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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

Instincts told Soraya that she should be doing something, but what that something was escaped her, mind spinning about like a tornado without really going anywhere. Instead, she stood frozen in place, only able to stare at the grotesqueness of the monster now wreathed in only chains, the snapped ropes scattered about her clawed feet. Only able to pray that the chains would hold, that the cinder blocks would be sufficient anchors to keep the nightdemon where she stood. If they could ride out this night, at least they could try again on the morrow, right? They would still have a chance, a hope, of reversing the effects of the mutation wrought on this poor woman by that untimely bite by the rat.

The nightdemon’s eyes, previously dark pits, now glowed bright and golden, blazing forth and chasing the darkness from the corners of the room. With a hiss, the creature leapt from its haunches, chains clanking and cinder blocks clattering behind it like bells on a cow. Soraya and Sunny were forced to dive to either side to avoid being crushed, but the door had no such luxury of movement, the wood destroyed at the moment of impact.

And when they were able to look, they found what was left of its shattered remnants swinging from a single hinge.

The nightdemon, however, was gone.

Inside her satchel, Morg immediately went still and silent.

Twenty-Two

Tomas

Marchessault, Finfalla

The king hadn’t stirred from his slumber since Tomas had entered his curtain-darkened room. He had only left his father’s side once, briefly, to speak with the royal healers, who hadn’t much to say other than he’d been given a revitalizing elixir, more potent than any previous ones that had been offered his royal lips. While it had the regrettable side effect of extreme drowsiness, there was every hope that His Majesty would awaken in better condition than when he’d slumped in his throne while holding court, blood oozing from his mouth.

Tomas cursed their ill luck. Had his father taken sick in private, the damage control would’ve been far easier. But given the scores of loose-lipped witnesses who’d watched it happen, the news would surely be spreading like wildfire across the kingdom, the early flames lit by those with the most to gain by his worsening condition. Namely, Lords Gideon and Skinner, though there were plenty of others who were likely cheering in private as well.

“Little better than scavengers, the lot of them,” he muttered.

“Scavengers you will need to learn to cooperate with if you are to be successful,” his father’s dry, chapped lips rasped, though his eyes didn’t open. Not yet.