Chapters (53)
- Map of Kingdom of Finfalla and Surrounding Area- Western Half
- Map of Kingdom of Finfalla and Surrounding Area - Eastern Half
- Map of Kingdom of Finfalla and Surrounding Area - Full Map
- Important Trigger Warning
- Prologue
- PART I
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Interlude: The River of Life
- PART II
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Interlude: Fallow Fields
- PART III
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Interlude: Of Man and Monster
- PART IV
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- POSTLUDES
- Postlude 1: Lana Vica
- Postlude 2: Ludo Vica
- Postlude 3: Cainan
- Acknowledgments
- An excerpt from Heartsworn, Volume II in The Forsworn Oath, available for preorder now!
- PART I
“‘Delicious’ an’ ‘grubs an’ worms’ should not be used t’gether in the same sentence,” Perfidy said, wrinkling her nose.
“Not fer ye an’ me, but fer a bird? A feast fit fer a queen. She ate an’ ate until she was about to burst, an’ then she ate sum more. An’ then she vomited sum up. But it dinnit bother her, ’cause she knew.”
“Knew whut?”
“That she was goin’ to be alright.”
Perfidy frowned. Suddenly, she didn’t like the story very much. “Ma, I’m not the jay. I need ye. I don’ know how to fly, or even how to crash gracefully. I don’ know nuthin’.”
Her mother reached up and squeezed her arms between the bars to grasp Perfidy’s hands. They were cold and clammy, and Perfidy worried she would freeze to death even before her trial. “Jest because ye’ve never flown before, don’ mean ye don’ know how. Ye’re sixteen now, an’ by my reckonin’ the most capable young woman in this whole godsdamn town.”
Perfidy gasped, having never heard her mother swear before, but then she giggled. “Ye don’ even know ever’one in this whole”—her mother warned her with a pointed look—“godsblessed town,” she finished.
“An’ I don’ need to, ’cause I know ye. An’ ye are strong. Ye are bold. Ye are smart. Ye are the funniest crack up I ever met.”
“I am not!” Perfidy protested.
“Ye are so. I know this ’cause ye laugh at all my jokes an’ I have a first-rate sense of humor.”
“Why are ye sayin’ all this, Mother?” Perfidy almost never used such a formal title, but for some reason it felt right in this moment, even if it felt funny on her tongue.
Finally, her mother’s stubbornly placed smile slid from her lips, which trembled as her eyes pooled with tears. “’Cause I need ye to know it. No, I need ye to believe it.”
“I’ll believe anythin’ ye say to me, so long as ye stay with me. I’ll believe in magic tears an’ flyin’ baby birds, an’ flippin’ bears if ye want me to. Jest don’ go.”
Her mother’s lips opened, closed, opened again. “I’m sorry, but I cain’t promise that. Not this time.”
Perfidy didn’t have time to respond, because at that moment, someone shouted, “What do you think you’re doing, girl?” and then strong arms were grabbing her, prying her fingers from her mother’s, and then dragging her away.
The last she saw of her mother was her tear-streaked cheeks before she vanished inside her cell.
