These Twisted Bonds (These Hollow Vows, #2)(54)

His expression turns stony. “I’ve told you from the beginning. My priority is my people.”

“And you somehow need to be bonded to me to protect your people?”

“I need answers, Princess. I need to see the High Priestess, and she won’t be obliged to see me without the power from my father’s throne. You happen to be carrying that power.”

“You’ve already explained that you need me with you to see the High Priestess, but why do you need the bond?”

His eyes go hard. “Maybe I just don’t want him to have it.”

“Aren’t you, like, hundreds of years old? Why are you acting like a spoiled child who doesn’t want to share his toys? ”

His grin is smug, and his gaze is pure wicked intention as he looks me over slowly. “I don’t consider you a toy, Princess, but if you’d like to play, all you have to do is ask.”

Flames of embarrassment lick my cheeks, but I refuse to back down. “You wish.”

“When you aren’t blocking him, Sebastian can sense where you are through the bond, and I don’t trust him enough to reveal the location of our High Priestess’s sacred temple.”

“So everything you said about needing me to convince this general of yours to join forces with Sebastian’s legions?”

Finn grunts. “A convenient excuse. General Hargova’s Cursed Horde answers to their general, and General Hargova answers to me, the crown and its power be damned. He already has legions stationed in the Goblin Mountains to defend the border, and if I want them to continue to do so alongside Sebastian’s warriors, I need only meet with the general. We are weeks, maybe days away from all-out war with the golden queen’s kingdom. I can’t fathom why she hasn’t attacked already, but it’s only a matter of time. Maybe she doesn’t know or understand what a mess the court is in.” He shrugs. “The real reason I need you by my side is so the High Priestess will tell me how to find the portal to get to Mab.”

“I think it’s a mistake to play these games with him,” I say. “Sebastian cares about the Unseelie Court. He just said—”

“I don’t care what he says.” He blows out a breath, exasperated. “The High Priestess can’t deny the power you carry, and when you ask where to find a portal to the Underworld, the oath she swore to Mab will compel her to answer you as a part of the Great Queen’s throne. I fear what kinds of information Sebastian, wearing the crown, could force her to answer if he knew where to find her.”

“You could’ve told me all this before we came here. You could’ve asked me instead of asking Sebastian, as if I’m nothing more than a horse you want to borrow for a few days.”

He shrugs. “It was more fun this way.”

Sighing, I turn my gaze to the gates and the throng of fae beyond them. “There are so many of them,” I say. “What keeps them from rushing the gates?”

“They could if they truly wanted to,” Finn says. “Sebastian’s guard holds a shield of protection around the Midnight Palace. Those beyond it are prevented from coming in—though if they worked together, they could probably get through it.”

I arch a brow. “Midnight Palace? That’s really what this place is called?”

“The Court of the Moon pulls its power from the night. What better name for the palace than one that honors the moment the moon reaches its highest point?”

“I suppose,” I say, but my mind’s busy contemplating the protesters. “If they could get past the gates, why don’t they?”

Finn sighs. “Right now, their presence is a protest, not a declaration of war. They don’t want to lose any more loved ones. They might not trust Sebastian, but his inaction—the fact that he doesn’t attack or allow his sentinels to go out there and handle them with force—that keeps the protest peaceful. He could wipe out dozens of them with a single strike from behind the safety of this shield.”

I frown. “He won’t.”

“I hope you’re right about that. Your boy’s certainly powerful enough now that the curse is broken.” Finn studies me. “Though not nearly as powerful as you.”

“How will you handle them?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Assuming he agrees to my terms?”

I set my jaw and nod. I expect Sebastian to agree—he’ll do it for those people out there—but I’m not sure yet what I think of the cost.

“I’ll go out there myself,” he says. “They won’t believe it if we send a messenger. They need to see me. To feel my presence and trust that the ruler they’ve waited so long to bring home hasn’t forsaken them.” There’s a sadness in his voice that melts away all the anger from earlier.

“You think you failed them,” I say.

His throat bobs, and he keeps his eyes focused on the horizon. “I know I did.”

I want to argue with him, to convince him that this mess wasn’t his making, but I can tell by the set of his jaw and the distant look in his eyes that there’s something heavier weighing on him. More that I don’t know.

“They want a sign that the power of their court hasn’t been lost.” He turns to me and studies me for long moments before saying, “You could give them that.”