Dain kept moving like he would talk, his throat working or the muscles in his temple jumping. A few times he even opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His tails kept thudding against the side of the bed, sometimes so hard it sounded like it had to hurt, and he kept not being able to say whatever it was he needed to say.

"Is there a way you could show me, instead?" I asked at last.

Under my fingers, Dain went utterly still, freezing without even sliding into it, his tails held mid-lash and his pulse jumping in his neck. With what looked like a force of will, he exhaled and let his tails drop down. "Yes," he said in a whisper. "The full moon is in eight days, and if you'll stay with me while it's in the sky, I'll show you."

"Then we'll do that," I said. "I'll stay with you, and you can show me."

He nodded against my leg, not opening his eyes, tension in every line of his body.

I kept petting his hair. "Are you going to be a nervous wreck between now and then?"

"Also likely yes," Dain said in the same tone, as if the words were being dragged out of him on a fishhook. "But at least I can stop trying to force myself to say the words, and I get to be sure of eight more days with you."

The question of why he was so sure his secret would break our affection was as implacable as the what, so I didn't bother to ask it. I petted his hair, gave him a nice head rub, and finally managed to get him relaxed enough to think about sleep. Lying with him warm along my back as we fell asleep, I tried to set aside the pain of not being trusted. Whatever it was, I suspected he'd lost people he'd trusted to the knowledge of it. Maybe a lot of people. I closed my eyes and tried to let it go.

Eight days, and then I'd know.

The next day was open court, and what would be the very obvious debut of no more pretending. The knowledge of that left me in a cold sweat, but Dain didn't offer to go back to pretending, and I didn't ask for it. I had Kamharida dress me in an outfit that hearkened to Dain's usual look, with a geometric-patterned violet shirt, severe charcoal-gray pants, black leather boots, and a reinforced black leather jacket with gold accents. I looked hot in it, but more importantly, I looked aligned with Dain.

He wore one of his all-black outfits that looked designed based on armor, with one of his fancy gold-chased swords and one of the sets of draping chain jewelry on his wing-arms. In a nod towards matching me, Dain had slender amethyst spears dangling off of his ears, and he wore an amethyst-and-gold collar necklace that looked stunning against his coloration.