Thorns & Fire (The Ashes of Thezmarr, #2)

by Helen Scheuerer

You’re allowed to wobble. You’re allowed to have a gloomy day. But this is not your forever. This is not the day to base all other days on.”

“You loved her then as you love her today, and will for all the days that come after. You will always love her. That is the only thing that matters, Bear Slayer.”

“Do you think I’d allow someone to approach my wife like that?”

Torj had become what he was always meant to be: the shield between Wren and the world that had already taken too much.

The women sat cross-legged on Dessa’s bed, steaming mugs of tea between their palms, and Wren sank into the warm comfort of female friendship once more. It was a balm like no other, she realized. She needed it.

“Mark not the thorns, but rather what they’ve kept safe through the ages.”

With trembling hands, Torj took hers in his as he knelt, pressing his lips to her knuckles before looking up at her. He lay his war hammer at her feet and unsheathed the dagger he’d had altered, offering it, and his whole heart, to her. “Then tell me how to serve you, my queen.”