These Twisted Bonds (These Hollow Vows, #2)(62)

You’re home.”

I feel myself being lowered into a bed, and I cry out, afraid he’s going to leave me here. I can’t find the words, but I don’t want him to leave, I don’t want to be alone. Because I’m dying.

“Shhh, I’ve got you.” Then I feel the mattress shift as he climbs onto the bed behind me and wraps himself around me. “Just rest, Abriella.”



When I open my eyes again, I’m in a big, soft bed and the night sky stretches endlessly above me. I brace myself as I roll to my side, shocked when nothing hurts.

“Is this a dream?” I ask the wall. I know Finn’s here. Even though I haven’t set eyes on him, I feel him.

“No,” he says. “You’ve been sleeping, but this is real.”

I force myself to sit up, but the effort sends me into a coughing fit.

“You should rest,” he says, but his eyes are red and his skin’s pale, as if he’s the one who should be resting.

I shake my head. “The children?”

“Safe,” he says. “Thanks to you. Pretha was able to work with Hannalie, and together their shield held. They kept the sleeping ones safe until we got the fires under control.”

I swallow hard and look around. We must be back at the Midnight Palace, but I don’t recognize this room. The massive bed is centered on the longest wall, and there’s no ceiling—as if whoever created this space couldn’t fathom sleeping anywhere but beneath the stars.

Looking around, I shake my head. “What if it rains?”

He chuckles. “Magic protects the room from the elements while still allowing it to feel like the outdoors.”

I lift a hand, feeling the breeze brush my fingers. In the corner, Finn’s wolves, Dara and Luna, lift their heads and sniff the air and cry softly in my direction. I smile to reassure them. “What happened?”

Finn blows out a breath and settles into a well-worn chair next to the bed. “Which part? The one where you almost got yourself killed by running into a burning building?”

I scowl. “That’s not what I’m asking, and you know it.”

“Seems like you make a habit of it.”

“I had to.”

He swallows. “I know. And I’m grateful—more grateful than you know. But the way you spent your power, exerted so much of it without properly tapping into its depths? That was dangerous, Princess. More dangerous than any smoke or flame.”

I scoff.

“You’re immortal now. Your skin will heal, your lungs will recover, but you spend your magic that hard and fast and no healer can bring you back.”

Maybe that would be for the best.

Finn frowns at me, and I’m suddenly grateful that he can’t read my thoughts.

“Tell me more,” I say. “Who was behind the attack?”

“A contingent of the Golden Military ambushed the city. A legion of the queen’s fire fae attacked from the mountains.” He looks tired, his face haggard. “Thanks to Sebastian’s connection to the golden court and Riaan’s knowledge of their military tactics, we were able to locate and stop them relatively quickly, but . . .”

“But not quickly enough.”

He shakes his head. “We didn’t see this coming. We’ve been preparing for her forces, watching her armies to prepare ourselves for a military attack, but we were so focused on the legions assembled in the mountains, we missed the signs on this one.”

“Do you think the queen knew this would happen to the Unseelie Court if Sebastian gave me the potion?” I ask, frowning. Breaking the curse on the Unseelie should’ve helped the shadow court, but without someone to sit on the throne, it helped the Seelie queen most of all.

“Possibly,” Finn says. “It’s hard to say, but it’s fair to assume that she knows now. That’s why she wants you alive. If she can capture you—hold you somewhere alive but unreachable—then there’s a chance we won’t be able to reunite the crown and its power.”

I glance toward the night sky. “How long was I out?”

“It’s been a day and half since the attack. Misha, Sebastian, and I have taken turns keeping watch over you, but”—he averts his eyes and smiles slightly—“you seemed to fare best with me, so I’ve been with you almost round the clock.”

I glance at the bed, then arch a brow at him.

“Not to worry, Princess. I’ve been in this very chair since right after you fell asleep.”

Maybe that’s why he looks so ragged. “Do you think your connection to the crown helped me heal?”

He opens his mouth, then closes it before trying again. “I think there’s a connection between us that I don’t have an explanation for.”

My gaze snaps to his. He feels that too? “Before I became fae,” I say, “my power always felt stronger when you were close. I thought it was because you were Unseelie royalty and I was carrying the power of the crown, but if that was it, wouldn’t it have flared in the same way when I was near Sebastian?”

“That would make sense,” he says. Lifting a tentative hand to my face, Finn swallows. His fingers brush my cheek so lightly it could be the breeze. “I feel it too, you know. This connection between us.

This . . . awareness of you.”