Blood & Steel (the Legends of Thezmarr, #1)

The first installment in The Legends of Thezmarr series is set in the midrealms, a fantasy world where a fortress called Thezmarr houses a warrior guild protecting three kingdoms from monsters that breach the Veil, an enormous wall of mist separating the realm from the darkness beyond. Shieldbearers, the guild's trainee warriors, aspire to earn the rank of Guardian; at the apex stand the Warswords, elite warriors gifted supernatural strength and agility by the Furies, the guild's three founding warrior-gods. Twenty years before the story begins, a prophecy foretelling a "daughter of darkness" prompted Guild Master Osiris to ban all women from bearing arms after a young girl's wielding of a sacred blade summoned shadow wraiths that killed seven warriors. Most warrior women left the fortress; only Audra, a former knife-throwing champion turned librarian, remained.

Althea (Thea) Zoltaire is a 24-year-old alchemist at Thezmarr who lives with her younger sister, Elwren (Wren), a gifted alchemist in her own right. Thea wears a fate stone, a jade pendant engraved with the number 27, the age at which she is destined to die. With only three years left, she is desperate to become a warrior. She has trained in secret for years, spying on shieldbearer drills and practicing combat in the Bloodwoods, the dense forest surrounding the fortress. She carries a forbidden dagger of Naarvian steel, the rarest metal in the midrealms, gifted to her by Malik, a former Warsword who sustained a brain injury in battle and has not spoken since.

The story opens as Thea spies on a clandestine Warsword meeting on the black cliffs. Wilder Hawthorne, the youngest Warsword in history and known as the Hand of Death, arrives carrying a shadow wraith's heart and warns of increasing Veil breaches. He spots Thea hiding but says nothing. Shortly after, Thea loses her dagger in the Bloodwoods when an arrow nearly strikes her. She returns to find Hawthorne waiting with the blade. He confiscates it and brings her before Osiris. Audra arrives and mounts a fierce defense, citing the guild's founding by women and a constitutional clause allowing all capable people to bear arms in dire times. To prove Thea's skill, Audra throws a dagger at her; Thea catches it midair. Osiris reluctantly allows Thea to petition the rulers of the midrealms at a feast in Harenth.

Hawthorne is assigned as Thea's escort. Over three days of hard riding, hostility gives way to grudging respect and simmering attraction. They wake tangled together after a freezing night, and Hawthorne begins teaching Thea archery. He reveals that Malik is his brother and that he took his mother's surname to forge his own reputation. Thea lies about her fate stone when Hawthorne discovers it, claiming it belonged to a deceased friend.

At the Heart of Harenth, the kingdom's royal court, King Artos Fairmoore initially denies Thea's petition. At the feast, however, Thea detects the scent of lilac and Widow's Ash in the king's wine, indicators of Naarvian Nightshade poison. She hurls a knife to knock the goblet from his hand, and a cupbearer who drinks from the same decanter dies within moments. Thea identifies the assassin by the blue stains on his fingertips. Grateful, King Artos reverses his decision, and with the other rulers' support, Thea is granted permission to train as a shieldbearer.

Back at Thezmarr, Thea befriends Kipp Snowden, a good-natured trainee, and Callahan (Cal) Whitlock, a gifted archer, while Sebastos (Seb) Barlowe, a bully with connections to the Guild Master, targets her relentlessly. Osiris announces that each Warsword will select an apprentice from those who pass the initiation test. Hawthorne tells Thea he is not the right mentor and urges her to nominate Torj, a fellow Warsword, instead.

During a combat session, Vernich, a fellow Warsword, fractures Kipp's face, then orders Thea to deliver additional blows. She refuses. Seb takes over and secretly stabs Thea in the side with a concealed blade. Hawthorne finds her bleeding, treats her wound, and beats Vernich in retaliation. During her recovery, Thea learns battlefield healing in the alchemy workshop. Her relationship with Wren fractures when Thea misses celebrating Wren's promotion to master alchemist's apprentice.

Romantic tension between Thea and Hawthorne escalates through a fierce kiss at his cabin, which he terminates out of fear it will compromise her position. On a courier mission to Hailford, Cal makes a gentle advance that Thea declines. On their return, warning bells signal a Veil breach.

Five rheguld reapers have emerged near the Ruins of Delmira. Kings of the shadow wraiths, reapers can only be killed by carving out their hearts. Thea rallies a shield wall, saves Seb's life, and tends to the wounded. One reaper fixates on Thea as though sensing hidden power.

King Artos visits Thezmarr and moves up the initiation test. That night, Seb kidnaps Cal and Kipp, leaving them bound in flooding mountain caves. Thea and Hawthorne rescue them. As they exit, lightning strikes directly at Thea, but she throws up her hands and the bolt passes through her harmlessly. The storm retreats.

The night before the test, Thea and Hawthorne sleep together. He tells her that if she passes and is apprenticed to another Warsword, they can be together openly. The test sends 50 shieldbearers to retrieve 30 Guardian totems, tokens marking passage into the Guardian rank, from the Chained Islands, a treacherous archipelago. Thea, Cal, and Kipp survive traps, venomous snakes, and arrow attacks, and all three secure totems.

Separated from her friends, Thea is ambushed by a lone reaper in the Bloodwoods. Its cursed touch triggers a vision of Anya, the girl who sparked the prophecy. Hawthorne arrives and they fight the creature together. As the curse spreads across her skin, Thea summons lightning and strikes the reaper. Hawthorne hands her Malik's dagger and she carves out its heart. He uses his precious vial of Aveum springwater to purge the curse, preventing Thea from transforming into a wraith. They enter the Great Hall at sundown, the reaper's heart clenched in Thea's fist.

At the Guardian Ceremony, Osiris announces the Warsword apprenticeships: Vernich selects Seb, Torj selects Cal. When Osiris spots the Naarvian steel dagger at Thea's hip, he accuses her of drawing darkness to the fortress. Hawthorne declares he gave her the blade. Osiris announces Thea as Hawthorne's apprentice, binding the Warsword to responsibility for her.

Hawthorne tries to convince Thea they should reject the arrangement so they can remain lovers. Thea finally reveals the truth: The fate stone is hers, and 27 is the age she will die. She needs Hawthorne as her mentor more than as a lover. Devastated, he realizes he cannot be both and coldly tells her their night was a mistake that will never happen again.

Thea confronts Wren, who admits she has been coating the fate stone with a suppressant for years to hide their shared storm magic. Reeling, Thea tears the pendant from her neck and hurls it off the cliffs. Her power erupts: Three massive bolts of lightning split the sky at her command. Hawthorne appears and carries Thea inside after she collapses. Consulting a book on royal lineage that Malik had marked, Hawthorne confirms Thea is a storm wielder, a lost princess of the fallen kingdom of Delmira. The novel closes with Hawthorne recognizing three truths: Thea is a royal heir, she is now his apprentice, and he is irrevocably in love with her.