My anger ground to a halt. Not that I'd forgiven him for the way he kept immediately assuming the worst of me, but I stopped working myself up into a frothing rage. Rather than matching my anger with viciousness, Dain was... de-escalating. Taking things out of the realm of clashing and back down to something friendlier. It was unbalancing, to say the least.

"Not my best work, I'll admit," I said, some heat still in my words. "I'll ensure that I draw up a list of suitable insults before tomorrow."

"I could send you one," Dain said, with what sounded like dark humor covering over old pain. "You could use it as inspiration."

"Save me the shame of re-using someone's old insults, too," I replied, easing away from the anger. "Think of how embarrassed I would be if you already had a clever repartee prepared."

He sighed and rolled onto his side, facing me. I released the sky from the force of my glare and turned to Dain with a softer expression. The crown prince was looking at me with something like concern, mixed with what looked like uncertainty. I might not know how to handle him, or what to think of him, but it seemed like that went both ways.

"If I try to be your friend, will you try to be mine in return?" he asked in a quiet voice. "I knew when I brought you here that we would likely oppose each other. I am what I am, and you don't want to be here. But you are correct in assuming that I would prefer not to have a dagger in my back." Dain's mouth twitched. "It's painful, especially when they're poisoned, and the blood gets everywhere."

I looked at him with a helpless expression of horror. That was the blackest humor I had ever heard, holy crap. He gave me a fox-like smile of satisfaction while I attempted to collect myself, then rolled back onto his back, a motion that nauseated me because his spikes didn't interact with the ground at all.

"Why do it, then?" I asked, when I'd managed to collect myself. "If you're sure we'll end up enemies, why save me?"

"Because nothing is certain," Dain said softly, words that sounded more like a prayer than a statement. "To lose all hope is to die. When true despair has you in its teeth, the only option is to embrace death, and I have never been ready to die." He looked back over at me, his face impassive. "Even in opposition, we wouldn't have to despise each other. We could be playful rivals, or opponents who know each other so well we counter each other's moves before they're even made." He smirked. "We could have aggressive hate-sex until the death of the sun."

"I'm not gonna live that long," I drawled, though I blushed.

Dain raised an eyebrow. "Did no one tell you? You will if we find balance, assuming no one kills you."