Page 115 of Fate's Wicked Oath
“But first, I need to know something.” Faren’s fingers grazed her jaw. “Last night. What did it mean to you?”
He half expected her to balk and make a crass joke. Instead, she said, “Too much, probably.”
“Ah, good. Me, too,” he said brightly. “We’re on the same page.”
A small smile flickered across her face, as if his admission pleased her. He still wasn’t accustomed to her being forthright about her thoughts and feelings, and he supposed there would never come a time when he took that trust for granted.
“Something was confirmed for me in Waldron,” Faren began, his tone dropping low, even though they were alone. “About the Lord and the Morta.”
Mariana bolted upright. “Fates, Faren, why didn’t you say anything?”
“Well, at first, there was your terrible mood when we were leaving town. Then the rain. Then—well—me, fucking you senseless.”
“I wasn’tsenseless,” she said, a blush blooming high on her cheekbones.
“You most certainly were.”
She scoffed, but didn’t argue, and a smug sort of affection broke open in Faren’s chest. He liked Mariana like this. He liked uncovering all the warmth, humor, and tenderness beneath her surly exterior. It made him feel special,chosen—and not because of his status or what he accomplished, but because of who he was.
“Listen,” he urged, sitting up to reposition himself against the headboard. He pulled her against him and tugged the blanket up, shielding them from the cool morning air. “On the surface, our allegiances appear to be at odds—the Lordship versus the Valiant—but there is a third option we might consider.”
Her eyes went wide. “Don’t tell me you’re forsaking your Oath just to—”
“Fuck you senseless again?”
She thumped his chest with a fist, which he quickly encircled in his own. “I am not forsaking my Oath,” he said. “On the contrary, I believe I am more aligned with my duty than ever—and that’s because of you.” He gestured toward the window and, beyond it, the rolling hills of Fenrir and the distant capital. “You forced me to see a truth that I would’ve otherwise kept myself blinded to.”
“No, I didn’t,” she said, forlorn. “I couldn’t even voice it to you.”
“Perhaps not, but it was you who gave me a chance to hear it and believe it,” he said. “You also helped me realize that it’s my imperative to interpret my loyalty based on my Oath as well as my morals—especially in the face of corruption. My allegiance is to therealm—to this great territory and kingdom—and so is yours. Which means we are not enemies, but allies, as I originally insisted. Of that, I am more certain now than ever.”
“What are you saying? Aside from ‘I told you so.’”
“I’msaying,” he enunciated, grazing his mouth against her forehead, “that there is hope, yet.”
She drew back. “Hope for what?”
“A better outcome than you leaving me in Fenrir City, never to see each other again, except, perhaps, when the armies of our Orders meet.”
She seemed taken aback by him putting it so plainly.
“Unless you, in fact,wantto leave me in Fenrir City, never to see me again, except, perhaps, to bring my end?” He made it sound like a joke, but the feelings behind it—the fear and insecurity—held a kernel of honesty.
“Of course not,” she said, and he exhaled. “But how, Faren? How is there any hope of a better outcome than ruin?”
He met her eyes. “Major Farkept.”
Her jaw pulsed.
“He’s aware of the Lord’s corruption. He—”
“I know he is,” Mariana interrupted. “He’s known for years, and yet he serves the bastard anyway.” Seeming to realize that she, too, served a bastard, she added, “Willingly.”
“If there’s anything I know about Oderin, it’s that he’s biding his time. Working covertly. I think—” Faren broke off, searching for the right way to articulate the ideas that had been swirling in his mind since Waldron. “I think he sent me on this mission hoping that I’d learn the truth. I suspect his Oath prevents him from speaking it aloud to anyone who doesn’t already know—just as yours and mine seem to—and this was the only way for him to alert another Mighty Knight of what’s going on.”
“And?”
“What if we help him?Together?”
