If not treating him like a child, what else would he be trying to show? It's a difficult idea, isn't it?

Lilia offers the other fae a small half shrug of his shoulders, his hand slowly moving back from Malleus' chin and lips, to instead smooth back some of his hair again, playing with some of the more wild strands that refuse to behave.

"Affection. Adoration. Not in that way, not in the way you think - not as if you're a child." Something that, by human standards, he shouldn't feel, shouldn't want. They don't work based on human standards, and....

This was complicated, wasn't it?

"Should I stop? This is no way for me to act with you, after all. You are the heir to the throne. In comparison, I am nothing more than a spot of dirt on the Draconia name. The call is yours to make, Malleus." Does he keep this up? Or does he stop?