He watched as she shivered at the thought of him having others come in. he wanted her to trust that he would not want her dead but he could not think of a way that she would trust him. “princes if there is something you would like to know if I would do ask me, I have to answer you truthful if you ask me to.” He wished that there was a way that he could prove to her without her ordering him to tell the truth. All his life he had worked so hard to be seen as trust worthy and now with one bet he was a creature that could not be trusted to be truthful. He sighed as she spoke. “I understand that, the less that know what I am going to do the less my gifteter will learn. Do you want to ask your guard or do you want to trust my guy? I would trust my man like I would a brother.” The truth was that the man he was going to ask was a cousin of his.

“if you would do it as a favor to me I would like it if you would look to them with new eyes.” He wanted her to see the humans as he had learned to see them. He may not have the short life that his family had but he still knew what beauty they could make. “I do not ask you to praise the humans over the beauty of the elven craftsmen but they have their own beauty. May be one day I will be able to show you their beauty.”

“if she were my daughter my lord I to would have the Shadowhound watched. “ looking up at the king he tried to let the man know that he truthfully would protect her with his life. He wondered if the king knew that there once had been a blood spell that an elven king had created to bind the Shadowhound to the elves. If the king knew of it and asked him to preform it he would. A sudden idea formed in his mind as he thought about the rite. He would have to tell the princess about it, for it might create a way to loosen the bound the mage held on him.

He was happy to hear that they were not going to go hungry but he was worried about what her father was going to do if he kept talking her out of having the mage or found ways to keep the mage from coming. As the king left another thought popped into his head. “I had a thought humans can’t stand some things that Elves love to eat, gifter should be invited when they are served, only elves invited kind of thing. I think that he would love to be invited to a party that is just elves.” The collar seemed to warm to him but it was not a painful warming.

“if you had not said that I could not say what I was helping you with I could have come up with a story that he would have accepted. I am quite good at coming up with stories that every one believes. But you gave me an order back there that now I can’t escape until you tell me that it can tell him a tale.” Gently running his fingers along the collar he growled. “ that is what I meant about being careful about what you tell me. If you tell anyone in my presents that I can’t do something, even when I can you tie my hands.”