Her chin ducked again, shy with pleasure at being asked to be his equal in this courtship. It felt like so much being offered to her. More than she felt she was worth, even though she had spent so much of her life ensuring that she was valued more highly than any other jewel that a vampire warlord or king might own. She'd still, in those courts, always been a thing to be owned. Now, she had a place at the side of the most powerful of any of the vampire lords she'd known, and he wanted her to be his equal.

But her chin didn't stay down for long. She wanted to focus on the pleasure of his company, rather than her own nerves.

"I like the sound of that," she murmured softly. Tucking close, she pillowed her head on his shoulder. Even though there was no warmth to him, the comfort of being held like this soothed a deep instinctual need inside of her. "Will you tell me about some of the science you've been working on while I've been away?" She wanted no more talk of politics and diplomacy for the night. She wanted to simply be in his presence, whether to read or to talk of anything at all. His experiments were a reliable topic to get him to talk, filling the time so that she wouldn't feel that she had lingered too long in his lap.