“I would gladly be of service to you. If you ever have a need, you have only to ask.” “After all my talk about favors?” I raise my eyebrows. “Tricksy. Half-Folk, for sure. Has one of your parents ever exhibited signs of being a changeling? Does your father seem to have too many teeth?” Lucas stops in the middle of the hall. I think I may have startled him again, and I should not be proud of that, but I am! “I have not counted recently,” he says, rather choked. I pat his arm—I pat his arm!—why am I patting the prince’s arm?—and say, “I understand if it is a terrible shock.”
