These Hollow Vows

The guards seize Brie and drag her into a ballroom where a large party is taking place. Mordeus summons her, calling her “the Fire Girl” (82), the same name that Bakken used. When Brie’s anger spikes that Mordeus stole her sister, the room fills with darkness. (Brie assumes that this is due to Mordeus’s magic but later learns that her own powers caused the shadows.) Mordeus brags that he knew that Brie was “special” enough to “move through the Golden Palace undetected” (82), something thought impossible for a human. He explains that Jas is unharmed and that he purchased her contract to blackmail Brie into helping him steal artifacts back from the Seelie Court. He orders her to return to Seelie, become one of the chosen young women competing for Prince Ronan’s hand in marriage, and “win the young prince’s heart and his trust to gain access to the magical artifacts that have been stolen” (85). Only when she returns all three items will Mordeus let Jas go free. When she refuses to do anything until she sees Jas, Mordeus magically banishes her to an oubliette.

Brie dreams of a memory from her childhood, in which she told Jas a story about Faerie that their mother shared before she abandoned them. In the tale, a “false king” waits for “the princess of shadows,” not knowing “that her big heart and her endless love would cost him his throne” (88). Dream Jas comments that “the prince” will help Brie find her. Brie’s faerie dance partner appears in her dream. He urges her to accept Mordeus’s offer and offers to help her find Jas, swearing on magic that he is not aligned with Mordeus, though his silver eyes reveal him to also be Unseelie. After waking up, Brie recalls her mother telling her a legend that a fae cannot break a promise made on their magic. Thus, when Mordeus asks if she has reconsidered, she agrees to seek the artifacts only if he swears on his power that he will free Jas once Brie has returned the artifacts to the Unseelie Court. Mordeus agrees but counters that if Brie tells someone from the Seelie Court about the bargain, he will never free Jas. He assigns her the first task: to find a magical mirror and replace it with a fake.

Mordeus has destroyed the portal back to Seelie, so a goblin escorts Brie to the golden castle. She is shocked to see Sebastian, glamoured with magic to look like a faerie. (Later in the chapter, she learns that he is Prince Ronan and a fae.) He came to seek Brie after hearing about Gorst’s pursuit and learned of her plan from Nik. Brie is worried about Sebastian’s apprenticeship, but he insists that she is more important, and she accepts his comfort, ashamed that part of her longs to abandon this dangerous quest.

Brie doesn’t tell Sebastian the details of her bargain with the Unseelie, afraid of revealing too much. Sebastian admits that he came from a powerful family and that his mage apprenticeship was an escape from the duties he will soon assume. He wanted to ask Brie to return to his home but feared she would not want to accompany him. He kisses her just as guards approach and address him as Prince Ronan. Brie, shocked by this revelation about his identity, flees. She realizes that Mordeus knew that she already knew the prince. Though she is hurt by Sebastian’s lies, she plans to return to enact Mordeus’s scheme to save Jas. Before she can return, however, two strange figures approach, and she drops into a sudden sleep.

When Brie wakes, she is being carried by a strange man who converses with Pretha, who is actually fae. They take her to her dance partner from the ball, whose name is revealed as Finn. Pretha insists that she still wants to help Brie, even when Brie lashes out at Pretha for lying about her identity. Finn asks to speak with her alone. He reiterates that he does not support Mordeus, though tells Brie that completing the deal with Mordeus is the only way to save Jas. He asks about Brie’s “powers,” which he believes have been given to her by a faerie. Finn admits that he is Prince Finnian, Mordeus’s nephew and enemy, as Finn is the rightful heir to the Unseelie throne. He is hiding from his uncle, who wants to kill him.

Finn offers to help her, as he wants the artifacts to be returned to Unseelie—to help his people, not his uncle. Brie refuses his help and is vague when Finn asks if she has “shared the bond with anyone” (114), even though she does not know the details of how faerie bonding works. Pretha reports that Sebastian has delayed his selection, which gives Brie hope. She uses her shadow powers to escape and then flees to the woods. Though they are pitch dark, she can see clearly, which she considers confirmation of Finn’s claim that she has had powers long before she came to Faerie. She has always been able to see in the dark but didn’t want to recognize how odd that talent was. She suddenly encounters an enormous animal.

Brie flees the animal, which pursues her. It injures her and is about to kill her when two large wolves knock it aside. Sebastian appears. He heals the bite wound and then escorts her back to the castle to see more adept healers, as the animal that bit her has toxic venom. As she fades in and out of consciousness, she recalls the fire and her mother offering to pay “a cost” to save Brie from her burns.

When she wakes up several hours later, Sebastian explains that she was attacked by a Barghest, also called “the death dog” (124). Some of them are bonded to Unseelie fae, but Sebastian is unsure if this one was bonded or wild. Brie wonders if Finn sent the Barghest to attack her. Sebastian explains that he didn’t tell her the truth of his identity because it was a guarded secret in the human realm, and by the time he trusted Brie, he knew she hated fae. He urges Brie to return home, promising to find Jas, but Brie refuses. She manipulates him into suggesting that she join the group of potential brides. She feels guilty for lying to Sebastian about her motives. He promises to keep her in the palace as long as possible if she lets him undertake the dangerous quest of looking for Jas.

Brie has anxious dreams about the Barghest and the fire. She wakes up in a new room tended by twin human servants, Emmaline and Tess. They cheerfully report that Sebastian has paid more attention to Brie than any of the other potential brides, which pleases Brie, even though she is annoyed that her attraction to him lingers despite his lies. Sebastian arrives; he asks Brie to keep their history from his mother, as he thinks it will make the queen suspicious of Brie. He uses glamour to hide her scar, which Brie assumes is a nod to the queen’s high standards of beauty for her son’s bride. (She later learns that this is to hide that she is the human whom Oberon saved, thereby giving her his crown.) Brie hates that her past makes her feel “unworthy,” even if she never wanted to marry a faerie prince.

Brie finds it strange to pretend that she is “a regular human girl who’s known luxuries” but enjoys Emmaline and Tess’s “doting” (136). The two servants cheerfully gossip about how Sebastian long avoided marriage and potential brides until Brie arrived. Their kindness makes Brie feel guilty, as she plans to “use every tool at [her] disposal to […] free Jas” (138).

Brie is anxious to formally meet the queen. Sebastian admires her looks, which reminds Brie of how much has changed between them in a short period of time. Arya quizzes Brie about her interest in Sebastian and asks rude, probing questions about Brie’s fertility.

Alone in her room, Brie summons Bakken, who cautions her against calling him to the palace. She trades a lock of her hair for information about the Mirror of Discovery’s location. He reports that it is in the queen’s sunroom and then vanishes. She explores the palace, worrying about Sebastian spending time with other prospective brides and about her ability to control her powers. When she approaches Arya’s sunroom, it is filled with magical light, even late at night, leaving her powers ineffective.

Sebastian approaches. She lies and says that she was seeking the kitchens. Sebastian reports that his spies in the Unseelie Court have no information about Jas; Brie worries more that these spies will reveal Brie’s presence in Mordeus’s court. To cover her lie, she asks him to connect her with Mordeus. He refuses.

Sebastian admits his reluctance to marry but is intent on fulfilling his duty to produce an heir. He explains that the bond between humans and fae are not as based in control as Brie suspects, though she remains skeptical. He argues that the bond will become two-sided after his wife has children and drinks a potion that will make her fae so that she will have a similar lifespan to Sebastian. This is important to him, as he doesn’t want to see his partner die and then live for centuries longer.

Brie’s anxiety about Jas’s safety leaves her unable to enjoy the luxuries of palace life. She struggles with frustration over her inability to locate the mirror and grows jealous when Sebastian spends time with other potential brides. She meets her tutor, Eurelody, who is tasked with teaching her about what is required of the prince’s wife. Eurelody takes her to meet her potential “future subjects” in a nearby village. Suddenly, Eurelody transforms and reveals herself as Pretha. Kane, the fae who helped abduct Brie (in Chapter 8), appears. The two laugh at the idea that they would have sent the Barghest to attack her. They joke about making bets on how long it took Brie to forgive Sebastian, which annoys Brie.

Finn has two magical wolves, which Brie recognizes as the wolves that saved her from the Barghest. He explains that the wolves, Dara and Luna, will continue protecting Brie now that they have done so once. Finn asks about the delay getting the mirror, which leads Pretha and Kane to scoff at Brie’s ignorance of her powers’ strength. He contends that her darkness is powerful enough to counteract the queen’s light, but there is another spell that prevents anyone from taking an object from the sunroom without permission from Arya or Sebastian. Brie plans to ask Sebastian to give it to her, even though she feels guilty about abusing his trust.

Brie finds Sebastian sparring, which adds to her physical attraction to him. She meets Sebastian’s closest friend, Riaan. She asks about the Mirror of Discovery, claiming that she wants to use it to see Jas. Sebastian promises to “see what [he] can do” to acquire it for her (167).

Brie continues to meet with Pretha, Kane, and Finn. She meets Jalek, a Seelie loyal to Finn; Pretha explains that she is originally Wild Fae, though she has been long allied with Finn. She introduces Tynan, another Wild Fae. Brie is astonished that Finn has allies who are not from his original court. When Tynan references a visit from the Wild Fae’s king and queen, Pretha seems disquieted but quickly turns to Brie’s lessons. (Pretha later reveals that she is in love with the Wild Fae queen, who is married to Pretha’s brother.)

Pretha determinedly trains Brie in using her shadow powers. After several days, Finn arrives and criticizes Brie for her “sloppy” magic. The two bicker. Finn mocks her for her feelings for Sebastian. Brie doesn’t deny her affection, though she insists that she doesn’t want to marry Sebastian. Finn is relieved that Brie is not bonded. (At the novel’s climax, she learns that this is because bonding will give Oberon’s crown to her bond mate.) He cautions against bonding “if [she values her] mortal life” and posits that Mordeus will ask her to bond, as well as Sebastian (175). Brie is attracted to Finn, though she dislikes this.

Finn admits that he is unfamiliar with mortals who possess magic. He likens fae magic to human blood—it is their life source. In both cases, they can heal from losing a small amount but will die if they use excess too quickly. He doesn’t fear Brie overusing her power, however, as she has far more than she currently accesses. He likens using magic to feeling hope, which Brie feels disqualifies her from accessing her power. She considers hope dangerous. Finn helps her access her power, which turns the area around them dark. They quickly leave, however, as they see signs of Sluagh, dangerous fae spirits.