These Hollow Vows (These Hollow Vows 1)

I can sense them looking at one another as I stitch, sense that they’re having a silent conversation and deciding what to tell me.

“Don’t let the word camp confuse you,” Jalek says. “They’re prisons.”

“For criminals?” I ask.

Jalek shakes his head. “Their only crime is being caught on Seelie land with Unseelie blood.”

“What do you mean by prison?” I never bought into the idea that the Seelie were “good,” since I never trusted any of the fae, but I have trouble believing that they would be cruel to their own kind without a good reason, even if the faeries in question were from a rival court.

“The adults are put into labor camps, forced to work eighteen hours a day with minimal provisions,” Jalek says, his face so somber I can’t help but believe him. “They’re executed if they don’t fall in line.”

Does Sebastian know about this?

“Your prince has tried to get his mother to end the camps—at least as they are now,” Finn says, grimacing through the pain and reading me like always. “But she refuses.”

I release a breath, and relief courses through me. Sebastian might not be the male I once believed he was, but I could not stomach a world in which the kind and caring mage’s apprentice I once longed for was responsible for such atrocities.

“Tried my ass,” Jalek mumbles. “If he really wanted to see the end of the cruelty, he’d assassinate the queen himself, but he doesn’t have the backbone. I thought he’d snap when he found out about the children, but—”

“What about the children?” I ask.

Pretha meets Finn’s eyes for a beat, as if getting his permission before she explains. “They separate the children from their parents. They say it’s to discourage families from crossing into Seelie lands, but they brainwash them, feeding them propaganda about the queen and teaching them that they are, by their very birth, beneath the Seelie and therefore meant to serve.”

I still my hands. I have to close my eyes for a beat at the thought of those children. I know what it’s like to be without your parents and forced to serve those who feed and shelter you. How naïve was I to think that all the fae led easy lives?

This time when my stomach heaves, it has nothing to do with the sight of blood.

“Well, look at that,” Pretha whispers.

“Princess,” Finn says, and I open my eyes to see that I’ve blanketed the two of us in darkness. The only light between us comes from those captivating silver eyes. “We find the children and get them to safety in the Wild Fae territory. Kane is transporting two dozen as we speak.”

I hold his gaze as I coil my power back into myself. It hisses through my blood like a wild animal flailing inside a cage. “Why do any Unseelie come here if it’s so bad?”

“Because their existence under Mordeus’s rule is so grim that the risk is worth it,” Pretha says. “He’s greedy and selfish, and he doesn’t care about taking care of his whole kingdom. His laws favor the rich and powerful and punish the less fortunate.”

I let my gaze flick up to Finn’s for a beat, and I can’t help but think that the anguish I see on his face has less to do with the wound in his side or the needle in his skin, and more to do with the state of his kingdom.

“Many choose to flee rather than to stay in such conditions,” Jalek says, continuing for Pretha. “But the Unseelie land is surrounded by vast and treacherous seas on every side except the one that borders the Seelie lands. Like Finn said, the Wild Fae will take in refugees, but the Unseelie have to get there—either by trekking through the whole of the Seelie territory or by finding a portal.”

I continue stitching, but I have to focus to keep the rage inside me from filling the room with darkness. “Why don’t they use goblins to transport them?”

Jalek grunts, clearly disgusted. “Those creatures are more selfish than Mordeus. There’s nothing the refugees can offer that’s worth getting on the bad side of both Mordeus and Arya.”

“Anyway,” Pretha says, “a goblin can transport only two at a time at best. The easiest path to Wild Fae territory for groups of any significant size is a portal.”

Tynan’s been so quiet, I’m almost surprised when he speaks. “The Wild Fae king and queen have been doing their best to welcome the displaced Unseelie—temporarily only, just until Finn can take his rightful place on the throne. But for their own border security, they can’t allow portals directly from Mordeus’s land to theirs. The usurper would use it against them and send his nastiest creatures through to torture Wild Fae innocents.” The webbing on his forehead glows brighter and pulses until he rolls his neck and draws in a deep breath. “We’ve been setting up portals near the Seelie border and trying to get the Unseelie through before the queen’s guard catches them.”