Dagger could do nothing but stare at him. The whole thing was ... silly. First, there was the matter of the fact that, as the heir of the kingdom, being 'in charge' was her burden to bear, not his, not anyone elses. It was something she'd struggled coming to terms with, and at the same time, and truth she had come to embrace. It was a part of who she was, she could never change that... but she had never asked him to change.

"I never asked you to be any of that," she replied, a bit more sharply than she might had intended. Her expression hardened just a bit, and she finally withdrew her hand completely. "And if that's how you feel about that, what about us? What about other kinds of responsibilities?"