These Twisted Bonds (These Hollow Vows, #2)(40)

He’s left himself vulnerable for the sake of the refugees. I swallow hard. Sebastian has betrayed me more than once, but it’s a relief to know that on some level, he’s still the male I believed him to be. Still the male I loved. “You know he never liked those camps.”

“Yes,” Finn says, his eyes narrowing as he studies me. “And now he’s proved it. And he’s winning loyalties as he does it. He has Unseelie joining the ranks at the palace now.”

Pretha says, “Sebastian is likely hoping his actions will prove that he can be the king they’ve needed for so long.”

Is that why you did it? Misha asks in my mind. To help him gain favor with the court his mother promised him?

I shake my head. “He can’t be king. The throne rejected him.”

“Mordeus managed to rule without a throne or a crown,” Finn says. “But pledging our allegiance to my uncle was never an option.”

“Neither is allying ourselves with the golden prince,” Jalek snaps. His jaw is hard as he meets Finn’s gaze. “Trusting him is no smarter than trusting that bitch queen. I won’t do it.”

“And that’s just how Queen Arya wants it,” Amira says, leaning back in her chair. She’s been so quiet, I almost forgot she was here. I wonder how much she learns simply because others forget she’s present.

Pretha settles her hands on the table in front of her and keeps her focus there instead of turning to Amira. “Jalek’s not wrong to be cautious,” she says. “Sebastian may be dismantling camps, but we have no reason to believe that when push comes to shove, he wouldn’t choose his mother over the Court of the Moon. We don’t know his true motivations.”

Amira nods in my direction. “Abriella might know something.”

All eyes at the table turn to me, and I shake my head. “She raised Sebastian to believe he could unite the courts and rule them both. Because he is of both courts, he believes he can save thousands from dying in another war.”

“He thinks he’s the promised child,” Kane growls.

“She raised him on lies and pretty stories,” Jalek says. “Even if the courts could be ruled as one —which is another issue altogether—letting him rule both would mean she had to hand over her power. We all know she’s not going to do that.”

I know it’s wishful thinking, but I’d like nothing more than to see the queen relinquish her power, but I ask anyway. “Do we know this for sure?”

“We do,” Finn says softly. “Otherwise she wouldn’t be moving her forces into the Goblin Mountains.”

Of course. If she planned to give her son power over both courts, she wouldn’t be readying for war. “Do we have any hope of holding her back without anyone on the throne?”

“No,” Jalek says darkly.

“Finn should be wearing that crown,” Kane says.

“Should won’t get us anywhere,” Pretha says.

“Can Sebastian give it to him?” I swallow. “Sebastian cares for the people of the Unseelie Court, and he’s proved that by helping the refugees. If he could help by giving Finn the crown—”

“The transfer of the crown requires a forfeiture of life,” Jalek says, “so unless you’re suggesting that he sacrifice himself so that Finn may wear it—”

“Sounds good to me,” Kane says.

“What do you mean?” I ask. “Wouldn’t it be the same as a king passing a crown to his heir?”

Misha shakes his head. “It doesn’t work here the way it does in the mortal realm. When the rule of a Faerie court is passed on—whether it’s the golden court, the shadow court, or my own—the prior ruler forfeits their life on this plane and moves on to the Twilight. Since the power is tied to their lives, the only way they can pass on the power is to yield that life.”

Finn cocks his head to the side and studies me. “You know this. It’s how my father saved you.”

“Yes, but I . . .” I thought it was different with me. I thought what Oberon did for me was some strange, unused magic, not the tradition of generations of rulers. “I didn’t realize.”

“This whole line of thought is a waste of time,” Jalek says. “Prince Ronan’s been raised to believe that throne is his. If you think he’s going to cut his life short so Finn can have it—”

Finn meets my eyes. “It wouldn’t matter anyway. The throne would reject me without the power, just as it rejected Sebastian.”

Jalek looks at me. “Are you ready to end your days to pass over the power?”

“I . . .” I don’t know what to say. One life versus thousands. I can’t say no, but— “That’s not an option,” Finn snaps. “As you pointed out, Abriella has no Unseelie blood, so we don’t even know how that would work. We could risk losing the power of the throne altogether.”

“I’m not sure I trust Sebastian on the throne anyway,” Kane mutters. “I don’t care how much he claims to want the best for the shadow fae. I don’t trust anyone who’s been close to that bitch.”

Finn swallows. “We might not have a choice, Kane. If I have to choose between allowing an imperfect boy to rule and watching my kingdom die, there’s no choice at all.”