Page 105 of Fate's Wicked Oath

“Faren…”

He turned his palm up in a placating manner. “I wish only to make right how I’ve wronged you.”

“Sure, you do.”

“Think about it,” he said with an easy shrug.

Butthinking about itwas all I’d done for the past five days.Thinking about itwas the problem. The rain had eroded my resolve, and there was nothing I wanted more than to go upstairs with him. But we couldn’t. Nothing had changed, and no amount of bad weather could wash away our circumstances.

“I take it back,” Faren remarked, and a brief comet-flash of panic streaked through me at the notion that he’d thought better of the idea, too. But then he continued, “This week isn’t themostmiserable I’ve been.”

“Oh?” I asked. “What was?”

Just then, the innkeeper arrived at our table with two bowls of braised mutton, roasted carrots, and smashed potatoes. We dug in, and Faren spoke as he ate.

“I was twenty-six and had just taken my Oath,” he began. “The Mighty sends all new recruits into the Axe Mountains for survival training. There are group drills, as well as stints in pairs and solo. For the partnered portion, I was assigned a fellow named Warner.” Faren lifted an eyebrow in a comically foreboding expression. “The weather took a turn that week,sleeting and snowing in fits, with terrible wind. I was well-prepared, of course—”

“—of course,” I parroted.

“—but Warner…he grew up in the city and was impressively useless.”

I chuckled over a bite of mutton.

“On the first night, he didn’t secure his tent properly. It took flight in the wind and snagged in the branches of a tree. Warner climbed the tree to retrieve it, slipped and sprained his ankle, and I awoke in the middle of a snowy night to him wailing.” Faren speared a potato, popped it in his mouth, and rolled his eyes. “We had ten miles to travel. I had to craft him a splint, and the going was slow. Over the next three days, he managed to lose our map, a boot, and—during a particularly perilous river crossing—half our rations.”

I broke into laughter, and Faren joined in.

“That was definitely worse than this rain,” Faren finished.

“What ever happened to him?” I asked, half expecting to learn that he’d perished.

“Oh, he’s one of my best friends,” Faren said. “You carry a man out of an icy river, and you form a bond for life. He’s still useless in the wilds, but he’s a fine knight.” Hearing his own words, Faren’s face shifted like a change in wind.

“What is it?”

His temple pulsed. “Nothing, I…” He shook his head. “That life just feels so far away, at the moment.”

“I’m sorry.”

His eyes cut to mine. “I’m not.”

My heart thudded against my ribs, and I set down my fork, giving Faren a warning look.

He forced a smile. “Of course, thinking back on it now,” he continued, “the lot of us would’ve looked like children compared to you.”

“I’ve had plenty of wilderness mishaps,” I said.

“Yes, but have you ever lost a single boot while trying to find a place to take a shit?”

My laugh was hearty. “No, I can’t say that I have. How in the Fates did that happen?”

“Fuck if I know. Warner has atalentfor nonsense—but he’s an excellent friend. Always has my back.”

Now it was my turn to frown. I’d never had camaraderie like that.

Except, perhaps, over the past couple weeks.

Tracing the handle of my mug with a finger—my cold hands still prickly and numb—I said, “I’m glad this journey wasn’t the worst you’ve experienced.”