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Without waiting for her reply, he urged his horse into a gallop, praying that a little distance would quell the roaring within.
He was fucked. Well and truly fucked.
Because the way he burned for her… No vows, no notion of duty – nothing – could stop it.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THEA
Thea won the race, by a hair’s breadth. But it didn’t matter, because on the other side of the rise was Delmira.
She heard Wilder suck in a breath. ‘Welcome home.’
Thea exhaled shakily as they rode across the grasslands and the heather, closing the gap between themselves and not only the ruins of Delmira, but the shell atop a plateau of cliffs that had once been Dorinth, the capital city.
The gently sloping hills inclined all the way into Delmirian territory, revealing a great sapphire-blue lake just beyond. She could taste the name of it on the tip of her tongue, but the word wouldn’t form. The land around it was sapped of vibrant colours – the grass yellow and faded, the few remaining trees greying, their bark peeling away.
‘It’s truly cursed, then?’ Thea murmured, surveying the lack of wildlife; not even a bird in the sky.
‘I don’t know if it’s a magical curse, but the land remembers what happened here.’
A shiver rolled through Thea. ‘Whatdidhappen here?’
‘I was hoping you might be able to tell us that,’ Wilder said quietly.
The place smelt familiar, but no memories came rushing back to her – no visions of home, no recollections of a mother or father. ‘Audra says my family were tyrants…’
‘They’re not your family. Just people you’re related to.’
‘Oh?’
‘Wren, Cal and Kipp? They’re your true family. The one you chose.’
Thea fought against the heat building behind her eyes. She wanted to ask,What about you?But the words wouldn’t come.
‘So you’re not worried I’m going to become a power-hungry tyrant?’ she tried to joke.
Wilder raised a single dark brow. ‘Areyou?’
‘Of all the things to concern myself with, that’s bottom of the ladder.’
They continued around the glimmering lake before heading further north. It wasn’t long before they passed through the outer ruins where only a few months ago they had battled therheguld reapers, where they’d lost Lachin and five other warriors of the guild to the monsters. As they moved through the rubble, a shiver raked down Thea’s spine. She recalled how the reaper’s attention had snagged on her, how it had sniffed the air around her, as though it could sense the power that simmered beneath the surface. She hadn’t known her own secret then, but the monster had. It had recognised her for what she was and had come back for more at Thezmarr…
‘It was a bad day,’ Wilder said beside her. ‘We lost good people.’
Thea nodded. Lachin’s blood had long since washed away; any evidence of the battle that had taken place was gone, like it had never happened. The ruins were an empty relic that told the lie,Nothing happened here. But Lachin’s name had been carved upon the stone swords of the Furies in the Great Hall. That was how he would be remembered.
And how will you be remembered?Thea asked herself.Where will your name be carved after you take your final breath?
She clenched her jaw, chastising herself for letting those thoughts intrude. They were of no use here. She needed to focus on her future, not her demise, though the two paths were inextricably linked.
‘This is the outer territory?’ she asked Wilder, trying to realign herself with the task at hand.
‘Yes,’ he said, gesturing to the ruined pillars and piles of broken stone. ‘This would have been the outer city wall and watchtowers. Guardhouses too… It stretches all along the cliff’s edge. Once, it would have been a very tactical vantage point for the defence of the kingdom.’
‘Kipp would like that,’ she murmured. ‘But it wasn’t enough to save them…’
‘No. Stone walls and towers do little to keep out the darkness.’ Watching her, Wilder motioned for them to keep moving. ‘Let’s enter the capital. Your parents and ancestors were from Dorinth, after all.’
