Happy.
Damian noted the word without letting his expression change.
"Can you tell me who else is here? Can you tell me how you came to be in this holy land, and if anyone is occupying it?"
There it was.
The probing hidden behind welcome. The intelligence gathering disguised as concern. Sir Alex didn't care about Damian's wellbeing. He cared about threats. He cared about whether some powerful entity had taken the lost prince under their protection. He cared about whether this confrontation might cost him more than he was willing to pay.
This fucker was a snake through and through.
Damian's response came out calm.
"It is just me here."
He gestured at the garden surrounding them, at the trees and streams and vegetation that seemed to pulse with inner light.
"I have been living alone here all these years after the Ancestors took pity on me and granted me this land as recompense for the betrayal my father and my mother faced at the hands of their own people."
