The Legendborn Cycle, #3
Oathbound
by Tracy Deonn
Contents
Chapter III
Overview
Briana tries to survive Erebus’s first lesson by hiding from Zoelle and Elijah, but Briana’s unsealed red root keeps escaping whenever grief, fear, or memory overwhelms Briana. The hunt becomes a fight in which Briana proves dangerous and resourceful, yet Briana is still captured after colliding with a mysterious living barrier around the barn. When the cambion twins attempt to consume Briana’s power, Briana’s bloodmark violently protects Briana, revealing another force inside Briana that Briana cannot control.
Summary
Briana Matthews begins Erebus’s lesson with only ten minutes to hide from Zoelle and Elijah. As Briana runs through the cold, dry terrain, Briana assesses the twins: they are cambions with speed, strength, healing, and heightened senses, though Erebus has limited them to sensing aether. Briana realizes that every anxious thought of Selwyn, Valec, Nick, Alice, and Briana’s father makes red root leak from Briana’s mouth, turning Briana’s power into a beacon.
Briana chooses a position above a barn rather than inside it, hoping elevation will help Briana spot the twins and keep any escaping power drifting upward. The plan quickly fails because Briana cannot recreate the emotional walls that once protected Briana from grief. Memories of danger, loss, and enemies trigger more red aether, allowing Zoelle and Elijah to find and seize Briana.
When Zoelle taunts Briana and reaches for the power, Briana’s fear and anger break into action. Briana releases root like flame into both twins’ faces, forcing them to let go, then slams Elijah down the hill. Briana uses combat training, taunts, and better footwork to exploit Zoelle’s inexperience, but the fight turns when Zoelle drags Briana down the hill and Elijah recovers.
Zoelle lifts Briana and threatens to kill Briana, but Briana correctly argues that Erebus would not allow it. Enraged, Zoelle throws Briana toward the barn. Instead of striking the doors, Briana hits a green-white, solid, living-feeling barrier that fills Briana with primal terror and a command to run away, leaving Briana stunned and weakened.
The twins drag Briana away from the barn and pin Briana down. Zoelle decides not to wait for Erebus’s permission and convinces Elijah to help consume Briana’s leaking power. As the twins inhale the red flames from Briana’s throat, both recoil in identical pain because Briana’s bloodmark awakens angrily, stopping their attempt to feed.
Who Appears
- Briana MatthewsHunted protagonist struggling to seal red root, fight cambion twins, and survive uncontrolled power.
- ZoelleCambion twin who taunts, attacks, captures, and tries to feed on Briana’s power.
- ElijahCambion twin who helps hunt Briana, hesitates over permission, then joins Zoelle’s feeding attempt.
- ErebusAbsent demon king whose rules shape the hunt and whose authority restrains the twins.