These Twisted Bonds (These Hollow Vows, #2)(123)

“This was . . . a test? ”

“Yes. And you failed.”

The hatred on her face is so cruel, I ache for Sebastian. He knew that his mother made bad choices, that she was wicked and deceitful, but he loved her nevertheless. And this is what he gets in return.

“But I should thank you,” she says. “You made a difficult decision much easier to make and a difficult war easier to win.”

“What happened to uniting the courts?” he asks. His words are clearer now, as if the poison is weakening in his blood. “What happened to the promised child? What happened to everything you told me about my birthright and my future as king of both courts?”

Her eyes blaze, and golden light blooms around her. “You thought I was going to hand my crown over to you? To lie down and die after all I’ve done, all I’ve sacrificed for you? ” She shakes her head. “That stopped being the plan the moment you first lied to me. You’re no better than your lying, scheming father.”

“I am still your son.”

“Do you think I can look at your face without hating you for the part of him you carry? Why do you think I spent so much time traveling without you? Why do you think I sent you away so often?”

I want to stand. I want to take his hand. But the drugs must be affecting me more than Sebastian, because I can’t. I can’t even whisper his name.

“What will you do with us?” Sebastian sags against the wall as if he’s used up the last of his strength.

“Soon, we’ll dose you again. This is more powerful than the anti-magic toxin we used in the past.

As long as you have a steady dose slipping into your system, you will be trapped without your magic until I say otherwise.” Her hands glow with a pulsing light, as if she’s pulled in so much power it can’t be contained. “Don’t worry. I won’t kill you. I need you both to live. Otherwise, I risk one of you dying before the other and the crown and its power being reunited. I’m still stronger than either of you, even if that happened, but I see no reason to draw out this ugly affair.”

“You plan to leave us in this cell?” Sebastian asks.

I watch Riaan, who’s strangely quiet in the corner.

“Of course not!” Her eyes widen, and she presses her delicate hand to her chest in mock horror.

“We’ll move you to these cozy little chambers.”

Rusty wheels squeak and rumble as they roll across the stone floor and an upright iron sarcophagus comes into view. It reminds me of the kind used to hold the bodies of rulers in Elora.

“These have been equipped with a system that will keep you on a steady dose of this brilliant new formula.” She smiles. “Once the Court of the Moon has fallen, I’ll decide what to do with you. Or maybe I’ll just leave you there. I do enjoy collecting relics.”

“What’s the point?” Sebastian asks. “Why destroy half the realm when you can’t even rule over it?”

“Can’t I?” Her smile is slow and wicked. “The gods gave us a promise when they split this continent down the middle. They promised that as it was done, so can it be undone. It was Mab’s blood spilled in the mountains that created the River of Ice. The last drop that left her body was the catalyst that divided the land into two courts. Mab’s blood divided the land, and it will be Mab’s blood that brings them back together.”

“No,” Sebastian breathes, turning to me.

“No, no,” Arya says. “Not her blood. You see, if I use Abriella’s blood to reunite the courts, the moment she dies is the moment the power shifts—the power of the land, but also the power she carries. I need her alive. I need Oberon’s throne dismantled—power, crown, and throne in pieces— so as not to risk control of the new kingdom shifting to the wrong person. But I also need to bleed out someone with Mab’s blood. As it is done, so can it be undone.”

No. Please no.

The queen smiles. She snaps her fingers, and I’m so horrified by what I see that I manage to cry out.

“Abriella,” my sister cries, reaching toward the cell.

The queen yanks Jasalyn back by her hair. “No, no,” she says. “You’re not here for a reunion.”

“If you want to destroy the shadow fae, why do you want their land?” Sebastian asks. “What’s the point?”

“The fire gems,” I wheeze.

The queen smiles, as if I’m a particularly adept pupil. “The girl understands.” She shifts her gaze to Sebastian and her face goes slack. For a beat, I think real remorse might flash in her eyes.

“Goodbye, son.”

She disappears in a flash of light, my sister with her.

For a long, pain-filled moment, Sebastian stares at the spot where she just stood, and Riaan watches him from his corner of this too small cell.

“Riaan?” Sebastian’s voice is deadly quiet as he turns to his friend. “You told her about Abriella.

She knew all this time.”

Riaan disappears and then reappears outside the cell. I had no idea he had that power, but now I realize that’s how he got us away from Kane. How they got us here. “I had no choice. She’s my queen, and soon she will be queen of all. At this very moment we’re sitting in a fortress built above the River of Ice. We’re positioned exactly between the courts. That way, when the Unseelie Court dies completely, when the last bit of its power has trickled to Queen Arya’s side, she will be prepared with Mab’s blood, prepared to reunite both halves to create a whole.”