Blood & Steel #1
With her death foretold, Althea Zoltaire only has three years to become what she’s always dreamed of being: a warrior legend.
Women are forbidden to wield blades, so she has trained in secret her entire life. Now racing against the clock, she fights to secure her place in the elite guild charged with the protection of the five kingdoms.
The sparring and hazing of the new trainees border on deadly, but even more dangerous is her growing attraction to Wilder Hawthorne, her unwilling warrior chaperone.
All around them, schemes are afoot and darkness looms.
Will Althea pass the perilous initiation test and take her place as a champion of Thezmarr – or will the invading evil snatch away her dream before it starts?
His eyes narrowed and he pushed off from the wall, closing the gap between them in a single step. ‘You want to know what I think? I think —’ He took a deep, measured breath, his whole body rising and falling.
‘What?’ she baited him, feeling her own temper rise to his. ‘I desperately need to know what deep thoughts bounce around in that thick skull of yours. Go on, tell me.’
‘I think that I have never known someone to be so infuriating… Someone who makes my blood boil in such a way that I want to kill you and kiss you all at once.’ Thea’s heart stuttered, her skin tingling as she realised just how close he was.
‘You’ll no doubt fuck it up either way,’ she taunted, recalling how he’d drawn her in before, only to leave her wanting. ‘But go on,’ she challenged. ‘Do it.’
His gaze darkened. ‘Kill you or kiss you?’
Despite all logic, she leaned in. She wanted this, wanted him, even though she shouldn’t. Even though she knew better. Even though it put everything she’d worked for at risk. Even though he was Wilder Hawthorne and he had spurned her twice before. Thea lifted her chin. ‘Take your pick, Warsword.’
Then, his hands swept around her waist, pulling her to him, and he kissed her.
Vows and Ruins #2
This woman… My woman… He had fallen for her long ago, but what he’d failed to realise was that when it came to love, it wasn’t a single fall, but many, over and over.
It was there in the grander gestures: slaying monsters, fighting furiously and making heartfelt declarations. But it was in the smaller, quieter moments that he felt it the most deeply – that shift at the very heart of him, where he fell for her beyond reason.
His throat closed up as it hit him. He would forever be falling for Thea.
@sovana.art, @bethgilbert_art
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