These Twisted Bonds (These Hollow Vows, #2)(52)

“You mean your mother?” Finn asks.

“Yes!” Sebastian roars. “Of course I mean her.” He shakes his head. “Do you forget that I am Unseelie too? Like it or not, brother, Oberon’s blood pumps through my veins the same way it pumps through yours, or this crown would never be on my head. And I know I’ve failed them. In so many ways I failed them. But I want to help them. And I think you do too.” He holds Finn’s gaze. “Help me do right by them. Help me protect them. Help me organize our forces so we’re not torn apart from the inside before my mother even strikes.”

“Hmm.” Finn narrows his eyes, studying the top of Sebastian’s head as if some strange creature sits there and not an invisible crown. “I just don’t see what’s in it for me.”

Sebastian swallows. “Help me.”

“But why should I? If this kingdom falls apart while you pretend to rule it, doesn’t that make me look good? If Mordeus ruled without the throne, I can too.”

I clench my jaw from the shadows. This is why Finn didn’t want to ask Sebastian for an alliance.

He doesn’t want to reveal that he needs Sebastian as much as Sebastian needs him. He doesn’t want Sebastian to know that the shadow court is dying until Sebastian promises whatever it is that Finn is after.

“Finn,” Sebastian growls. “I can’t—” He shakes his head. “You know I need you. To resolve this peacefully, I need you.”

“Not necessarily,” Riaan says. “We have ambassadors in meeting with the Midnight Raiders now.

They’ll convince them—”

“It’s not working,” Sebastian growls, his eyes flaring bright. He turns to Finn. “Name your price.”

“Abriella.”

“What?”

Finn’s face is the picture of ambivalence. “My price is Abriella. If you want peace at your palace gates, if you want me to convince the Raiders to join your forces in the mountains, you have to give me your princess.”

“Excuse me?” I bark. I don’t care what I promised. I don’t care what kind of game Finn is playing trying to keep me in the shadows. I let them all fall away, and Sebastian’s eyes go wide as he takes me in.

“Brie.” Sebastian rushes toward me. He’s a step away when I hold up a hand, and he stops. “How long have you been here? And why don’t I—” He presses his fingertips to the rune tattooed on his wrist. “I’ve barely been able to feel you. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I turn and glare at Finn. “You’re out of line,” I hiss.

Chuckling, Finn shrugs. “That’s my price,” he says, holding my gaze. “If Sebastian wants me to help him with his little problem, then he’ll give me you.”

“I hate you,” I bite out.

Finn holds my gaze for a long, loaded moment and smiles slowly. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Princess.” He turns back to Sebastian. “It’s only fair. After all, our father made the same promise to both of us—or so your mother claims. This way, you get the crown. I get”—he waves toward me as if I’m am a stray weapon they’re fighting over after battle—“the other half.”

I want to scream, but I bite my tongue. I don’t know what Finn’s playing at here, and if I say too much, it could fall apart. As much as I don’t trust him, I believe we have the same goals.

“Simply dissolve the bond between you so she can bond with me. She’d certainly enjoy that more.”

“You’ve lost your gods-damned mind,” I mutter.

Finn winks at me. Winks.

Sebastian searches my face. “You want this? You—no, it doesn’t matter,” he says, his voice cold as he turns back to Finn. “Brie is mine. She bonded with me, not you. You can’t have her.”

“I don’t want to be bonded to either of you!” My shadows swirl at my feet and wrap themselves around my arms, and I don’t bother to pull them back in.

Finn’s gaze sweeps over me hungrily, and his smile suggests that I’ve just handed him a gift.

Sebastian, on the other hand, looks like I’ve slapped him. “I won’t let you go. Not until we’ve had a chance. I love you.”

“Is that what you said to the human girls at the Golden Palace who were clamoring to be your bride?” Finn asks. “Did you pledge your love before they bonded with you so you could have more power?”

I frown and look back and forth between Finn and Sebastian. “What is he talking about?” I say.

“Oh,” Finn says, shaking his head. “Sorry. I forgot you told her that you ‘sent them home.’ Oops.”

Images of those girls faces flash in my mind, and my stomach cramps. I was so jealous of them. So jealous of the chance I thought they had to be Sebastian’s bride, when all along they were being duped as badly as I was. “How could you?” I ask, thinking of all the times he used magic just to impress me, just to show me he could. Those girls. Those innocent lives fueled each needless magical act.

“I was just trying to survive.” Swallowing, Sebastian holds my gaze. “All I want is to take care of you . ”

Finn wrinkles his nose. “That crown on your head suggests otherwise.”

“This crown is useless without the power!” he shouts.