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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

“You left the Daggers?”

“I gave you one answer, now you give me one. Who are you?”

“The Ghost.”

She laughed. “And I’m Queen Vedran-Echevaria.” He didn’t return her mirth, his ice-blue eye as serious as a hunting wolf’s. “You expect me to believe you’re the King’s Blade? A man known for killing in the black of night without ever being seen by a single witness? And that you would entrust a stranger with this knowledge? A stranger, I might add, who has a dagger to your—”

They heard the footsteps on the staircase at the same time, both instinctively retracting their weapons in one swift motion. In the next motion, the man swept her to one side of the hall with his offhand, which slid up her back before settling on her head, pulling her toward him until their lips met.

She was so startled by the turn of events that she froze, his lips roaming over hers with a passion usually reserved for lustful lovers behind locked doors. He tasted of strong drink and, surprisingly, mint, as though he’d been chewing on the leaves before exiting his room. As he kissed her, the footsteps stopped on the landing, a small gasp emerging from whomever they belonged to. Then, quicker than they had arrived, they retreated the way they’d come.

Only when silence returned did the man’s lips pull free of hers. They seemed to draw the very air from her lungs in the process, though that ale and mint taste lingered on her tongue, not altogether unpleasant. “Believe me or not, I do not care,” he said, turning away as though none of what had just happened had happened at all. “I’m thirsty.”

“How dare you kiss me?” she spluttered, fighting off the urge to attack him from behind.

He shrugged. “Would you rather some innocent washer woman catch us with knives to each other’s throats? Regardless, you’re not a great kisser anyway, so it won’t happen again.”

Words failed her, and it was all she could do to stare at his back until he’d disappeared down the staircase.

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Ludo

Ludo slumped into a chair nestled in one of the corners of the room, his back to both walls where he could see anyone who entered. An old habit that probably wasn’t worth the effort. The inn’s great room was already full to brimming, but the scene was as boring and typical as it should be. Tables of men laughing and tipping back frothing mugs of ale. Tables of women complaining about their ‘no-good, useless husbands’ and sipping delicate flutes of sweet wine. Mixed tables carrying on more civilized conversations. A bard strummed out a sad tune mostly ignored by the customers, who’d probably come inside to escape the nonstop music offered by the streets of Kestrel.

Ludo’s heart was racing.