"Why?" he asked, his voice cruel. "Do you not like knowing what I am? Can my soulmate not bear having affection for a monster, after all?"

I counted to ten again, to keep from doing something cruel in return. With care, I brushed my thumb across his cheek, rubbing my fingers behind his ear. "Your soulmate can't bear to hear the man she has affection for call himself a monster," I said quietly. "It doesn't matter if your conception was meant to make the Queen suffer. People can learn from a rebuke, or they can double-down. She could have chosen to cherish you, scales, tails, and all, and had the gift of a powerful crown prince to inherit and safeguard everything she built. Instead she has never relented in tormenting you, and plagues herself with the knowledge that you are her heir."

Dain shuddered against me, his grip almost painful. He didn't answer.

With a sigh, I turned my head and dropped a kiss onto his silken hair. "You're a person, and you have people who care about you. I suspect if you wanted to do a coup, the armies would follow you and not your mother, no matter that her title is 'Queen' and yours is 'prince.'" Closing my eyes, I breathed in, feeling the weight of his body against me, and tried to smile. "Right now, however, none of that is here nor there, because I have to pee very badly, so I would appreciate it if you'd be willing to release me for a brief moment so I can attend to biology before returning to your service."

"I'm the one who gave myself to you," he whispered.

"Mhm." I rubbed my nose against his hair. "And I am using that gift to be your devoted servant until you're no longer poked full of holes. Tell me what you want most, and I'll do my best to give it to you."

"I can't," he said shakily, just above a whisper. "I can't do that."

"That's okay. I'll pretend I'm patient for you." I understood not being able to let go of secrets. He had a long lifetime of protecting himself, and he'd taken a lot of armor off for me already. I wouldn't demand he wrench it all off at once. "But seriously, I need you to get up, I am suffering some extreme physical discomfort here."

He took a shuddering breath, then nodded and started disentangling himself from me. Once I was free, I scooted out from under him and zipped into his ensuite bathroom, of which I became immediately and insanely jealous. Dain got a full bathroom with a massive marble tub and shower, with a separate room for biological necessities. I had the fae equivalent of a water closet, and if I wanted a bath I had to have Kamharida haul water up for me, or wash in the bathhouse for guests of the royal family.