The Crown of Oaths and Curses

THE CROWN OF OATHS AND CURSES THE MORTAL FATES BOOK 1 J BREE THE CROWN OF OATHS AND CURSES THE MORTAL FATES #1 Copyright © 2023 J Bree Cover Illustration by Annteya @annteya_art Cover Typography by Laura Frazier Edited by Tashya Wilson Proofread by Samantha Whitney Interior Artwork by Katie Helem Map by Fred Kroner @whiskey_n_ink J Bree has asserted her right under the Copyright Act, 1968, to be identified as Author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, record, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of various products referred to in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. THE CROWN OF OATHS AND CURSES/J Bree – 1st ed. *The Crown of Oaths and Curses is a full-length MF epic fantasy romance with material that may be difficult for some readers. This book will end on a cliffhanger. It is recommended for 18+ due to language and sexual situations. Book 1 of a 3-book series. To Orion, named for his sister in the stars, and sent to our family by all of those who have left us too early. Your sisters have had many dedications already, this one is just for you. CONTENTS PART ONE Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 PART TWO Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Sign up for my newsletter to hear about upcoming releases Also by J Bree About the Author PART ONE CHAPTER ONE Rooke 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. As waves lap the sides of the Shepherd, I ignore all the eyes trained on me and enjoy the last moments of my journey home to the Southern Lands. It is the last peace I may know. Returning to a kingdom ravaged by the evils of my own kind is not a path I’d ever have chosen for myself, but the Fates have made their demands of me. Surviving the war in the Northern Lands taught me the catastrophic but unavoidable lesson of what befalls a kingdom when a fate is broken, and while my heart is anything but ready, I know it’s time to return home as surely as I know the songs of the forest in my heart. No matter how far I traveled, the sorrow of the trees never left me, and I long to see them once more. It took months to unravel myself from the life I had built, time to be discharged from the Sol Army and to train healers to take over my work for the Seelie Court, to convince my friends and family that the Fates could no longer be ignored and that I must do as they’d bidden. But as the peak of summer crept closer, I made the last of my preparations and found myself passage on a ship. By some act of the Fates, it was the same vessel that carried my brother and I north two hundred years ago—a sign if I ever saw one—and I began my journey back to the kingdom that was once my home. The Shepherd constantly travels the waters between the two closest high-fae kingdoms, mostly carrying cargo but with room for travelers as well. Old but well maintained, with a small crew of fiercely trained sailors, she’s provided a concern-free voyage home. I paid for and received a cabin all to myself, an easy achievement with very few fellow passengers on board. No one wants to journey to the Southern Lands anymore. I'm dressed in simple clothing, nothing fancy or restrictive. It distinctively marks me as a witch. The silver pins that hold my cloak around my shoulders and the bands of fabric around my torso are nothing more than fastenings, no ornate nature to them at all, but as the sun glints off them, they make what I am clear, even though I have no telltale markings on my face. I’ve always been steady traveling the ocean, having natural sea legs despite my ancestors only ever existing in the Ravenswyrd Forest until my brother and I left. I suppose my father might have found himself on a voyage during his ventures before he met and married my mother. Maybe I’d come by these legs of mine honestly, but my family all died long before I could ask them. The sun, which started off scorching hot when we left the Northern Lands, has been slowly losing its luster the closer we get to the Southern Lands. While it’s still summer here, the season is far milder in the south, and after two hundred years of heat soaking into my bones, I’ll have to reacclimate to the cooler, darker lands of the Unseelie Court. I