"Is that all it was?"

He's just joking back, of course. The last thing he needs is a jealous or angry lover. That never ends well, especially for him.

"Hmm, but will you still thank me after you've spoken to her, I wonder?"

Parsee isn't too bad, as far as her kind goes, but Merlin's threshold his pretty low. Simply being both nonhuman and not actively trying to kill him is good enough if he just needs someone to talk to.