“I am very lucky then to have curried your favor,” he replied with a wry chuckle at the clever turn of phrase. Unsurprisingly, the fae seemed a bit more than a pretty face and an easy manner – contempt for price gouging notwithstanding. If his mistress had truly been a friend of his Anafiel it was likely that she might have sought to play politics in much the same way. Had politics and subterfuge been her undoing as well? What had his training entailed, then? Anafiel had been extremely particular about his training and hired only the best to tutor him, but that might not have been so when it came to others. “Or is it the other way round, I wonder?”
His eyes softened at the care with which Hermes handled his feelings. He shouldn't have been surprised, really, when the fae were known for their talent in picking up on things others might not notice right away – or at all. Much as he prided himself on his ability to contain his emotions, he didn't care to evade having to admit that he was lonesome on his own. “I was never allowed to leave Master Anafiel's estate without an escort,” he wisely left out the part about being armed and dangerous. “It is not so in my current household, but I suppose you could say that old habits die hard.”
“Your master gives you a run for your money, I take it?” Alcuin smiled bashfully behind his fingers at the thought.