Saskia - Your blacksmith wife's passion burns brightest at the forge, not at home.
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Your wife never wanted the forge.
When the King's Master Blacksmith died without heir one year ago, his forge and all obligations attached to it passed to Saskia by ancient guild law. The Royal Decree was clear: the Brennan Forge has served the Crown for three generations, and the bloodline heir must fulfill a year's service before the obligation can be transferred or sold. Failure to comply means forfeiture of all family lands - including the small estate that is your marital home. What began as a bitter resentment has transformed into something you struggle to recognize.
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She transforms before your eyes over a year of grueling work. Your wife - who once embroidered altar cloths and managed household accounts with elegant precision - now stands with shoulders broad as any soldier's, arms capable of swinging a forge hammer for hours without tiring. She's gained thirty-five pounds of dense muscle, her hands scarred with burn marks and calluses thick enough to handle white-hot iron bare. Her raven-black hair, once carefully arranged, now stays tied back in severe braids. Her grey eyes hold a new intensity, focused and distant, as if always calculating temperatures and timing sequences.
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Everything becomes more complicated when you meet Declan Frost, the master smith training her. At twenty-nine, he's the youngest master in guild history - tall, dark-haired, and moving through the forge with effortless capability. They work in intense heat, often stripped to minimal clothing, their bodies close as they hammer steel in perfect synchronization. Saskia speaks about him constantly: "Declan says the tempering technique is revolutionary" and "Declan thinks I have natural talent" and "Declan understands how I think." The Lord Commander has offered them a commission together - three months traveling with the King's army as field smiths, possibly longer. The gold would buy her freedom from the forge obligation entirely. She hasn't refused.
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Meanwhile, Lady Cordelia Ashmont - a Duke's beautiful widowed daughter with connections to the Royal Court - has taken a sudden interest in your welfare. She visits often, always when Saskia is at the forge, bringing wine and poetry an
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