These Hollow Vows (These Hollow Vows, #1)(45)

“Are they okay?”

“They are now,” Finn says. “Thanks to my healer.”

“What do you call them?”

“Dara and Luna,” Finn says. The wolves’ ears perk up at the sound of their names.

“May I?” I’m aware of all the eyes in the room on me as I inch forward and extend a tentative hand toward each. Finn mumbles a low command, and the wolves rise and approach me slowly. “Thank you,” I say, kneeling in front of them and offering the back of my hands to smell. “You protected me.”

The wolves lick my hands, then nuzzle my palms like big cats.

When I look up, there’s something like confusion in Finn’s eyes, but he blinks and it’s gone, replaced by the steely cold I’m used to. “Why did they do it?” I ask.

“Because I asked them to.”

“That was a terrible risk. They could have been killed.”

Finn doesn’t deny it. Instead he folds his arms and leans one shoulder against the wall. “They’re very loyal, and now that they’ve protected you once, they would do it again.”

Pretha sighs dramatically. “But it would be much better for everyone involved if you didn’t go running off and need saving again.”

Kane chuckles. “Maybe she likes being rescued by her prince. Sounds like he made quite an entrance when he returned to the palace—running inside with her in his arms and generally playing hero to her damsel in distress.”

My cheeks heat at the picture he paints. I hate the idea that anyone sees me that way, but I don’t bother asking how they know about what happened at the castle. Clearly everyone spies on everyone here. I direct my attention to Finn when I ask, “What do you want from me?”

“I told you before,” he says, his voice a little rough, as if he’s very, very tired. “We want to help you.”

“Why would you want to help me when I’m working for the king who wants you dead?”

“You mean the false king,” Kane says, his voice sharp.

Finn snaps his fingers, and his wolves obediently return to his side. “The missing relics make my court weaker. My people are suffering, and I will do anything I can to help them.”

“Even if it means strengthening the . . . your uncle?” I smell something, and it’s not honesty.

“Mordeus,” Finn says with none of Kane’s annoyance, “cannot get any more powerful unless he wears the crown.”

I frown. “Where’s the crown?”

“My father’s crown has been missing from the Court of the Moon for too long now,” Finn says. He pauses a beat. “I take it you haven’t found the mirror yet?”

“I know where it is, but I haven’t been able to get to it,” I admit.

“And have you tried using your magic?” he asks. “You know, that thing that lets you walk through walls and magical wards as if they weren’t even there?”

Jerk.

“How could she do that when she can’t even control it?” Pretha asks, but Finn shoots her a look that shuts her up.

“No,” I say, answering Finn’s question. “Pretha’s right. I don’t have enough control. But that’s not the problem. The queen keeps the mirror guarded and surrounded by light. Even if I had control over my powers, they would be useless there.”

Kane snorts. “She has no idea, does she?”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not in the room,” I snap. “And no idea about what?”

“No idea just how strong you are,” Pretha says. She cocks her head to the side. “No idea what you’re capable of.”

“What if I told you,” Finn says softly, “that your power is never useless. That you’re strong enough to manifest darkness so complete that it would gobble up every bit of her light?”

“How do you know that?” I ask.

“We’ve been watching,” Finn says with a shrug.

“What do you say, Brie?” Pretha asks. “Will you let us help you?”

I don’t know if I can trust Finn and his people, but I can’t afford to be discovered in my attempts to get the mirror. I can’t afford to fail. I look at the wolves and make my decision.

“I’ll work with you today. Teach me whatever I need to know so I can swap the mirrors.”

Finn arches a dark brow. “The first thing you need to know is not to use the mirror. It’s not a toy for human girls to play with, understood?”

Right. Because I’m just a lowly human and unworthy of his precious mirror. Whatever. “I thought you were going to teach me to use my powers so I can get into the queen’s sunroom.”

“Wait.” Finn holds up a hand. “You didn’t say the mirror was in her sunroom.”

I shrug. “Well, it is. And the hall that leads to her chambers is flooded with light. I assume she keeps her sunroom that way too?”

“The light is the least of your worries,” Finn says.

Pretha’s brow creases with her frown. “If the queen is keeping the mirror in her sacred sunroom, no one but the prince or the queen herself can remove it from its spot.”

“What happens if they try?” I ask.

“Nothing,” Finn says. “You can’t take it. The items in the queen’s sunroom are immovable even for the strongest hands or the gentlest touch. You will find, Princess, that the real magic in our world is tied up in free will. Not even the strongest fae—or the greatest thief—can take that which can only be given freely.”