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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

She ran.

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Perfidy ran for a long time, not caring which branches smacked into her, not even bothering to push them aside with her hands. Even when she stumbled into a thornbush, she just bounced off and kept going, picking the thorns from her skin as she ran, smearing blood across her arms. She tripped once, barely managing to get her hands up to protect her head as she came crashing down, but simply scrambled to her feet and soldiered on, running until her lungs protested, heaving like a ship riding the waves of a storm.

Hands on her knees, tears mingled with sweat, dripping from her brow, nose and chin. “It’s not true,” she said. “I didn’t…I jest fell, is all. I shouldn’t have stopped in the air like that. Someone else…someone else musta bin there. A witch. A wizard…” An idea popped into her head. That annoying, evil woman kept showing up. And she’d already admitted to being a mage, so it must’ve been her who’d done it. A trick. A trick that had ended with Perfidy’s mother being accused, tried and sentenced. “It’s her fault. All her fault.”

Perfidy sank to her knees, wrapped her arms around her legs, and cried until she ran out of tears.

When her eyes had finally dried and she’d used her sleeve to vanquish the rest of the tears from her cheeks, she said, “Blubberin’ like a damn fool. Ma would be mortyfied. Pick yerself up, girl. Dust yerself off. It’s all ye can do now.”

So she did, standing up, breathing in the fresh, forest air. Looking about herself, not at all surprised to find Miss Marin standing not a stone’s throw away. She was alone now, the others going back to…New Dawn…or wherever the rot it was that they practiced their illegal magic. “I killed my ma,” Perfidy said, unable to unclench her teeth.

“That’s the first lie you’ve told me. Let’s have it be the last.”

“She wouldn’t have bin killed if not fer me.”

“She wouldn’t have been killed if folks weren’t ignorant. If the king himself wasn’t a hypocritical bastard.”

Perfidy’s eyes went wide. “That’s…”

“Blasphemy?” Miss Marin finished for her. “Here in Lostwood, we are not subject to King Vedran’s archaic, backwards laws. Nor any other monarch’s. We operate independently. Here, we are allowed to be ourselves, to use the gifts the gods blessed us with. To channel godsblood and perfect our Abilities. No one knows about New Dawn, and, for now, we plan to keep it that way.”

“Why? Whut’s the point o’ any o’ it?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet, my dear girl. Why, for revenge, of course.” She smiled such a sweet smile, and yet it was filled with daggers.