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The warning left a hollow pit in Thea’s stomach.

It took forever to clean the weapons in the armoury to a standard that Cal and Kipp thought Esyllt would find acceptable. By the time they finished, not only was Thea starving, but she was dead on her feet. She’d been up since sunrise and had journeyed a long way, only to be completely battered by the sparring session.

When they reached the fortress and entered the lively Great Hall, Thea turned towards her usual table. She could see the messy knot of her sister’s bronze hair from here.

Gods, she wanted to talk to Wren, to tell her about… well, everything.

‘Where are you going?’ Kipp asked.

‘To my place at the —’

But Cal was shaking his head. ‘You’re a shieldbearer now, Thea. You eat with the shieldbearers.’

A sinking feeling settled in Thea’s stomach as she craned her neck to see if she could catch her sister’s eye. How had she not realised this sooner?

‘Come on, people are starting to stare,’ Kipp muttered, nudging Thea towards the table.

Reluctantly she tore her gaze away from where the alchemists sat. She would have to wait until the whole bloody fortress retired to speak with Wren.

‘Thea…’ Kipp whispered in warning, pointedly glancing at the crowds whose eyes bored into her.

But the inhabitants of the fortress weren’t staring because they were late.

They were staring because awomanwas with the shieldbearers.

Whispers broke out across the hall and Thea wished she could melt away into the background. But that was not the way of things. Between Cal and Kipp, they managed to make room for her on one of the benches, much to the disdain of the other shieldbearers. There was considerable shoving and swearing before Thea was settled between her two new companions.

The staring didn’t stop.

Suddenly she felt more like an intruder here than she had amidst the nobles in the palace.

As Thea reached for the food, someone snatched it away.

As she reached for the mead, someone grabbed it to fill their own tankard.

Her ravenous appetite abruptly vanished.

Across the table she met scowls, pinched mouths and arms crossed over chests. Then there were the barely concealed whispers and soured expressions. Thea kept her shoulders squared and her chin high.

Though her appetite was well and truly gone, she reached again for the food, this time, a bowl of greens - the least popular dish on the table, only to have it yanked out of reach.

‘Really?’ she muttered.

‘Here,’ Kipp said, scraping half his plate onto hers.

‘You don’t have to –’ she started to object.

But Kipp just shrugged. ‘Usually they do it to me,’ he said. ‘Thick bastards get bored, eventually.’

‘Thank you,’ she said quietly, touched by his kindness.

She ate quickly, daring to glance around the hall as she did. The first thing she noticed was that Hawthorne was not at the head table. The seat he’d occupied before they’d left was empty.Audra however, was at her usual place and locked eyes with Thea from across the room. Though she didn’t smile, there was a gleam to her eyes that Thea caught before the stern-faced librarian looked away.

Chatter had resumed at her table, but it wasn’t pleasant.

‘Three gold coins say she’s done by the end of the week,’ someone – the one Esyllt had called Lachin said, slamming a palm down on the surface.

‘Five coins say she’s done by the end of tomorrow. And that she cries,’ said another.