These Hollow Vows (These Hollow Vows, #1)(72)

Jalek whips around, and even in the darkness I can see the torment in his eyes.

Finn crosses the cell to look his friend in the eye. “I know you’d like to tear him apart, but that is going to have to wait for another day. Do you understand?”

Jalek swallows and gives a curt nod. “How do we do this?” His voice is low but raw.

Finn takes my hand, then offers his other hand to his friend. “Just hold on and let us lead the way.”





Chapter Twenty-One


BY THE TIME WE GET BACK to Finn’s, I am exhausted in a way I haven’t felt since my mother left. I’ve never used so much magic at once, and the events of tonight have left me feeling emotionally wrung out.

While Jalek reunites with his friends, I go outside and sink into one of the chairs on the patio that runs the length of the back of the house. Dawn will come soon, and I need to get back to the palace before someone notices that I’m gone, but I can’t bring myself to go. Not yet.

I tilt my face up to the stars and close my eyes. I’ve known for a while now that the Unseelie aren’t the devils mythology makes them out to be, but tonight opened my eyes to the cruelty of Sebastian’s court. Burning an innocent alive to punish her brother? I can’t think of it without feeling sick.

I hear the click of the back door, and without turning to look, I know it’s Finn. I feel him . . . something else I don’t want to think about too much.

“Are you okay out here?”

Okay? What is okay? “Yeah. I’m just tired.” I roll my shoulders back. “Do you think I was at risk of burning out tonight? I feel completely drained.”

He shakes his head. “You’ve barely begun to tap into what you’re capable of. You just need practice. You’re not used to using that much power. You might feel . . . off for a few days. In fact, I’ll tell Pretha that you’re not training tomorrow. You should rest.”

I study the moon that’s sinking toward the horizon. “You mean today.”

“I suppose so. Today, tomorrow . . . take as much time as you need. You did great tonight. As soon as we get you past this block of yours, you’ll . . .”

I cut my eyes to him. “I’ll what?”

His face is solemn as he meets my eyes. “You’ll be unstoppable.”

“Why did Jalek leave the Seelie Court?” I ask. “If he let them burn his sister so he could—”

“He didn’t let them do anything. He didn’t know what they’d done to Poppy until it was too late.” When I stare at him, waiting for an answer to my question, he sighs. “He left because he didn’t want to serve the queen. He left as protest but also because he wanted to help me get her off the throne.”

“How long ago was that?”

He lowers himself into the seat next to mine and leans back, tilting his face to the sky. “Twenty years ago.”

“And still she rules,” I whisper. It’s not a judgment, and when Finn nods, I think he knows that. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to act happy in that palace when I’ve seen how cruel she can be.”

Finn grunts. “You’ve barely seen anything.”

“When Sebastian was talking to Jalek, Jalek said that the queen would never give him the crown if Sebastian killed him. But then it sounded like the queen planned to kill Jalek herself, so I don’t understand.”

Finn finally pulls his attention off the sky and studies me instead. “Are you so sure he was talking about Arya?”

“Yes, he . . .”

Finn arches a brow, waiting for me to remember.

But no. He said she, not the queen.

“Then who?”

“You impressed my entire team with what you did tonight,” he says, “the risk you took.”

I should make him answer my question, but I already know it’s futile and I’m too tired for the fight. “You all would have done the same if it had been me in that cell.”

He draws in a breath, and his brows knit together. “I don’t know if that would have been true before tonight, Princess. You may be better than all of us.”

I frown, remembering my night in King Mordeus’s oubliette and my dream of Finn. Did he come to me? Is that his power? The question sits on my tongue, but I swallow it back. The last thing I need to do is reveal what an impact he’s had on me since the first night we met. I think I’ll die with that secret, if for no other reason than to save myself the embarrassment if it turns out it was just a dream.

“Are you ready to go back to the palace?”

I shake my head. “Not yet, if you don’t mind. I just . . .” I pull in a deep breath and blow it out. “I need a few more minutes.”

“By all means.”

I half expect him to get up and go back inside, but he stays, and when I look over to him, he’s toying with the curls at the back of his head and staring at the night sky.

“I used to sit outside with my mother at night,” I say. I don’t know why I’m telling him this, but I want to remember her right now. “She loved the darkness, the moon, the constellations. She’d tell me to pick a star and make a wish.”

Finn doesn’t look at me. He closes his eyes, as if picturing it. “She sounds amazing.”