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Back Forsworn
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

And yet, she’d never been with any other man. How was such a thing possible?

Where did you come from, my children? Where oh where?

At some point, she must’ve fallen asleep, too, but eventually she’d awoken to that incessant crying, not from one hungry mouth but from two. Kernan was asleep on the floor, having found his way down there at some point during the night. A beam of light had landed right in her eye, making her squint, while he was comfortably cast in shadow.

She groaned and nudged him with her toe. “Bring ’em to me one at a time an’ comfort t’other.”

He coughed and groaned even louder than she had, but obeyed, still somewhat unsteady on his feet. Once she’d fed them both, she said, “I’m goin’ back to sleep. Wake me only if the house is afire.” With that, she straightened her back with a crack, made her way over to the small bedroom, and closed the door firmly. For good measure, she jammed a chair beneath the knob. Jest try to disturb me, she thought, already anticipating the feel of the soft mattress beneath her body before she slid into it. Ahhh. I could die on this bed an’ die happy, I could.

That was her last thought before she drifted off to sleep.

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She felt as though her eyelids had just fallen closed when a familiar sound awoke her. A sound that made her want to chew her own fingers off one at a time.

A baby crying. It was Ludo, that was for certain. Gado’s cry was more whiny, less insistent, while Ludo’s was a wail that could chase ghouls away. “Kernan!” she hollered, unwilling to open her eyes lest she struggle to get them closed again.

No response but Ludo’s scream.

“Kernan! Ye hafta rock ’im back to sleep. Sooth ’im with the sound of yer voice.”

No response but Ludo’s wail, which seemed to grow in intensity with each passing second. “I’ll kill ’im, I will,” she muttered, followed by a stream of curses that would redden a sailor’s ears. She slung the door open, still half-blind from exhaustion, and stumbled like the drunk her husband had been the night before, until she reached the tiny crib. There she found Ludo, having broken free of his swaddle, tiny hands fisted and angry as he released another shriek that felt like needles being stabbed into Lana’s brain.

The identical crib beside Ludo’s bed stood empty. A quick scan of the room proved her husband was nowhere to be found. “I only asked fer one thing…” She fixed Ludo’s swaddle, snug but comfortable, subduing his battling arms, but he refused to settle. She offered him a finger to suckle, but he twisted and turned his little head away from it, a steady stream of shrieks from his toothless mouth his only return offer.