Chapter Eight
WILDER
I n the pitch-black, her dagger was at his throat. In that moment, Wilder knew he must be deeply twisted inside, because his cock twitched at the cold press of her steel.
‘What the fuck have you done?’ Thea hissed, her body flush with his.
Gods, he’d missed the feel of her, the scent of her – like a kiss from the sea, laced with hints of bergamot. In the dark, it was as though she were wrapped around all his senses.
‘Bought myself some time,’ he murmured, only just stopping himself from breathing her in.
Her blade drifted from the soft skin of his neck down his chest, to rest above his armour. He couldn’t see her, could only feel the press of the dagger as he remained still, awaiting her next move. His heart was there, hers for the taking, so why didn’t she claim it?
‘Thea!’ Kipp’s muffled, panicked voice sounded through the debris. ‘Thea, are you in there?’
‘Thea, can you hear us?’ Cal shouted.
‘She’s safe,’ Wilder called back through the wreckage. ‘There was a cave-in.’
‘Should we move the rocks —’
‘No!’ Wilder replied, easing back from Thea’s blade and feeling along the cave wall for the torch he knew was there somewhere. ‘Follow the base of the cliff north with the horses. This is a tunnel, and it comes out on the other side of the mountain. You can meet us there.’
He searched his pockets for his flint. Striking the two pieces together, he lit the torch, light flooding the antechamber, casting a golden glow across Thea.
‘You planned this…’ she said, her dagger dropping to her side.
‘You didn’t give me much choice.’
Her gaze was bright with anger. ‘If you were attempting to win my trust, you just failed.’
‘Uhhh, Thea?’ Kipp called out again. ‘We probably need confirmation that, you know, you’re alive…?’
Wilder didn’t look away from her. ‘I needed you alone for this conversation,’ he told her.
‘Needed you somewhere you couldn’t run away or cut me off.
You will hear everything I have to say. As you promised.
We’re still heading towards Vios; the meet point is close to where the Wesford Road meets the main trade route of Aveum.
And should you still wish it by the end, this detour will not interfere with your quest for vengeance. You have my word.’
‘Your word means nothing to me,’ Thea said, her eyes deadened. ‘Is this a trap? Where you lead me to your shadow masters and hand me over?’
Gods, he hated that he’d made her doubt him so thoroughly, that she truly thought so little of him after all they’d shared.
If he could just get her to listen, he could offer to show her the camp, to introduce her to the real shadow-touched folk.
He could get her to talk to Anya, to Dratos – and if they couldn’t sway her, then perhaps it was a job for the Shadow Prince himself.
‘It’s not a trap,’ Wilder said quietly, trying to strip the hurt from his voice.
Thea stared him down, hard. There was so much anger there, so much grief. But she seemed to realise she had no choice, and slowly, she sheathed her dagger and cupped her hands around her mouth. ‘I’m alive, Kipp!’ she shouted. ‘See you on the other side.’
A wave of relief flooded through Wilder. He had time, time to explain to her and only her what he’d been through, what had happened a year ago…
She was waiting with a flat expression and motioned for him to lead. ‘You apparently know the way.’
Wilder started down the passageway, torch held high.
They walked in silence, Wilder marvelling all the while that after all this time, he was standing beside her once more.
Long after the fever from the arrow she’d shot had left him, he’d dreamt of her, every night.
Now… it had been a year without her touch, a year without her kiss, her laugh…
Though she vibrated with fury beside him, he wanted her. He would always want her.
And yet, Althea Zoltaire, Althea Embervale , had a bigger role to play in the stage the midrealms had set. It was this that forced the words from his mouth when he knew she didn’t want to hear them, knew they caused her pain.
‘So, why haven’t you used it?’ he asked, feigning casualness. ‘Your magic?’
‘Who says I haven’t?’ she replied.
Wilder simply raised a brow. He wasn’t about to throw Kipp to the wolves.
Thea sighed. ‘How do you know I haven’t?’
‘You don’t want to know.’ It wasn’t until he’d spoken to Kipp that he’d been sure, but he kept that detail to himself.
Thea kept walking, but he sensed her body go rigid beside him. ‘All I have ever asked of you is the truth, so don’t tell me what I want.’
Wilder took the hit. ‘I can feel its absence in the world. Ever since we —’
‘Don’t,’ Thea cut him off.
He tried again. ‘We’re connected —’
‘I said, don’t.’ But her voice was strained, and where Wilder would once have felt a crackle of magic alongside her warning, there was empty silence.
‘Grief can affect —’
Her gaze snapped to his, full of fire. ‘You think I grieve for you?’
Wilder swallowed the lump in his throat. ‘I think you grieve for a lot of things, Princess.’
‘Is this what’s meant to save you? Dredging up our shitty history? One that was built on lies?’
‘I never lied about how I felt. Not about you, not about us —’
‘There is no us. I don’t want to hear any more about it.’
The air was knocked out of Wilder’s lungs, and he struggled to compose himself, grateful to be the one holding the torch, angling it away from the devastation he knew was clearly written on his face.
‘But you’ll listen to the rest?’ he asked.
‘I have nothing better to do.’
It wasn’t exactly how he wanted to tell her after all this time, but as they moved through the tunnel beneath the mountain, Wilder knew he may not get another chance with her alone. He took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders.
‘It all starts with Talemir,’ he began.
He felt, rather than saw, the shift in Thea at the mention of his former mentor, the legendary Warsword of Thezmarr, the Prince of Hearts.
‘The day Malik was hurt in Naarva, something happened to Talemir as well,’ he continued, wishing he’d had the foresight to bring a canteen.
His mouth was already dry. ‘A reaper… A reaper pinned him down, got its talons in his chest. I couldn’t get there in time.
I tried – gods, I tried. To help Malik, to help Tal, but…
it already had him. It lifted him up in the air with its shadows, pierced his heart with its fucking claws.
Eventually I managed to bring it down, but Tal…
Tal was hurt, and our unit was in pieces.
I got him and Mal on their horses and retreated, to get them back to Thezmarr, to Farissa and the healers. ’
Wilder paused, fighting to keep his voice even. He’d never told this story aloud before, not like this.
‘Malik… Well, you know what fate Malik faced, what he still endures. But Tal… For a while, Tal seemed to heal. He was out of the infirmary in a matter of hours. He was broken up about Malik, same as me. But he was himself. Or so I thought.’
‘He was still hurt?’ Thea asked, seeming to forget her vow of silence momentarily. Wilder was grateful. Her voice grounded him.
He nodded. ‘In a way… It wasn’t until months after that battle at Islaton, after he and I got sent to the ruins of Naarva on another mission, that I found out the truth.’
He could see Thea fighting with herself over whether to engage with his tale, wringing her hands before her. In the end, curiosity won. ‘Which was?’
‘He’d been cursed. In the same way you nearly were in the Bloodwoods after the initiation test. The reaper who attacked him got its darkness in his heart. He’s…’
‘He’s what?’ Thea pressed, all pretence of nonchalance forgotten.
Wilder hated saying it, even now, even after all these years.
‘He’s a half-wraith. Like those people you saw caged in Tver, like the poor creatures you saw imprisoned in Artos’ dungeons…
Like the one Cal and Torj shot from the sky.
If the reaper had succeeded, he’d be something far worse – kin to the howlers, or a full wraith himself. ’
Thea blinked at him. ‘You’re telling me that Talemir Starling, the legendary Warsword, the Prince of Hearts, Thezmarr’s undefeated dual wielding champion, is a fucking shadow wraith?’
‘Half,’ Wilder corrected her. ‘Though his kind prefer to be called shadow-touched. Like I told you in the woods, he’s still human. But he has shadow power, and wings, and claws when he wants.’
Thea shook her head.
‘I swear it,’ Wilder implored. ‘I know my word means nothing to you now, but this… this is so much bigger than you and me. This is about the midrealms’ survival.’
‘So I’m supposed to believe that Talemir Starling is leading his half-wraith army, alongside the Daughter of Darkness, in league with the reapers, to bring down the kingdoms?’
‘I told you before, the shadow-touched aren’t in league with the reapers, or anything that’s trying to come through the Veil and destroy the kingdoms. They’re on our side, Thea.’
‘Side? And what side is that, exactly?’
He wanted to reach out and shake her by the shoulders. She knew him better than this, she had to… But he kept walking. ‘The side that wants to see the light triumph over darkness.’
Thea was quiet, and for that he couldn’t blame her. Furies knew he hadn’t handled it well when he’d finally discovered the truth about Talemir. The brawl they’d had amid the sun orchids in Naarva had been one for the ages.
He slowed his pace ever so slightly, hoping Thea wouldn’t notice. He’d do anything to give her more time to process the truth, to give them more time to work through this together.