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
As her knife changed position from his neck to his groin, he suspected he’d made a very grave mistake. “You’re right. If I want the truth, I’ll have to cut off something valuable instead. Clearly your head and whatever rocks are clanking about inside it are worthless. So what do you say? A hand? A foot? I happen to know what that feels like, and it’s not fun. Or maybe for a man there’s something else he values more than his limbs…hmm…”
Ludo obviously couldn’t admit who he really was. No one save the king and his son knew the Ghost’s true identity. At least no one alive. But he also couldn’t lie his way out of this one. At least not with the boring lies he’d been spinning so far. No, to fool her it would require a much better lie, one rooted in a hearty helping of truth. “I work for the crown.”
“I swear to the gods I’ll do it,” she said, knuckles whitening on the dagger’s hilt.
“I’m not lying. I was before, because the king swore me to secrecy, but I’m not now. My loyalty to ol’ Artemus doesn’t extend to losing body parts to protect him.” Speaking so casually about His Royal Majesty was a calculated risk, one that could’ve blown up in his face if he’d measured her wrongly.
He hadn’t. She smirked. “Ol’ Artemus wouldn’t know his arse from a hole in the ground even if there was a snake inside to bite him.”
“You’ve met him?”
“Once. Or maybe twice,” she said, as though the encounters had been far too droll to remember them. “What exactly do you do for King Arty?”
He almost laughed at that. If the wrong person heard her blaspheme the king’s name so brazenly, she’d be strung up faster than a fattened goose on Old Sky Day. “I’m a woodsman.” When she started to roll her eyes, he hurried on. “A damn good woodsman. The best in Finfalla. That’s why he hired me. To complete a full survey.”
Her eyebrows fluttered, but she held back the frown. “A survey of what?”
“Lostwood, of course. I’m guessing you’ve noticed it’s not exactly where it’s supposed to be.”
“Meaning…”
“It’s growing.”
“You are a damn good woodsman! I never knew that forests grow. How elucidating!”
He might’ve enjoyed the woman’s dry humor if not for the precarious position one of his most useful parts was still in. “It’s not growing the way forests usually grow. It’s growing faster. Two years ago, this was all empty shoreline.”
“Bullshit.”