"That might be the best compliment I've ever received," he said softly, the words almost drowned out by the falling water. The heat and tension was gone, as if it had never existed.

I tried to quiet the pounding of my heart. Dain was listening, and he was talking to me. Maybe it would be okay, after all.

"That you're not insane?" I said with a smile.

He snorted, and looked away. "Don't go hunting for vulnerability from me," Dain said, without any heat. "I know how to guard myself."

I shrugged one shoulder, as if this was no big deal, though the rejection stung. I knew that was stupid, though. I represented not merely a chink in Dain's walls, but a wide-open gate. If his mother found out how he felt about me, it would be only too easy to destroy him by hurting me. That I knew how he felt about me was just as dangerous. I knew how bad rejection felt, and the yearning he'd confessed to in the hedge maze was the sort of vulnerability that could devastate him irreparably.

"I'm not trying to find weak points," I told him gently. "We do need to talk about what you said in the hedge maze, though."

One corner of his mouth twitched back, and he looked down and to the side. "I don't know that we do," he said, sounding unhappy. "I remember being very clear."

"You called yourself a monster, which means you still believe it, even after all this time," I said. "I want to talk about that." We didn't need to put the depths of his longing on display again, not right now. But I did want to drive home that he wasn't unlovable.

Dain's eyes flew back up to mine, confusion on his face. I cocked one brow up at him, maintaining my casual pose. He kept staring, his lips parting.

He did smell like a wet dog. I decided not to mention it.

"Well, crown prince?" I prodded, when he didn't say anything.

He visibly swallowed. "That's what you want to talk about?" Dain shook his head slightly, and scratched two claws up along the marble. "I thought you wanted to talk about... how I feel about you."

"I remember you being very clear about that," I said with a smile, trying to show him how much I cared, and how little I wanted to hurt him.

A small answering smile settled onto his mouth, looking more disconcerted than happy.