Shadow & Storms (The Legends of Thezmarr, #4)

by Helen Scheuerer

‘I love you so much I can hardly breathe. I’ve wanted to say it for so long —’

‘I’ll tell you every day until my last,’

It was her choice, and he would stand by her until the end.

He only wanted Thea. A future with her. And for a moment, he allowed himself to dream that fate would allow them to have it.

‘There’s no counting the ways I love you, Thea,’

Thea’s heart nearly burst as he gazed upon her with nothing but love – pure, adoring love in his silver eyes. ‘No man could have you and not be consumed,’ he murmured.

a true man won’t cut you down as you fight your battles… A true man helps sharpen your sword, guards your back and fights at your side.’

‘Shadow and storms. A reckoning. I have seen that gold will turn to silver in a blaze of iron and embers, giving rise to ancient power long forgotten. And I have seen your fates,’

‘They are tangled. I cannot discern one from the next, only that they meet in a dawn of fire and blood.’

‘You have proven time and time again that you can fight your own battles,’

‘But there are those you shouldn’t have to. Let me fight this one for you. Let me carry this burden.’

‘I will always fight for you. And it’s my honour to do so.’

‘For the longest time, women have been erased, little by little, or in the case of the Furies themselves, in one fell swoop. We have lived in the shadow of the rights and laws of men. But when the world is reborn, it will be of our own making. You’re fighting for that world, and you have the same right to armour as the rest of us. You are surrounded by women who want to see you empowered, and that is stronger than any fucking army in these realms. Don’t let the world – don’t let anyone convince you that you’re not enough. Only you define your story. You and you alone. When they tell you what you’re not, when they tell you what you can’t do, remember: you are the storm, Elwren. You split the skies and flood the plains. You make the ground tremble beneath their boots. No one can fucking stop you.’

‘We may be divided in our own histories and prejudices, but one thing unites us. We stand against tyranny. We stand against the poison and curses swallowing our world. We will break their lines. We will shatter them from within. We’ve been forced into hiding, persecuted, kept down for far too long. This is our time to rise. So rise!’

‘Because I love you, so deeply, Thea. And if I tell you I love you a thousand times a day for the rest of our lives, it will not have been enough.’

‘It doesn’t matter who stands against you… What matters most is who stands with you.’

arm. ‘If you want to dabble in revenge rather than save what’s left of this world, then be my fucking guest. But maybe you should think about how you wish to leave the world… Better, for having had you in it? Or a mirror of the pain you experienced? If that is what you want your legacy to be, then so be it. Just know that it doesn’t make you different. It makes you the same as all the rest.’

Glory in death, immortality in legend.

‘We are all daughters of darkness, Thea. We were born into a world of it, a place that would dictate the way in which we defend ourselves, the way we live our lives. No more. That world is no longer. And the next one will be what we make it.’

‘You can do this. You were forged with blood and steel, with lightning and thunder… You were made for this war, made to end it, and you will, for all of us. When I first saw you spying on the Warsword meeting atop the cliffs, I sensed it in you even then.’

‘There are few who can face themselves as well as their nightmares and emerge whole on the other side,’

‘It’s always been you, Thea. And as long as I’m with you, you’re the only home I’ll ever need.’

I have seen that gold will turn to silver in a blaze of iron and embers…