Oathborn: A Romantic Fantasy Adventure by Ann C. Orlandi

Author:Ann C. Orlandi [Orlandi, Ann C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Glenwoods Press
Published: 2025-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty-seven

Zari

The journey took on a grim tone, though Yansin tried to lighten the mood with little songs, or funny stories about his coworkers at the printing press. No matter what he said, it could not take away the fear that had curled around her heart. The smoke had nearly killed her. If Yansin hadn’t had that silverbane… she shivered.

“Do you need this coat as well?” Yansin asked, gesturing at the one he wore.

She shook her head. “No. I’m just… still thinking about the sword, how I lost control of it. As if it had a mind of its own.”

Yansin shook his head. “Fae blades are far from sentient, at least, most of them.”

“Most?”

“The Crescent Blade,” he said, and she recalled the tales he’d spun about the silver sword, allegedly forged from moonlight itself. “It’s said to have a will, a voice even, and guides those who it chooses to do its bidding.”

“Why do I have a terrible feeling that its will has nothing to do with peace and prosperity to Rhydonians?”

“You already understand the core of most fae stories. You’re ready to be a bard.”

“I’d make a better bard than an Oathborn.” To reach her father on the isles, she would have to pretend to be something she was not. Based on Hazelle’s stories, Zari worried she would never pass as one of them.

“Nonsense. Just keep one hand on your sword, glare a great deal, and do whatever the Queen commands,” Yansin spoke flippantly, as if there was nothing terrifying at all about the fearsome warriors, except for the faint flicker of worry in his eyes, as he glanced her way. “You do understand that about them, right?”

“Understand what? That they serve the Queen?”

“That they have no choice at all but to do so.” Yansin looked up at the sky. “Their loyalty is unyielding, unchanging, unbroken, for as long as the sea crashes upon the shore. Perhaps even longer yet, for the shoreline wears away over centuries and the Oath remains.”

He still wore the sword that belonged to Hazelle’s sister. Zari wet her lips, debating if she should ask for it back. They were safer if he carried it, for he was the far better fighter.

No wonder he’d been a good instructor, as well as reluctant to teach her. “When we stop,” she said. “Might I have another lesson in sword fighting?”

“The smoke didn’t scare you away?”

“No. I’m not easily scared.”

Yansin smiled at that. “I would agree, my brave warrior.” The little nickname made her heart flutter, just a bit, as he passed her the sword. “Now, prove your courage with fifty more repetitions of the maneuver I showed you earlier.”

Just as swiftly, the flutter faded, replaced by the sweat and racing heartbeat of hard work.

Once night fell, they made a simple camp beneath the towering pines. Yansin had her practice with the sword again, and this time, only corrected her footing a few times, before they settled down for another foraged meal. She didn’t recognize all the berries

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