“And how much charm do you truly think it requires when you bear titles such as mine?” He did not say it with any pride or bitterness. It was a fact, simply enough, and he used it as it suited him. “I dance with some girl at a gala, and she is one of dozens whose name I will never recall. If I am kind to her and go through the motions, she deems the night something worth remembering. It costs me nothing and gains me a reputation worth having.”
He was teasing her, which may have been inappropriate given the current situation, but they had never stood on much formality in private settings. Mikino did care about Azyebel as more than just his ticket out of that ultimate duty. She had been a friend to him in the brief time they had known one another, and she had proven a worthy ally. Even when they were at odds, she had given him no cause not to at least respect her. He lingered now to make certain for himself that she would fare well and remain as comfortable as she could be under the circumstances.
But between them, there needed to be a pretense still for such things, and so they spoke of Avalynn and of shifts in the great powers of the Sidhe world. He talked about the grander picture while he fretted over all the comparatively little things he might lose in this war.
Then somehow they were talking about Melinda. It always did come back to that for him. It had been a defining moment in his life when he met her, and on the eve of new change, he reflected upon those of the past.
“Yes,” he confessed quietly. “There is more to it than loving one another. You know that. I am giving it the time it needs. I am taking advice from a human,” he smiled with faint, amused affection. “And trying my hand one more time at courting her properly. I hope you consider the spectacle you will be missing while confined here.”
It wasn’t a thing often required of him. Most people had already either been won over or become a lost cause when he met them. They came in with those expectations and all that was required of him was to smile at the right times and bless them with his attentions at all. Avalynn did care for him, but she also was not going to be impressed by his name or the prestige that went with it. “I trust your father did not resort to tears or tantrums. She is seven and she already knows how to peek up at you with those big eyes of hers and flutter those damned wings to get her way. It is a different sort of trial will face. And Danu help us, sometimes even I cannot tell when she is playing things up to have her way and when she is genuinely distressed. She makes use of missing me when she acts out, but then who is to say that is not the reason for it? It is not as if I am there as often as I should be."