Fate & Furies

When I stand against the gods at the end of my days,’ he told her fiercely, ‘I will regret nothing. Not the lies I’ve told, nor the lives I’ve claimed or the rivers of blood I’ve spilt. I do not regret a single moment, because every one of them led me to you.

I am the storm.

The closer you get to true happiness, the more you fear it,’ he said. ‘It’s a fear that slips quietly through the cracks, that lies in wait for those weaker moments before it pounces. It’s the what ifs while you wait in the dark… What if it all goes wrong? What if you lose it all?’ Wilder went rigid where he stood, his worst fears coming to life in Torj’s words. The Bear Slayer gripped his shoulder, hard, bringing him back to the present. ‘But my brother, those are not the questions you need to ask. Not today, not now. Instead, ask yourself: what if you got everything you ever wanted?

No man who came before you asked such a thing.’ ‘I’m not a man.

Men. Absolutely useless.

Wilder Hawthorne, her mentor, her friend, her love, had endured it all for her.

She tasted just as he remembered, like hope and salvation, like home and his.

But when it’s used on someone you love?’ he said. ‘There is nothing more powerful.

What was blind loyalty? What was duty amid a system of corruption?

For whatever it’s worth,’ he told her hoarsely, ‘I’ll never stop being yours.

It’s me and you now,’ he told her. ‘Always.

At long last, she’d found the missing piece of herself… and it had been forged with blood and steel.

He would be the balm to her wounded soul.

You taste like you belong to me. You always have.

If you only have a year left, then live it well, and live it with me at your side.

I still have your marks on my back from our last night together. You claimed me long ago, Thea. You don’t get to say I’m not yours now.

No one, neither man nor monster, was going to stop her. ‘I am the storm,’ she vowed. And so, freshly forged with blood and steel, Warsword Althea Embervale, the Shadow of Death, stepped into the darkness

I haven’t stopped burning for you,’ he growled. ‘And I never will.

Wilder followed her, as he always would.

I wish we had stayed in those hot springs in the forest,’ he told her, pressing a kiss to her hair. ‘I wish that every day.

Because there is power in names,’ Thea replied. ‘And women whose might is etched in history deserve to have their names carved there too.

Look at me, Thea. Tell me.’ Thea took a trembling breath. ‘It feels like I’m in the wrong place. It feels like something is pulling me away from here, like I should be somewhere else. Outside, somewhere.’ She looked at him, not bothering to hide her fear, her panic. ‘My magic… It’s out of control, isn’t it?

The closer you get to true happiness, the more you fear it,’ he said.

Talemir Starling at your service, Warsword Zoltaire.

You’re even more beautiful with steel in your hands, and the blood of your enemies splattered across your face.

If you need something to believe,’ he said, his blood heating as he closed the gap between them and hauled her body to his, ‘then believe this.’ He kissed her.

I will regret nothing. Not the lies I’ve told, nor the lives I’ve claimed or the rivers of blood I’ve spilt. I do not regret a single moment, because every one of them led me to you.

She gave the storm pause as each woman lowered their hood. The original war-swords themselves. The Furies....The three goddesses stood fierce and radiant before Thea, their eyes ablaze like molten gold. The eternal guardians of the Great Rite—of the Mid Realms themselves. It was only in their ethereal presence that Thea remembered their names were not known. That after all the legends told across the ages, their names had not lived on. They had not been honored in title or individual esteem. Rather, the force of them had been reduced to a woman’s anger, a woman’s rage.The Furies. And yet, together, they formed a trierarchy unlike anything the realms had ever seen. They stood before Thea now, unwavering against the advancing tides of chaos—determining the fate of men, and now, Thea herself.

How is this possible?’ she murmured. A smile tugged at his mouth. ‘I must be a really good fuck.

Thea… What measure of time is enough to be life-changing?