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Chapters (53)
  1. Map of Kingdom of Finfalla and Surrounding Area- Western Half
  2. Map of Kingdom of Finfalla and Surrounding Area - Eastern Half
  3. Map of Kingdom of Finfalla and Surrounding Area - Full Map
  4. Important Trigger Warning
  5. Prologue
  6. PART I
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Interlude: The River of Life
  20. PART II
  21. Thirteen
  22. Fourteen
  23. Fifteen
  24. Sixteen
  25. Seventeen
  26. Eighteen
  27. Nineteen
  28. Interlude: Fallow Fields
  29. PART III
  30. Twenty
  31. Twenty-One
  32. Twenty-Two
  33. Twenty-Three
  34. Twenty-Four
  35. Twenty-Five
  36. Interlude: Of Man and Monster
  37. PART IV
  38. Twenty-Six
  39. Twenty-Seven
  40. Twenty-Eight
  41. Twenty-Nine
  42. Thirty
  43. Thirty-One
  44. Thirty-Two
  45. Thirty-Three
  46. Thirty-Four
  47. POSTLUDES
  48. Postlude 1: Lana Vica
  49. Postlude 2: Ludo Vica
  50. Postlude 3: Cainan
  51. Acknowledgments
  52. An excerpt from Heartsworn, Volume II in The Forsworn Oath, available for preorder now!
  53. PART I

But then he was there, by her side, a comforting hand on her back. “Bryony, thank the gods,” her father said. Something was unusual about his face, and in her confusion it took her longer than it should’ve to realize that the dye on his cheeks and forehead had faded away to almost nothing, revealing the armies of golden leaves that marred his complexion.

“Mother,” was all she could croak.

“I know. Now I need you to listen. I must leave you for a moment. I need you to be strong. Can you be strong for me?” She managed a nod. “Good, girl. Now you need to run as far away from the village as you can, as far away from the fires. Can you do that?” Another nod. She could do this if it meant her father would save her mother.

Her father kissed her forehead, turned, and raced off.

She gaped at him as he disappeared. Not inside their burning house, but down the street, in the wrong direction. “Father!” she screamed, and he stopped and turned. His gold-leaf-littered face was twisted with sadness and regret.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and then he was gone, for good this time, vanishing into a whorl of smoke blown from the burning buildings.

All Bryony wanted to do was fall to the ground, hug her knees, and close her eyes until it was all over.

She almost did, but just then, words her father had spoken to her when she’d fallen on some sharp stones and ran to him, bloody and hurting, filled her head: “You are strong because you are your mother’s daughter. And my daughter. Because of this, you are as strong as iron.” At the time, she didn’t know whether the pain had abated because of his words or simply because enough time had passed since the injury, but whatever the case, she’d stared down at her bloodstained knees and felt nothing.

Mother needs me, she thought now. I won’t abandon her like Father. “I am as strong as iron.”

Her father’s words echoing through her head, she turned and ran back toward what was left of her home, now a wall of flame. She skidded to a stop, raising an arm against the oppressive heat. Then she took a deep breath, covered her nose and mouth with her shirt, and charged through the door.