"I'm pretty much always willing to find room for a snack," I answered, surprised he'd even asked. I swung our linked hands together playfully. "Let's go traumatize some courtiers."

Zhiolas laughed, a bright and delighted sound, and though Dain only shifted his ears, I thought he was amused by me, too. We started off through the palace, heading into a wing I'd never been in before. Dain didn't let go of my hand, and I didn't ask for it back. It was kind of nice, actually, to have him holding my hand while we walked, as he and Zhiolas chatted with each other. It made me feel included and like he wanted me there, even though he hadn't really wanted to introduce me to his friend.

Part of me regarded that new piece of alignment with Dain in a troubled sort of fashion. It had only been three months, and I was falling too easily into friendship with him. We weren't settled together; I knew that, though I couldn't have said how. It felt like I was at the top of a ski lift, with slopes heading down in every direction, and though I was looking down one I hadn't started skiing yet. Well... not quite like that. Like I was on top of a cliff with my climbing partner, trying to decide which rappel route to take. We both needed to make the same choice, and neither of us were ready to fall back over the cliff into friendship together.

But we were both looking that direction, towards affection instead of opposition, and I could almost feel the little pieces locking into place. I could sense the range of possibilities narrowing, like branches being pruned off of a bonsai tree, and when there was only one left I would be trapped here in Faery for eternity with him. It was terrifying, and not in the exhilarating way of rollercoasters and skydiving. It was just scary and relentless, like watching your grandmother die of cancer or a fire burn down your house with everything in it.

"Leah?"

Shit, that was Dain. He must have asked me something, and I'd been busily contemplating the horror of being his soulmate. But it had nothing to do with him as a person, and I wouldn't add that pain to the wounds he carried with him everywhere.

I shook my head and blinked in an over-exaggerated fashion, putting on an expression of rueful amusement. "I was wool-gathering," I said, looking up at him. "Say again?"

Dain narrowed his eyes, his ears leaning back. He was fae and lived surrounded by people who might want to kill him; there was no way he didn't know I was covering up something. But he didn't call me out on it, merely saying, "We're here."