These Hollow Vows (These Hollow Vows, #1)(78)

“Why don’t you ever use your magic?” I blurt before he can leave.

He turns slowly back to me and cocks his head to the side, making one of those dark curls fall in his eyes. “I use my magic.”

“I’ve never seen it.”

“My gifts are not meant for your entertainment, Princess.”

I roll my eyes. I understand his response for what it is—an evasion. Finn has no desire to reveal why he doesn’t use his powers. And why would he? If, for some reason, he truly isn’t able to use them, that would be an incredible weakness. One that could get him killed if his enemies found out.

I still can’t help but think it has something to do with his father’s crown and the wrong male ruling the Court of the Moon.

“Finn, you deserve to be on that throne. Once I find my sister and get her home safely, I’d like to help you find your father’s crown.”

He steps back, eyes flashing. He opens his mouth, and I think he’s going to scold me, but he snaps it shut again, then turns on his heel and storms from the library.

His wolves rise from where they were sleeping, and I swear there’s disgust in their eyes as they look at me before following their master.

I sink into a chair and swallow back tears. I want to help, but they don’t trust me enough to let me. Sure, I’m gathering the relics that will supposedly help his kingdom in the long run, but I’m being kept in the dark about so much, I don’t even understand how that will help.

I pull out the mirror and stare at my reflection. I’ve known that the crown was missing, so why did I never think to ask the mirror?

Because you can’t trust it.

But sometimes it’s right. And maybe this will be one of those times.

“Show me King Oberon’s crown,” I say softly. But the image in the glass doesn’t change, and no matter how many times I ask, I remain staring at my own reflection.





Chapter Twenty-Four


“GUESS WHO’S BACK AT THE PALACE and asking to see you?” Emmaline teases me as she brushes my hair.

I turn to look into her big blue eyes. “Sebastian?”

I had returned to the palace yesterday afternoon, but when I found out that Sebastian had been gone since Litha, I began to worry—that he’d been hurt, that he’d somehow discovered that I’d freed his prisoner, that he knew I was staying with Finn. No one knew where he was, and my mind was more than happy to supply me with terrible possibilities, however unlikely, paranoid, and self-absorbed they may have been.

Emmaline grins. “Yes, of course Sebastian. He asked that we tell you he’ll be coming by your room after sunset and he’d like to go on a walk.” The way she squeals, you’d think walk was code for something much more scandalous.

“Did he seem . . . excited to see me or serious?”

I watch Tess in the mirror over my vanity as she makes my bed. “Seriously excited,” she says with a wink.

Okay, so he’s not angry. It’s a start—especially since I know where the book is and need to ask him another favor.

“How much of Faerie have you seen during your time with the queen?” I ask Emmaline.

Emmaline smiles as she twists my hair back from my face. “We serve the Seelie Court, so we go where they go.” She frowns at the short lock of hair at the base of my neck. “I wish I could get my hands on the incompetent drudge who cut your hair.”

“I told you it was an accident,” I say, dodging her usual complaint. “Just leave the back down and it won’t show. So does the queen have other palaces?”

“Of course she does,” Tess says.

“Many,” Emmaline says, nodding.

This should have been obvious to me, but only yesterday, when Finn said that the book wasn’t in this palace, did it occur to me that the library I’m searching for isn’t either.

On the one hand, after my run-in with the Sluagh, I shouldn’t trust the mirror anymore. On the other hand, I have no other leads on the Grimoricon, so I don’t have much of a choice. New strategy? Use the mirror but proceed with caution.

When I asked the mirror again this morning, I studied the image more closely than I did the first time, and the answer was right in front of me. Waves crashed just beyond the library windows. If I’d noticed that the first time I looked, I wouldn’t have wasted time thinking that there was some secret second library in this palace. From everything I’ve seen here so far, we are nowhere near the sea.

Tess pours me a cup of tea, and Emmaline continues to fight my curls into submission while hiding the choppy pieces. “The queen has several palaces throughout her territory. This is her primary residence, and the location of all the most formal events, but she only spends about half the year here. The other half she splits between her three other palaces.”

I give my best attempt at a dreamy sigh. “I think if I were a powerful queen, I’d want to spend my day by the sea.”

The twins laugh. “Maybe because it would remind you of a certain prince’s eyes?” Emmaline says.

“When you’re queen,” Tess says, “you’ll be able to choose where you spend your time.”

“Serenity Palace, the seaside castle, is lovely, but it’s not meant for the full court. It’s more of a retreat for the royal family,” Emmaline says. “But I suppose you could change that.”