These Hollow Vows (These Hollow Vows, #1)

by Lexi Ryan

My sister says I’m like a cat because of the way I’ve always jumped from trees and roofs without getting hurt. I think of myself more like a shadow, unnoticed and more useful than people bother to notice.

Hope is addictive, and you start relying on it. In a world this cruel, I won’t be caught needing a crutch.

“If you wanted to pose as one of Arya’s handmaids, you should’ve at least bothered to learn what colors she dresses them in.” I can only interpret the shaking of his chest as a silent chuckle. “Or to know that she’d never take on a handmaiden more beautiful than she is.”

“You were curled in the corner of the bed, completely absorbed in that book, as if it didn’t matter that you lived this brutal existence and had only a tiny room to call your own. It didn’t matter that you had to work so hard for everything. When you were reading, you were somewhere else. You were someone else.”

“Show me King Oberon’s crown,” I say softly. But the image in the glass doesn’t change, and no matter how many times I ask, I remain staring at my own reflection.

“That no matter how hopeless I feel, there’s always a little more hope inside me. That no matter how faithless I think I am, there is always something to believe in.”