Chapter Thirty-Two #2
“I believe the castle is safe from demons, yes.”
“Even the ones you brought with you?”
Cormal stiffened, but Kinan couldn’t have gotten any straighter.
“You’re being deliberately antagonistic, Mother,” he chided gently. “At great risk to themselves, they agreed to come here to ensure that I arrived safely and because they still want to help me, despite the fact that I can’t think of a single reason why they should.”
“Can you not?” she asked mildly. “Have you not proposed a number of benefits to them in exchange for this help?”
Kinan’s jaw tightened, but he kept his voice even.
“I’ve proposed what I consider to be the bare minimum of adequate recompense for the assistance they have and will continue to attempt to render.
I’m also attempting to right a wrong that has been perpetrated for centuries.
” His expression softened a little. “And you know you’re going to make me explain it all tomorrow.
Do you really want to go over it all tonight?
Some of us have been riding all day, you know. ”
She continued to stare intently at him for a long moment, and Cormal had no idea what she saw there.
She sighed slightly. “You never do things the easy way, do you?”
“I sometimes think,” Kinan answered carefully, “that things were too easy before. And maybe that’s why they became so very hard.”
“Kinan,” Cormal was startled into immediate and vehement protest. “You do not deserve what happened to you. Absolutely not. It was a tragedy. You have shown incredible resilience to have flourished as you have, but it was never in any way deserved.”
“Cormal speaks the truth,” the Queen agreed. “You were a victim. I wish to ensure you do not become one again.”
Kinan didn’t address what they’d said about him, saying instead, “And I’ve brought people who might be able to mitigate more of the effects of that tragedy, despite the fact that we’ve given them no reason to do so. The hatred and the violence has to stop somewhere.”
“You’re as stubborn as your father,” the Queen said, and Cormal thought she sounded a little despairing and a little proud.
Before Cormal could think better of it, he said, “I don’t think he got it solely from the King.”
Thankfully, she smirked faintly at him, and then turned to her son.
“I’m glad you’re all right, you foolish boy.”
Kinan smiled at him. “Thank you, Mother.”
“Go get some sleep. I’ll see you at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning.”
They both rose, and Cormal bowed.
“Yes, Mother,” Kinan said as Cormal murmured, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
They were at the door when she said, “I would prefer that you spent the night in Kinan’s room, please, Summus. There are Mage Warriors at the door.”
Cormal nearly tripped on air, and Kinan managed a strangled, “Yes, Mother,” before they escaped the study. They made it down the corridor and to the stairs before Kinan burst into laughter.
“Oh, your face,” he howled.
Someone’s mother had never had an opinion on who Cormal was sleeping with before.
Still, she hadn’t seemed disapproving, really. At least, not at this stage. Maybe it would change once Kinan was solid again. But Cormal certainly wouldn’t bring that up with Kinan now, not when he seemed so happy about the whole thing.
“I hadn’t actually thought us that obvious,” Cormal said finally, in lieu of anything more intelligent to contribute.
Kinan looked a bit embarrassed now. “Uh, I’m pretty sure that announcing in my mother’s hearing that I tried to kiss you on my sixteenth birthday and then spending a lot of time with you now…
probably gave her a pretty good idea of how I feel.
And since you didn’t throw fireballs at me and came with me just now… She probably guessed a lot.”
Cormal hadn’t thought of it quite like that, but on top of everything Kinan had just listed, they hadn’t been trying to be particularly subtle on the way back to the castle.
Any of the Warriors or Mage Warriors might have revealed the truth to someone, or reported directly to the Queen, had she asked them to do so.
“Do you… mind?”
Kinan’s voice was small, and Cormal realized that his internal musings had made him silent for too long. He turned to Kinan.
“Not at all,” he hastened to assure him. “I meant it when I said I loved you. You’re everything I didn’t know I was looking for in a partner. But the fact remains that you’re the Crown Prince.”
“And you’re Summus. What of it?” Kinan challenged.
“We both know that won’t be for long. And you know there are potential ramifications.”
“We’ve been in a period of peace and prosperity since we all banded together to survive the Great Cataclysm. There hasn’t been the need to barter off royal family members in centuries,” Kinan said stubbornly.
In that moment, he made Cormal think of nothing so much as the Princess. Truly, the whole family could be remarkably opinionated when they wanted to be.
“I couldn’t make a better choice,” Kinan continued with a flattering amount of certainty.
“Thank you,” Cormal told him.
It seemed like now was perhaps not the time to bring up the fact that it might be better for his political aspirations if he were paired with someone who could be said to always have supported carnalions and children of two worlds.
And it was definitely too early to talk about an heir, right? Surrogacy and adoption were an option, but…
Yes, definitely too early.
“I’m supposed to be happy, aren’t I?” Kinan pursued doggedly. “Isn’t a happy monarch a better monarch?”
“It certainly does seem better than an unhappy one,” Cormal agreed.
“Well, you’re what makes me most happy,” Kinan said firmly. “So it’s a very easy choice.”
“You make me happy, too,” Cormal assured him. “I’m truly very glad to be here with you—even if your mother is aware that we’re sneaking into your room together.”
Thankfully, Kinan allowed himself to be diverted by this. “It’s scarcely even sneaking. Trust me, I’m the expert at sneaking. Come on.”
As the Queen had said, there were Mage Warriors at Kinan’s door. Winroe—tiny, blond, male, Earth—and Bilorra—tall, dark, female, Air—both inclined their heads, clapping their hands to their hearts and bowing to the Prince. Cormal nodded back.
“If you hear any yelling,” Kinan said as he breezed past them, “it’s just the two of us getting off, and you don’t need to worry about it.”
He disappeared straight through the door, the absolute ass.
Their eyes were comically large as they stared at him. Cormal thought briefly about saying something—anything—and decided that really, there was nothing that could possibly help.
“Good night,” he said instead, slowed down by the need to open the cursed door.
“Goodnight, Summus,” Bilorra managed to mutter, but Winroe was still staring at him, eyes as wide as saucers.
Cormal agreed, really.
He closed the door behind him and then shot Kinan a look. He raised his hands and attempted to tack an innocent look on his face.
“Look,” Kinan argued. “You know they were already going to be thinking it when you didn’t come out. I figured I might as well acknowledge it outright.”
Cormal couldn’t exactly fault that logic, given that he’d just agreed that he didn’t mind if people knew. He might not have chosen to go about it quite like that—but he also knew Kinan was sensitive to potential questions about how they could satisfy one another when he was intangible like this.
“I wasn’t planning on being particularly loud tonight,” Cormal said instead.
Kinan’s face lit up. “We could get off right here,” he said, gesturing at the closed door.
Cormal suppressed a smile. “Could we be comfortable in the bedroom instead?”
Like his sister’s room, Kinan’s sported a large sitting room and a lavish bedroom with an attached water closet.
They got cleaned up first—or Cormal did, anyway. Once he was in the water closet, the lure of the bath was strong, and Kinan encouraged him to take one.
“Get properly clean. You’ll feel better,” he added when Cormal hesitated, well aware that there wasn’t anything that Kinan could do but watch. Kinan winked. “You think this isn’t pleasant for me, too, seeing you naked in the water?”
Cormal smirked and filled the tub.
Contrary to what people often assumed about Fire Mages, they didn’t actually hate water.
Perhaps it wasn’t the most comfortable sensation, being covered in it, but Cormal vastly preferred a hot bath to a large body of water where he couldn’t necessarily reach fire immediately should he need it.
Knowing he could get out easily if he needed to, the hot water relaxing his muscles and getting him clean far outweighed any discomfort.
And true to his word, Kinan watched him avidly. By the time Cormal was thoroughly cleaned, though, the days of traveling had caught up with him, and Kinan cajoled him into bed, where he fell asleep almost immediately.
“Ew, are you sleeping with my brother?”
Cormal’s eyes popped open, and thankfully, his brain seemed to have processed the voice before he could overreact and respond to it as though it were a threat.
He blinked to find the Princess perched on the bottom of the bed, regarding them very judgmentally.
“Renny, is there a reason you’re here this early in the morning?” Kinan interjected, voice scratchy with sleep.
Princess Larenia was not to be deterred, staring fixedly at Cormal.
“Well?” she demanded. “Are you?”
It was one of the first times she’d voluntarily spoken to him since Perian had been banished.
“Yes,” Cormal said, since the evidence kind of spoke for itself. “For reasons best understood by your brother, he’s interested in me. And how could I not be interested in him?”
“Hey!” Kinan protested. “There are so many reasons to be interested in you. And unless you’re really keen on royalty, I don’t see what’s so interesting about me. Unless you like twenty-two-year-olds with a sixteen-year-old’s education who can’t touch anything.”
The Princess made a spluttering noise, and Cormal said heatedly, “Don’t do that!
Don’t dismiss yourself like that. You’ve been through something that most people wouldn’t have survived.
You loved your sister and protected her so well that not even wraiths could stop you.
You came through all of this, and you trusted Perian, and you saw past all my nonsense, and you gave me a chance when I didn’t deserve it.
You are remarkable, and I am extraordinarily lucky to have you. ”
Kinan sniffed. “I love you, too.”
The Princess let out an annoyed huff, and Cormal turned to look at her. Her expression was very serious.
“If you hurt my brother, I’m going to knock you unconscious, tie rocks around you, and dump you in the moat so you drown.”
“Renny!” Kinan yelped.
“Understood,” Cormal said gravely because he was no fool.
She narrowed her eyes even more. “I guess Perian and Brannal didn’t choose to do the same.”
“No,” Cormal agreed. “Perian was gracious enough to forgive me. Brannal is watching me like a hawk.”
“I knew there was a reason I liked Brannal,” she said with a smile. “I’ll be watching you, too.”
“I expect nothing less,” Cormal agreed smoothly.
“Renny, why are you here?” Kinan interjected a bit desperately. “Not that it’s not lovely to see you, but I could do with fewer threats before breakfast.”
The Princess pouted. “Mother says I’m not allowed to join in the discussion this morning. I told her it involves me as much as you! Perian’s my friend! You’re my brother!”
And there was absolutely no way, Cormal realized, that the Queen was going to accept both her children in a room with that group of people. Absolutely no way.
“I promise to fill you in,” Kinan said.
“I’m not a child,” she argued, face screwed up, looking like she would have stomped her foot if she hadn’t been sitting on the bed.
“No,” Kinan agreed. “You’re the second in line to the throne. And if something happens to me and Mother, then you’ll be Queen.”
She met his gaze, and her expression turned pensive. “Does Mother really still think Perian’s going to hurt anyone?”
“I hope not,” Kinan answered. “But the truth of the matter is that he could, even if he won’t. Mother won’t want us all together if it’s possible to avoid it. And I need to advocate for myself, Renny. I have to.”
Cormal would never have told her all that, but to his surprise, it cut right through her anger.
“No, I see that.” She pouted, but it was clearly more for show now. “I really wanted to be there.”
“I’m sorry,” Kinan said with a sympathetic expression. “But I really will tell you everything that happens. And you know that I’ll do everything I can to ensure that Perian and the others aren’t harmed. They’re here to help, and they should never be punished for that.”
She nodded resolutely. “All right. As long as you do a really good job. And if Mother is about to make any stupid decisions, you tell her that she has to talk to me first.” She glared at Cormal. “She makes stupid decisions sometimes.”
“I promise that I’m fighting for Kinan and Perian and the others,” Cormal told her. “I know I made a mistake. We’re all trying to explain this in a way that lets the Queen acknowledge the same. I will take all the blame if that’s what needs to happen.”
“Please stop trying to sacrifice yourself,” Kinan groaned. “It’s infuriating.”
Cormal looked at him. “This is bigger than us. We’re fighting for a lot.”
Kinan let out a huff. “At least don’t volunteer, all right? Don’t make that the first suggestion.”
“I won’t do that,” Cormal promised.
Not looking entirely satisfied, Kinan nodded. Then he looked at his sister.
“Scoot,” he said. “We’ve got to get ready for the day, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want us to get out of bed while you’re here.”
She made a disgusted face once she gathered that Cormal was naked, and scooted. Cormal kind of wished he’d been naked for more fun reasons. There wasn’t time for it now, either. He got ready quickly, emerging from the water closet to find that Kinan had even had some of his clothes brought here.
Cormal imagined the rumor mill was already going double time. He hoped it wouldn’t have any negative impacts for them. At the same time, it caused a warm glow every time Kinan proudly chose him.
Cormal’s stomach was in knots by the time breakfast arrived, but he made himself choke it down. He needed to be at his best. He had to be logical, eloquent… and change a queen’s mind.