"Oh, by the way," I whisper conspiratorially. "I hope you have money to pay for this since I don't have any."

His lips curve up in a lopsided smile.

"I have money, human. I told you, I am very rich."

"Right." I nod. "I forgot you also have a very expensive palace."

"Precisely." He pushes his chin up. "I can afford to feed you sweet ices for the rest of your life," he adds proudly.

"So nice of you, Ze. See, you're already doing better," I tease.

Heat climbs up his cheeks, and he struggles not to preen at the praise.

While I continue to eat with gusto, he dips his own spoon into the sweet ice and gets his first taste.

I pause, looking at him expectantly.

"How is yours?"

He gulps down, slowly licking his lips.

"It is... good," he finally says, though something about the way he scrunches his nose makes me doubt that.

"Let me try." I reach out with my spoon, but he swats it out of the way.

"Yours is better," he grumbles, pulling his bowl closer and out of reach.

"Ze." I pout. "You said you'd be nice. Let me try it."

He shakes his head.

I pull my chair closer to him, and with a mischievous smile, I try to get a spoonful again. This time, he takes the bowl in his arms, digging in with his spoon and eating half of the ice cream in just a couple of bites.

My lashes flutter as I stare at him.

If this is how he wants to play the game, he'll have a little surprise.

"Oh my!" My eyes widen in feigned shock as I point behind him. "What is that, Ze?" I call out in a frightened voice.

His features tense, and he turns to look behind him.

I take advantage of his momentary lack of attention to stick my spoon in what's left of his bowl of ice, take a little, and bring it to my mouth.

He's too fast, however. He grabs my hand, stopping it midair just as I'm about to finally taste it. Before I can blink, he leans forward, wrapping his lips around the spoon and eating all the ice. His eyes never leave mine, his tongue swirling around the spoon in slow motion.

"Ze..."

"It is poisoned," he whispers so only I can hear him. "You cannot have it or you will be gravely ill."

"W-what?"

"Yours is fine," he continues as if he didn't just drop a bomb on me.

"Are you all right? Will you get ill?" The words tumble out of my mouth as I drop my arm, staring at him in shock.

"I shall be fine. They were probably unaware that I am immune to most known poisons."

"They... You mean they did this on purpose? They wanted to..."

"Kill me?" He raises a brow, his lips curling at the corners. "It would not be the first time."