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‘Calm yourself,’ Wilder commanded softly.
But Thea’s gaze was trained on Audra, who stood before her, daring her.
‘You’re a danger to yourself and to others,’ Audra pressed. ‘You already proved that with Wren the other day —’
Wilder stiffened.What is she talking about?
Wren grimaced. ‘Audra, it was nothing —’
‘Don’t make excuses for her. You were lucky, likely because you share the same magic,’ Audra snapped, rounding on Thea again. ‘What if you did the same thing in a training session with your friends?’
Bolts of lightning flickered at Thea’s fingertips. White and brilliant, full of challenge and power.
‘They’ve already nearly died once because of you, haven’t they?’ Audra’s words were poised to cut and cut deep. She didn’t stop. ‘Yet you hardly try to train it. You refuse to master your magic, and for what?’
Thea’s mouth fell open. ‘I —’
‘Are you going to throw a storm tantrum every time you don’t get what you want? Because life will be full of disappointments, Althea.’
‘Stop it.’ Thea’s voice was low.
‘You could hurt them, just like you hurt Wren,’ Audra baited, closing in on her ward with predatory grace. ‘You couldkill them, even.’
Both Wilder and Wren eyed the magic sparking at Thea’s trembling hands, and the heavy clouds suddenly rolling in overhead. Dread bloomed in the pit of Wilder’s stomach.
‘Audra…’ he cautioned.
But the librarian didn’t heed his warning. Instead, she sneered at his apprentice. ‘And if you’re not concerned about your sister or your friends… What abouthim?’ She thrust a finger at Wilder. ‘What if one of those bolts found its way to his heart?’
Thea cursed viciously, flinging her hands towards the sea. Two forks of lightning soared outward, hitting the dark waters in the distance, and thunder clapped above them, rattling the ground.
Audra shook her head in disgust, her lip still curled. ‘Just a few words and you’re losing your temper like a child? What if that hit —’
The looming storm crackled above them. Thea was shaking with rage, with the promise of violence – or was it terror? Wilder took a step towards her.
Audra didn’t yield. ‘Imagine if you failed to control yourself in front of the Guild Master. Or the rulers of the remaining kingdoms. They’d know… They’d know what you and your sister are. They would blame you for the storms amid the darkness and the monsters crawling forth from the Veil.Just like the rest of your family,they’d say. And who knows what new pandemonium would be wrought upon the midrealms —’
In a blur, Wilder forced himself between the older woman and Thea. ‘That’senough,’ he cut in. ‘You’ve saidenough, Audra.’
Audra froze, before turning her glare on him. ‘You forget yourself, Warsword. I’m doing your job for you, it seems.’
More lightning sparked in the distance.
‘You’re putting her at risk this way,’ he argued. Couldn’t she see how hurt and fragile Thea was in this moment? How she’d tapped into some of Thea’s worst fears? He couldn’t stand by and watch —
‘You’re out of your depth, Hawthorne,’ Audra told him, surveying his face coldly.
‘I’ve known that for a long while now.’ The words slipped from his mouth without a thought. ‘Whatever you’re doing up here, it isn’t working.’
The flinty librarian crossed her arms. ‘Yes, you’re an expert on what doesn’t work.’ She looked from Thea back to him, shaking her head again. ‘This is on you, Warsword.’
Then she left, tugging a wide-eyed Wren after her.
Apprentice and master were alone, the clouds closing in around them.
‘Does it scare you?’ Thea asked softly, staring into the darkening sky. ‘That I could split the world in two?’
Wilder went to her, matching the intensity of her gaze. ‘Nothing about you scares me.’
