Blood & Steel: An epic romantic fantasy (The Legends of Thezmarr Book 1) by Helen Scheuerer

Author:Helen Scheuerer [Scheuerer, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Alchemy
Published: 2023-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

It had been a month since Thea’s first day as a shieldbearer, and with her own training in addition to the required load, she’d hardly seen Wren. But when her sister tracked her down in the hour before dawn in the armoury, she knew something had changed.

‘I’ve been looking all over for you!’ Wren practically shouted. Despite the cold and the ungodly hour, she was beaming. ‘I’ve been made Farissa’s apprentice! A formal apprentice of the alchemy arts, Thea!’

Thea blinked for a moment and then dropped the blade she was sharpening. She launched herself at her sister. ‘That’s amazing, Wren. I knew it would be you! You’re the best there is.’

‘You’re truly pleased for me?’

Thea pulled back. ‘What? Of course I’m pleased for you. This is your dream.’

‘I know, I just…’

‘Just what?’

‘Well, I wasn’t sure you’d be entirely happy.’

‘Why in the realms would I not be?’

‘I… It doesn’t matter.’ Wren grinned. ‘Come and see my new quarters! I get rooms all to myself, can you believe it?’

Thea hardly had any choice in the matter. Wren was all but dragging her back to the fortress. Somewhat dazed, Thea allowed Wren to pull her through the passageways to the upper levels towards the masters’ and commanders’ residences.

‘You stay up here?’

‘I have to be close to Farissa. I have the room next to hers.’

At last they came to her door and Wren opened it, proudly motioning for Thea to step inside.

‘How long have you been here?’ Thea asked, frowning as she took in the obscene amount of clutter. Her sister had always had a tendency to be messy, but this was a whole new extreme. There were plants on nearly every surface, glass vials balanced precariously on uneven edges.

‘Two days.’

Thea baulked. ‘Two days? And it looks like this?’

‘It’s organised chaos, I’ll have you know, Althea. I know where everything is.’

‘Gods help anyone else who needs to find something, though,’ Thea replied with a laugh.

‘But no one would,’ Wren said gleefully. ‘It’s my room. My very own.’

Thea knew what that meant. In all the years they’d lived at Thezmarr, neither of them had ever had a space of her own. So Thea reached out and squeezed her sister’s shoulder. ‘Congratulations, Wren. You deserve it.’

‘Thank you.’

Thea waited a beat. ‘Did they give you a spare key?’

Wren rounded on her. ‘Not a chance, Thea. I only just got rid of you.’

Thea laughed. ‘I was only joking… Mostly. You try living with twelve men in your room. They’re loud. They stink. And they constantly brag about sleeping with women they’ve clearly never spoken to.’

‘Sounds charming.’

‘You have no idea.’

‘You should come and visit more, Thea,’ Wren said suddenly. ‘Sam and Ida miss you. And you’ve missed a lot in our alchemy shifts. They’re throwing me a little party this afternoon to celebrate. You should come.’

‘I can’t.’ Thea gave a heavy sigh. ‘I don’t have time, Wren. Not if I want to be —’

‘A Thezmarrian warrior. A Warsword,’ Wren cut her off sharply. ‘We know. We know how important it is to you.

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