“Terence, perhaps this is selfish of me,” Dion says. His cheeks flush deeper now, his smile replaced with an anxious uncertainty.

“You are a great many things, Dion,” Terence says carefully, “but I have never known you to be selfish.” Terence feels his own face burning with the depth of Dion’s attention, but he sees that the prince is working up to something important, and would not rush him.

Terence and Dion are drinking wine pilfered from Whitewyrm Palace's cellars. Perhaps it's easier to talk about their feelings this way, and to act on them. But perhaps it's easier to make mistakes, as well.

2023 note #they have sex