[Regifortis]

Tobias marveled at the kind of luxuries a king of dragons could have. No kingdom had access to magic that powerful or decadent. And, sad to say, he had cause to make a claim like that. He reveled in the dedication his King had in giving him pleasure, for it was what gave him enough strength to tell the tale. However, the way the treasure started to vibrate, the way it made his innards quiver, nearly made him want to forget it all again.

"It's not a happy story." He felt the need to start with that. "You may have noticed that the way I spoke during our mating changed. Well, I didn't think anything of it at the time. But I've been...remembering things I didn't want to remember. I think you would have known about this, were it not for how I tried to forget it all."

He took a deep breath. "I'm actually of noble birth. You know the queendom to the south of the valley we were in? I was a son of a house of negotiators and advisors to royalty and nobility. I was being groomed to advise the Queen herself, so I learned as much as I could about the world, about how people thought, about different perspectives for the same events...and so on. So once I just became of age, I petitioned to advise her. She was...well, let's just say she wasn't impressed with me. I was a lecherous youth whose eyes wandered over men more confident than I. And my wandering eyes caught the attention of her husband, the King-Consort.

"We started seeing each other in secret. It was a passionate affair: he took out his frustrations for not being in charge, I took out mine for not wanting to deal with all the pressure. And it was very, very short. An assassin who meant to kill the Queen's husband caught what he was doing and decided to expose us instead. The outcome was exactly what the monarchies surrounding us wanted: for the uppity and demanding Queen to be humiliated." Even though the pleasure of the toy was great, Tobias couldn't help having his story pour out of him.

"The hopelessness of it all struck me. The Queen scorned my very breath. My lover denied everything and called me a vicious liar. And my family disowned me from the moment they heard the news. I would have happily hated them, if it weren't for the way I was raised. 'See things from their perspective!' 'Remember to use logic, not feelings!' 'Think of the realm!' And that made me HATE the realm. I know why they all did it; I'm sure my family didn't want me to leave, but they had centuries of reputation to defend. My King, you must know more about human civilization than I do. You know how the realm is considered more important than any one person. Even the ruler. So I went into exile and wandered into the forest..."

Tobias had to stop for just a moment. He had more to say, and he would misuse the wonder of his King's magic if he unleashed bitterness all over himself.