"Oh, there were, but I was the son of a wealthy, influential family. I went nowhere without bodyguards, spoke with no one who hadn't been vetted. The other local fae were kept at more than arm's length."

He tsks reproachfully at himself. "How vain I must sound, the poor little prince in his lovely gilded tower." His lips turn down, somewhat bitter, and he hides the expression briefly behind a sip of tea.

"In any event, my family held political power as well as wealth, and it was expected that I should bring the family more of both. I was able, through some very delicate finagling, to convince my teachers and parents that the best place for me to continue my education was a private college in New York, and that it had been their idea in the first place. In New York, alas, they didn't have the sort of connections that would let them maintain my body-guarded bubble, but I was a dutiful son with no ambitions beyond serving the family." No less bitter, his lips turn up into a smile.