Oath Taker (Kingdom of Runes, #1)

by Audrey Grey

But she felt caught in a nightmare where no matter how hard she ran, invisible quicksand sucked at her legs and tangled her feet.

Instead of jewelry, she dripped steel. Instead of satin gowns, she donned worn leather scabbards and baldrics. And instead of wearing her tresses elaborately coiffed like a peacock’s tail feathers, she preferred a dusty old trader’s hat.

But she couldn’t help feeling she was on the precipice of . . . something. And that even the slightest of winds could blow her—and everything she loved—into the abyss.

“Even monsters have souls. Like that creature you’re drawing there.” His gaze flicked to her sketch. “There’s a sadness behind those handsome eyes.”

Defending a body was easy; defending a heart was a lot trickier.

By the Goddess’s Law, every curse had a Curseprice.

Her breathing became a cadence to ground her, a battle cry. Every breath meant she was still alive. She could still fight. She could still be useful.

“Told you I’m quite useful. When I want to be.” She brushed by him, whispering into his ear in rough Solissian as she passed, “I think that solidifies our deal, no, pretty Sun Lord?”

He underestimated her, as he always would, and no amount of fighting to prove herself worthy would change his mind.

So she would use that against him. Against all of them. She would be the nice, weak little mortal they expected. She would smile and do everything they said, and the first moment their guard slipped, she would take back her runestones and leave them far behind.

“Magick is not free, Mortal. It always takes something of equal value in return. But it is an ancient master, with a mind of its own and desires we can only begin to fathom. And that makes its price unpredictable, sometimes ruinous—particularly for mortal flesh. Be glad mortals cannot harness dark magick. That price you cannot pay.”

“The point is, your brain may choose one thing—it may even convince you that choice is honorable, and right, and the only way—but your heart will follow its own path. That path may not be logical, it may not even make sense, but the heart does not care.”

Now those promises filled her with strength. Haven was a lot of things, but not an oath breaker. She would keep her oaths or die trying, to the Netherworld with anyone who tried to stop her.

Just like her magick, she was a study in contrasts. Strong yet weak. Fierce yet kind. Hard yet surprisingly vulnerable.