Forgotten Vows (Folk, #2)

by Lily Mayne

I didn’t want to be alone anymore. The ache in my chest was so sharp. Heavy. More than just the pain from my missing arm. It felt like there should be someone beside me, like I was missing something vital but I didn’t know what.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe I couldn’t breathe. I huddled against the wall of Ash’s cottage, between wild clumps of his plants in the herb garden he had lovingly tended.

He was gone. The utter despair mingled in a confusing swirl with the intense relief that he had escaped my mother—some semblance of what I had felt for months. Part of me had been terrified that he would shed his mortal skin and leave me, be gone forever, even though I knew it was what had to happen to keep him safe. And now he had. My Ash was full fae. But then, he wasn’t my Ash anymore. I wanted to die.

I’d been a fool, thinking I could fix any of this before it was too late. Before he found out the true extent of it all. And now I’d paid the price. No matter how fervently I had told him it had been true, he thought that everything we had was a lie. A game. And now there was nothing I could do to right it. I’d felt the power in his words—in the vow he’d made to forget me until the day he died. He’d said I was nothing to him anymore. I felt like nothing. I felt like I would shrivel up into nothing where I sat, panting and bleeding alone in the dark.

Ash was gone. He was gone. He remembered nothing of me, and if he had, he would have hated me anyway. I had lost him entirely.

But before I fell unconscious, I wept. For everything I had done to Ash. All the pain I had caused him, even as I’d tried to stop it. For everything I had lost—the only thing that had ever truly mattered to me. Part of me hoped that I wouldn’t wake up.

“There are rumours that the Carlin never showed her sons how to find Ogma. So that she has complete control over them even now.”

And it felt like I’d cried for more. For something I’d lost—something other than my mortal life and my home and my parents—but I didn’t know what.

Something felt wrong, and I had no idea what. I had my arm back, but it still felt like I was missing something vital.

I cried for more than my arm, more than the pain, and I couldn’t stop, even though I didn’t know why.

I had lost him. The only thing I cared about. All I had left were the memories—ones he no longer shared—and the ghost of him in this place.

“I love you,” I blurted, and even when he froze in shock, the words kept pouring from me in an unstoppable rush. “I miss you so much it feels like I’m dying. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all of it, but it wasn’t a game, Ash. None of what we had was a game. It was real.”

“You’ve forgotten much already, but it will return. He searches for you always. Pines for you.” My brows pinched in a little frown. “Who?” “Your holly king.”

“Acherone al Brid.” The voice echoed across the clearing, but I knew it was coming from that little hut. “The halfling. The Hunter. The thrice-lived king.”

“The arm of branches. The favour at your throat. Your first oath already etched into your skin. You are one of us now fully, aren’t you?” Favour? Oath? What? I didn’t know what she was talking about.

I lowered my bow and reluctantly stepped back off the rock, still staring at the fae. He gazed back at me in silence, black hair plastered to his cheeks. Even dripping wet, he was unnervingly beautiful—more beautiful than Odran.

“Where are your loyalties, Prince Lonan?” he asked, still watching me. “Where do they lie?” “With Ash,” I rasped immediately, even though he was unseelie.

“Then why doesn’t he remember you?” I clenched my jaw, feeling the muscle spasm there. “He vowed to forget me.” “When he found out your mother’s plan?” The kelpie nodded. “It hurt him greatly, I imagine. If you were together.”

“I know you didn’t kill his parents,” the kelpie rasped, making me jerk. But it was another thing I couldn’t answer. “I heard you and your brother. At the lake.” He peered at me. “He wants you for himself.” Intense shame made me look away. I was utterly humiliated that anyone had witnessed Balor advancing on me that day, lust gleaming in his eyes.

Are you going to keep him alone forever, even though he’ll never remember you?” My eyes burned, guilt flooding my stomach like acid. I didn’t know the answer to that. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to leave Ash alone. If I’d be able to sit and watch him find someone and fall in love with them. Watch him give someone else his soft smiles and sweet kisses. His body. Everything inside me rebelled at the thought. He was mine. He was mine. My Ash. My oak king. And I was his. I would always be his. No one else’s.

No matter what I did—no matter how well I adapted to my new life out here—something always felt wrong. Off. Something was missing, but I didn’t know what.

Ogma shifted, leaning forward. A huge hand wrapped around my shoulder, her fingers reaching all the way to my lower back. “Cailleach Bheura Cruthachadh de Neoini,” she whispered in my ear. Despite my unease, a wide, sharp grin stretched my mouth. I had the Carlin’s name.

The Seelie Ruler has dominion over all serpents—all but one. Gadleg is beyond their control, and she is feared greatly for this fact. One drop of Gadleg’s venom is enough to stop the Seelie Ruler’s heart.

“I’m going to kill her.” His eyes widened. “You found a way to kill the Carlin?” I shook my head. “Not the Carlin, though I’m still going to kill her. I meant the Brid.” Nua and Gillie stared at me in shocked silence, the latter thumping down his mug on the table and splashing tea over his hand. Neither of them spoke for a long time.

I’m going to keep you safe,” I said bluntly. “You kept me safe from her when I was a boy. I’m returning the favour. I’m going to make sure she can never hurt you.”

I knew she wouldn’t have been a normal snake, but this was… She was impossibly huge. And… she talked. “You’re…” My brain had gone entirely blank with shock as I stared at her. “You’re a talking snake.”

My brows pulled into a frown. “Judge me on what?” “Everything.” Panic gripped me. “What—I don’t—What does that mean?” “It means I will judge you. Your actions. I will decide whether you are worthy of still living.” That sounded terrifying. I broke out in a cold sweat. “Why?” “Because I find myself taking an interest.” “In… in what?” “Everything,” she repeated. “Change is coming. I would enjoy playing a part.”

I had Gadleg’s venom. I could kill the Brid.

Lonan. Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan Lonan I almost fell out of the tree I’d been sleeping in as I jerked awake abruptly, already crying. It

I remembered him. I remembered him. I couldn’t suck in enough air. I clutched my chest, the sharp ache tightening and tightening until it felt like I was going to choke—

Lonan. The hollowness in my chest was him. I started running, not sure where I was going.

“I vowed to forget him.” “What were your exact words, Ash?” Nua said urgently. My eyes darted as I tried to remember. I licked my lips. “I… I vowed to forget him and everything we had until—” My breath hitched, and I stared at Nua and Gillie. “I vowed to forget him until the day I died.” There was a moment of silence. Then Nua’s face crumpled with grief, and Gillie’s black brows drew together in a pained frown. “S-so I’m… going to die today,” I heard myself say in a flat voice.

You’ll do it, but you’ll die.” I stared at him. “R-really? I’ll actually do it? I’ll kill her?” I looked down at the jar again. Determination flooded me, chasing away the terror at the thought of my impending death. I wouldn’t be able to fulfil my end of the deal with Gadleg, then. I wondered if she knew. I wondered if that was why she’d asked for something so weird and pointless—because she knew I wouldn’t be going back. I nodded. “Then it’ll be worth it.”

As sick as it may have seemed, I was glad the Carlin had stolen me. I was glad of everything that had happened, except my parents’ senseless murder. At least I’d gotten to know my brother and Gillie. At least I’d had Lonan for a little while. At least I would die knowing what it was like to love someone so much it hurt—knowing that there were people I cared for so deeply that I would do anything for them.

“Are you scared?” I taunted. “Scared of your half-breed runt of a son? The Carlin was right. You don’t deserve any respect. Look at you, hiding behind a pig.”

“You are lucky she died before you. Just a second before.” “Wh-what difference did that make?” I rasped, my throat sore from the fire that had invaded it. “The power transferred to you when she died, bringing you back. You are the Seelie King.”

I was going to get my brother, and then I was going to find Lonan.

It hadn’t really sunk in yet—that I was the Seelie King. But at the same time… it had. I wasn’t scared. For some reason, I wasn’t intimidated by the enormity of the role before me.

Hearing him call me king made something ping in my brain. I stared at him hard, memories surfacing of when I was a boy. Of the dark-haired, silver-eyed fae teaching me about mushrooms. Calling me the thrice-lived king. “You called me king when I was little,” I said. “You called me the thrice-lived king.” Gillie went still, his brows pulling down into a frown. “Did I?” I let out a short laugh. “Yeah. I remember.” “Well.” He let out a breath, then looked at Nua with a grin. “Do you hear that, my love? I knew all along.”

“Stop calling me the king, it feels weird,” I mumbled, picking up my mug. Gillie laughed. “But you are. Seelie King. Seelie Ruler. What other names will you have, I wonder?” I blinked as Ogma’s low, raspy voice suddenly slithered through my head. I licked my lips. “Ogma called me the Hunter King. And the Oak King.” My mouth quirked. “She called me the thrice-lived king too, actually.”

“Something’s here.” The Carlin’s voice, cold with anger. “Something’s on my land.”

Balor snarled and flew towards me with the same long silver blade he’d used to cut off the arm now hanging in his mother’s palace. I nocked an arrow, but I didn’t rush. I aimed carefully. He choked when the arrow drove through the lacing on his leather trousers, directly between his legs. His sword clattered to the floor as he stumbled back and fell, pale hands fluttering uselessly over the arrow protruding from his groin.

The Carlin was frozen as she stared at her eldest son whimpering on the ground with an arrow in his dick.

“Not my fae skin,” I said, reaching back and plucking out one specific arrow. I’d coated three in Gadleg’s venom and used two on the Brid. I nocked the third and aimed it at the Carlin. “But I do have Gadleg’s venom. Even if it doesn’t kill you, it’s sure to do some damage, isn’t it?” I was bluffing. My heart was pounding in my chest. I had no idea if Gadleg’s venom would affect the Carlin at all, but judging by the way her pale face went ashen, I was fairly sure that it would do something at least.

“Why would I let him go?” she snarled, and my heart stuttered with fear when her cobalt eye darted to Lonan’s fragile body, filled with calculating anger. I shot her before she could move. I was certain she’d been about to hurt Lonan—or worse. I’d seen it in her eye. She stumbled back in shock, staring down at the arrow in her chest.

“It won’t—kill me,” she got out through clenched teeth, staring up at me in fury as her limbs stiffened up. “I told you, I’m not here to kill you,” I said, silently adding, Not yet. “I’ll be taking your hand with me so the apothecary can’t reattach it, by the way. Maybe I’ll take your other eye as well.”

As I pulled out my dagger and approached, I kicked Balor’s sword away. Not that he was any kind of threat. He was sobbing now, cradling his ruined dick, the arrow still protruding from it.

I heard the voice leave me before I even realised I was speaking. “I will kill you for this. Only for this.” Even the Carlin seemed surprised I would dare speak to her this way. “I want you to know exactly why I am killing you when I do it,” I told her, my voice quiet—but I knew she could hear me.

I’ll kill your eldest son for what he did to my parents, but when I kill you, it will be only because of this. It will be only for him.”

“How adorable.” Her voice was tight, but she twisted her face into a sneer. “Sweet boy, do you believe you carry your mother’s powers? I’m afraid there can only be one Wielder of Words, and it isn’t you.” “No?” My heart thumped hard. “I think it became me when I killed her.”