It was almost endearing, in a fashion, the manner in which Sebastian seemed both curious and yet utterly determined in turn to so understand just what life within his palace had consisted off all those years. In a normal fashion, perhaps, the vampire's veritable stream of questions may well have been considered vexing or tiresome. After all, those whom queried to often were more likely than not labelled as bothersome in society else outright deemed to be socially inept. In this case however, Dorian was wholly aware that such question came from concern, that concern too- stemmed from what he knew to be the man's affections for him. Sebastian worried for him and as Dorian had so come to observe these past few months the vampire so possessed a protectiveness of sorts when it came to Dorian himself, one the King saw no need to discourage if only for that simple feeling of warmth such a notion might see spread through himself all the same. There was something decidedly pleasing, after all, in being so important to another as to render such concern. Sebastian no less to himself. After all, it was for Sebastian in those coming days he so worried off more than himself, the Fae so truly fearing the man might find that return to palace life, even for a short time, utterly overwhelming. The vampire seeming to hold little true understanding of just how significant their return would be and too- the interest that might well surround it from countries outside Italy itself. His very mention of that 'attention' seeming the vampires gaze lift upward and yet for now at least Dorian saw little need to elaborate further upon it. The questions his lover posed were far more pressing and too, equally as deserving a response in the best manner he could provide. Dorian so attempting with such words to make his near endless imprisonment seem, perhaps, not quite as terrible as Sebastian imagined it to be.

The apology he was afforded was brushed aside easily, the vampire hardly needing to have offered him as such. After all, if there was any who might question him, about anything, it was surely Sebastian. Dorian valuing his opinion beyond any as his hand so interwove with the fingers of his lover in an almost absentminded fashion and yet one too that spoke of but a subtle touch of affection- as if that touch of something so wholly real might hold at bay those far less endearing memories of the very time and place Dorian so wished to utterly forget even if he so attempted in some sense to make his life behind those palace walls seem a little less bleak then they had been. A part of him, irrationally perhaps, attempting to shield the vampire from the truth of it- though why he hardly knew. Dorian so simply disliking to see his lover distressed in any fashion. Especially over that which could no longer be changed. That inquiry as to just how he had managed to sign those documents over the years when he could hardly breech the castle walls was perhaps the easiest to answer. Matteo having lent his services to the Crown of Aragona well before Dorian's own predicament, the Fae King so inclined to remember the elder Fae man with at least some measure of fondness even if Matteo's decidedly finicky nature had been the source of more than one argument between the men over those endless centuries. Sebastian's query as to whether or not he had been close to the man however saw a momentary frown touch his features, his silver gaze cast back and upward to meet the blue of his lovers own with surprise before his own shoulders lifted slightly once more in that soft shrug. Dorian so utterly oblivious to his lovers thoughts in that moment though he himself had both considered and dismissed such notions of his own parentage far more then he truly cared to admit.

"I suppose we were close in a way, yes, more so as I grew older and after the death of my more immediate family. He was a Sieur in France and often called back to his own courts. I only saw him infrequently as a child though my Father was forced to award him a victory title after his men rallied to arms for Italy at my Mothers request. He became a member of our court then, though I still only saw him infrequently. My Mother and he would talk upon the terrace sometimes or walk out together when he visited, he used to sneak me toys when I was little- and when my siblings weren't looking. I had sixteen siblings you see."

He had, never before, quite taken the time to explain to Sebastian just how large his family had been. Such a thing within his time had hardly been unusual, after all, so many children died young that it became a matter of necessity for a family to produce as many children as they were capable in the hopes but one or two might survive to adulthood. That matter of the succession of the crown too- was one of distinct importance within any royal lineage and as such his own parents had perhaps seen to the matter of a viable heir for Italy with great enthusiasm. Dorian continuing then to so finish that which he had begun.

"Matteo was one of the few Fae I knew, he assisted in ways others could not, so helping me master my affinities. I suppose I saw him as a teacher, though we became more as friends as I grew older. He was a fair sort of man and I liked him for it. He was a comfort to my Mother in her dying days and I am thankful to him for that if nothing else. He visited me too- for all those years. Why do you ask?"

He had never perhaps, so paused to consider why the elder Fae had lingered within his life so long, such idle thoughts had hardly entertained him as a boy and in turn failed to follow into his curiosity as a man. He had befriended Matteo and it was simply for that friendship alone, one handed down from his Mother in a sense, that Dorian so seemed inclined to believe the other Fae had remained as a semi-permanent fixture of his existence. Nothing more. Sebastian curiosity upon such closeness lost upon him entirely, the Monarch so regarding his lover with a further moment of curiosity before making some attempt to answer those other questions the vampire asked. How he wished he could forget so much of that past. His gaze turning once more to those dazzling city lights that surrounded them in a silent contemplation before speaking of those mortals turned Fae when no other choice had become available. Those souls so forced into a veritable life of servitude at his beck and call if only because there had been no other option and too- the affinities they had been gifted with had allowed them to survive in turn and so prevent the palace crumbling into ruin in the very least. Water, in the least, had perhaps been the best of blessings. The aquifers upon which his palace had stood had never run dry in all those years and while he had very near forgotten what it was to be thirsty they had all still been able to bathe and wash and enjoy the comforts of that liquid heated at the touch of certain affinities when needed. Indeed- those affinities provided for much, but not all, Sebastian it seemed- having seized upon this very thing- his words seeming very near distressed as they fell from his lips and Dorian found himself silent once more.

His lover, it seemed, was not about to be fooled by his own attempts to at least paint something of better picture then the stark truth of that reality he had survived for so many centuries. A reality he was loath to speak off. The palace had remained in near pristine condition, as too had most of its fixtures, its opulence and all that made it grand. Yet there were many of those small intricate details that, while provided for, at least in some sense, had not been quite the same. There had been shelter, water, food (sort of), heat and clothing and yet while those very basics existed they had existed in a fashion just enough to be of use without ever full sating those around them. A vicious cycle of repeat, one Dorian so struggled to attempt to explain as the softest of sighs fell from his lips at last. What need was there, truly, to hide that truth from Sebastian? He would learn of it all the same and perhaps it was better that it came from himself than any other.

"Do you wish to know the truth of it, Mon Cher?"

His voice was distinctly soft and yet he so refused to allow it any shift or break in that all-too precarious of moments as he pressed onward, determined to see those words through lest he stumble upon them.

"I had two amongst my court whom could manipulate heat enough to encourage fire and one whom possessed a skill for regeneration. As the candles burned low she would regenerate them over and over. That same candle. She and later her daughter were also capable of doing as such with clothing or sheets or anything else that was broken. Yet that is just it. It was the same clothing or the same sheets, washed and cleaned and made new again and again and again. Several of my servants went mad over the years because they could take it no longer, living upon that cycle of repeat. I stopped eating because there was no real food to eat. We forgot the taste of it. So I learned not to be hungry or thirsty because there was no point in eating for the sake of eating. I have forgotten, Bastian, what it is like to feel hungry. I used to sit in cracks of sunlight I could find seeping through doors or windows so that I wouldn't forget it. When I first met Samantha I was sun burned, because my skin had been so long without it. Those who chose to remain mortal died, children were still born and children still died in my halls. The Fae blood does not always pass, you see? I existed but I wasn't alive."

And there it was- the truth of it, all of it. They had been in possession of that which they needed to exist and yet little more. That palace had remained luxuriant, clean and yet with no access to the outside world there had been very little to live for. How it pained him to recall it and how he was loath in turn to subject Sebastian to that knowledge. Those words of reassurance he sought to offer the vampire surely just as much for himself as they were his boyfriend, his lips gracing the man's knuckles in his own effort at a closeness he desired in that moment. His lips finding a simper all the same.

"I have no desire to return to any other era, not again. I am fond of this one too and what I have found within it. There will have been many changes to my palace since I left it. If anything, I do look forward to seeing it alive again too."

If anything might be said for Dorian it was, surely, that the man was eternal determined to find the pleasure in any situation, the Fae so seeking to press past those dismal thoughts and too- prevent Sebastian lingering on them in turn before his lovers soft lyrics saw him pause for thought to add up those months.

"I came to the city in April. I have been gone eight- nearly nine months."

Dorian Aragona