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His heart threatened to burst from his chest as it pounded, trying to catch up with everything he felt. Eyes closed, Wilder rested his brow against hers, allowing himself a moment to savour her, a brief pocket of time between what they’d shared and the moment reality would come rushing in like an icy wave.

He didn’t trust himself to speak, for fear of what might come tumbling out. Each time with Thea was more powerful, more all-consuming than the last, and there was no telling the ways in which she’d wreck him, over and over again. All he knew was that he would never be free of this now, nor did he want to be.

Thea was quiet too, as though she knew whatever words came next would break the spell.

Wilder kissed her slowly and thoroughly, the way he’d kiss her if he’d been granted the time to court her in the way she deserved.

He was so fucked, so well and truly in over his head.

At last, she broke away, still out of breath, eyes wide. ‘Wilder…’ she murmured, her expression pained as she reached for her discarded clothes. ‘What does this mean for us?’

Wilder’s chest was tight as he followed her lead, tugging on his pants and shirt, still feeling the phantom touch of her on his skin.

‘I don’t know,’ he replied honestly, his voice raw. ‘All I know is that I can’t seem to stay away.’

Thea met his gaze, understanding gleaming in her eyes. ‘All those weeks ago, you said —’

‘I know what I said.’ It came out harsher than he intended. ‘I was… I was trying to do the right thing. By you, by the midrealms.’

Thea finished dressing, seeming to steel herself. ‘Then we need to figure this out. We can’t keep going like this. It’s not good for either of us.’

Her words were like a hot lance to the gut. ‘What is it you’re proposing?’

Straightening her clothes and squaring her shoulders, Thea went to the mouth of the cave and looked outward across the seas. ‘We should take some time to think, and then we need to have a conversation. An honest one this time.’

Wilder felt increasingly heavy as he joined her. He fought every instinct that screamed at him to reach out and touch her, to lace his fingers through hers, to reassure her.

‘Alright,’ he heard himself say instead.

* * *

‘She’s not progressing,’ Audra told him sharply in the council room that night. ‘Not nearly fast enough.’

‘Well, the magic is your department, Audra,’ Wilder countered, resting his elbows on the back of a chair. ‘And you’re the one who told her that she can’t be a magic-wielding heiranda Warsword.’

The librarian glared at him, but continued as if he hadn’t spoken. ‘A reckoning is coming, Hawthorne. And she needs to be ready.’

‘What do you want me to do about it? I’m holding up my end of this wretched agreement. Despite all my objections, I’m her mentor, for better or for worse. I’m training her.’

Guilt lurched in Wilder’s gut. Was that the honest truth? His dealings with Thea since his return had been a mess.

Audra pushed her spectacles to the bridge of her nose and sighed. ‘The Daughter of Darkness sent word to the rulers directly. They have not only been informed of her hunt, but also of her offer to spare those who do her dirty work for her.’

‘Fuck.’ Wilder put his head in his hands. ‘Have the kingdoms agreed to defend the heirs?’

Audra gave a dark laugh. ‘No. They have put bounties on their heads. Anyone showing signs of magic is to be brought in for questioning. Any rumours reported to each kingdom’s officials.’

‘Gods, every man and his dog will be searching for the heirs now.’

‘Indeed. I’d wager there are plenty of common folk who’d step on their own mother to sell them out. There are rewards offered for information, but the subtext is clear: information, their heads – they’ll take anything.’

‘Furies save us.’

‘There’s more.’

‘Of course there is,’ Wilder muttered. It wasn’t enough that they were harbouring two fugitives, not only from his fellow Warswords, but from the rulers of the midrealms themselves.

‘There are reports spreading from across the seas,’ Audra told him, glancing at the closed door. ‘Wild storms that are felt across the realms beyond this one. Monsters unlike any we have ever seen, clawing their way through the Veil with the help of lightning and thunder…’