I watch Finn go before turning my attention to Sebastian. His white-blond hair is tied back at the base of his neck and he’s dressed in a fine black tunic, as if he’s been attending meetings all day.
“Thank you,” I say. “Thank you for bringing me to Finn so I could heal.”
His eyes go wide. “I’m the one who needs to be thanking you. You saved me from that tomb. I thought I’d die there.”
“Don’t diminish what you did. We both know this isn’t how you wanted things to turn out.”
Silence stretches between us for a long time, but it’s heavy with everything we’re feeling. I don’t block our bond. Instead, I open to him and welcome it when he opens to me. His grief, heartache, and loneliness are all tinged with something brighter. Relief and . . .
“You’re grateful,” I whisper.
“I promised I’d protect you,” he says, tucking his hands into his pockets. “I meant it.”
“Your mother’s power transferred to you. You hold the power of the Seelie throne. But you’re not there. Why?”
Sebastian hangs his head. “I never just wanted to be king, Brie. I wanted to be a great king. One who could end wars and save innocents. One who made a difference. You made me want that—way back when we were in the human realm. You’d talk about how broken the systems there were, how everything was stacked against the weak and the poor. If I went to the golden court now and took my mother’s throne, I would be king, but the shadow court would be right back where it was when we started all this—weakening without a leader on the throne. I want better than that for these people.
Whether you believe it or not, I truly do.”
“I do believe it, Bash,” I whisper. “None of that surprises me.”
I feel it through our bond the moment before he throws up a shield. My words, my belief in him— it hurts him worse than my anger ever did.
“We’ll go to the River of Ice and try again,” I whisper. “And then we’ll figure out the rest from there.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
I tear my gaze away. “I told you once that personal sacrifice is what makes great kings. They’re willing to give up what they want for themselves in exchange for what’s best for their people. The same is true for queens.”
“So if you could undo all this—if you could trade your power for a mortal life back in Elora with your sister, if you could undo what I did when I got you to bond with me and cornered you into taking the potion?”
“I don’t see the point in dwelling on the past. What’s done is done.”
His gaze shifts to the sky, as if he’s searching the stars for the right path. “I need to know the answer.”
I shake my head, marveling at how different my answer would’ve been only weeks ago. “I want my life to matter, and I can make a difference here. Serving these people isn’t just a duty for me. It’s the greatest honor of my life.”
Sebastian meets my eyes again and nods. “I understand.”
Jas sleeps in lush guest room at the Midnight Palace, her breathing even but shallow, her face pale.
She looks less like she’s recovering and more like she’s inching toward death.
Finn’s on one side of me and Sebastian’s on the other as I look down at her and swallow my tears.
“We have to save her,” I whisper. I meet Finn’s eyes, and he nods.
On the other side of me, Sebastian clears his throat. There are tears in his eyes as he takes my sister’s hand and strokes it with his thumb. “We will,” Sebastian murmurs, and somehow I believe him.
Finn wasn’t exaggerating when he said he’d send an entire battalion through the mountains with us.
Gone are the attempts to be stealthy about our presence. Instead, we’re announcing to the world that we’re here. Come after us if you dare.
No one does, and we make it to the river with relative ease. Kane suggested a place where the river runs beneath the earth through a massive cave, and the others agreed that this would be the least vulnerable spot for us.
As we head to the cave mouth, Sebastian stops and looks at the others. “Could we do this alone, please?”
Finn’s face falls, and he looks back and forth between us before nodding. “Kane and Jalek will go in first to make sure it’s safe. Once it’s secure, we’ll send you in. Just shout if you need us.”
“Thank you,” Sebastian says softly.