These Hollow Vows Pdf Novels & Stories

The forest fell silent once more. “The First Covenant was never forged to win wars.” He looked directly at me. “It was forged to preserve hope after defeat.” I took a cautious step forward. “What is the Hollow?” “A memory.” His answer only deepened my confusion. “A city remembers those who build it.” “A forest remembers those who protect it.” “The Hollow remembers promises.” The silver patterns beneath my skin suddenly burned. Not painfully. Like recognition. The same warmth spread through Leo. Ace. Maya. The ground beneath our feet answered.

It was like it was painted on her body and the shoes, they were the fuck me type of heels making her legs look so fucking long and lean. She held a bouquet of white roses and walked to me. I stepped forward as soon as she was close enough and took her hands in mine and kissed the back of both of them and turned us to face the priest. "Tyson, said you guys wanted to keep it short and sweet, so I'm going to skip most of what I usually say and skip to your vows. Tyson would like you to go first?" I turned to face Tess, and she gave me the sweetest smile. "Tess, I vow to be your protector and provider, your safe space, Ti amo."

Ethan standing alone before a massive machine. A voice speaking to him. Do you wish to create a world without pain? Young Ethan answered: "Yes." The image changed. Then sacrifice what makes humanity weak. Ethan whispered: "Love." Ava's heart broke. "No..." The memories continued. Ethan placing his hand against the machine. Energy flooding through his body. Three screams. Three bodies. Three consciousnesses. Three Architects. Then Ethan's voice: Erase my memory. Ava covered her mouth. "No." Ethan collapsed.

I gasped. The first bridge's face softened, something almost like relief crossing features that were mine and not mine at the same time. "There is a cost to finishing what I started," she said. "The Hollow will not simply sleep forever inside you out of gratitude. It will test you. It will look for every seam in every relationship you have, every unresolved grief, every love divided by distance or duty or fear, and it will press until something gives. That is its nature. That will always be its nature." "Then how do I stop it?" I demanded.

“And given how quickly his interest sharpened after the trial, when four days earlier he’d shown no particular urgency about a banished wife and her daughters in months, the timing concerns me more than I’d like to admit.” Ilsa leaned forward, her own expression troubled. “My grandmother’s journal doesn’t describe this directly, but it does mention something adjacent — that the Hollow, having failed a direct test, often withdraws to find easier paths toward the same goal. If breaking a pack’s unity by force failed, working through an existing wound instead would fit the pattern the journal describes.”

However, when he stood before me and told me to give Quinn back to Sadie, I felt a rage so intense it was almost uncontrollable. "And what about me?" I asked coldly. He seemed caught off guard by my question, opening and closing his mouth a few times before mumbling, "I'll marry you." As he spoke, his tone grew more confident. "You can divorce him, and I'll marry you. We'll live a good life together," he added. "Don't worry—I won't hold it against you for being divorced." If God had X-ray vision, He would have seen the giant question marks flooding my mind.

“Yes, I do.” His voice was firm. Clear. Without the slightest tremor. The priest nodded, then turned. “Miss Livia… do you take Mr. Adrian as your husband, to live together in the sacred bond of marriage—to love him, to protect him, to honor him, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, and to remain faithful to him until death do you part?” The voice echoed softly. Sacred. Yet it felt unfamiliar. Because for Livia— every word sounded like a lie forced into becoming the truth.

Instead, it folds itself into a corner near the fire, curling up like an animal seeking warmth, as if it is as weary as any of us. The hours crawl. Some try to sleep, but most sit up, tense, clutching talismans or one another’s hands. Mara prowls the edges of the hall, her gaze fixed on the revenant. I sit with Ffion, our shoulders touching, our magics twining and trembling. We ask our questions—careful, cautious, afraid of what the answers might cost. “What is the Hollowing?” Bram asks, voice barely above a whisper. The revenant’s eyes burn in the dark. “It is what comes when too many bargains go unpaid. When pain and hunger are ignored, when stories are broken, when communities shatter. I

The same mouth, but smiling too slow, too knowing. The Hollow spoke through that face. “You both swear the same oath. You both belong to me.” Kael raised his sword. “You don’t get to speak through me.” The Hollow tilted its head. “But I am you. The part buried in every Aeson. The chain you forged when you sealed me away. Did you really think the oath only bound the Hollow? It bound your blood, too.” Kael’s jaw tightened. “Then take me and let her go.” The Hollow’s smile widened. “You would die for her? Then die with her.”

“We offer the Hollow names—memories, pieces of those who have been lost. It does not take lives, not always. But it takes what makes us human. It remembers what the world forgets, and in return, it keeps the Covenant blind to this place.” Kael’s hand went to Aria’s, thumb brushing the pulse of the sigil on her wrist. The bond throbbed violently, a tether of fire and shadow, as if aware of the choice before them. “And if we refuse?” he asked, jaw tight, fire flickering across his skin. Sereth’s gaze hardened. “Then the Hollow’s wards will collapse. You will be visible. The Covenant will find you. And this sanctuary will die with those who dwell within it.”