Riley blinked at me slowly, then shook his head again. “Flesh is flesh. It never ceases to amaze me, the rules you humans will implement to justify your inconsistencies.”

The insult made me flinch. We were a fickle species, weren’t we? Hypocrites, the lot of us. I looked down at my food, and tried to concentrate on eating.

“Does what I say bother you?” he asked.

I couldn’t speak. I only shrugged, hoping he would drop it.

“Do not let it. It merely amuses me. I marvel at it,” he confessed, and I looked up. His beautiful face held nothing but earnestness.

I managed to clean my plate, but there was no way I could finish all the food on the table, even excluding the meat. Once again, I felt guilty at the waste. Riley didn’t seem to notice, and told me to gather my things.

I tried to keep my face from falling. “We need to be getting back to Portsmouth, after all,” I said, but I was unable to hide the dejection in my voice.

“This saddens you,” Riley noted. He was staring out the window again.

I shrugged as I packed my clothes. It hurt to have to fold the dress and put it in the bag. I just knew it would wrinkle. I guess sometimes there’s no way to avoid having to crumple up something so beautiful…

“It’s just, I’ve never been to this city before.” I tried to sound nonchalant. “There’s still so much I’d love to see and do…”

“There is no need to rush away,” Riley said offhandedly. My head whipped around to look at him, and he looked back at me. Cool and distant and framed by the sun’s golden rays, he looked every inch a god-figure handing down decrees to lesser beings. “The day is still young.”

Though his face appeared unchanging, he lowered his voice and it came out as a seductive purr, “I want you to enjoy yourself.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. The idea that this Cinderella might get a second chance at the ball was too great to resist, and I was packed and ready in the next thirty seconds. Riley opened the door for me, and with a slight bow, motioned me to lead the way. I practically tripped out of the room and toward the elevator in my excitement to get back into the streets, but a part of me was hyper-aware of the physical distance between us. Riley seemed to be keeping himself at arm’s length from me, and the idea that he was doing it consciously made me ack. In the elevator, I racked my brain, wondering if it was something I had done, but nothing came to mind. Unless—