"Little Chesire, come over here. I want to show you something," Natsuki coaxed, gesturing for me to come hither with a clawed hand. He was as I remembered him—in his prime, before a knife had been stuck in his back and he withered away in a cell.

I ran to him, my hands small again as they clutched to his robes.

"What is it?" I asked, my voice higher pitched and naturally bratty. He smiled, dimple in one cheek, and knelt down so we were eye level.

"I want to give you a very special item, little one. It took me a while to dig it out of storage."

He held out a pendant carved out of jade the size of his palm that depicted a coiling northern dragon.

"Isn't this one of those things that foxfolk mates exchange?" I asked, incredulous as to why I was being shown such an intimate item.

"Yes, it is. It's the one my father gave to my mother, who passed it onto me when I came of age. And now, I'd like you to keep it, for your mate."

"You're breaking a lot of traditions right now, Natsuki. For one, I'm not even of age, much less a fox." I took a step back from him, but I didn't let go of his robes.

"Where's the fun in traditions if you don't reinvent them every once in a while?" Natsuki's grin widened, a mischievous glint in his brass eyes. "Besides, by the time you aren't such a little tyke, I'll have forgotten I even have it. I want you to keep it. Otherwise it'll go to waste."

"Fine," I muttered as I grabbed hold of his outstretched hand. But I didn't feel the cool touch of the jade pendant in my palm.

My eyes snapped open, and I was twenty-six again, in the imperial library. However, my grip was still locked on someone else's hand. The incense had burned out, and all was dark and quiet. The smell of sulfur assaulted my nose.

Fairan's willowy silhouette knelt next to me, leaned close and cast entirely in shadow.

"What the hells are you doing here?" I hissed, sitting upright and smacking his hand away. "You should be on the road home by now."

"To be frank, I escaped your guards almost immediately." The human dared to lean over me and pin my wrists to the floor. "I can't be held at fault for swallowing my pride and doing as I was told to."

"You're a prince, aren't you? Act like it."

"I did, for someone in my situation." I knew not his "situation," but he was lucky that I was not a maneater, for I wanted so badly to bite his throat. I settled for leaning back, slipping my legs out from under myself, and pressing my foot to his stomach.

"Well, I order you now to get your hands off of me!"

"First you throw me out for following your orders, now you demand I follow what you say." He let go of one wrist in order to grasp my ankle. Unbearable pins and needles dug themselves deeper into my flesh and bones.

Slamming a fist on the table and leaning over it, a pathetic cry of pain escaped my lips very much unbidden. Fairan immediately let go, leaving me trembling from the intense discomfort.

"That's what you get for sitting like that for hours on end."

"Are you lecturing me?!" I turned my piercing glare to Fairan, appalled and more than a little insulted.

"Yes."

After giving him a scoff in reply, I got to my feet, leaning on a bookcase while the feeling returned to my numb and bloated legs. I couldn't feel the pressure on my feet, which bent like rubber under my weight.

"Are you going to call the guards?" He asked. Fairan remained on his knees in front of me while I teetered on the brink of collapse and tried not to show it.

"I don't need guards to kick you out," I snarled between clenched teeth, leveling a shaking finger at him.

"You might, with how you're holding up right now—which is barely."

"Ha!" I choked out a mirthless and cruel laugh, then pushed myself off my support and forced my unsteady feet to move. I managed to wag my finger at him before I toppled forward.

I landed against an unpleasantly hard but warm body clad in expensive silks. My nose wrinkled at the stench of the sulfur his handlers had used to bleach his hair, but underneath I caught the scent of lilacs and sage. It was a mildly intoxicating whiff.

So there I lay, helplessly sprawled out on a human's lap with my face pressed into his chest like a hapless kitten. When several moments had passed without him moving or saying anything, I lifted my head to peer up at him.

His dark blue eyes were wide, and his lips hung parted. His entire head was bright red, a glow to his cheeks that radiated the heat of the mid-day sun. He sat frozen in place, only able to get a creaking grunt out of his tight throat. I watched as a bubble coursed down his neck when he took a big, hard gulp.

"What's the matter now, your royal highness?" I asked, my well-groomed tail swishing lazily up into the air. "Cat got your tongue?" My teasing seemed to snap him out of his admittedly cute daze enough to formulate a proper response.

"How often do you use that joke?"

"Enough to make my advisors roll their eyes at me." I sat back on a cushion, the pins finally settled down and returned my land legs to me.

"So all the time then."

"Yes, at least once a day, but never to the same person twice."

"That's a relief. I'll never have to get that pun directed at me again."

"Then you should hurry along home. Because if you become my husband you'll have to bear witness to all of my peculiar habits and annoying traits."

"Now that, I can't do. If I return now, I'll be locked away for the rest of my life."

My hand was grabbed onto tightly and the back of my claws were brought up to his lips. There was a desperation in his eyes that stirred at my heart. I bid my soul not to be moved, and had almost succeeded at wrangling it until he kissed my fingers and scooted closer.

"Please. Your Majesty. I beg of you. You don't even have to marry me—you can refuse my father's alliance. But please, give me sanctuary near to you."

"That could start a war. Do you even realize that?" I pointed out. I told myself to pull my hand away, to get up and leave him. But he had the same pleading and sorrowful expression as the captured and enslaved beastfolk I'd borne witness to in my earlier years.

"I know," he admitted. "But I doubt that my father would go to such lengths. Especially for me. The last thing he wants is a war. Otherwise, why would he try so hard for peace?"

"Many people will stall for time by making such efforts on the surface, all the while bolstering an army. Even alliances can and do get broken. Just look at the elves. How many treaties did humans break with them? Now they live split into two and trapped in forests that are constantly being encroached upon."

"You cannot hold all humans accountable for the misdeeds of individuals, Your Majesty."

"I don't." His spell upon me finally broken by my duty to my people, I slipped my hand from his. I stood up, turning my attention away from Fairan and instead gazed up at Natsuki's window. "In truth, I have no problem taking a few human mates. I plan to, actually. But I will not accept a deal that will only cause further strife in the end."

"Then the second my father threatens war, I'll leave." Fairan's rings clinked together when he placed his hand over his steady heart, which made one of my ears flick towards him. "If he attacks with no regard for me, I'll help you. I'm strong enough and trained to be an archmage. I can fight for you. Soldier, hostage, husband, I don't care. Just please, don't send me back, Your Majesty."

"You've resorted to bargaining now, have you?" I sighed and faced him with a faint smile on my red rouged lips. "Very well, for now you may stay in the palace. But under one condition."

"Anything, Your Majesty," the prince whispered. I closed my eyes and widened my smile.

"Take a bath," I ordered with a sugary voice. "A thorough one."