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Thea’s stomach rolled. ‘What about it?’ she ground out, setting her eyes back on the trail ahead.

‘That you haven’t used it,’ Kipp said. ‘Not for a long while now. Not for a year.’

Thea sighed, warring between frustration and weariness. ‘I told you, I can’t.’

‘Can’t, or won’t?’ Kipp pressed.

‘Leave it alone, Kristopher,’ she warned.

‘We have. For months we’ve kept quiet about it, but now…’ Thunder cracked in the near distance again, but he forged on.‘Well, we’re almost caught up with Hawthorne. Don’t you think you might need to use your magic against him?’

Thea’s teeth ached as cold air whistled between them with her sharp intake of breath. ‘I’m not talking about this.’

It was a sore subject. Through Wren, Audra had gifted Thea a small box of meditation cards to help her train her magic, but no matter how hard she tried, no matter how many countless hours she spent studying them by the fire, not even a flicker of power had answered her summons. There was one card she carried on her person, one whose words she would chant to herself over and over. The card itself was faded and crumpled from being clutched in her dirty, clammy hands, but the message was seared into her memory:strong of mind, strong of body, strong of heart.

Sometimes she suspected she was none of those things, and that was why her magic had left her.

‘We’re not letting you get away with this anymore, Thea,’ Kipp interrupted her thoughts. ‘Cal, back me up here.’

Cal sighed. ‘Your magic has always manifested when you’re angry, right?’ he asked her, urging his horse up alongside hers.

Thea shot him a glare. ‘I’m always angry.’

‘No shit,’ he muttered.

‘Thea, we’ve seen what you can do. That kind of power isn’t just snuffed out overnight,’ Kipp said gently.

Thea clicked her tongue in frustration. ‘Well, I’m telling you that mine was. Can we drop it now? We’ve got a traitor to capture.’

‘So you keep saying, but without magic, how in the realms do you think you’ll get those manacles on him?’ Kipp argued. ‘You may be the Shadow of Death, but Hawthorne is theHand of Death…and traitor or not, he’s still got a Warsword’s power.’

Cal made a noise of agreement. ‘If you tapped into your magic, I think you could cause a thundersnow if you put your mind to it. That’d catch a Warsword, no problem.’

‘First, he’s no Warsword,’ Thea snapped. ‘Second, sure – I haven’t used magic in a year, but I’ll just tap into it and whip up a fucking thundersnow, shall I?’

Kipp snorted a laugh. ‘Pfft – even when you and your magic are being more agreeable, I doubt it. There hasn’t been one recorded in centuries, not even in the depths of Aveum winters.’

‘It’s always winter here,’ Cal griped.

‘Which is exactly why I think we should go to the Singing Hare, just for a —’

‘We’re not giving up our advantage for you to go get drunk in a tavern,’ Thea retorted.

‘But… it’s your name day.’

‘Precisely. SoIget to choose how I spend this day, and all my limited days to come. And I’ll spend them well. Hunting my enemies and bringing them to justice.’

Kipp shook his head. ‘You used to be fun,’ he muttered.

But Thea had stopped listening. ‘Look!’ She pointed to the coals of a small campfire a few yards ahead. ‘He camped here.’

Kipp’s brow furrowed. ‘Seems like a stupid spot to camp. We’re hardly an hour into the woods.’

‘We’ve been running him ragged. His horse is probably in need of rest – doubt he had much of a choice in the matter.’

Thea jumped down from her saddle and investigated the nest of now-frozen ashes. There, around the rocks, were deep bootprints in the snow.

‘We’re gaining on him.’