"Then how could it be difficult?" He kissed me on my nose in return. "Would you like an actual bath, or are you content with simply getting the blood washed off?"

"As nice as your bath is, just the blood will be fine." I smiled at him as he turned on the hot water for the sink, letting it run as he went and got some hand towels out of the linen closet.

"You know," he said, sounding almost idle as he adjusted the water temperature and closed the plug on the sink. "It could be your bath, too, if you wanted." Dain looked over at me with a slight smile. "I can unlock that door between our rooms, and you could live here with me, and I with you."

I didn't even have to consider it. I didn't have an issue anymore with falling into domesticity with him. What held us apart now wasn't my desire to return home, but something broken between us. We'd built an arch together, coming close, but without the keystone in the crown of it, all of those hard-won stones would come crumbling down. I suspected that even if we were to have sex now, we wouldn't be able to find our balance. Mere lovers was no longer on the table.

"Yes, please," I said.

Dain's ears came forward, happiness and hope lighting his face. "Truly?"

I nodded, then leaned my head on one hand, propping my elbow on my thigh. "The bathroom is lovely, of course, and the palatial surroundings, but I'd want to live with you even in a rat-infested studio apartment."

He snorted at that, wetting some of the towels. "Luckily, that is unlikely to be a problem for us," Dain said. "Aside from being a crown prince, most small animals can't abide my presence." At my raised eyebrow, his mouth tugged to the side, looking rueful. "Faerqen is a god whose domains include winter and death, if you'll recall. I'm..." He put his hands on the counter and inhaled slowly. "I'm tied strongly enough to him that the small creatures tend to dislike my... aura, I suppose. Cats hiss, rats flee, and even insects take themselves elsewhere." Dain shook his head, and went back to his preparations. "Ironically, ravens and crows don't mind me."

Ironically...? Ah. Because he'd so brutally defeated Raven Court at Phazikai.

"It's good to know you'll protect me even from mosquitoes," I said, to tease him away from the darkness.

"I could bite you in their stead," he offered, with some hesitance, his tails swishing behind him as he offered me a hopeful smile.

"A bargain I am more than willing to make," I replied with a satisfied smile. "How do you feel about taking this dress off of me? Your blood is on my chest, and I'd like you to wash it off for me."