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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

Sunny held Seela tighter. Her lips were moving, whispering something in Seela’s ear. Tears were streaming freely from her eyes now. “You’re going to be okay,” Seela said. Her own eyes were dry beneath her shimmering markings. She wore the smallest smile. “Find another to love. Your heart is big enough for another.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Please. Do it for me.”

“I’d do anything for you.”

“Then do this.”

“I will. I swear it. I will.” Tears dripped from her chin.

The blade pressed into the fabric of Seela’s shirt. One shove and it would be over. Such a simple thing, to take a life. And yet, for Soraya, there was nothing simple about it. Not now, not ever.

She hesitated.

“Do it,” Seela said, her own eyes finally offering up their moisture. “Please. Do it now. You must do it! Do it!” She fought free of Sunny’s grasp and tried to grab Soraya’s wrists, but she pulled back too quickly, slipping free, tumbling back. And then Seela was also falling back, but into Sunny’s arms, sobbing as she was rocked back and forth.

“You don’t deserve to die,” Soraya said. “If there’s a way to help you, I will find it.”

She knew what she needed to do.

She put down the knife.

Sixteen

Tomas

Drouin, Kinkalla

My mother is dead, Tomas thought as he ran, mind trying to curl around the thought like hands trying to hold onto something solid. Except every time he tried to grasp it, the thought would turn to smoke and twist away. Because it couldn’t be real. How could it? He’d traveled to Drouin for the first time in his life, laid eyes on his mother for the first time in his life, and then—

No, it was impossible. The timing too absurd.

Unless…

He couldn’t think the thoughts that prowled on the edges of his mind, couldn’t give them the life that their snapping jaws desired. If he did, then none of this could be an awful nightmare and he wouldn’t be able to wake up.

He skidded to a stop, feet scraping the brownish, reddish stones that layered the cliffs.

“Say it,” he demanded. He held back the words that hung on the edge of his tongue. “You need to say it.”

Still, he hesitated, even if he knew, logically speaking, that giving voice to something didn’t make it any more or less real. He lifted his chin. Locked his jaw. “Father sent me here.”