These Twisted Bonds (These Hollow Vows, #2)(112)

The snakes lunge toward us, fangs exposed, hissing louder now. “You need more than just crown, power, and throne to save the shadow court,” she says. “Queen Arya has gotten too powerful. You need to bring balance between the courts. The solution demands sacrifice.”

Finn goes pale. “You can’t mean for Abriella to—”

“Sacrifice herself? No.” She cocks her head to the side. “She would, though. Do you realize that?

Her love for you would not be enough to keep her. If she believed Arya’s son could be the ruler the Unseelie need, she would already be down here with me.” She tsks. “Foolish girl.”

“Please help us,” I whisper. My voice feels hoarse, as if I’ve been screaming. “Children are dying. The court is dying.”

“Yes, because Queen Arya’s power is too great. Even if Prince Ronan were willing to make the sacrifice, his mother would still grow more and more powerful, and my precious court would still die. She must be dealt with.”

“Your solution is to kill Arya?” Finn growls. “How are we supposed to do that? She’s too well guarded, too well hidden, and too powerful.”

“More powerful every day,” Mab agrees. “The Court of the Sun has grown too strong, and continued imbalance will only make her stronger.”

“You want me to ask Sebastian to sacrifice himself just so I can sit on the throne, but you’re telling me even that won’t be enough if we don’t kill Arya.”

“Yes, girl. You must also kill the queen. Only you can.”

“What if I can’t?” I stare at this ancestor of mine. “I’m nothing special. I’m just a girl who—”

“Who loved so deeply she braved an unknown realm to save her sister,” Mab says. She takes a long, slow breath and looks me over. “I was just a mother who would’ve given anything to save her son. It is our love, my child, that makes us fit to rule, but it also makes us wicked. It was my love that drove me to curse a kingdom and yours that led you to deceive your lover by stealing from the Seelie Court. Don’t lose sight of that darkness in you. Let it serve the light.”

I want to scream. We came all this way for her to tell us what we already knew? For her to suggest that we convince Sebastian to do something I couldn’t live with, even if he were willing?

“But . . .” she says after a long pause. “If you cannot bring yourself to sacrifice your bonded partner’s immortality and find a way to kill Queen Arya, there is another way.”

My heart races, as if it’s trying to get a head start back toward the portal. “How?”

“When I created the Throne of Shadows, I already wore the crown, so I tied the throne to my soul-bonded partner.”

Finn steps forward, in front of me. “Your partner?”

“The throne recognizes a bonded pair as one—as long as the bond has been solidified by the magic within the River of Ice.”

“No,” Finn breathes. His beautiful face has gone pale.

I look back and forth between Finn and Mab, not understanding.

“The River of Ice doesn’t just solidify the bond. It ties your lives together. So if anything ever happened to Sebastian . . . if he were to die . . .”

“Then I would too,” I whisper.

“Yes. And if you trek to those holy waters together and solidify your bond so that it may never be undone, so that your lives are inextricably bound together, both you and the male wearing the crown may take the throne—together but never apart. In this way, the crown and its power are worn by two but never truly divided. Having Prince Ronan’s Seelie blood on the throne along with mine would bring the courts back into balance.”

I don’t move, but I feel like I’ve been knocked back three steps.

Mab turns her gaze on Finn. “As her tethered, I trust you’ll support whatever path she chooses. I trust you’ll grant her the power she needs to follow through with her choices.”

Finn’s shoulders straighten and his jaw hardens. “Of course. It will be my honor.” When he turns, there’s a hollowness in his eyes that I haven’t seen since he told me about Isabel dying in his arms.

He’s spent his entire life preparing to take that throne, and now he has to give it up to Sebastian. And he has to give me up too.

I graze my fingers across his wrist. “Finn.”

“We should go.”

“You go,” Mab says, nodding at him. “But I need to speak with my child for a moment.”

Before Finn can do anything, she waves a hand and he disappears.

I gasp.

“He’ll be there when I’m done with you.”

“What do you need?” I ask. I’m still trying to process everything she’s told me—trying to wrap my mind around what my future might look like. It’s not as if I can turn my back on this kingdom.

“You crave mortality.” She cocks her head and narrows her eyes. “Or . . . you did. You’re changing quickly. Perhaps you no longer care that you already carry the answer you hoped for.”

“Don’t speak in riddles. Tell me how to save the court.”

“Save the court. Is that what you want most? More than a short human life in your cruel mortal world?”

The question feels important. Heavy and fragile at the same time. “Saving the court is what I want most.”