The silence stretches uncomfortably long.
"Trinity..."
"They'd love you. My dad especially. He's all about integrity and hard work, and my mom has this thing for lost causes—she'd adopt you in about five minutes."
"I cannot."
The words hit like cold water. "What do you mean you can't?"
"I cannot meet your family. Not through video messages, not in person. Not yet."
"Why not?"
He stands abruptly, pacing to the edge of our fake clearing. "It is complicated."
"Everything's complicated. That doesn't mean we avoid it."
"This is different."
"How?"
When he turns back to me, his expression has returned to that carefully controlled mask I'm learning to recognize as his defensive mode.
"Your family expects certain things from potential partners. Standards. Accomplishments." His voice roughens. "I cannot represent myself as someone worthy of their daughter when my own clan questions my worth."
"That's ridiculous. You're?—"
"I am an exile, Trinity. A failed leader who volunteered for human entertainment to regain standing I lost through poor judgment." The words come out harsh, self-condemning. "Your parents will research my background, discover my political failures, learn that associating with me could damage your reputation further."
"You don't know my parents."
"I know enough about parents."
Something in his tone suggests personal experience with parental disappointment. I stand, moving closer despite his obvious desire for distance.
"What aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing relevant."
"Try again."
He looks away, jaw tightening. "My own father disowned me when I chose exile over exile. Said I brought shame to the family name, that voluntary participation in human spectacle proved I had no honor left to salvage."
Oh.
"Your father said that?"
"Among other things."
"What other things?"
"That I am dead to him. That using our family's reputation to rehabilitate my own political standing shows fundamental selfishness. That I care more about personal advancement than clan welfare."
The pain in his voice cuts deep. "Do you believe him?"
"Some days."
"And other days?"
