He shakes his head a bit. "I think I have interest in laying my own kingdom, rather than entertaining another's."

She is blushing and it makes her skin rosy, it makes her look young, and perhaps he is for someone young, someone more his age now, someone who will not torment him when he finds himself busy, someone who will love - or like - him at both their paces, not at simply hers.

"Are you busy tonight?"