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
And then, with a whipping motion, she snapped the belt through the air. Except it was no longer a belt, but a sharp-edged sword, still black, gleaming darkly. She couldn’t help herself; it felt so right holding her weapon again. She began to move, her body falling back into the forms and positions she’d practiced almost every day for the last ten or more years. When she performed them, she felt like she was whole again, like she had two feet and legs of flesh and blood, like she was as liquid as water, as strong as iron, as graceful as an eagle taking wing.
Like she was more than herself. Better. The ideal version of the woman she wished she could be.
Time lost all meaning as she moved, leaping and spinning, slashing and stabbing and then—
Stopping, chest heaving, sweat sheening her brow, cooling her skin in the night air.
Ludo was staring at her, lips slightly parted. “That was…”
“Sorry, I got carried away,” she said quickly, face flushing. “My serash is like an old friend to me and sometimes I can’t help myself and I—”
“I was going to say beautiful,” Ludo said.
“Oh.”
“I’ve never seen anyone fight with such…flow.”
“It’s how all assassins of my guild—or former guild, I should say—are taught to fight. It’s what attracted me to the Daggers in the first place. I was recruited, you could say, but I wasn’t sold until I saw them train. Then I knew: I wanted to do that too.”
“Were they angry when you left?”
“They were angry I took my serash with me.”
“Is that not allowed?”
“It’s a gray area. They didn’t stop me. They won’t pursue me. But they’ll never forgive me either.”
“I’m sorry. That must be hard. Did you leave friends behind?”
Farrow’s face appeared in her mind’s eye. “I—I don’t know what I would call them. I never really knew them. Not really. We weren’t allowed to speak of our pasts.”
“Sometimes the past is better left in the past.”
“I used to believe that, too.”
“But not anymore?”
“To be honest, I don’t know what I think anymore. Before, you mentioned a brother…”
“I’m not talking about that.”
“Fair enough. But just know that I’m here to listen if you change your mind.”
“We should get some shut eye.” With that, Ludo lay on his side, turned away from her.