"I can introduce you," he offers. "If you're staying. You have the option of not staying."

"If you're not going to torture me, I'd just as soon. It would slightly ruin the spectacle we made if I came straight back."

"I'm sure we could think of a way for me to deliver you in a suitably dramatic condition, but yes. And no, I am not going to torture you. Unless you're into that sort of thing."

"Not really."

"Oh well," he says cheerfully. "How do you like my castle?"

"It's beautiful."

He grins. "Thank you! I built it myself."

"You have excellent taste."

"I'm glad you think so! I decorate guest rooms as a hobby, so there's plenty, although the best one is already taken."

"I expect I shall survive the disappointment."

He laughs.

"Guest rooms seem a slightly odd thing to decorate, if one isn't expecting guests, but under the circumstances I certainly shan't complain."

"I also have a magnificent library, if you like libraries."

"Libraries are nice!"

He points to it, the huge round skylight with eight floors of books beneath.

"Ooh."

He looks thoughtfully at Necori for a moment.

"So why did you ask me to dance?"

"Didn't I already answer that question? Or do you mean why do I care about my reputation so much."

"And what sort of a reputation can you possibly have that made that the obvious and necessary thing to do."

"I am intensely dramatic, frequently caught kissing pretty young men, and gratuitously unconcerned with what anyone thinks of that, the prospect of my mother disowning me, or any other negative consequences for my 'debauchery'."

He laughs. "Then I think I did very well at turning you into a legend!"

"I do appreciate it!"

"And I got to use the singing rain spell, which is always nice."

"Do you not use it often? It was lovely."

"It sees less use than I was imagining when I built it. Mostly because unlike singing wind it doesn't work indoors."