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‘Once?’ Hawthorne prompted.
‘Years ago I saw him in the flesh. Heard him talking to the Guild Master…’ she said slowly, sifting through the recollection. ‘Actually, they were talking about you.’
Hawthorne raised a brow. ‘I imagine they had a lot to say.’
‘Oh? What makes you think that?’
‘Call it a hunch,’ he replied with a grim note. ‘But I also fought at Talemir’s side for a long time before he left the guild. We were inseparable for years.’
‘Was he as good as they say?’
Hawthorne smiled at that. ‘Better.’
‘What happened to him? Why did he leave?’ Thea asked.
The Warsword was silent for a moment, seeming to mull his words over. ‘After the official fall of Naarva, there were unresolved issues, and another conflict followed shortly after.’
‘And he went back to fight?’
Hawthorne nodded. ‘We both did. It was… unexpected.’
‘There you are painting a vivid picture again.’
‘I’m not used to talking about these things. It’s not easy.’
Thea felt a pang low in her gut and her hand drifted to her fate stone. She knew that better than anyone. How many times had she yearned to express how she felt about the hourglass she raced against? How panicked she was at not having achieved what she wanted? How she wasn’t ready to leave the midrealmsbehind? But once she opened those gates, who knew what else might come spilling out…
‘I understand,’ she said, waiting until he met her eyes again. ‘But… Well, if you want to talk about it, I’ll listen.’
Hawthorne’s harsh face softened. ‘It has been a long while since I’ve had an offer like that.’
Those words splintered Thea’s heart. ‘Hawthorne…’
He took a measured breath. ‘Talemir was more than just a mentor to me,’ he told her. ‘Even long after I passed the Great Rite and became a Warsword. He was my family. Malik’s family, too. And he taught me everything I know. He was the greatest Warsword the midrealms had ever seen…’ Bitter admiration laced the warrior’s words and Thea noted how his hands gripped his reins tighter.
‘That’s what they say about you.’
‘Only because of him.’ Hawthorne replied. ‘But after that second conflict at Naarva, he left the guild for reasons I didn’t agree with, didn’t understand. Still don’t. Malik was badly injured, still recovering. Talemir was his closest friend, and he wasn’t there. He didn’t come back, didn’t… Well, after everything we had been through together, after everything with Malik… Talemir and I… We didn’t part on good terms.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Thea said, feeling the weight of his grief on her own chest. ‘Is he still alive?’
‘Somewhere out there, yes.’
Thea nodded. ‘Maybe one day you’ll meet again and mend the rift between you.’
‘Maybe.’ Hawthorne offered a sad smile. ‘Maybe.’
A few moments of silence passed between them. There was still so much Thea wanted to know about the man who rode beside her.
It was Hawthorne who broke the quiet. ‘Since you’ve so expertly wrangled my secrets from me, why don’t you tell me yours?’
‘You want to know my deepest, darkest desires do you, Warsword?’
There was a pause as his gaze intensified, became hooded. ‘One of many things I’m surprised to find myself wanting.’
Heat flooded between Thea’s legs and the rocking of the saddle against her didnothingto quell the sudden wave of arousal.
She cleared her throat and looked away, praying he hadn’t noticed the change in her. ‘You already know,’ she told him. ‘I want to fight for Thezmarr, I want to be a warrior, I want to be a Warsword one day.’
