Book Review: Thorns & Roses

Title: Thorns & Roses
Author: Helen Scheuerer
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Fantasy, Romantasy

What It’s About: Torj and Wilder are fighting off a huge amount of men belonging in the People’s Vanguard, realizing that their sources about where Queen Reyna was being held were wrong. There are too many people to fight off, and some of them start using vials of alchemy, so both Torj and Wilder pull up masks to protect themselves, though they know that there isn’t fully effective. Torj decides that they need to leave, and Wilder agrees, though Torj wants to take the man that Wilder had pinned to the wall—a Captain in the People’s Vanguard—to question him. He grabs him on the way out of the temple, and together with Wilder, they knock down two of the statues depicting the Furies to block the exit out of the temple, and trap the soldiers. Then they turn to the Captain, and at first Torj threatens to harm him to get him to speak, but Wilder pulls out a vial of truth serum created by none other than Wren, and pours it into the Captain’s mouth. The man then tells them exactly where Queen Reyna has been held. Torj then kills the man, but his last words haunt Torj. Torj also doesn’t want to talk about Wren when asked by Wilder, and just sharing her name hurts him.

Together, Torj and Wilder travel across the lands, hiding their Warswords emblems, and their notable weapons. They make it to the shipyard that the Captain had told them about, and surveil it, then make their way in. There, they find Queen Reyna, along with a box of Monster horns and parts, which Torj grabs in order to bring it back to Thezmarr. Knowing that they won’t go unnoticed, Torj and Wilder run and fight the members of the People’s Vanguard that are packing the boats. They don’t have any alchemical components, so they go down easy, but more of them show up and this time they have vials. Then Torj recognizes the leader by the mask that he wears, and he wants vengeance. Unfortunately, the leader gets the upper hand by showing him that he has an alchemical vial that would melt things and hurt Torj even more. Then he shoots some darts at Queen Reyna, so Torj jumps in to shield her from them, and the leader, who had introduced himself as Lord Silas, throws a vial of smoke that covers up his people’s movement, leaving Torj, Wilder and the Queen alone. Torj cuts the ropes around the Queen’s wrists, and she recognizes him briefly, before uttering the prophecy that Gold will change into silver, awakening an ancient magic. This gives Torj goosebumps, but he’s not able to ask her for anything more as she faints.

It is only later, when Torj and Wilder are in an inn, having a healer look at Queen Reyna, that they have a chance to question her. She tells them that she really has no idea how they traveled all these weeks since her abduction at the Drevenor academy graduation, but she did hear a lot of things throughout the time with them, including the fact that Lord Silas had planned for them to come find her in the Shipyard, and that before they arrived he received word that something he was looking for was found, so he decided to change plan and leave the three of them alone. She also reveals that they had given her a potion that muted her magic—stripped it from her essentially because usually she is able to feel its presence, but not anymore—and that it might be permanent. Queen Reyna also tells them that Lord Silas has towns that he controls between their current location and Naarva, but taking a different route would take longer, and she wants to go home to Aveum. Both men disagree with her, but she is adamant to return, and so Wilder goes to send a message to Audra because he doesn’t like this information. Torj, in the meantime, sits down with the queen and asks her about the prophecy. She reveals to him that she told this prophecy to the Embervale sisters, and while she never mentioned anyone by name, she chose him to lead her armies because she saw potential. Torj realizes that she had predicted everything that had happened to him and Elwren.

In the meantime, Elwren is in Drevenor Academy, having exhausted herself over the last few weeks since graduation in trying to make the potion she used on Zavier, who is now being crowned as King of Naarva, in Ciraun, with Cal protecting him as a Warsword. Thea, who has temporarily replaced Torj as agreed upon with Audra, tells her sister that she is exhausted and she needs some sleep, as well as to take a bath. She also tells her that she hasn’t talked about what happened with Torj, but Wren doesn’t want to do so, because she has nothing to say. At some point, Wren goes to Farissa to update her on the progress of the alchemy, which is to say that she hasn’t made any progress. Together, with Farissa, they go through her notes and experiments, discovering nothing of note on the surface. Then, Farissa asks Wren where she got the herbs in the flower, and Wren tells her that it was a silvertide rose that looked wretched, because it was from Delmira, but she has since replaced it with the silvertide plant from the gardens. Farissa pulls out a drawing of the plant in the book, and tells Wren that she either got it wrong, or there is something in the soil that has brought out different properties in the plant. Farissa tells Wren that she will have to go back to Delmira to get more of the plant.

So with Thea, Dessa, and Kipp in tow, they head out on a ship towards Delmira. Aboard the ship, Thea continues sparring with Wren, though Wren’s thought occasionally go to Torj and what happened between them. One day aboard the ship, Thea tells Wren that even though she doesn’t want to talk about Torj, and Thea has tried everything to get her to talk, she wants Wren to listen, and gives her advice. Thea then reveals to her that Torj never talked the scars as if they were painful, and she left him a book that she saw in Kipp’s room to read about Magical Bonds and Tethers, after which he promptly left to Audra’s room. She urges Wren to talk to him and learn more. This stays with Wren for the rest of the trip, and she tries to find out from Kipp if he still has the book, but he tells her nothing beyond the fact that he had the book for only one day in his possession before Thea took it so he barely had the time to read it. Eventually, a missive reaches Thea that she is to be reassigned to go with the Queen of Aveum, and a different Warsword will take her place, with whom they will meet enroute. Thea tells Wren that she will like the new warsword replacement.

When they dock, Dessa and Kipp get the horses, while Thea and Wren go into the market to buy supplies. While there, Wren feels that they are being watched, and Thea nods in confirmation. They speak amongst themselves, saying that it’s no longer as welcoming or the same as it previously used to be. An alchemist in the market calls to them, and tells them that things have changed and even if they were originally from Thezmarr, if they haven’t been here in a while, they’re no longer considered locals. They decide to leave, and Wren mentions to Thea that someone is following them, which Thea confirms she has realized. Thea, Wren, Kipp and Dessa make their way on horseback towards Thezmarr, and they have someone following them. When it’s far enough away, Thea turns back with Wren to intercept the person who has been following them. It turns out that the man is following them because he is desperate—something that Wren picks up on from looking at him while Thea tries to interrogate him. He reveals that the People’s Vanguard is offering them money on any sort of information on newcomers, and that he was hoping to get some information on where they are heading so that he might get some money because his daughter has been sick. Wren asks him about his daughter’s symptoms, and gives him instructions, a vial of some medicine for him to use for his daughter, and money. She then tells him that they are going Thezmarr, and Thea doesn’t contradict her at all. Once the man takes off to town, Thea and Wren return to Kipp and Dessa. They continue traveling down their route, until they come across a lone figure making their way to them. It is none other than Torj. He reveals that the female warsword that was supposed to take over for him was killed, and so he is going to be the temporary cover until Audra can get a list of Warswords for Wren to choose from.

Wren decides to make camp for the night, so they do, and Torj cannot be in her presence for a bit because of how much he misses her. He heads to the edge of the camp, and Wren goes up to him, puts her hand on his scars, and asks him to tell her the truth. He tells her the same thing that he told her before. So she leaves him and returns to the camp with Torj following a few moments later. He tells them everything that has been going on—what they found with wilder in their travels, what has been going on with the Queen, and the fact that the People’s Vanguard is well organized plus they seem to be getting people together fairly easily under the banner. He tells Thea that Wilder was injured, though not badly, but it has her worrying all the same. She decides to make her way to Wilder, regardless, by leaving that same night. Thea talks to Wren, and then Torj comes up to her, while Wren ducks into a bush to eavesdrop on them. They talk Warsword business for a bit, until Thea tells Torj to tell Wren the truth and to protect her at all costs. He promises that they will.

The next day, Torj, Wren, Kipp and Dessa make their way towards Delmira. They notice a new town that has popped up that Wren hadn’t seen before in her many, many trips through the area to and from Delmira. It is a temporary town, but they decide to send Kipp and Dessa, as they are less recognizable than Torj and Wren, to pick up some supplies. Wren manages to convince Torj to go into the town from a side entrance, because she had found a pamphlet where Lord Silas—also known as Silas the Kingsbane—has asked people to gather for a meeting in the town hall. She convinces him that if it were anyone else, he would be going to it and finding out more information to pass on to Audra. Torj agrees to do it and they listen in to the town hall meeting, which becomes unruly and mob-like fairly quickly, when a servant of the former King Astor is brought out and told that he’s a traitor to the People’s Vanguard. The speaker incites the mob to search for any family and friends of the man so they can also meet swift justice. Wren and Torj make their way back out—but Wren is able to slip through the cracks in the wooden barriers, but Torj has to punch his way through, as Wren refuses to leave him behind even though he tells her to go on. He almost gets burnt, before he makes his way through, and Wren helps him get to their horses.She has him sit, and checks on his injuries, taking care of him, and demanding that he drink water afterwards. Then they head out of the town, and unfortunately they are caught in a storm—a deluge. Torj questions Wren why she can’t control her magic, and she isn’t able to tell him the truth, so soaked and cold, they make camp for the night on top of a small hill.

Torj puts up a small tent with Wren’s help, and then tells Wren to go in, but isn’t planning to go in himself, until Wren tells him to come in. She realizes very quickly that even though it’s a two man tent, with the stature of the Warsword, the tent is very small. Torj turns around to not watch her undress, but she needs his help to untie her laces in the dress, before she gets naked and covered under a dry blanket. Torj then gets out of his wet clothes, and gets under the blanket with her, though he refuses to touch her. They have a bit of banter, with her telling him that they’ll freeze, so Torj pulls her close to him. They fall asleep naked cradling each other. Torj then dreams about her having sex with him, while Wren dreams about him being rough with her during sex, and he wakes up with her having an iron grip on his cock. He doesn’t know what to do about it, but decides to extricate himself, which causes Wren to wake up and put her poisoned hair pin at his jugular, while his cock is also close to impaling her. They talk, and he knocks out the hair pin from her hand, before flipping her. Wren flips him back because she doesn’t like that he did it to show her who is in control. Then she leaves the tent and gets dressed. Torj comes out shortly after with her hair pin, and then breaks down the tent. They continue traveling until they come up to the crossroads where they agreed to meet with Dessa and Kipp, only to find them both eating ham that Kipp manage to steal from the town while they were in an uproar.

The group continues onto Delmira, and when they arrive, everyone is shocked to find that the land is fully green. Wren momentarily thinks that she’s in the wrong place, but the landmarks that she used to get to her little cottage are there, though they are changed. Torj wonders just what is going on, and both Wren and Kipp tell him that when they were both last in Delmira, it was barren. They make their way to the cottage, where Torj makes a comment that it is so very like her, and then they continue on foot through the woods until they find the plant. Wren is overjoyed to find out that her identification of the plant is correct, but that it does look different. With Dessa’s help, they take some samples of the plant, and some soil. As they leave, Torj makes them all agree that they will not speak of what they have seen in Delmira, until Audra is told first. Wren doesn’t want to do that, until she realizes that Delmira’s now fertile lands are ripe for anyone’s taking if anyone knows about it. Torj realizes that she also has realized the truth, and so she agrees to first talk to Audra even though she wants to let Thea know.

They travel back to Drevenor, through Harenth because Torj has a mission: Farissa has shared false information with people she suspects have been sharing information from inside Drevenor, and there is a party in Harenth where she wants him to find out who is sharing those secrets. Kipp gets them to stop at the Laughing Fox, and then strategizes what they do that night for the party. Kipp tells them that Torj and Wren will played a married couple in the nobility, and he will get them disguises. Wren has no qualms with it so she goes to her room to get ready, and finds Torj’s saddle bags in her room. While taking things out, she finds the book that Thea had told her about, and when Kipp barges in with the disguise, he asks her if he got the bags mixed up. She tells him that yes, and then hands him Torj’s bag, which Kipp comments are a little lighter than before. She hides the book under her pillow, and gets herself prepared to head out. Torj comes into her room and she cannot take her eyes off of him in his nobleman’s outfit. The group travels to the manor, and they go their separate ways—Torj and Wren dance a bit, with them trading barbs and talking. He continues to call her his wife throughout the time they are in the manor. As they go in search of Dessa, Wren notices a man who was on her ledger that she wanted to poison, but Torj tells her to not do anything about it while in his charge, to which she tells him that she will do whatever she pleases, but decides to let it go for now. When they find her, Dessa takes them out to the balcony, where Wren catches the eye of a man—Devereux. Dessa then hands them papers that show that they are overnight guests, and the make their way up to the second level, showing the papers. Torj picks her up to make it seem like he is taking his wife to bed and he cannot wait to get her in bed, which causes everyone that they come across to smile knowingly. Once they make it up to the level where the office is, they go through the library into the private office, which is locked but Torj shows that he knows that Wren knows how to pick locks because many of her victims as the Poisoners were behind closed doors. They go through it, and find a list of the royal lineages that has a mark from Drevenor—interestingly, the list doesn’t have Zavier Terling—and a golden laurel crown, that Wren points out could mean nothing has rich people like to have useless stuff around their homes. Wren hears a sound, and tells Torj that she will go head off whoever is coming this way, while he finishes up. When he finally comes out, he sees her hand being kissed by none other than Darian Devereux. The two get into a spat, and Devereux goes off after Wren tells him that she and Torj were fucking. She had gotten hot and bothered at Torj calling her his wife. After that, they are done, and they all head back to the inn, where Wren opens up the book and hears memories of Thea, Wilder and Torj talking until she finds Torj’s voice say “soul bonds”, the types of bond that she had stopped at as well. She continues reading.

The group gets back onto a ship to head back to Drevenor, and Wren talks to Torj, bringing some tea. She reveals that she has the book, but he won’t admit anything to her, though eventually, he does tell her that he grew up with Darian Devereux because his mom was working at the manor and encouraged him to be friends with the guy. He also tells her that while his father was abusive, Darian’s father was verbally abusive, and he doesn’t know who had it worse. Then he found out that Darian became his father as well. When they arrive, Zavier is back, and happy to see them, but he is definitely different than before. He goes to talk to the Master Alchemists about his opus, and when Dessa and Wren talk to him the next day at breakfast, he reveals that his opus is about theoretically bringing people back to life. Wren learns that Zavier, his brother, and his parents escaped from Naarva when it fell, by going through the Veil to the other side, and realizes that he also lost someone close to him, which is why his opus is about reviving those who passed. Later, Wren and Torj go to speak with Farissa, and tell her the truth about Delmira. Wren brings out the plant that they went looking for to show Farissa the proof that the land is not barren, and Farissa tells her that they need to keep it under wraps until Audra knows, and decides on what to do with it. So they keep silent, and Wren continues going to classes with her teammates. In one of her classes, Wren, Zavier and Dessa are required to come up with an alchemical compound to break down iron, so they work together on it, though they are no closer to it. Wren also plants the silvertide plant with Torj’s help, and puts it in his room because it gets more sunlight. One night, Torj realizes that Wren’s back has been in pain, and so he draws her a bath to help her with the tensed muscles, but she teases him in order to try to get him to break to tell her the truth. He plays back with her, and warns her that two can play the game.

Time goes on, and during one class lesson, Lord Devereux comes across Torj. Wren comes out to see what the commotion is about only to see the man leaving, and Darian Devereux standing on the other side watching his father walk away, before making some snide comments at Torj’s expense. Another day, Dessa, Zavier and Wren are having class going over how to make contraceptives, and Wren teaches them because she has been making these since she was a child. Dessa asks Zavier why he has never needed it, when he makes mention that he never needed the contraceptives, and he reveals that he has had loads of sex, but with men, so it’s never been an issue, and tells them that Cal has caught his eye. On yet different day, the Chronicler, who has been writing about the Shadow War, and who has been trying to get a hold of Wren, finally gets her in her study room in the archives. Torj wants to throw him out but Wren tells him that it’s fine, and does the interview. He questions her about things, including about whether or not Sam and Ida were heavily tortured and telling Wren that Anya has always been referred to as the Daughter of Darkness in other chronicles, though how she will be referred to in this Chronicle is still yet to be decided. Wren tells him that if she is listed as such, this will be factually incorrect and wrong. He asks her for personal materials, to which Wren tells him all of them were destroyed in the attack on Thezmarr. Torj, feeling her rising panic and feelings, comes in and grabs the Chronicler by the throat before throwing him out and warning him about coming anywhere near Wren. Wren faints, and Torj feels horrible that he hadn’t been there to save her. She had fallen and broken her own vials, so he puts her head in his lap until she wakes up. She tells him that she’s not poisoned because she has an immunity to everything that she carries on her. He sweeps her into his hands, and takes her up to her room, where he gently sets her on the bed and begins to remove the glass embedded in her abdomen. He also helps her undress before she goes to sleep.

Wren is up the next morning, reading more about the soul bonds, and then prepares herself and her wounds for the day. When Torj shows up, he tells her that he’ll wear her vials for her, knowing that they are important for her. She helps him put on the belt with the new vials, because he is scared that he will poison himself. Wren reveals that he is also immune to it, as are Cal and Kipp to some extent, as she has been helping them build it it over time. Torj is taken aback and is thankful to her for looking out for them. Later, they talk, and Wren hears Torj speak to her mind, so she comes into his room, and tells him what she heard him say. Torj finally snaps, and tells her that they were soul-bonded. They end up almost having sex, but when he admits that he has not been taking the tonic since the battle at Drevenor, they stop and instead have oral sex. Afterwards, when she sees flickers of gold—something that he had already started to see as well— he admits to her that he had destroyed the bond to save her life. She tells him that she has forgiven him but she’s not sure that she can trust him. This causes Torj to have a this thought that he’s not good enough. That night, Darian Devereux comes by to speak to Wren, and Torj is about to kill him, when Cal stops him, and tells him to not do this because Devereux has the money for the army that they need to fight these battles. Torj agrees to be level, but sees that Zavier is unwell, and Cal picks him up to take him to his room, with Dessa in tow.

The next day, Zavier and Wren are in class trying to figure out the whole corroding iron part, and they wonder where Dessa is. When they are starting to get worried about Dessa because she is never late, and are about to go looking for her, Torj and Cal come into class and tell them that they have been summoned by the High Chancellor of Drevenor and Audra. The two of them go into a council meeting, where the Royals are along with Lord Devereux and his son, Kipp, Audra. A whole debate ensues about what is being done about this People’s Vanguard, while Lord Devereux sneers at Wren, and then King Leiko brings out Dessa, who is holding a bit of the silvertide plant. He demands for her to tell them where this was found, but Dessa refuses too. A moment of understand passes between her and Wren, and so Wren reveals her own stem of the plant, telling them all that it is coming from Delmira. The whole room erupts into chaos once they find out that Delmira is once again fertile. The royals first talk about taking over Delmira, but Audra reminds them that Delmira belongs to the Embervales. They decide to shelve the whole debate until the a later time, and Wren and Tori head out to send a message to Thea after Wren, Torj, Dessa, Zavier, Kipp, Audra and Farissa talk. Wren visits Dessa to talk to her and check on her after what had happened, and Dessa explains how it had happened. The next morning they are back in the meeting, with the debate ongoing about securing Delmira’s borders. Wren stands up after getting sick of all the men talking down to her, and tells them that she will not be making a decision to the future of Delmira until she has a chance to speak with her sister. They realize that will have to wait, though Audra offers to secure the borders with Guardians of Thezmarr. Audra speaks to Wren alone, giving her a list of potential Warswords that could replace Torj, but Wren turns it down.

Wren has been working hard, so she takes out Torj to go drinking at the Mortar and Pestle, and she has Kipp do a toast to Torj. By the time he can extricate himself from the crowd, he is completely drunk, and Wren helps him out of the inn, before taking him to a place where they can watch starts, at his request. They lay there and talk. The next morning, Zavier, Dessa, and Wren are working on their projects, with Cal and Torj standing watch. Cal and Torj are talking about Vernich having gone missing, which has made Audra furious. They’re both a little bit upset about it because even though Vernich was unliked by everyone before the Shadow War, the war showed a different side of Vernich, changing their opinions of him. As they are talking, there is a scream from the room, and when they burst in, they find that Zavier has lost control of his magic, while Wren is shielding Dessa from the flying objects. Wren has an essence of valerian root that she gives to Torj, who forces it down Zavier’s throat with the help of Cal. Cal then takes Zavier to Farissa, and she later tells Wren that they will keep him sedated until he’s much better. Torj teaches Wren how to use the dagger of his that she has strapped to her waist.

Thea shows up, and the two girls go down to spar in the gym, while talking about Delmira and their fears. When they return, they go to the conservatory and with Dessa’s help, they realize that the Delmiran silvertide that flourished is from a place that Thea had visited, while the ones that struggled are from place where Wren never visited. They then go to the place where Wren broke down with Torj, and there, they find wildflowers that are way more vibrant than they previously were. Dessa tells her that the difference is Wren, not the soil or anything else. When they return to Wren’s room with all of the goodies that they need to make Wren’s antidote and Wren gets started. Then she feels that something is wrong with Torj, and she gets images of where he is, as well as golden light coming out of her dress sleeves.

In the meantime, as Wren disappears with Thea to the gym, Wilder talks to Torj and then offers him an adventure of hunting down some more of the alchemy that Wren needs. Together, the two Warswords head to the city of Highguard, where they find an old cobbler’s shop with a hidden door and a basement laboratory. They explore it, finding some of the shadow magic as well as the alchemy that Wren needs, before Wilder tells Torj that they need to get out because mist comes through the vents. Then a door slides shut, and the two men start to fight the People’s Vanguard. When Thea asks Wren what is wrong, the sisters get on Thea’s Tverrian Stallion, Pancake, and ride to the same location, where they join the fray. Wren helps fight alchemy with alchemy but also tells them to save as much of the experiment as they can. While there, she uses her magic on some alchemy, where she realizes that the alchemy that has been used to mute magic, doesn’t attack the blood, it takes the magic into it and multiplies—which helps her realize how it all works. After they fight off the assailants, Torj and Wren make out, and once Thea and Wren leave, they have sex in the laboratory. They leave, and on the ride back, Torj touches her in the saddle until she comes for him again.

Wren gets back to her antidote, and Torj tells her that he will be here for her, so she continues working until she has three vials of the antidote. Farissa tells her to be ready for the presentation by dusk the next day, and Torj keeps bringing her food to make sure that she is fed. She has the presentation to the Masters of Alchemy at the school, walking them through the three vials of blood, the alchemy and her own antidote. They then force her to use her antidote on Queen Reyna, who has fallen furtherly ill since she has been rescued and forced to travel to Drevenor. Wren uses it on her, and when the Queen comes to, she tells them all that she can feel her magic but Seer magic isn’t like the others in that it doesn’t come at the will of the Seer. She repeats the prophecy that she told Wren about gold turning to silver and an ancient magic being brought back, which kind of makes Wren feel defeated because it is an old prophecy. She says so to Queen Reyna and the queen smiles and asks her slyly if she is sure. Wren walks out of the class to Thea, Wilder, and Torj, and tells them that they will be awaiting the results. Then they all go out to celebrate with Dessa at the Mortar and Pestle, where Kipp is already holding an audience. At some point during the outing, Wren asks Torj to get Thea busy so she can talk to Wilder, and they carry it out, but she doesn’t reveal anything about why she needed to talk to Wilder. Then, since she has been teasing him all night with touches, they head out and Torj fucks her against the wall in an alcove, before they return to their rooms and continue having sex.

The next morning, Wren and Torj are up, spending some time together having more sex, when they get interrupted by the guard outside bringing them some breakfast, courtesy of Thea. Wren sees a note to her and quickly reads it, but decides to not share it with Torj to have a few more moments of peace. When it is finally time, Torj tells her he knows her decision, and she tells him that the People’s Vanguard has marched on Delmira, with Silas the Kingsbane declaring himself for the throne. At the meeting, the debate rages again, with Thea about to stand up to take on the Throne, but Wren stops her and says that she will be the Queen. Thea abdicates in front of everyone, and Wren becomes the Queen of Delmira. She has a meeting with her war council consisting of Kipp, who is now her strategy advisor, Thea, Wilder, and Torj. Quickly they realize that she has two things to offer—her storm magic that can bring prosperity to the lands, and her hand in marriage. Kipp reveals that Zavier has already agreed to her hand in marriage, and it would be in name only, so a pure alliance, which would be a perfect fit. Wren can see that Torj is bothered by this, so she sends everyone out of the room, and they talk about it with Wren telling him that she will not be giving him up at all. They end up having sex there in the room, with her on the ladder to the bookshelves, only for them to be interrupted by Lord Lucian Devereux opening the door and coming in. They try to hide it, but they have been caught in the act, and Lord Devereux tells her that she wouldn’t be worth anything if she is rutting with someone else. He demands to speak with her alone, and she sends Torj out to fetch Kipp, while she listens to his proposal. When Torj returns with Kipp, she tells Torj that she wants to speak with Kipp in private, and then tells Kipp everything she has learned, before asking Kipp to prepare a strategy based, not on her happiness, but rather based on war.

The next day, she goes with Torj to speaks to Zavier, and they wake him up. He reveals that he’s been trying to try human transmutation because his mother died, and he was hoping that by reviving her, he would save his brother, who once was known as Andros Terling, and now goes by Silas the Kingsbane. Zavier reveals that his brother is going after Wren’s kingdom and Wren herself, but agrees to help them. As they leave the room, Wren tells Torj to trust her and meet her in the gardens no matter what happens next. Then she is swept up by Thea and they disappear to Highguard, while Torj heads there with Wilder himself for the announcement at the Town Hall. He sees Wren there, dressed in gold, and listens to Zavier speak, feeling jealous that Zavier will have a ring on Wren’s finger. But then Darian Devereux comes out and it is revealed that Wren is betrothed to him, so Torj heads back in fury to Drevenor, and destroys his room, thinking about packing his bags and leaving. He then remembers that Wren told him to meet in the gardens at dusk, no matter what, so he goes there and waits for her.

Wren shows up at the gardens, glad to see Torj as she had asked. She reveals to him that Lord Devereux had told her that Torj was poisoned by Silas the Kingsbane, and Torj realizes that it was the darts from when he saved the Queen of Aveum. She says that Lord Devereux had told her that the poison was made only specifically to target Torj, and that it is a slow acting poison that will impact him sooner, so what they need is time—time for her to figure out how to save him from this poison. When Torj denies feeling unwell, she tells him that she tested his blood and there is poison there. Ultimately, Torj kneels in front of her and asks her what they will do. She tells him to stand by her side and help end everything.

My Thoughts: I am so happy that Torj and Wren found their way back to each other! I love them together, and the challenges they went through to finally make their way back to each other and see that the bond has never gone away, was a rollercoaster to read. I am gutted though that they don’t yet have their happy ending, but I am hoping that book 3 will give them all of that.