We broke into a meadow while I was contemplating that. He slowed his stag to a walk and I followed, a beat behind, letting the doe come up on his right. I remembered Dain saying, full of viciousness, that he didn't enjoy the suffering of others. That poison had to have come from somewhere. I wondered how many people assumed that he liked what he'd done in Phazikai, and shocked myself with the pity that rose at that thought. What would it be like, to never be loved? To be feared, and to always have the worst expected of you?

Maybe you'd start leading with the worst things, so that people wouldn't have to go looking. I looked over at him; Dain didn't look back, letting his stag pick its way across the meadow, his hips rolling with the animal's movement in the loose way of excellent riders. Was he only... being a hedgehog? Ramming his spines into me because it was easier to drive people off before he had a chance to get attached to them?

Dain, snarling and angry, and disentangling thorns from my hair like a friend. Promising skulls and then not letting me see them. Describing what he'd done at Phazikai with challenge, and taking me through the woods on a ride I might actually enjoy. Ogres have layers, I thought, my lips twitching at the idea of the crown prince as Shrek. Did that make me Donkey?

"Penny for your thoughts," I said.

He glanced over at me. "Do you even have a penny to your name?"

"You could give me a penny," I replied in my cheerful voice. "Otherwise, definitely not."

"Hm," Dain said, a thoughtful sort of noise. "I suppose we can pretend I gave you a penny, and you gave it back to me, and we need not take it out of my purse and return it there." He tilted his head back and sighed. "I had intended to stay out here for an hour or two and enjoy the quiet and summer sun. I'm trying to decide if I should bring you back to the palace, instead."

"Let's stay," I said, surprising myself with the fact that I was enjoying this. Maybe it was only the boredom speaking, but it was fun, figuring out the crown prince. I suspected I'd be spending a lot of time with him over the course of the next couple months, too, so what was a few hours in the great outdoors? "I wanted entertainment and company, but I didn't want to ruin your day."

He looked sideways at me again. "Are you going to infuriate me?"

"Prior experiences suggest it's almost unavoidable," I said, smirking at him. "Maybe it's part of my charm, and I'll grow on you."

"Like mold," Dain muttered.