"Rufus!" Keith burst in on the semi-naked beastman lounging on a daybed in the dungeon.

Rufus was wearing a red silk robe and some comfy slippers while he drank wine and read one of Her Eminence Feliwyn's sordid romance novels. He looked at Keith over the rim of his tiny reading glasses. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Are you day drinking? Never mind, I don't care." There was a moment while Keith tried to find the words to say why he was there. Finally he settled on, "You were right."

"I know that." Rufus closed his book and sat up. "But it's always nice to hear. What changed in the last hour or so that made you realize I'm right?"

Keith didn't want to say that he'd seen Henrietta in the library and wanted to push her up against the shelves and kiss her silly. And what was worse… she looked like she expected him to do just that.

Everything was happening so fast. Too fast. He'd never expected a young adorable Warrior princess who smelled like fresh baked cookies would waltz into his life and then like him instead of murder him.

All the beautiful and lovely women sent his way until this point secretly aimed a knife at his heart or poisoned his tea. She carried him to bed and nursed him back to health herself when he got injured.

Even though Henrietta Doryn of Drendil was like other girls in many ways - including the fact that she technically was sent here to kill him… she'd become one of his closest– well, they were more than friends at this point.

Keith sighed.

She was funny and smart and highly skilled and he had become addicted to her baking. It wasn't that he didn't remember what it was like before she came here two months ago - he didn't want to remember.

"I don't know what I'm doing." Keith confessed. "But I'm falling in love with the Princess."

"I told you so. Now tell me about it." The beastman put aside his reading and stood up, motioning Keith to take a seat on the daybed in his place. Rufus somehow managed to look professional as he took up his seat, cross-legged and still in a silk robe. "Are you alright if I use some basic perks to help?"

Keith agreed and the two settled in for a second session that day. Keith felt the wave of [Calming Effect] wash over him. He didn't fight it - but then he noticed another spell subtly influencing him. Keith raised an eyebrow at Rufus and accepted the second unknown spell. Honestly, he would trust Rufus with his life on top of his well being. The man was Keith's most trusted advisor and best friend - even if the beastman did have terrible taste in literature.

Suddenly, words came easier, and things that bothered him or caused him frustration all came together.

"The princess smells delicious." He heard himself say. "She's so cute that sometimes I just want to ruffle her hair or kiss her, now it seems like that's all I want to do." That isn't what he was planning to say at all, he tried again. "I'm worried that I'll make a terrible mess and keep crossing the line without her permission."

Rufus raised an eyebrow at that. "You crossed a line?"

"I can't stop touching her." Keith dropped his head into his hands.

"Without permission?" Rufus's voice was harder than he'd ever heard it. But Keith kept going as if something were inspiring him to let it all out.

"I pushed her hair behind her ear." Keith confessed. "And sometimes I grab her hand before I've asked. And it's becoming harder and harder to resist kissing her after she kissed me in Gren's Keep."

Rufus lifted a hand to cover his face. He looked like he was in pain for some reason. Keith had to wait for the beastman to compose himself.

"Go on."

"I am not ready," Keith lay back on the daybed and threw his hands in the air. "But I spend five minutes in her company and that's all I can think of. I almost kissed her in the library. We aren't engaged yet Rufus. This is serious!"

"And how did Henrietta react?"

"I..." Keith rubbed the bridge of his nose. "She… she told me she's interested in doing more."

"I see." Rufus nodded sagely and leaned forward. "So you've come here to rub it in your best friend's face that you are about to get married and live happily ever after?"

"What? No!" Keith sat up so fast he needed to readjust his glasses. Maybe he should get them refitted with how many times that was happening. "I came here because I needed advice on how to not mess this up!"

"Well for starters, you could not run to me every time you want to kiss your girlfriend." Rufus advised. "If you want her to not get any weird ideas you could also just talk to her."

"I do talk to her!" Keith protested. "I told her I like her and I'm interested in a relationship maybe and that we could go slowly."

"How slowly?"

Keith looked away and stared hard at a potted plant in the corner of the dungeon cell. Seriously, why did Rufus like living down here so much? "Until we both know what we want?"

"And what do you want? What do you want her to want?" Rufus asked.

"To stay." Keith felt a small tightness in his chest and tried to ignore how much saying it cut.

He was the Dark Overlord and he locked himself up in his tower and he ruled with an iron fist and he did not need anyone.

He had no family, as much as he knew his friends and subjects liked him, it wasn't the same. Even Her Eminence Feliwyn was always destined to leave. She was tasked with training him to become King and then she was free to go wherever… and she did. She flew off the afternoon he turned sixteen and had been napping beside Lake Loria ever since.

"You are thinking of marrying her?" Rufus broached. "Or at least settling an engagement?"

"What? Now?" Keith's ears turned red slightly. "We've known each other less than two months!"

"So?" Rufus tilted his head. "Marriage is about family. In the beastfolk tribes you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, with as many partners as you want. We don't discriminate. We just accept who we are and we are honest about it with our partners. We marry when we find someone we want to marry - no sense beating around the bush."

"I know that already." Keith replied curtly, "so why aren't you married yet?"

Rufus looked a little contrite. "You try being the most powerful beastman in the Dark Enchanted Forest. I take one step into Gren's Keep and I get swarmed with challengers."

"So what are you doing on those week long getaways, hmm?" Keith pressed. "No romance?"

"Sadly no." The Commander General of the Dark Lord's army smiled broadly, "I took Chloe's advice and got a hobby that wasn't work related."

"What?" Keith realized how much he'd fallen into himself over the last decade, that he hadn't bothered to keep up with Rufus outside of their once a month sessions or the odd dinner in the dining hall.

"Music." Rufus said the word almost reverently. "I've been traveling the continent listening to famous minstrels, concerts and plays."

That wasn't what Keith was expecting. "You leave for a week so you can cross the continent just to hear someone sing?"

"Yep." Rufus chuckled. "Sure I find company sometimes, but there is a lot to learn about being with my kind. I haven't found the right person yet."

Speaking of finding the right person… Keith felt guilty how he'd left Ria standing there in a hallway.

"Hey Rufus?"

"Yes Boss?"

"Do you want to grab a drink at Scowls sometime?" Keith chose the castle tavern where the two used to run off to in their younger years.

"Your treat?"

"My treat."

Keith stood up to leave but paused at the cell door. "What was your new Perk?"

"[Honest Heart]. It's not compulsory. It just makes it easier to find the words to express one's inner self."

"..."

"Now go ask your princess to marry you." Rufus ordered his king. "And talk to her about your feelings!"

"Actually, I don't think I will."

"What, why?!" Rufus was taken aback. "Didn't we just have a moment? We just had a moment! What happened?"

"I am going to talk to the princess. And I am going to ask her… to the Spring Ball." Keith grinned. "I'll propose there. She's her own person and she might decide to go back to Drendil to clean up after the upcoming battle - or she might not. I don't want to tie her down and make that choice harder."

"You are an idiot." Rufus told him. "But at least you're a reasonable idiot. And that would be a perfect time to ask."

"And," Keith stressed, "it means we can announce it in front of the Consulate."

"You're going to do it in front of everyone, including her parents?" Rufus let out a laugh. "Not the most romantic, but it will serve them right."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to figure out how to talk to Henrietta without messing things up."

"I still think you should just marry her and be done with it." Rufus called after the Dark Lord, but Keith was already walking out of the dungeon.