Page 50 of Fate's Wicked Oath

Heris took a step closer. With his sound magic shrouding our conversation, I felt as if we were the only two living beings for miles. The thought sent a shiver down my spine. Heris might’ve protected me as I grew up in the Valiant, but I’d never felt any sort of safety with him—only a sense of debt.

His schemes were my path to freedom from the Valiant.

He also knew where my family lived.

I had no choice but to play along. To tread carefully.

Heris’s thin lips curled into a sneer. “You forget the other tenet of our beloved Oath, dearest Mariana.”

The safe keeping of the realm’s secrets.

Thinking of Orna and Pete, a boulder formed in my stomach. “They do not know too much,” I stated.

“They saw a Morta,” Heris said simply. “That is, by its barest definition, knowing too much. And you know what we must do to citizens who—”

“No.”

Heris was taken aback. “No?”

“I will not let you harm them.” I’d seen far too many innocent folks die by Heris’s command. There had to be another way to preserve our Order long enough to plan our uprising. I just had to pose a solution in a manner that Heris could comprehend. “The Mighty Knight will suspect something if we dispatch the civilians,” I reasoned.

“We could kill him, too.”

Wemeaningme. The boulder in my stomach grew by double.

“And risk Lord Haron’s wrath when his prize knight goes missing?” I shook my head. “We’d be the first to blame. Better to control the situation from the inside, as I am doing.”

Heris was frowning, but he couldn’t argue with that logic.

“I have it well in hand,” I assured him. “Have I ever failed you when it counted?”

His expression softened, becoming almost doting. When he reached for my face, I willed myself not to shrink from the unwanted touch. His rough fingertips scraped my cheek.

“Mariana, my secret weapon,” Heris murmured. “When we win this, I’ll set you free.”

The familiar promise felt hollow, but it was all I had.

“Are we done here?” I asked. “You’re interrupting my beauty sleep.”

His chuckle was hoarse and mocking. “There’s one more thing,” he said. “The cure you gave us? It has a…peculiar effect.”

My brows pinched together. “How so?”

“Let’s just say that it works in our favor,” Heris said cryptically.

With all the errand running for the alchemists and the distractions of this mission, I had only cured one Morta—and I hadn’t stuck around long enough to witness the potion’s full effect. The knight-turned-monster had indeed transformed back into a man, but some monstrous features had remained; he had yet to wake up when Heris had tasked another Valiant knight to watch over him and sent me on another errand.

The Valiant’s hope was that the cure not only neutralized the Morta’s curse but solved the alchemical process that Lord Haron had set out to accomplish: the creation of a knight with unmatched strength, agility, and power. That seemed to be what Heris was implying, but when I opened my mouth to ask more, he spoke over me. “I am sending all our best fighters out into the wilds to administer the cure and rally our army. I need you to procure more vials.”

An army of cured Morta. Though this had been Heris’s aim for some time, the reality of it sent a chill down my spine.

I gave him a quick nod. “Fine. Is that all?”

Heris reached for me again, gripping my jaw in his long, spidery fingers. “Control this situation. Find leverage with the Mighty Knight. Get us more cure. Return before the upcoming Unity Ceremony. That is when we’ll act.”

I jerked out of his hold, the pads of his fingers dragging roughly as I shook him off. “Understood.”

“We’re close, Mariana. Don’t fuck up now.”