Chapter Thirty
Trill
At breakfast, it was clear to see what Cormal and the Prince had been up to before the ability to touch had apparently faded; Trill and Perian exchanged glances but didn’t say anything. Trill had long been aware that not everyone was as eager to share their sexual exploits as he was.
“I think we’re all concerned about what happened at the end,” Perian said carefully. “There was a moment where we couldn’t see you.”
“Your energy dimmed a great deal,” Trill agreed.
“Almost like it was being consumed,” Yannoma said contemplatively.
“The Great Cataclysm required Life Magic and Elemental Magic, right?” Perian asked.
“We already knew that Kinan can be affected by Life Magic, but it wasn’t making him, uh, solid.
That leaves Elemental Magic for that part, but it seems like there’s…
not a direct link. What if we feed Kee Life Magic while he’s trying to get through the shield? ”
“I don’t know how,” Trill reminded them. “It didn’t work at all when I tried yesterday.”
“Oh, right,” Perian said, blinking. “We can definitely work on that. I’ll try to explain what I do, and we can work on it until you can replicate it. Let’s hope I’m as good a teacher as you are.”
Trill smiled at him, grateful for Perian’s willingness to phrase this like it was on both of them.
Expression serious, Brannal said, “I’m concerned about the amount of effort and energy that was involved for a relatively small percentage of the body for a relatively small period of time.”
Cormal glared at him. “We can still try again.”
Grimacing faintly, Brannal added, “I didn’t mean to imply we couldn’t test again. Simply that—”
“We can’t, actually,” the Prince announced.
They all turned to look at him.
“What do you mean?” Perian asked. “We’re willing to help, I promise.”
The Prince smiled, though it looked a little forced. “And that’s extremely generous of you. I appreciate it more than I can say. But think of what will happen if something goes wrong.”
“Nothing’s going to happen!” Cormal snapped.
The Prince’s expression was soft but resolute as he looked at Cormal.
“No, but think about it,” the Prince entreated. “What Brannal said was perfectly true. It was a lot of energy, and there’s no saying what would have happened if Brannal hadn’t stopped his shield when he did, or if Perian hadn’t given me energy.”
“So we’ll keep doing that,” Cormal said staunchly.
“But what if Perian’s influx of energy can’t match the output? What if we do everything as best we can, but something goes wrong and I disappear? On Perian’s estate? Surrounded by him and his allies?”
Cormal opened his mouth, but after a moment, he closed it again, a scowl on his face.
“I’m not giving up,” the Prince said, staring intently at Cormal, then moving his gaze to the rest of them.
“I promise I’m not. This is closer than I’ve ever gotten, and that’s amazing.
But you and I both know what my mother would do under those circumstances.
Perian has done far more for me than I deserve, and I will not, under any circumstances, paint another target on his back. ”
“I don’t—”
Trill was sure that Perian was going to say that he didn’t mind, but Brannal reached out to squeeze his arm, and the Prince’s gaze went from Cormal to Perian.
“We need to be smart about this. I think we needed to experiment yesterday because you came up with a novel idea. It was important to find out if you were on the right track or not. We’ve been able to demonstrate that this method has an effect, but there are costs to it.
Given that Life Magic has been lost for centuries, I think we’ve actually worked out quite a lot, but there are still so many unknowns.
” He swallowed. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but it might be the best bargaining chip we have with my mother. ”
Perian straightened sharply and screeched out, “I’m not bargaining for your life!”
The Prince smiled at him fondly. “I know. I’ll be the one doing the bargaining.”
They all stared at him. He huffed a breath.
“Look, I know you’d do this just because you could, like you did last time.
But that didn’t work out well for you, and I won’t let it happen again.
If that means I tell my mother there’s a possible cure but it comes with requirements, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do. ”
Cormal was looking at the Prince with unfettered admiration. Trill was glad they’d found one another.
“She’s going to accuse me of using you,” Perian protested.
“I’ll be clear,” the Prince said, with a trace of arrogance they didn’t usually hear from him.
“She knows you, even if she’s chosen to forget.
But the best way to bargain with someone is when you have something they want.
She doesn’t want to have to figure out if she can have an heir to the throne who’s intangible. There are so many drawbacks.”
“We could make it work,” Cormal protested immediately.
The Prince cast him a fond look. “I know you’d try. I know I have a lot of friends and allies who would try. But it certainly wouldn’t be conventional or straightforward.”
Cormal squinted at him, like he wanted to protest but couldn’t actually get around the Prince’s careful word choices. “That doesn’t mean it’s not doable.”
“But if we offer her a better alternative? Yes, she’d have to admit she was wrong to us, but she’d be bettering the country for a number of its citizens and getting her son back in the form she prefers.” The Prince stared them all down. “That’s better.”
“She may prove to be intractable,” Brannal pointed out.
Perian had been banished here, after all.
“She might,” the Prince conceded with a shrug. “But if she needs something that will allow her to change her mind and save face, this might be the best option. If she can bring you back because you can save me, that’s a reason everyone can understand.”
“I’m, uh, not supposed to leave the estate,” Perian said hesitantly.
“No, I know,” the Prince agreed hurriedly. “I’m not asking you to.”
“And I would do anything for you,” Cormal told him, “but I can’t sneak people into the castle. Not after what I did.”
This made the Prince smile. “Rebuilding trust takes time, and I respect that you’re working on that.
I propose that I write to my mother. If she hasn’t already worked out that I’m not at the castle, she’ll realize it soon enough.
I’ll present everything to her logically and ask for special dispensation for you all to come back on her assurance as Queen that no harm will come to any of you.
” He looked around the table. “You don’t have to come, of course.
I realize that I would be asking you to expose yourselves to the risk of harm, though I promise I would do everything I can to mitigate it.
Mother would have to agree to protect you. ”
“You realize what else could happen, Prince,” Brannal pointed out. “If she thinks we’ve taken you hostage here, this could bring a world of trouble on Perian’s head.”
Perian elbowed Brannal. “Hey, don’t I get to have an opinion about my own life?”
“Of course you do,” Brannal agreed immediately. “I want the risks considered and understood, but I won’t stand in the way of the choice you make.”
Perian subsided. “Thank you.”
“It’s possible,” the Prince acknowledged. “But I don’t think it likely. I’ll reveal that I came here seeking further help, and then we realized there was a risk to me from demons. I’ll paint you all as the safest way to get me back to the castle, which is true.”
“What if she agrees only to get everyone there?” Cormal asked.
“I’ll demand a guarantee of safety,” the Prince said calmly.
“Yes, she could go back on it, but there could be serious consequences if she did. I certainly wouldn’t remain quiet about it.
” He hesitated for a moment. “And if we’re being completely truthful, while sheer numbers absolutely count for something, if former Summus, current Summus, Secundus, Arvus, and me all align ourselves with Perian?
Knowing how others in the castle feel? It wouldn’t be a pretty battle, and I am entirely certain my mother is aware of that. She doesn’t want a civil war.”
Trill shivered at the very thought. It was true that they were a particularly powerful group, but the whole thing made him more than a little nervous. Still, though, he’d seen the Prince break down when he’d been able to briefly touch Cormal, and Trill couldn’t imagine not helping any way he could.
“I’ll do it,” Perian agreed. “You know I want to help you, and I agree that doing this in the safety of the castle when the Queen—and Renny!—is informed is the best way.”
“You know I’m in,” Molun said with a huge grin. “Sounds like fun.”
Arvus and Brannal both exchanged long-suffering sighs but added their own agreement.
“I’d like to be on the right side, for once,” Cormal said. “As long as we’re doing things above-board and with full approval, I’m happy to participate. I mean, I’ll run away and live in a cave with Kinan if I need to, but I don’t want to deceive anyone at the castle.”
Kinan’s expression had gone very fond. “You could always make sure the cave was warm, right?”
“Always,” Cormal agreed, leaning in to give a kiss to what should have been Kinan’s cheek.
And that just left Trill and Yannoma. Trill eyed her. She was shaking her head.
“You’re too soft-hearted,” she told him.
“I know,” Trill admitted.
He’d always known that. He was pretty sure it was why he’d had so much trouble with his mother and grandmother—and why he hadn’t been able to leave them until it was basically too late.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Molun hastily assured Trill. “Honey, we will figure this out. We know you’d be taking the biggest risk, coming to the notice of a, uh, hostile monarch.”