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The Thea beside him now was different, distant in a way she hadn’t been with him before. It hurt, being shut out. No doubt she still battled with whatever had found her in her dreams, but as the sun grew higher and they rode towards Delmira, Wilder could stand the silence no longer.

‘What can I do?’ he asked her softly. ‘Do you want to talk about the nightmare bothering you?’

Thea’s gaze slid to his, sadness lingering there. ‘It’s not the nightmare that’s bothering me.’

‘What, then?’

Her trembling intake of breath told him he had no idea how close to tears she was. He’d never seen her cry before… How was that possible after everything they’d been through together?

‘I could have hurt you…’ she murmured. ‘Just like Audra said. My magic was out of my control. I overpowered you. I had a dagger to your —’

‘You didn’t hurt me.’

She gave the knife scratch on his neck a pointed look. ‘Didn’t I?’

Wilder couldn’t stand the vulnerability in her eyes, couldn’t stand the thought of being the one to cause such pain. He did the only thing he could think of. He winked at her, and laughed as he touched a hand to the minor cut. ‘This? This is practically foreplay.’

Thea slowly blinked at him. ‘You’re sick.’

He offered a lazy grin. ‘If only you knew.’

Thea shook her head in disbelief, but he could have sworn the shadows behind her gaze retreated a little and a smile played at the corner of her mouth. His heart lifted at that, revelling in the knowledge that he had the power to banish her monsters. That he was the one to make her smile. Then his thoughts went south. Gods, that mouth… He wanted her to do wicked things with that mouth.

Friends,he reminded himself.

‘The road is a far better training ground for a Warsword than the fortress,’ he heard himself say.

Thea didn’t speak, but he saw her tense with interest at his words.

‘I spent much of my apprenticeship travelling with Talemir,’ he ventured, knowing her curiosity about his mentor was near irrepressible. ‘He taught me everything I know. Well, almost everything.’

He was rambling now – why?

Her gaze slid to his. ‘And will you teach me everything you know?’ There was a glimmer of challenge in those eyes.

He loosed a breath.There you are, Princess. ‘Yes.’

‘Then by all means, Warsword, if we’re going to fit your lifetime of lessons into my next two and a half years, you’d best start now.’

Her words were like a deep slice to his gut, and inwardly he cursed that fucking fate stone around her neck and the bitch of a seer who’d given it to her.

But he didn’t let Thea see him falter, didn’t let her see that pain. ‘I hope you’re going to listen for once,Apprentice,’ he said.

* * *

They didn’t stop to rest as morning bloomed before them. Instead, Wilder embarked on a series of lessons he’d learnt from both Talemir and Malik over the earlier years of his own apprenticeship. He had already taught Thea how to shoot game with a bow and arrow, but as they rode across the plains and ridges, he went over the fundamentals anyway, before moving on to how to hunt and track through various terrains with different weapons. The same rules could be applied for monster hunting.

He had to stop himself from grinning like a fool as they worked their way through the finer points of his lessons. For beyond everything he knew about Thea – her beauty, her sharp tongue, her determination – he thoroughly enjoyed her company. She made him laugh, made him want to participate in the world around him, not just carve out wraith hearts alone in the dark. Even the silence between them was easy and comfortable; each other’s company was more than enough, and words weren’t always needed.

When the midday sun was high and hot, they halted their ride to put the lessons into practice while their horses rested. Wilder made sure there were no lingering looks or touches between them as he showed her how to clean and gut a boar, and how to stretch the hide, tan and cure it to be used later. But despite the bloody task at hand, they found themselves laughing, Thea recalling just how much roast boar her friend Kipp had eaten during their visit to the Laughing Fox.

For a moment Wilder entertained the thought that one day he might take her there, that they might laugh together over wine and a game of billiards.

He shook the thought away and returned his attention to the game that needed tending to. Normally, Wilder wouldn’t have been so concerned with having such hearty meals on the road; he would have made do with rations, but he was determined to ensure Thea was as nourished and strong as possible for whatever lay ahead.

At his side, Thea drank in the information as though she were parched. His teaching was punctuated by quiet, thoughtful questions from her. They spoke of monsters and politics, of history and home, the words flowing easily between them, as though they had been doing it this way all along.

Wilder shared his knowledge with her, but Furies, did he miss her. There was a new type of closeness forming between them now and it showed him what she had become to him in those months before the initiation test. Every instinct within told him to reach out to her, to lay everything bare.