These Hollow Vows (These Hollow Vows, #1)(54)

“What?” he asks. “I know that look. What are you thinking?” He’s smiling as he tucks my arm under his and leads me to the kitchen. When he looks at me like that, it’s so easy to see the boy I knew from home. So easy to forget everything else.

“You said you were planning to come back to Fairscape for me.”

“I meant it, too.” He pushes into the kitchen. It’s empty, like the last time we were here, but the smell of tonight’s roasted chicken, squash, and stew hangs in the air—a bittersweet reminder of how pampered this life is.

“How would that have even worked, Bash? Were you planning to come home, pick a wife, and then return to Fairscape for me as a married man?”

He rolls his shoulders back. “I’m hungry. Are you?”

“Don’t avoid the question.”

“I’m not. But I need something to eat.” He smiles and waves a finger toward the large cooler against the wall. “We have ice cream. It’s fresh.”

My mouth waters. I remember ice cream from my childhood. It’s not a common treat in Fairscape. Fresh milk is expensive, and once the ice cream is made, you have to eat it right away, but the richest households in Elora have iceboxes where they always have frozen treats on hand. Is that what it’s like to live in Faerie? Ice cream in every kitchen? Ending each day with that creamy sweetness melting on your tongue? I arch a brow and pretend I’m thinking about it rather than revealing that I’m already drooling. “What flavor?”

“We have many flavors, but if I recall, chocolate anything is your favorite.”

Those words make me feel vulnerable, and for some reason they make me suddenly aware of my nightclothes and bare feet. Sebastian brought me chocolate for my birthday last year. Just a small portion purchased from one of the vendors at the market. It was such an indulgence, and it felt like too much, but the thoughtfulness of the gesture had made me fall even harder for him. “Chocolate sounds good.”

He takes out two bowls and spoons, and I laugh.

He flashes me a grin. “What?”

“When it comes to tedious tasks like scooping ice cream, I always imagined faeries would use their powers.” Or their servants.

“That would just be showing off,” he says, winking.

And if magic is life the way Finn described, maybe they don’t use it so carelessly.

Sebastian scoops a hearty serving of chocolate ice cream into each bowl before handing one to me.

We eat in silence, leaning against opposite counters like we did with our tea, and my bowl is half empty before he speaks again. “I planned to come back once I was in a position to free you from that contract. To be honest, I never let myself think it through too far. I knew you’d hate me when you learned who I was, but I promised myself that as soon as I had the power, I would help whether you wanted me to or not.”

I want to point out that he’s a prince, to ask why he didn’t help us sooner, but given all he’s done for me, that seems like the question of an ungrateful brat. Instead I stir my melting ice cream in my bowl. “When we get Jas back, can you find a way for her to stay here for a while? Maybe not right away, since you might still be in the middle of picking a bride, but . . . eventually? I want her to know what this is like, and when we return to the human realm, I won’t be able to provide her with anything close.”

I sense rather than see Sebastian step close to me. With one finger, he tilts up my chin so I’m looking at him. “When I am king, you and your sister will have an open invitation to stay at the palace.” The rest hangs unsaid in the air: if I become his bride, I won’t have to wait until he’s king. And maybe . . . maybe if I’m honest with myself, the possibility would be tempting. If it weren’t for my bargain.

I finish my ice cream in silence, stuck in the loop of my own thoughts. When I’m finished, Sebastian puts our dishes in the sink and walks me back to my bedroom.

“Thank you for tonight,” he says when we stop outside my door. “It was good to have you to myself, even if the minutes went too fast.”

“It was really nice,” I admit. “Thank you.”

He drops his gaze to my mouth and his lips part.

Finn’s words ring in my ears. You’re a few sweet promises and tender moments away from being that boy’s bride, and everyone knows it.

I step back. “Good night, Sebastian.”



* * *



I sleep with the mirror under my pillow and half expect Mordeus’s goblin to show up in my room during the night. He doesn’t.

After breakfast the next day I feign another headache as an excuse to miss training with my “tutor” and wait in my room with the mirror. I want to get this to the king as soon as possible so that I can start looking for whatever’s next.

But it seems that Mordeus’s goblin operates on his own schedule.

I spend a lot of time using the mirror to see Jas, and as I lounge in bed waiting for the goblin, I allow myself to look again. She’s sewing today, sipping tea, and laughing with her attendants.

I close my eyes and clutch the mirror to my chest. Could she really be so well cared for? I want to believe, but there’s a niggling warning in the back of my mind that says I shouldn’t be quite so willing to trust this magic. Even Sebastian wasn’t sure it would work for me. How does he know I can trust what I saw? I need to know if Jas is okay.