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Thankfully it was too early for even Evander to be tending to the stalls and polishing the tack when Thea arrived to saddle her horse. There wasn’t even a hint of the dawn to come over the treeline, just the bright crescent moon amid the inky black above, highlighting the jagged lines of the mountains beyond.

Checking her cinch, Thea shoved away any lingering feelings of guilt about not checking with Hawthorne about today. He’d figure it out soon enough – and if he panicked over her whereabouts? It would serve him right. Perhaps it was her turn to jerk him around. After last night, she wasn’t sure where they stood. His words said one thing, but his actions… His actions had left her in pleasure-soaked pieces.

It remains as it was,he’d said. But whatever it was between them was anything but clear.

Her stomach fluttered at the memory of his mouth on her, of his tongue… No one had ever pleasured her like that before. No one had —

Thea shook her head. Now was certainly not the time and place to reminisce about what the Warsword’s tongue was capable of doing between her legs. Especially not a Warsword who behaved like a bastard afterwards. No, she would focus on the task at hand, on the first solo mission she and her friends had been granted as Guardians of the midrealms.

She led her mare from the stall and removed the splints from her fingers, flexing her hand.On the mend, she decided, satisfied. Thankfully, her ribs were much better as well; she mounted up with only a faint twinge of pain.

Head held high, Thea rode to the northern gate, where Cal and Kipp were waiting.

Kipp beamed at the sight of her before throwing his hand out to Cal. ‘That’s three gold to me, my friend.’

Cal clicked his tongue in frustration. ‘I told you I wasn’t taking the bet.’

‘Nonsense. I called it.’

‘I didn’t say you didn’t call it, I said I didn’t take the bet,’ Cal replied.

Kipp waved him off. ‘I’ll collect later, then.’ Atop his horse, he opened his arms wide in a dramatic greeting. ‘Welcome, Thea!’

Thea snorted. ‘You knew I’d come.’

‘Of course I knew,’ Kipp declared. ‘Callahan here doubted you, but I —’

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, Kipp,’ Cal snapped. ‘Can we get on with it, or what?’

Kipp had the audacity to look offended. He motioned to Thea and her mare. ‘After you, wraith slayer.’

Thea couldn’t help smiling as she urged her horse forward.

‘Thank the Furies you’re here,’ Cal muttered as she passed.

Thea didn’t know why it felt natural for her to take the lead, even though it was really Cal and Kipp’s mission. But it didn’t seem to bother either of them in the slightest. Perhaps her reputation as a wraith slayer preceded her, or perhaps they just recognised she was as competent as any of them. Still, it made warmth swell in her chest. She had come a long way since those initial days as a shieldbearer at Thezmarr. They all had. Pride bloomed as she glimpsed their Guardian totems strapped to their arms: the tokens they had fought tooth and nail to earn in the initiation test, the pair of crossed swords that marked their official entry into the guild of warriors.

They rode beyond the fortress walls before the first rays of dawn broke through the darkness, and by the time the rose gold and orange hues illuminated the sky, they were on the coastal trail north. The trio rode close together so they could chat over the steady hoofbeats across the dirt path.

‘Vernich tried to petition that Barlowe join us for this trip,’ Cal confided in Thea.

She twisted in her saddle, brows shooting up. ‘He didn’t.’

But Cal was nodding. ‘Reckoned that if we were going, his apprentice ought to as well.’

‘How’d you get out of that?’ she asked.

‘Torj,’ Kipp supplied. ‘He put his foot down, apparently. Said that there was bad blood between us all and it would compromise the mission.’

‘I was telling the story,’ Cal muttered. ‘You weren’t even there.’

‘Well, go on, then,’ Kipp said, reaching across to clap his friend on the shoulder.

Cal shook his head in disbelief before addressing Thea again. ‘I’ve never seen Torj like that. He was ready to hurl the Bloodletter across the room. Or clobber him with his war hammer.’

‘He defended you that furiously?’ Thea asked.

‘Hawthorne would do the same for you,’ Cal replied.