"Everyone already knows how hard you are to kill," I pointed out. "Even with the blood magic, you took four arrows and a couple swords and were fine in a week, and you never fight fewer than four people in the fighting courts. So why send five people to do the job a legion of soldiers would struggle with? Maybe all he wanted was to make Stag Court the aggressors, playing off your reputation to gain allies."

Dain opened his mouth, then shut it slowly, his brows pulling together as he regarded me.

"I've been thinking about it, too, you know," I said with a half-smile. "Besides, a truly excellent marksman would be able to put arrows in way worse places than you got hit, and do it without alerting you beforehand. Then they wouldn't have to rely on magic poison to get the job done." I paused, searching his expression as he listened. "Honestly, if someone really, really wanted you dead, all they'd need would be to get someone human to practice with a long-range rifle for a while, then snipe you from half a mile away," I added. "I doubt even you would survive a high-caliber bullet through the brain."

"That isn't very comforting," he said, with a distant tone, like was thinking very hard.

"Not meant to be," I replied with a tiny shrug. "Getting people into the palace is a tall enough task. But if you're good enough to do that, why not get people in who can actually get the job done? Unless the point wasn't to kill you, but to make a very messy, bloody, dramatic scene."

"And you think that sending a pair of soulmates that I recognized was for the sake of... making me act like a monster." Dain looked down as he said it, shame flickering onto his face. He ran his thumbs along the backs of my hands. "If so, it... worked."

"I don't know, but maybe. It doesn't seem like a crazy possibility." I didn't have any hands available, so I leaned forward and kissed Dain on the forehead, between his horns.

He lifted his face and looked into my eyes with sorrow and yearning. "You're being very kind to me after what I did."

"You're about to walk into a tense political situation on your own, to bend the knee for people who maybe want you dead and maybe want to use you to start a war, and you're doing it for my sake. I'm not, you know, relenting, but it's a pretty big deal to me," I said.

Dain nodded, looking at me like he was memorizing my face.

"Would you like a hug?" I asked after a moment.

"Yes," he said, with a waver in his voice.