Iron and Embers by Helen Scheuerer

Wren and Torj had a budding relationship (shown in the last series), but after the war, Wren changes. She is haunted by nightmares and starts using her power for her own vengeance rather than for the good of the people. Wren gives Torj a choice—one last night together. Torj refuses, saying he wants her heart. They part ways and go their separate paths.

A year passes. Wren continues using her poison to exact revenge on those who aided during the war. She kills them with slow-acting toxins, sometimes taking days to take effect. Afterward, she steals a ring or some other token from each victim as a reminder of what she’s done. Wren’s sister, Thea, a warsword, notices what’s going on, but none of the warswords intervene—technically, Wren is helping, just not legally.

That changes when Torj is tasked with taking someone to trial. He finds the man—but Wren has gotten to him first. Torj knocks Wren out, feeling triumphant for once, and delivers the man to Audra, the Guild Master of Thezmarr. Unfortunately, the man dies before Audra can question him, killed by one of Wren’s slow poisons. Audra is furious and refuses to give Torj a new position, blaming him for the failure. This marks the beginning of Torj’s resentment toward Wren.

Five years after the war, Wren and Torj haven’t seen each other since his demotion. Torj continues serving as a warsword, fulfilling his duties. Wren distances herself from her sister and repeatedly tries to get into the Academy of Drevenor, but she’s denied every time—she lacks a letter of recommendation from Audra, her former mentor. Things shift when all the warswords are summoned by the king, who has been attacked through a form of alchemy. Wren is also called to the capital—she’s finally been accepted into the academy. They need her help.

However, Wren has royal blood and must be protected while at the academy. Audra assigns Torj to be her guard, offering him any post he desires if he keeps Wren alive.

After four years, Wren and Torj reunite—and things are frosty. They embark on their journey together, constantly at odds. Cal and Kip, two other warswords, accompany them to help protect the academy. Despite everything, Torj still harbors feelings for Wren but struggles against them. He’s also warned that he cannot tell her anything about what to expect at the academy. He begins to notice something strange—when he’s near Wren, something feels different. He believes it’s because of the scar she gave him during the war.

They arrive at Drevenor and attend a welcome party where all the initiates are lightly poisoned—it’s their first test. They fail. Then they are introduced to the Gauntlet—a series of trials designed to accelerate their training. Wren and Torj are assigned adjoining rooms.

Wren’s studies begin. Often, they involve being poisoned and having to find antidotes. Torj hates watching Wren suffer. One day, while she’s studying, Torj visits a healer about one of his scars. He’s told that the scar may one day drive him to madness.

One night, Wren and Torj return to find their rooms broken into. Wren realizes someone has touched the box where she keeps trophies from her victims. Inside is a note instructing her to meet someone at a brothel. She doesn’t tell Torj and drugs him to sneak out. There, she meets Xavier, a former teammate. He blackmails her with what he knows. Torj arrives too—his body having shaken off the effects of the poison.

Training progresses until Wren and Torj are attacked. Wren nearly dies, and the attackers place handcuffs on her—the very cuffs she once designed to suppress magic. After Torj defeats them, Wren demands to begin hand-to-hand combat training. Torj agrees and starts training all the students.

All the physical training revitalizes Wren. She continues working on an antidote for the king’s condition, even experimenting with royal blood. One night, there’s a murder. Torj initially thinks it’s Wren, but it turns out to be a student who resembles her. When he tells her, he ends up kissing her—only to pull away and call it a mistake. Wren, hurt, tells him to leave. Tension simmers between them for days.

As time passes, the tension fades, and they grow closer again. During another attack, Torj is injured, and Wren nurses him back to health. Meanwhile, they learn that the leader of the secret society targeting the king has been captured. Torj is expected to be relieved of his bodyguard duties soon.

Days pass without a new assignment. Instead, he and Wren share another kiss—and more—until they’re interrupted. Torj is granted leave to travel outside the city to learn more about his scar. The answers he receives disturb him. When he returns, he and Wren share another intimate moment, but Wren stops him, saying she’s not ready.

The next morning, Wren is sent on a supply run with her team. Torj stays behind. Almost immediately, Wren is drugged and abducted. She wakes up to torture—realizes it’s a test. Not one based on her heritage, but a test to earn access to the Gauntlet. She endures six hours of pain without breaking. When it ends, she is told the Gauntlet will begin.

Meanwhile, Torj senses her fear. Thea and Wilder arrive to witness the Gauntlet’s conclusion. They talk to Torj, and he admits he can feel Wren’s emotions—he believes it’s because of the scar. Thea suggests otherwise and gives him a book about fated mates. Torj goes to Audra, who confirms that he and Wren have been soul-bonded since he received that scar from her five years ago.

Torj anxiously waits for Wren’s Gauntlet to end. When it does, he’s relieved—until he sees her scars. Furious, he blames the high priest who runs the school. Even Audra is appalled by what’s been done to the students. Torj takes Wren to heal, and after time passes, they finally confess their love and spend a night together.

On graduation morning, chaos erupts. The school is infiltrated, and an all-out battle breaks out. Wren is injured, and Torj is stabbed. Despite everything, he still hasn’t told Wren about their bond. But he feels it more strongly than ever—as if they are dying together. So he does the only thing he can think of: he severs the bond.

Wren is pulled back into a memory—twelve years ago, when she first met Torj and helped heal him. When she wakes, she sees Torj, but he won’t meet her eyes. Her attention shifts to Xavier, who is dying. He was struck by a sword that only affects those with royal blood. Wren tests one of her own experimental treatments on him—it works. He heals and reveals he is a prince.

At last, Wren approaches Torj. He is distant and cold. He tells her their relationship was a mistake. Heartbroken, Wren says the only thing she’ll ever give him is that scar.

Torj later admits to himself why he severed the bond: he read that breaking a soul-bond in a selfless act can invoke ancient magic—magic that could save one of the bonded. Even now, he still feels a piece of her inside him.

Wren decides to demand that Torj be dismissed as her bodyguard. Thea will take his place until someone else is found. Wren will continue her studies and work. Thea declares that the next war may be Wren’s to fight—a war not of weapons, but of minds and alchemy.