When we got to Regina's description of the male lead, which was both remarkably racist and over-the-top horny, Dain actually laughed, an honest-to-God laugh of amusement rather than the controlled version I'd heard before. I glanced up, raising a brow; he looked as if he was both startled by his own laughter and as if he had enjoyed laughing, and didn't know what to do about it.

"Is that how human women regard men?" he asked, with actual good humor in his voice. "Do you have a running monologue about the movement of my chest and the shape of my face?"

I struck my finger in the book to hold my place and smirked at him. This was far better than the barbs and snarling. "I count two questions there," I replied.

One of his ears flicked, and he tapped a finger against my leg. "I want both answered," he said after a moment. "Ask yours, if you like."

I considered for a moment. "Why did you destroy Phazikai? And why do you look different from the other fae?"

"I won't answer the second," he said, his voice going harsh.

"No worries," I said. "How about tit for tat—what do you think about when you're looking at me?"

Dain paused, then nodded, his shoulders relaxing away from tension again. "I destroyed Phazikai to end a war," he said, the words clipped. "My mother escalated hostilities between Stag Court and Raven Court to the west, and when they attacked us, she gave me the armies. Raven Court allied with two other Courts to destroy me, and they were willing to fight for a thousand years and face annihilation rather than come to terms. I showed them what annihilation meant, and they reconsidered."

"Oh," I said, the sound coming unbidden. Wow. The brutality he'd described in the destruction of the city was still horrific, and the type of man who could look at a map and decide to... annihilate Phazikai as an object lesson to the opposing army was an unknown entity to me, with a coldness and separation from empathy that I couldn't relate to. But to end a thousand-year war...? Maybe it made a gruesome, appalling kind of sense.

He sighed and leaned forward, resting more of his weight on my legs. "As for you... mostly I'm waiting to see what will make you choose to be my nemesis. But if you want to know if I'm keeping a running monologue about your breasts, the answer is no."

My lips twitched. "It would have been funnier if the answer was yes."

"I can't lie, even for the sake of amusement," Dain said, smirking. "As I am no longer a pubescent boy, I have other things to occupy my thoughts besides a ceaseless attempt to visualize the body beneath that introductory clothing."

"Thank God for small mercies," I said.

He lifted one eyebrow at that.