I couldn’t exactly argue with that, could I? Not with the reverent expression he aimed at me. I chewed the inside of my cheek, hesitating for a moment. “Well… if you’re sure?”

“Most definitely.” Cair bowed his head, his grin turning impish, and before I could warn him against saying exactly what he was going to say, he tacked on, “Your Highness.”

I groaned and hid my face in my hands. The bastard chuckled, perfectly aware of how that particular bit of teasing affected me, especially since it wasn’t exactly a tease. It was a goddamn fact, and that only made the discomfort worse.

Being mated to Cair meant I was now a prince of the Fae, and whoever had spun that little thread of fate clearly had a stellar sense of humor. Thankfully, there had been no official ceremony or celebration. There was no custom for it as I was the first to be mated into the royal family in thousands of years—or at least for as long as the king had reigned—so they weren’t prepared.

Though he had never voiced it outright, the quiet integration suited the king, considering he wasn’t exactly ecstatic with my presence in the first place, but for once, his assholery worked in my favor. Normally, I would have done anything to spite him, but I wouldn’t have survived standing in front of a throne room full of creatures, accepting my new title. It was terrifying enough knowing that when the day came for Cair to ascend the throne, I would have to ascend with him. It may be a hundred, or even a thousand years from now, given the king’s stubbornness and his reluctance to have a half-blood human polluting the royal line, but naturally, I still stressed myself out about it well in advance. I mean, I barely coped with people calling me that honorific and dipping their heads in respect as I passed them in the hallway. I could only imagine what it would be like to hear “Your Majesty.”

I shivered at the thought.

“Open up,” Cair prompted. He had the fork—loaded with pancake, syrup, and fruit—hovering in the air, waiting for me to obey.

I did, and though I’d had this exact meal many times before, my eyes still rolled as the sweet and tart deliciousness hit my tongue.

Easily the best pancakes I’d ever had in my life.

“I can feed myself, you know,” I said once I’d swallowed, though I opened my mouth for the second bite.

“Yes, but why should you when you have me?”

He presented a solid argument, so I focused on chewing and watching as Cair fed himself with the same fork before preparing the next bite for me. His tongue peeked out to catch a smudge of syrup at the corner of his lips, and the tempting sight had my imagination whirring.