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‘No.’
The anger she’d fought so hard to put aside in order to embark on this new journey with him spiked. ‘You’re lying. You told me once that all Warswords know one another.’
‘Forget it,’ he muttered.
‘Forget it? Forget that there’s a chance I might somehow beat the fate carved into this wretched stone?’ Power flickered at her fingertips as the outrage took hold.
Wilder halted his stallion. ‘I can scent the storm on you,’ he said quietly, at last twisting in his saddle so she could glimpse his handsome face. ‘To call lightning and thunder down upon us here would be a mistake, Princess.’
‘Don’t call me that.’
‘Then don’t act like a spoilt brat.’
‘You promised,’ she heard herself say. ‘You promised we would be honest with one another.’
His expression softened. ‘How about this… If you master your magic, I’ll do better than tell you about the immortal Warswords.’
Thea felt her eyes bulge. ‘So youdoknow one? And he’s still around?’
‘Is that a yes?’
‘You’re bribing me, then?’
A smile tugged at the corner of Wilder’s mouth. ‘Consider it an incentive.’
Thea weighed up her options and priorities, and a moment later, nodded. ‘Fine.’
‘It’s a nice change when you’re agreeable,’ he commented, turning back to the path ahead and urging his horse onward.
‘Don’t expect it to last,’ Thea muttered.
‘Wouldn’t dream of it, Princess.’
Thea swore at him.
‘Be cordial,’ he warned over his shoulder. ‘Or when you become a Warsword I’ll be there to name your Tverrian stallion “Pancake”, or something worse.’
Thea couldn’t help but laugh at that.
* * *
By late afternoon, they were through the mountains and out in the open, hilly terrain beyond. The lands were not the rolling green slopes and ridges of southern Harenth, but an almost sunburnt stretch of yellowed plains, the fields bordering the broader territory of Delmira.
‘Did you ever see it before its fall?’ Thea asked Wilder, looking out onto the barren vastness.
‘No,’ he replied. ‘I’m not as old as you think.’
‘My apologies. You should probably know that your less-than-sunny disposition is misleading, then.’
Wilder gave a huff of amusement. ‘Thanks for the honesty.’
Thea shrugged. ‘We made a promise. I’m simply upholding my end of it.’
‘Noble of you.’
‘I’m nothing if not noble.’
The Warsword shook his head in disbelief, then pointed to the foothills below. ‘We make camp there for the night.’
