These Hollow Vows (These Hollow Vows 1)

“Bullshit. If I’m going to keep you here, if I’m going to risk my people to protect you, this is completely my business. Where did you get it?”

I can’t risk giving this up. I’ve nearly died twice since arriving in this godsforsaken realm. Any protection Sebastian’s amulet offers me, I need. “My mother gave it to me.”

He makes a fist around the amulet and yanks hard, breaking the chain before turning on his heel and heading toward the door.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I stalk toward him. His friends might be afraid of him, but I’m not. “That’s mine. You have no right—”

“No right to destroy Prince Ronan’s tracking amulet? No right to keep him and the queen from knowing where you’ve been spending your time?” He grips the amulet so tightly his knuckles whiten.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s an amulet of protection.”

“Is it? How well did it protect you when the Sluagh got you in their claws? How do you think your prince found you the night the Barghest caught you in the forest?”

“I—” The fight drains out of me and I’m shaking as I lower myself to sit on the bed. I never questioned how Sebastian found me that night. I was just so relieved to be saved, and I figured . . . I figured he was a magical creature, and it wasn’t so hard to believe he’d be able to track me.

Finn opens his palm so I can see the amulet. Once lustrous and sparkling, it’s turned the color of dirty water since Finn tore it off my neck. “He was tracking you with this, and he followed you right to my door.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. Tracking me. He’d told me it would protect me, but all he’d intended to do was keep tabs on me. A terrible thought occurs to me, and I snap my gaze to Finn’s. “The Unseelie Court. I was wearing the amulet both times I went to speak with Mordeus.” If Sebastian realizes I’m tricking him, if he knows I’m working for Mordeus to steal from his court—

“This amulet is too weak to work over such distances.” Finn shakes his head. “He won’t know you went to Mordeus—at least not from this.” He heads to the window. “I’ll have Pretha take you back to the palace soon. Sebastian will be looking for you now that he suspects you’ve been with us, and I can’t risk him knowing about our alliance. Pretha will glamour one of the other tutors to make them believe they’ve been working with you all this time.”

I nod. Of course. We have to address this. But will that be enough to convince Sebastian?

“Don’t come looking for us. We’ll need to relocate. Pretha will come to you when it’s safe.”

He’s going to have to move. To uproot his people and Lark. All because of me. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugs, but I don’t miss the weariness in his expression. “This was a temporary home anyway. It’s part of a life in exile. Nothing we haven’t done before.”

“You and Sebastian . . . you didn’t fight.”

When he turns, exhaustion tugs at his shoulders. “You think that was a friendly encounter?”

“No, but I was under the impression that you hated each other. I thought you might try to kill each other if you were ever in the same place.”

He studies the amulet in his palm. “I don’t know what he’s told you about me, but I don’t wish your prince any ill will. His mother, on the other hand—” He tilts his head side to side, stretching his neck. Anger washes over his face, but then it’s gone just as fast. “Sebastian isn’t my enemy.”

It’s a relief to hear, and as I return to the palace, I can almost convince myself that everything will be okay.

But when I open the door to my chambers, Sebastian is waiting by the windows. “How is Prince Finnian?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

I CAN TELL BY THE SET of his shoulders that he’s angry. “Bash?” I say softly. Guilt and shame wash over me. They’re always there, lapping at my feet, trying to slow me down, but now they’re a rising tide threatening to drown me. “Wha—what do you . . .”

“Prince. Finnian. I know you’ve been spending time with him.” His voice is raw—as if he’s been screaming.

I wrap my arms around myself. “I . . .” Do I try to deny it, or would that make it worse? “Does it matter? He’s a friend.”

Sebastian’s eyes are red, his jaw set. How long has he been waiting in here in my empty bedroom, knowing the truth about where I was? “Are you in love with him?”

“What?” I gasp. “Why would you even ask me that?” But maybe the question hits too close to home because it makes me want to run away. From Sebastian. From those sea-green eyes that seem to see too much. From my own confused feelings. I love Sebastian. I might not ever be able to marry him, but I do love him. It kills me to think that he feels like he has to stand before me and ask me if I’m in love with another male. It kills me because even if I don’t love Finn, I do feel something. I feel more than I should.