Page 33 of Fate's Wicked Oath

Mariana shrugged. “It’s your Fate.” Then she was running.

Faren raced out of the alley after her. Excited yips echoed behind them, but he didn’t dare glance back. He pumped his arms, breathing deeply, focusing on the power of his legs, just as he did in training—trying to ignore the deep and instinctual fear threatening to strangle him.

Mariana was surprisingly fast, given her short stature. With sword in hand, she sprinted over the cobblestones. The bell tower loomed to their right, their path to it blocked by another line of shops. As they darted parallel to their salvation, Faren could hear the rhythmic clack of claws on stone getting closer and closer.

Then: teeth, snapping at Faren’s boots.

Mariana hooked right, darting down a crossroad. The wolf on Faren’s heels overshot the turn, its momentum carrying it past the opening. “Fates,” Faren swore, his speed renewed as he ran after Mariana, encouraged by the bell tower rising out of the fog ahead of them.Almost, almost.

But as Mariana reached the small square surrounding the base of the tower, another wolf appeared.

“Watch out!” Faren shouted, but her sword was already aglow in blue flame.

She slashed at the creature, which scuttled backward on the many claw-tipped legs protruding from its sides. Faren arrived moments later, both swords drawn and ignited. The blaze of his weapons cast the scene in red, throwing gruesome shadows on the surrounding stone structures. Two more wolves came, lunging and snarling, and Faren swung his swords in circular arcs, scaring the monsters back.

“Inside!” Mariana ordered.

“Should we not try to kill—” The wind was knocked out of Faren as a wolf collided with him from the side. He fell to the ground, dropping Honor with a clatter. The beast landed on top of him, saliva splattering Faren’s cheeks; it stung like hotoil. A horrified grunt loosed from his chest as he used his free hand to shove the creature’s open maw away from his face. The abomination’s fur was matted and damp, caked with gore, its temperature oddly cool under Faren’s fingertips.

The wolf snarled and snapped, its considerable weight pressing down on Faren’s breastplate. He tried to angle Mercy up into its side, but his arm was pinned at an awkward angle underneath one of the monster’s many legs. Faren pushed on the creature’s throat, locking his elbow as it fought to maul him.

Then, with an abrupt and fleshy crunch, the monster’s neck tore open with a spray of black blood and blue flame. Mariana kicked the creature with her boot, shoving it off Faren’s chest.

“Isaid,inside,” she scolded.

Muscles shaking with adrenaline, skin stinging with foul blood, Faren retrieved Honor and got to his feet. Two dead wolves were slumped in the small plaza, with others closing in, prowling slowly, baring their too-long fangs. Faren’s sense of duty told him to fight, but he was not the mindless follower Mariana had accused him of being. Though he did not trust her in all matters, he trusted her in this.

Faren brandished his swords at the wolves, scaring them back as if he meant to fight—then he darted for the bell tower door, bursting through with Mariana close behind. The moment she was inside, Faren slammed the door shut and secured the drawbar, locking them in.

Wolves scratched at the door, snarling and whining, but the bar held firm. For a moment, Faren simply panted in the flickering light of their weapons, his lungs aching with exertion. His face burned from the splatter of the beast’s venom and ichor. His chest felt tight with the memory of the monster on top of him.

“Here,” Mariana said, handing him a clean square of fabric. She barely sounded winded; her voice was almost melodious asit echoed off the curved walls. “Wipe the blood off your face before it blisters.”

While he did, Mariana ventured deeper into the foyer of the tower, using her sword as a torch in the darkness. There wasn’t much to see, just a few stacked crates, vertically strung ropes tied off on pegs, and the spiral stone staircase leading up.

After wiping his face, Faren used the soiled fabric to clean the splatter off the front of his breastplate. When he was done, Mariana plucked the used fabric from Faren’s fingers, dropped it on the floor, and used her sword’s flame to burn it to ash.

“Your romantic view awaits,” she said, gesturing at the stairwell.

13

A Tender Embrace in the Moonlight

Mariana

No matter how many monsters I fought, my body always responded like it was my first: the cursed badger that had bitten my face and left a scar on my upper lip.

Adrenaline hummed through my veins, quick as a river current. My pulse throbbed in my neck and pounded through my sore ribs; my skin crawled with the buzz of my magic. The child inside me wanted to shriek and whimper, but as Heris had told me after he ran the badger through,Hysterics will only get you killed.So, I shoved the emotion down, compacting it in the base of my belly. Forcing my lungs to draw slow breaths. Strong-arming myself into calm.

The Fates might’ve gifted me with sensitivity, but callousness kept me safe.Steel does not feel, I reminded myself.

“So, first impressions?” I asked Faren as I followed him up the stairs.

The steps were triangular and narrow, spiraling precariously upward. His shoulders scraped the stone walls as he climbed, forcing him to walk with his chest angled sideways. He’d sheathed one sword but kept the other aloft and alight; its red radiance reflected in his breastplate, making him look like he wore armor made of flame.

“Have you gotten any good material for your report?” I pressed, keeping my tone mockingly light. It was either that, or the aforementioned hysterics. “Will you wax poetic about Yar’s undeniable charm?”

“The assessment you shared with Lord Haron appears correct,” Faren replied seriously. “Not much to report, aside from perhaps, ‘Complete devastation.’”