AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘It comes with the territory, Warsword.’
‘Whose blood was on the sigil?’ he asked, an edge to his tone. The smear of crimson still stained the table.
‘Not mine.’
He seemed to war with himself over which battle he wanted to fight next.
Thea waited.
‘Did something happen with your magic?’ he demanded.
‘No.’
‘Then why can I sense a storm on you?’
‘Probably because it rained the whole ride back.’ Thea gestured to her sodden clothes.
Hawthorne’s jaw clenched. ‘You know what I meant. Did something happen?’
The vision of Anya flashed in Thea’s mind, but she didn’t reply.
‘By not mastering it, you’re making yourself vulnerable,’ Hawthorne told her.
‘I’m the best fighter in the whole fucking cohort,’ she snapped.
‘You still shouldn’t have left.’
‘I shouldn’t have done a lot of things,’ she bit back.
The Warsword before her flinched – actuallyflinchedat her words.
Thea heaved a sigh and pushed her damp hair back from her face. ‘Can we fight about something else?’
Hawthorne’s mask of fury slid back into place. ‘Oh, I’m sure there are more than enough topics,’ he replied drily. ‘I want to show you something.’
‘I thought you had ravens to send.’
‘Good gods, woman, for once, will you just do as I ask?’ All the anger had faded from his expression, and now he waited for her by the door.
Unable to quash her curiosity, Thea met his gaze and gave a stiff nod.
Hawthorne led her down several corridors to a small room on the same floor: a linen storeroom, by the looks of things.
‘What are we —’
But Thea cut herself off and stared.
For in the corner of the room, displayed on a mannequin, was a set of armour.
Simple black leather. And shaped for a woman, bust and all.
She loosed a shaky breath and stepped forward, taking in the boiled leather pieces that seemed too perfect to be true. The vest was form-fitting and lightly embossed with embellishments. Vambraces and pauldrons covered the top half of the mannequin, with pants and greaves on the lower half.
‘This is mine?’ she dared to ask in a near-whisper.
‘It’s yours,’ Hawthorne said from behind her. ‘All new Guardians are due to be measured for armour next week, but the current smith doesn’t make women’s pieces, so we had to improvise.’
Thea couldn’t take her eyes off it. The armour was a work of art. ‘You had this made for me?’
