Novel & Cerita These Hollow Vows Pdf

“2. I promise to be there for you in sickness, health, good times or bad.” “3. The third vow is for prosperity.” “4. I pledge to take care of our children and educate them. I will remain loyal to you for the rest of my life.” I could feel my heart thumping against my chest with each word I spoke, and I also knew what my words did to him. His hands tightened imperceptibly around my waist with each vow I recited. I didn’t know what made it real, his feverish look of desire or my heated desire to make him mine.

But now that he was in my life again, how could I push him away? I found myself walking without thinking, my feet carrying me along a familiar path. The weight in my chest grew heavier with each step. I couldn’t shake the image of Luca’s face, his intense gaze, the way he had spoken to me with such certainty. His words weren’t empty promises, no matter how much I wanted to believe they were. I had heard enough hollow words in my life to know when someone was lying. Luca, though—his words were raw, real. The desperation I had seen in his eyes wasn’t something he could fake.

Chapter 16- Marriage, Typed at the Top of the Page Ivie stared at the word again Marriage. She hesitated with her hand over the paper, then slowly drew it back into her lap. Alexander said nothing. She looked up. "This is a joke right?” “Does it look like a joke to you?" "You're asking me to marry you?" "I'm offering a contract. Marriage is a legal structure that facilitates the possibility of the rest of it." Ivie exchanged a long look with the page, then with the remainder of the folder still tucked beneath his hand. "You said you could clear the debt. Keep the house."

Love. Death Distance Time The Hollow feeds on those truths Twisting them. Deepening them. And suddenly I understand what it really is Not merely hunger. Not merely entropy. Despair The belief that connection is meaningless because it ends. My knees weaken slightly The void presses harder around me. Memories surface painfully Every goodbye. Every loss. Every fear of abandonment I’ve ever had. The Hollow pushes deeper “You will lose them.” Theodore laughing. Aurelion smiling softly. Vireon’s calm eyes.

If war erupted before the eclipse, the prophecy’s shadow might fall early, and nothing would hold back the Hollow’s echo. Maxim stepped forward. “Name the oath.” The emissary’s voice carried like a blade drawn from its sheath. “You will swear by fang and flame that the Vale shall remain free of conquest, that moon-silver will be mined only for the good of all packs, and that your life will stand as guarantee. Should you betray this, your blood will return to the earth that bore it.” Gasps rustled through the chamber. A vow older than crowns, older even than the Hollow’s rise. To swear it was to surrender every claim of dominion, to become servant to the Vale itself.

A courier arrived three nights later with a glowing bark-scroll, unbound and humming. The message was not written it unfolded in shared memory. A projected gathering. Twelve representatives. No roots. No borders. No authority. Only agreement. They called it the non-pact. Its tenets were clear: No one may own resonance All memories are co-authored Power must always pass through another’s hands Witnessing must be chosen, never assumed Silence is a vote Ari read it three times. It was the Hollow. It was Saris. It was Kaima. And none of them.

They were plain, their meaning indicated only by their weight and by their immaculate, harsh circle. "I do not believe in the God you were raised with, Davidson," he announced, moving to stand before him. "I believe in energy. In strength. In the material. But I believe that a vow between two human beings has power of its own. A weight. It grips tighter than a signature." He stretched out one of the bands. "I want to make that promise to you. Here. Now. To nobody else as a witness. Not because we have to. Because we're choosing to."

He continued. “We live in a time that treats promises lightly. As though commitment is optional. As though desire alone is justification.” A ripple of agreement moved through the congregation. I felt heat rise to my face, my heart started the kind of race and pound combo that it does whenever I feel doom lurking. He didn’t look at me. Not yet. “A vow,” he said, “is not made when one feels nothing. It is made in full knowledge that feeling may come… and still, one chooses obedience.”

Like the Hollows themselves. He looked at us. At the mate bond blazing between us. And smiled. Cold. Cruel. Knowing. "How touching," he said. Voice echoing. "Love conquering all. Bonds triumphing over emptiness." His smile widened. "But love makes you vulnerable. Gives you something to lose. And I'm very good at taking things away." He raised his hand. Reality rippled. The Hollows appeared. Rising from the ground. From the air. From nowhere and everywhere.

I don’t really know what happened and how I woke up to be here, but I was so sure there’s some strange connection between I and that strange pervert, even though I would hate to admit it. “I don’t know what he sees in you. You’re just some sick girl from the ghetto. Well, he promised to divorce you after some months, I can’t believe he gave out his jersey that I got him for his birthday to a low life cunt.” A low life? I scoffed shaking my head. Wait, what did she mean by divorce me? Are they playing games with me? No, I wouldn’t believe what this seemingly insane girl is saying. No, I refuse to believe I got forced into early marriage. Fuck! I’m just seventeen!