Rose and the Thorn (The Riyria Chronicles, 2)

A dear friend is brutally beaten. Two thieves want answers. Riyria is born.
For more than a year Royce Melborn has tried to forget Gwen DeLancy, the woman who saved him and his partner Hadrian Blackwater from certain death. Unable to get her out of his mind, the two thieves return to Medford but receive a very different reception -- Gwen refuses to see them. The victim of abuse by a powerful noble, she suspects Royce will ignore any danger and seek revenge. By turning the thieves away, Gwen hopes to protect them once more. What she doesn't realize is what the two are capable of, but she's about to find out.

The Rose and the Thorn is the second book in The Riyria Chronicles, a prequel series featuring the early adventures of Royce Melborn and Hadrian Blackwater. Taking place twelve years before the events in Michael J. Sullivan's bestselling The Riyria Revelations, the books can be enjoyed either in order of publication or chronological order.