Page 19 of Shadow & Storms

‘Just the one.’ He winked.

That small gesture alone lightened the weight pressing down on Thea’s heart. Her Warsword was still in there, and he’d find his way back to her.

She poured fire extract over a scrap of cloth from the medical kit and waited. ‘I’d be more impressed if you let me clean it.’

Wilder bared his side to her. ‘I can’t even feel it —’ His body stiffened and he hissed through his teeth as she pressed the alcohol-soaked fabric to his wound. ‘Fuck.’

Thea focused on the task at hand, gently wiping as much blood away from the cut as she could before she prepared the needle and thread, just as he’d taught her. ‘Tell me about this tavern,’ she asked. ‘What were you doing here last time?’

Wilder grunted as she made the first suture, but then he looked around the tavern, his expression distant. ‘It was… about eight years ago now. We didn’t stay here long…’

‘Who’s we?’

‘Me, Tal, Drue, Adrienne and their force of Naarvian rangers. Some of their people had been kidnapped by wraiths – Dratos and Gus were among them. You remember them?’

Thea laughed, but kept her hands steady as she worked. ‘They’re hard to forget.’

‘Don’t tell Dratos that,’ Wilder replied, taking a swig from the fire extract with a grimace. The shadow-touched warrior’s head was already big enough. ‘We planned our assault from here. Only stayed one night, if I remember rightly. Definitely didn’t make the most of its secret stores…’

Thea didn’t look up from her sutures, trying not to wince as she threaded the needle through Wilder’s flesh. ‘Kipp would call that a disgrace. To stay at the Dancing Badger and not indulge.’

‘The Son of the Fox does enough indulging for everyone.’

‘He’d disagree,’ Thea retorted, finishing her last stitch and tying off the thread. ‘Done. Any other injuries I should know about?’

Wilder surveyed her handiwork. ‘Not bad, Apprentice.’

‘I think we’re well past “apprentice” now, don’t you?’ Thea quipped, rummaging through the medical kit. ‘Let me bandage it.’

Wilder leant forward in the chair, making room for her to wrap the bandage around his middle. As she worked, her fingers brushed over his heated skin and she saw goosebumps rush across his torso, his nipples hardening and his gaze darkening.

‘Don’t get any ideas, Warsword…’ she murmured as she finished.

But his eyes fell to where her sleeve had slipped up, her scarred wrist revealed once more. This time, she offered it to him. Ever so gently, he took her hand in his and studied her marred flesh. With a featherlight touch, he traced the jagged line of it around the circumference of her wrist. His head bowed and he pressed his lips to the mottled markings.

Thea didn’t move as he kissed every inch of it, a ring of reverence.

‘All my other Rite scars disappeared,’ she said. ‘But this one… This one was different. I wondered if it was because it was done with Naarvian steel, by my own hand… I guess I’ll never know. They said I would always feel it.’

Understanding gleamed in Wilder’s gaze. ‘You did it to yourself?’

Thea nodded.

‘I’m sorry you went through that.’

Thea cupped his face, fighting back tears again. One day, they might find a way to share their experiences, to lay it all out for one another, but not today. She wasn’t sure she could handle hearing what they’d done to him, not yet. First, she would piece them physically back together. The rest would come.

‘I’m sorry you went through what you went through,’ she told him.

Wilder leant into her touch with a shudder, his hand covering hers, as though he still didn’t quite believe she was there. ‘When we rejoin the others… we have to look unshakeable. We have to be strong for everyone.’

‘I know,’ she said. She hadn’t seen their friends since she’d left for the Great Rite, their party not exactly the unified front they needed to end a war. But darkness was coming for them all.

‘I don’t feel strong,’ Wilder admitted quietly. ‘I don’t —’

Thea silenced him with a hard kiss. ‘You are the strongest person I know,’ she told him as she withdrew breathlessly. ‘For the longest time I have lived upon the frayed edges of memory, of life. But with you by my side, I feel… reborn. Like you’ve answered the restlessness within me with power of your own. Power that fits together like pieces of a puzzle.’ She traced the line of his jaw, hoping he saw everything she felt for him shining in her stare. ‘Tell me what you need and it’s yours.’

Wilder’s throat bobbed before he spoke. ‘Do you remember the balcony in Notos? Before the battle began?’

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