The Crown of Oaths and Curses (The Mortal Fates #1)

by J. Bree

The Fates have blessed you with a mate. His name is Prince Soren Celestial, heir to the throne of the Southern Lands, and your union will unite a shattered kingdom. The bloodshed that has ravaged the Southern Lands shall end, the lands shall be restored, and the old ways shall be honored once more. The Fates will guide you to him when your heart is ready.

You are not welcome here, Rookesbane Eveningstar. The Ravenswyrd Coven is gone.

My own family was massacred by the same witches. Anyone who didn’t join Kharl’s ranks was considered a traitor to all. My family, the Ravenswyrd Coven, was always neutral, but neutrality in a time of war is seen by both sides as nothing more than an act of aggression.

The Fates have blessed you with a mate. You will find her at Port Asmyr the morning after the summer solstice, nine hundred and eighty-eight years from today. The Fates demand your patience, a virtue of importance for a king to hold, and your steadfast obedience. You cannot defeat your enemies without your mate at your side. With your union, you shall end the war and take your throne.

Staring back at me, with contempt in her undeniably silver eyes, is my Fates-blessed mate. A witch.

He might be every bit the gorgeous high fae, but a cold heart beats in his chest, one that has no room for warmth in it toward me.

You don't have an ounce of his integrity or backbone, Savage Prince. You're nothing but a pouting royal demanding what you suppose is owed to you by blood, forgetting that it's not just a crown but a position of power.”

Fates curse this pig-headed, surly male!

We're going to talk around and around in circles forever, and I don't have the patience within me for such things,

“The goblins never stopped speaking to the trees. The Ravenswyrd has missed you for a very long time, and the sorrowful melody it sang for you reached far across the kingdom. I hope you return to the trees again soon, they have mourned your loss.”

She shakes her head at me, clicking her tongue disapprovingly. “You've got it all wrong, Prince Soren—you're the one who's going to have to convince me of such a thing, because right now, I’d set you on fire just to watch the flames consume you.”

For the first time, I believe the words falling from her lips are true.

“Even if he were the last witch left in the Southern Lands and our only hope for survival, I would hunt him down. No matter what the high fae choose to do in this war, Kharl the Betrayer's death is mine alone.”

A breath catches in my throat as I stare at her, humbled at the power she wields.

Kharl sneers, curses falling from his lips before he snaps, “The Ravenswyrd are dead, I killed them all! That is not my fate anymore.” With one hand, steady and sure, she lifts the scepter and points the raw jewel directly at him, only the shield between them, and his eyes fill with horror at the sight of the relic. “You missed me.”

Alone and with no regard for her own safety, the witch fights for Yregar.

Reed’s eyes narrow as he watches the witch walk through the village, ensuring none of the enemy have been missed in her efforts, and when he speaks, it's with a carefully neutral tone. “Maybe you should start making your peace with her by calling her by her name. Perhaps then she won’t keep her word and force you to beg her to marry you.”

My Fates-blessed mate.

When her eyes flick up to meet mine, she grimaces. “That doesn't look like begging to me. I'd rather walk until my feet bleed.”