These Hollow Vows (These Hollow Vows, #1)(44)

“Pretha . . . you—” I seethe.

She smiles in response and gives me a little curtsy. “So kind of you to remember me by name, Abriella.”

“Where’s Eurelody?”

“She left the queen’s service years ago, but I show up in her form now and again to maintain easy access to the castle. The queen has so many in her service that she doesn’t even notice that her old scholar is rarely researching.”

My eyes dart to the door. Did the carriage we arrived in belong to Pretha or the queen? If I run outside, I can’t assume that my driver will take me anywhere. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t return to the castle and tell them who you really are.”

She rolls her eyes and turns to Kane. “Prince Ronan thinks she’s so smart and so special, but if she truly were those things, I think she’d want to know all the reasons she shouldn’t tell the queen, not just one.”

“The prince is young and blinded by her beauty,” Kane says. “The night she ran from the tavern, she proved how lacking she is in the intelligence department.”

I fold my arms. “Insulting me will get you nowhere but the queen’s oubliette.”

This threat doesn’t faze either of them. Instead, Pretha casually shrugs out of her robe and hangs it on the hook by the door. She adjusts her leather vest and the scabbard at her side. “I am not your enemy, Abriella.”

“And yet the last time I got away from you, a death dog nearly made me his dinner. Am I supposed to believe that was a coincidence?”

“You think I sent the Barghest after you?” The silver webbing on her forehead seems to pulse with outrage.

“You, Finn, Kane? Does it make a difference?”

Kane grunts. “Why would we do that?”

“Because I refused to work with you. I’m not clueless. I know the Unseelie sometimes take Barghests as animal companions.”

Kane barks out a laugh, then shakes his head and walks away. “I’ll tell Finn she’s here—and that she thinks we’re murderers who command vicious and powerful monsters. Awesome start to a new partnership, I think he’ll agree.”

“Where would you get such an idea?” Pretha asks, ignoring Kane. “Did your prince tell you we were behind the Barghest?”

“He didn’t have to.”

“You wanted to leave, and we let you.” Pretha frowns. “After you ran from the tavern, I followed you to the forest. Finn forbade me to follow you too closely. He just wanted to make sure you made it safely to wherever you were going.”

“Oh? And did you tell him I was nearly torn to bits?”

“Yes.” She cocks her head to the side. “It’s a good thing those wolves came along to distract the creature.”

“It’s a good thing Sebastian came along to save me.”

“So you’ve already forgiven your golden prince for his deceptions?” Finn says, stepping out of the dark hallway and into the foyer. I was so distracted by Pretha that I didn’t hear his steps in the hall. Or maybe I wouldn’t have even if I’d tried. He looks to Kane and Pretha. “I told you it would take less than a week. Looks like you each owe me five gold.”

“We don’t owe you a damn thing, Finn,” Kane says, entering the foyer behind him. “The girl didn’t answer the question.”

“If she didn’t trust that boy, she never would have gotten into that carriage with Pretha this morning,” Finn says.

Pretha shakes her head. “She can trust him without forgiving him. They’re entirely separate emotions.”

They’re betting on when I’ll forgive Sebastian. Rude. “I’m glad this is all so amusing to you.”

Finn’s silver eyes harden and glitter like the surface of a frozen pond in the moonlight. “I assure you I’m not amused in the slightest,” he says. “I’m impatient. Considering that my uncle has your sister, I’m surprised you aren’t as well. But maybe you’re content to enjoy the luxuries of palace life, busy preparing for your life as that boy’s princess.”

“How dare you—” I shuffle back a step, spotting two sets of glowing silver eyes in the dark hallway. Two large wolves prowl forward and stop on either side of Finn.

Finn snaps his fingers, and the wolves sit, sniffing the air in my direction and whining quietly. They’ve healed since I saw them in the forest, but there is no doubt in my mind that these are the same animals that attacked the Barghest.

Their silver-and-gray coats were mottled with blood when they ran away, but today they are clean and shining, and . . . much larger than I remembered. They looked so much smaller compared with the Barghest, but now I can see just how massive they are. Even sitting, they’re only a head shorter than I am.

My eyes flick to Finn. “They’re yours?”

“In a manner of speaking,” he says, absently scratching one behind the ear.

Pretha says, “I told you we aren’t your enemy, Abriella.”

The night it happened, I had wondered whether the wolves were just trying to get the Barghest out of the way so they could get to me. But looking at them now, panting happily at their master’s affection, I know without a doubt that they saved me. If Sebastian hadn’t shown up, they would have kept fighting—until the Barghest died or they did.