"Now wait just a damned minute." Kevin steps in front of her - foolish, perhaps, but he's not having her think he's played with Lady Cessily. "I have told her. I've told her in private, in public, in front of the King." Notice, he doesn't say 'my father'. "The only thing I haven't done is publicly humiliate her by screaming at her in front of the court that I will never marry her!"

Mimsy is sitting and watching the pair, her ears perked. Daddy isn't mad so much as frustrated. She scratches an ear.

"And I know I will never find my True Half. Freaks like me don't get that lucky." He says. "Now, do you want to meet the King or not?"