“I did not.”
“Is this some sort of test?” I asked.
“A test? No. It’s an attempt toknowyou, love,” he said.
“How do you not know me?” I asked. “You just gave me a hundred anticipations of my answers.”
“You’re the Princess,” he said.
“Yes. The Princess that you have spoken to each other every day and?—”
“And you’ve put a wall between us.”
“I— What? What wall?” I asked.
“That wall.”
“There’s no wall. Why would there be? And why do you care what you know of me anyway?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked. “Come. Do you not wonder what sort of man I am? Whom you spend your hours with?”
I cast my eyes astride. “No, I think I know.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Sometimes…”
“Onlysometimes?” he asked.
I nodded noncommittally. “If you must have an answer, you must grant me more time to stall while I consider the question and how to phrase my response.”
“It cannot be so hard,” he pestered.
“To most, no,” I said. “But it is to me. I overanalyze each word.There.That is something you can know. Does that suffice?”
“That you overanalyze?” he asked. “No. Anyone might surmise that by simply engaging in a singular interaction.”
“I… Yes, but.”
“But what? Just pick an object, Your Highness.”
“I cannot. The words are different.”
“Barely.”
“But they are.”
“No one is grading you, Svana.”
“You are, and… Please, understand.”
“An entire kingdom at your fingertips, and nothing comes to mind?” he asked. “Your answer is supposed to be quick. Whatever comes to you. That’s the game.”
“Yes, but it is precisely because there are so many ideas that I am slow to pick,” I said.
“What about the horses back home?” he asked.
“The horses? I wouldn’t consider thempossessions, sir. My instincts tell me, neither would you.”
