Page 79 of Thorns & Fire (The Ashes of Thezmarr #2)

Torj

‘The lone flame flickers, but a fire blazing bright has the power to rewrite fate’

– Tethers and Magical Bonds Throughout History

T ORJ FLED H IGHGUARD on his stallion, tearing through the city gates so fast that tears streamed from his eyes.

Wind whipped through his hair and stung his cheeks, but he had to get out of there, had to leave that rotten place behind.

He rode blindly towards Drevenor, his heart racing, nausea swirling low in his gut.

He’d gather his things and get back to the port.

He could board a ship. He could sail beyond the Veil border.

Darian Devereux... After everything Torj had told her. Why him ? The man was a fucking monster, a blight upon the midrealms.

Kipp had outlined the plan. A marriage of alliance to Zavier – her friend, who they could trust; a fellow magic wielder, a smart match with resources of his own.

Torj had hated the thought of Wren wearing anyone else’s ring, but he’d told himself he could live with it.

That if it meant peace in the midrealms, he’d stomach being the Queen of Delmira’s secret lover. But Devereux? The man was poison.

Torj could barely remember the ride from the city by the time he got back to the academy. He didn’t recall climbing the stairs or unlocking the door to his room. He stumbled inside, thoughts of Wren consuming him.

I could never tell you goodbye. She had said those words into his very mind, allowing them to burrow inside his heart as her soul connected with his.

She was everywhere. The spring rain and jasmine scent that lingered in the air; the bushel of dried lavender that still sat on the windowsill; the strands of bronze hair on his pillow, and the apron she’d discarded over the back of his chair.

He could feel the echo of her storm magic too, ghosting across his skin, his lips. ..

With an anguished shout, he swept his forearm across the desk, sending books, parchment and a glass clattering to the floor. His thoughts were chaotic, panicked. One second, he was sure there must be an explanation, some plan he wasn’t privy to, and the next...

Devereux. She chose Devereux.

He had told her he would stick by her through anything. That he would be with her until the very end, but this?

He looked to his pack. He could leave. Right now. He could be on the open seas within hours. He could...

His eyes fell to something else.

The dagger. The dagger he had taught her how to use, the dagger he’d secretly had altered just this week to fit her smaller hand... In the final rays of sun streaming through the window, the inscription he’d had engraved along its blade glittered back at him.

Iron & Embers .

He sank to the floor, his back against the bed, head in his hands. Devereux... For her to marry Darian fucking Devereux... How could she—

But still he heard her voice. Meet me at dusk. No matter what.

Breaking apart at the seams, Torj watched the shadows lengthen across the room. Dusk was approaching... and with it came a reckoning.

The sky turned blood red as Torj passed beneath the garden gates. He realized his hands were trembling. Whatever awaited him now, he both dreaded and desperately needed answers .

The rolling hills so full of wildflowers somehow seemed empty, like the cavernous space inside his chest, hollow and aching.

He had broken her heart here. Now she was doing the same to him.

A heart for a heart.

He supposed there was a brutal sense of justice in that.

And so he kept his vow. He waited.

Torj felt her before he saw her. A song calling out to him, the melody his soul knew. Wren was still wearing the gold dress as she approached, the same shade as the bond between them.

‘You came,’ she said softly.

He tried to swallow the lump in his throat. ‘I gave you my word.’

‘You did. And there’s nothing I wouldn’t give for you,’ she told him fiercely, her gaze full of fire. ‘Nothing.’

But Torj’s eyes fell to the large jewel now adorning her fourth finger, recognizing it instantly: the late Lady Devereux’s engagement ring. ‘Then... what have you done? Did you ask me here for a morbid farewell?’ His voice was hoarse, broken.

‘No.’ Wren’s expression was steely. ‘I told you I would never say goodbye.’

Torj stared at her. ‘Then what, Wren? What reason could you possibly have for choosing him ? For doing this?’

‘It was the only way to save you,’ she said. ‘And I know that’s something you can understand, because you made the same choice not all that long ago.’

‘Wren... What are you talking about?’

Her mask of composure slipped for a moment, and she took his hands in hers. ‘You have been poisoned , my Bear Slayer. That is what Lucian Devereux told me in the archives. You were targeted when you rescued Queen Reyna.’

‘What?’ Torj started. ‘You can’t believe a word that bastard says. He’s lying.’

She shook her head sadly. ‘He’s not. I tested your blood for toxins myself.’

‘ When ?’ he demanded, incredulous.

‘After he told me. I had your blood under my fingernails from when we... it doesn’t matter. It’s the truth. You need to trust me on that. Please .’

The desperate note in her voice stopped him from protesting. Instead, Torj tried to think about it rationally. ‘If that’s the case, you’ve created the cure. You saved Reyna. Why can’t you use that potion on me?’

‘This is a different poison entirely.’ Wren’s voice wavered. ‘Whatever it’s made of, it was designed specifically for you.’

Torj thought back to the queen’s rescue.

.. he remembered the chaos of the vapour, and the blue-grey smoke billowing from the broken vial beneath the enemy’s boot.

Searching his memory for more detail, he jolted.

The darts . He’d shielded Reyna with his own body.

He’d barely felt the things prick his skin.

.. and with everything else going on, he’d thought no more of it.

‘But I feel fine...’ he told Wren, the blurry images still flashing in his mind, as though they had happened to someone else.

‘That was months ago now. Surely I’d have some sort of reaction or symptoms if it were true? ’

Wren squeezed his hands. ‘It’s been in your blood ever since. Perhaps it was even dormant for a time, but it’s a slow-release toxin and eventually... it will kill you. But I’m not going to let that happen.’

Torj shook his head in disbelief, his mind reeling. ‘How does Lucian know? And what’s his role in all of this?’

‘He has spies in the People’s Vanguard who report back to him,’ Wren answered.

‘And Lucian wants what all men like him want: power. He thinks that by marrying his son into the Embervale family, he will gain more than he has ever had before. A storm-wielding daughter-in-law, storm-wielding grandchildren – not to mention access to the newly discovered prosperity Delmira now offers. He wants it all, and he’s using you to force my hand. ’

Torj’s gut twisted as though a knife were embedded there.

Wren linked her fingers through his, stroking his callused skin with her thumb. ‘Lucian thinks I’m caving to his will, that he has me over a barrel, but the engagement to Darian buys us time – time to find an antidote and more resources to defend Delmira.’

A hollow laugh bubbled from his lips. ‘How did we fucking get here? Darian , Wren?’

‘It’s part of a much bigger plan. And it had to look believable,’ she said softly.

‘Everyone knew we were together, Torj. We might have hidden the soul bond, but our love? There was no denying that, and so the end of us... it had to be public, and your reaction had to be genuine. All the powerful figures had to see it for themselves. They needed to be convinced that we are over, and that my engagement to Darian is genuine.’

As her words washed over him, Torj felt as though he were standing on the precipice of something monumental, something that he didn’t yet quite understand, but that could change the course of the future.

‘It was the only way to reset the chessboard. To figure out who we can trust,’ Wren continued, pain gleaming in her stormy gaze. ‘I’m sorry to have done that to you, to have hurt you... But I did this to save you, Torj. To save the midrealms. All I can do is play the hand I’ve been given.’

Another shaky breath escaped him, and he hardly dared to believe it. ‘It’s a shitty hand,’ he croaked.

‘Terrible,’ Wren agreed, her mouth quirking to the side. ‘But do you remember telling me about the warrior’s second? This is ours. The breath before the slice of a blade. The moment to make the swing of a hammer count, to make our actions worthy of legend...’

Gold flickered once more between them.

I love you , her voice bloomed in his mind, loud and clear, strong and unyielding. I have always loved you.

The green eyes that locked on his were full of passion, a storm of power. The soul bond shimmered to life between them, the gold more solid than ever before.

I love you , he echoed back silently.

And Wren smiled.

‘I take it you have a plan?’ Torj heard himself ask, his heart still raw but hope sparking in his chest.

She nodded. ‘I have a plan.’

With trembling hands, Torj took hers in his as he knelt, pressing his lips to her knuckles before looking up at her.

He lay his war hammer at her feet and unsheathed the dagger he’d had altered, offering it, and his whole heart, to her. ‘Then tell me how to serve you, my queen.’

‘You stand at my side.’ Wren’s fingers closed over his, gold and lightning joining them as one. ‘And we destroy them all. Together.’