I cast a single glance at him.
“Yes, Lady Estela will surely love it, especially since she came asking for one not too long ago.” Flova nods approvingly.
My eyebrows rise. “She did?”
Flova nods. “Perhaps not in so many words, but she liked to see how it is made. She asked questions about how it is to beworn, what it protects, and things of the like. She’s a delightful woman.”
I am utterly at a loss for words. I didn’t realize that my little mate had such a hunger for things of war. Of course, Enduar women are hearty. Many have joined us in the pursuit of blood and vengeance, but it makes my pulse raise to think of my soft, broken love swinging a sword to lob off the head of Rholker or one of his minions.
My father took vengeance to a new level, but I have no disillusions that we aren’t heading toward another Great War.
I wince.
Thorne misinterprets my expression. “Come now, you can’t tell me you haven’t thought of a woman fighting before.”
I whip around to look at him, and he almost staggers back in surprise.
“You don’t know anything,Elf,” I sneer. Flova has already gone back to work, and Liana is ignoring both of us. “You’ve seen Enduar women.”
“Ulla lacked basic training. She could barely point a short sword at me, but she’s much improved now,” he smirks.
I glower.
“You are teaching Ulla how to fight?”
“Why would it matter if I was?” he asks.
“She already knows how to fight!” I insist.
He shakes his head and makes a tsking sound.
I step closer. “Leave my people alone.”
He throws his hands up. “Yes, yes, I will be going now.”
I stare at him for a long hard minute before he does just that. A bit too slowly for my liking.
As soon as his pristine white head is out of sight, Liana comes to my side. She gazes in the direction of Thorne with thinly veiling mistrust.
“He’s hiding something. I smell it all over him, and the crystals whisper it into the air,” she says in a low voice.
I look at her.
“I agree, but he is still an ally.”
“For now,” she adds forcefully. Then she looks at me. “If you are thinking of Estela fighting, then she should be working on her Fuegorra training as well. She did very well at the ceremony. I’ll be the first to admit my displeasure that she has met with Flova and not me. Is she… healed?”
Drawing one lip between my teeth, I consider her words.
“She is strong and ready to take on the world.”
Liana goes still, the jewels on her face flashing. “I heard what she said, but was there more to the story?”
I take a deep breath. “Yes and no. They tried to break her mind. It’s hard to know exactly what saved her, but I believe it was a combination of the Fuegorra and the mating bond.”
Liana places one finger on her temple, gently nudging the piercing above her eye.
“You would be right. As you know, the bond you share is powerful magic—it goes a long way in healing.”
