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He gave her a crooked smile. ‘I don’t mind it so much.’

Thea blushed and gestured to the cards. ‘Next round.’

They played again, Thea winning with the highest card this time. She claimed her prize with a shout of victory.

‘Humble, aren’t you?’ Wilder said, amused.

‘It’s hard to be humble when you’re the best,’ she quipped.

He laughed, and Thea didn’t think there was a sound in the entire world she loved more. She sat back, resting on her palms as she considered what she wanted to ask. Of all the things that remained unknown about the Warsword before her, the sapphire from his cabin lingered in her mind. Heat crept up her cheeks again and she cursed herself for being such an idiot.

‘Have you…’

‘Have I what?’

She was already mortified. ‘Have you had many lovers?’

Wilder’s brows shot up. ‘That’swhat you want to ask?’

‘I…’

‘Ask what you really want to ask, Thea.’

Her toes curled in her boots at her name on his lips, but that sapphire still glinted in her mind. ‘Who was before me?’ She struggled to swallow, unsure if she wanted the next answer. ‘Or after?’

Wilder’s gaze darkened and he placed his cards face down on the ground. ‘There has been no one since I met you. No one else in those three weeks after the Bloodwoods,’ he told her reverently. ‘Nor have I wanted there to be.’

Thea exhaled shakily, only now realising how fast her heart was beating. ‘And before?’

Wilder sighed. ‘Before was a long time ago.’

Thea waited, watching him as he pushed his hair back off his face and met her gaze again.

‘Her name was Adrienne. I… I cared about her a lot. She was good to me.’

Thea’s heart hitched. ‘You deserve that,’ she heard herself say. ‘Someone to be good to you.’

He gave her a sad smile. ‘Do I?’

The cards lay forgotten between them. ‘I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it,’ Thea said. ‘When did it end?’

Wilder hesitated, seemed to war with himself about whether to tell her or not.

Was it so recent that it still hurt? Would it hurt her to know?

‘We said we’d be honest,’ she reminded him.

He sighed. ‘Six years ago. Give or take.’

Thea blinked. ‘Six years?’ she blurted. ‘You haven’t – you didn’t… Forsix years?’

‘I’ll take your state of shock as a compliment, Apprentice,’ Wilder said drily.

‘But —’

‘You’ve had your question. Several, in fact. And if we’re dropping the pretence of this card game, I’ll ask you the same.’

His silver gaze was intense, glimmering with the reflection of the campfire flames.