"It went fine, I'm a prince again, one asshole wanted to take it to the arena anyway so I'll be fighting tomorrow."
He laughs. "Yeah. Even before the Deep Roads, I was one of the best Proving fighters in the kingdom. Now? The only reason I'm not walking in there, picking up my opponent, and throwing him across the arena is because I want to demonstrate my respect for tradition more than I want to demonstrate that nobody should fuck with me."
"I've heard it speculated that on some level or other it has to do with it being easier to have a full-sized next generation if the women have to share partners than if the men do, which I suppose might be even more strongly operative here."
"More or less. You're only supposed to marry one person at a time, but if you do get a son on a noble hunter - and trying is encouraged - she and the child normally join your household no matter who's already there. It can get awkward."
"So, in theory I prefer actual monogamy but, one, I don't want to make your life awkward to whatever extent it is awkward to turn down noble hunters, and two, I would be pretty much psychologically incapable of resenting you over it although I can't promise I'd get along with the noble hunter particularly well, so it might make more sense to call it a flinch reaction rather than a preference."
"...I wouldn't enjoy making you live with someone you resented for sleeping with me. And even before I met you I was planning to turn down noble hunters in the immediate future. But that might be worth having a conversation about, if we go a few years with no children of our own despite opportunity and without getting anywhere on the immortality question."