.

Torj cleared his throat loudly as he mounted his horse. ‘Right. Now that’s settled…’

Thea and Hawthorne sprung apart.

The golden-haired warrior eyed them warily as he strapped his war hammer across his back. ‘I’ll meet you at the caves.’ And with that, he nudged his stallion towards the gates and left them to it.

Together, Warsword and shieldbearer saddled their horses in silence, strapped on their weapons, and rode quietly into the night.

Even in the moonlight, Thea recognised the path almost at once. It was the one she had so often climbed to the cliffs, before Hawthorne had caught her with her dagger, before everything had changed. It led to the spot from which she had watched Hawthorne’s return to Thezmarr, and imagined herself the stuff of legends.

On horseback, they covered the forest portion of the trail quickly and the hair on the back of Thea’s neck prickled. The terrain inclined and grew rockier, the winter winds snarled around the mountains and the cliffs, cutting through every layer of clothing Thea wore. She grit her teeth and cursed silently as the skies opened up, sending down a steady sheet of icy rain.

‘They’ll die if we don’t find them,’ she heard herself say.

‘We’ll find them,’ came Hawthorne’s reply. ‘We’ll get them back.’

Warsword and shieldbearer continued up the mountains in the dark, passing the cliff where Hawthorne had first caught her spying. Thick black clouds covered the moon and there was not a star in sight, but Thea could hear the roar of the waves, unable to stop the shudder that wracked her body as she recalled how high they could soar before they crashed. With her reins clutched tightly in one hand, Thea used the other to rummage throughher cloak for her fate stone. The piece of jade, smaller than the head of a teaspoon, offered both curse and comfort.

The horses took them higher still. Up on the edges of the mountains, the wind was so sharp it cut like glass, and one wrong step would spell doom. She held the stone tighter. That would not be her destiny. Not today.

The sound of the waves grew louder and, having seen them touch the clouds before, Thea pictured them barrelling into the side of the mountain, flooding whatever cave her friends had been abandoned in. With another shiver, she urged her horse to quicken the pace as much as the perilous terrain would allow.

The steady sheet of rain hammered down on them with renewed vigour, now torrential. Lightning lit up the sky, shooting a jagged bolt into the raging black currents that surged at the base of the cliffs and lapped at the mountainside.