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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

It was the same voice that had spoken to her before. Narcissi’s voice. A shiver ran down her spine. “My goddess,” she said aloud. “I don’t understand. How does Cintra know? She sent us here to investigate.”

Cintra already knows.

“But Shim is dead.”

Cintra already knows.

Soraya had given her entire life to the Goddess of the Wood thus far but hearing her repeat the same three words again and again chewed at her already frazzled nerves. “Knows what? About your roots being here? About the murderous rat creature killing people left and right? About Shim, my friend, being killed? And for what? Something Cintra already knows!” She clamped her lips shut, heart pounding, eyes widening at her own outburst aimed at the goddess she’d always served. “I—I’m sorry, my goddess. It’s just, none of this turned out the way I expected it to. I don’t know what to do.”

Cintra already knows.

Soraya almost screamed at the top of her lungs, but barely managed to stifle it with her lips, tightening her fists into balls. “Please say something else. Anything else.”

Don’t be afraid. You are Forsworn.

“I’m not—” She cut herself off, because the words she was going to say weren’t true, and she couldn’t lie to Narcissi. Not now. Not ever. “I’m trying to be brave, but how can I when he’s—when he’s…”

Shim lives.

Soraya didn’t need to hear another word. She gasped, spun back around, and ran downhill all the way to Seer.

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The Naughty Minx was quiet as she approached, but there was no hiding the glow of a lantern through the shattered window. She tried the door, but it was locked. She called through the window instead. “Shim? Shim, are you there?”

“Come in. Hurry,” came Sunny’s voice, the door opening a moment later.

Soraya hustled over and slipped inside. Sunny immediately closed the door and secured its many locks, an act that Soraya assumed was more out of habit than for any real purpose. Any intruder, especially the monstrous rat kind, could simply clamber through the devastated window.

“Where is he?” she said.

“In the office. He’s unconscious, but alive. Barely. I’ve called for a healer, but it turns out the nightdemon was busy tonight. Others are being tended to first. As your friend is an outsider, he’ll likely be last on the priority list.”

“Perhaps I can help him. Show me.”

Sunny met her steely gaze with one of her own, but then nodded. “Follow me.”

They made their way through the rubble of the room. Tables were overturned. Wooden chairs reduced to splinters. Shards of glass everywhere, crunching underfoot no matter how carefully Soraya placed each step. They were forced to climb over piles of debris, making the short journey much longer than it should’ve been.

“Where’s Seela?”