Damen watched him eat - Laurent's manners were perfect, of course, as flawless as Damen's own were crude and maladroit in this form - and felt utterly at a loss as to how to woo a young, beautiful man who loves to read and could choose anybody in the world to be with.

And so Damen had to force him to be here.

"I don't need your thanks," he said gruffly. "It was this or your father's life. You have no reason to be grateful. We both know the reason you are here is because you must." Why bother to pretend otherwise? That was just one of the social niceties that a Beast had no use for. He clenched his fingers around the flagon, claws glittering wickedly in the candlelight.