Chapter Thirty-Eight
Trill
What if they decide against us?” Trill couldn’t help but ask anxiously.
They’d relocated to Brannal and Perian’s rooms, all of those who’d been allowed to leave. Plus, the Princess had joined them, putting two more Mage Warriors at the door.
Brannal and Arvus could defend them, too, and Trill knew that, but his stomach was churning, sweat prickling at his scalp, and he felt like he was going to come out of his skin.
Arvus wrapped an arm around him, tugging him close, and Trill sagged into him, trying to relax.
“If that happens, honey, then the Prince and Cormal—and I believe even the Queen—will still advocate for you and Perian and Yannoma. If the worst happens, then please believe that we weren’t speaking idly when we said we would defend you.
Brannal is the strongest Mage in the castle by far, and he would have me, Molun, and Cormal at his side at a minimum.
It wouldn’t be easy, but the country is big enough that we can go hide if we need to. ”
Shocked, Trill turned to look at him properly. “Go hide?”
Arvus simply nodded. “Of course.”
“But…” Trill blinked at him, but Arvus just waited patiently for Trill to find words. “But you’re Mage Warriors. You’re meant to be here. You’d just… leave?”
Arvus’s expression softened, and he leaned in to press a soft kiss to Trill’s lips.
“Yes, we’d leave with you. We’d never abandon you. And if something goes entirely wrong and you’re not safe here, then we wouldn’t want to be here anyway. We were ready to leave when Brannal went after Perian, but he convinced us not to. We wouldn’t make that mistake again.”
Perian’s eyebrow quirked. “Molun’s still looking for a sex estate?”
The laugh that exploded around the room was a little more forceful than the comment really warranted, but apparently they’d all been looking for a way to release some of that tension.
The Princess said, “A sex estate?”
From Perian’s expression, he’d kind of forgotten she was there. “Yes, well, it might be really easy for me and Brannal to have sex wherever we want at my place. Molun liked that.”
Her face twisted into one of disgust. “You’re going to clean everything really well before I come visit, right?”
Perian laughed. “Yes. Promise.”
Trill wondered if Yannoma had envisioned anything like this when she’d told him that he was an idiot for considering coming to the castle.
Did she think that his idiocy had resulted in her winding up here, too?
Probably. And yet… it wasn’t all bad, was it?
At least not yet? The doctor was sitting next to her, and if Trill wasn’t mistaken, she was trying to distract her with some arousal.
Trill admired the subtlety, especially given that the Princess was in the room.
It was just enough for Trill to detect, a small amount that Yannoma could consume.
They were all pulled into a discussion of the birthday party that the Princess wanted to redo now that Perian was back, and they all gamely pretended it wasn’t possible that he would be gone for good soon.
The Princess’s plans got more and more elaborate, eventually involving the need for Arvus to reshape some of the stone to make room for…
Trill thought it was perhaps a giant sculpture in the quadrangle?
Trill was trying to pay attention, but it wasn’t going that well.
He didn’t know how long it had been before the Warriors at the door knocked and announced that the Council wanted to see Brannal.
Brannal and Perian exchanged a look, and then Brannal rose to his feet.
He turned to Arvus.
“With my life,” Arvus said firmly. “You know that.”
Brannal gave a nod, leaned in to press a soft kiss to Perian’s lips, and then he was gone.
Now it was just Arvus to protect Trill and Perian if something happened.
Well, and the Mage Warriors at the door for the Princess, but he didn’t know for sure if they would defend the two children of two worlds or the carnalion.
The Warriors probably would, since they seemed sincerely fond of Perian, but there was only so much they could do against Mage Warriors if it came down to that.
The Princess said, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
It took Trill a moment to realize she was talking to him, her face fierce and earnest.
“Oh, thank you.”
“I mean it,” she told him. “No one will want me to get hurt. I’ll stand in front of you and make sure they can’t get to you. Promise.”
Trill felt tears prickle in his eyes. They scarcely knew one another, but she loved Perian and would clearly do anything for him, and she’d been kind enough to extend that protection to Trill, to believe in him and not condemn him for an accident of birth that he had no control over.
“Thank you, Princess. That means a great deal.”
“You should call me Renny,” the Princess suggested. She made a face. “‘Princess’ is so stuffy.”
“I’ll… try?” Trill said, since this felt like a step too far today.
She grinned at him.
Of the many things Trill hadn’t expected with this journey, being on a first-name basis with royalty was right up there on the list. (The Prince had already told him to call him Kinan, but Trill was having trouble with that, too.)
The doctor came over to talk to Trill about his desire to heal, and Perian was soon drawn into the conversation as well. The Princess—Renny—came to ask questions, too, and while Trill couldn’t forget what was looming, it helped a bit as a distraction.
In fact, it must have helped more than he realized, because when the door banged open, he wasn’t the only one who jumped and yelled—even as he noticed that Renny immediately darted in front of them, just like she’d said she would.
Only it was Molun who’d burst into the room, a wide grin splitting his face. “We did it!”
Trill clapped a hand to his heart, and Perian scolded, “Don’t scare us like that!”
His smile didn’t even falter. “Sorry, sorry, but we did it!”
Brannal, Cormal, and the Prince followed after Molun at a slightly less precipitous pace.
“We did it?” Perian asked.
Brannal came over to sweep Perian into his arms and kiss him. Molun bounced over to Trill and Arvus to do the same, peppering kisses over both their faces until Trill was laughing breathlessly.
Yannoma even kissed the doctor. Cormal and Prince Kinan exchanged glances and then kissed as well, though they’d been together this whole time.
Renny said, “I refuse to kiss anyone. Gross.”
They all laughed and, uh, disengaged.
“They made us step out at the end,” Cormal said, gesturing at himself, Molun, and Brannal. “It was obviously very clear where our loyalties lay, and I’m sure there were things they wanted to say that we couldn’t hear.”
He eyed the Prince, who grimaced. “There were things they said that no one needed to hear.” Then he smiled. “But, despite the naysayers, Mother upheld her word, and forward-thinking heads prevailed. They’re going to give citizen rights and protections to children of two worlds and carnalions.”
Trill felt his knees go weak, and Arvus and Molun jumped to keep him upright and give him another hug. He let them support him, marveling for a moment at this outcome. He’d simply been hoping to maybe meet a family member who didn’t hate him, and look at what had happened!
“It’s not going to be easy,” Brannal warned.
“The majority vote was for this change, but there is resistance among some of the councilors, as I’m sure you noticed.
And honestly, even if they’d been one hundred percent on board, we still have the general population to contend with.
Changing the law is an essential step, and it offers a number of legal protections, but it will take time to change public opinion. ”
This was undoubtedly true. People were afraid of things they didn’t understand—and things that were more powerful than they were. It was definitely going to take time and probably a lot of patience. But it was still so much more than they’d had before.
“A proclamation is being drawn up,” Brannal continued.
“It will be delivered to all the watch stations, warden halls, and town centers. Warriors and Mage Warriors will be briefed thoroughly before being sent out, and we’ll be keeping our eye out for signs that they’re not invested in this new vision of the future.
We’ll be adding a lecture for all Mage Warriors and Warriors to help prevent the spread of misinformation.
We know there will be a lot of questions, and some of them will be genuine ignorance or reasonable fear given our previous relations.
Our goal is to educate and to be reasonable about reasonable doubts.
As always, staff will have the option to retire if they wish, or to move to the Mages, although we’ll be in regular discussions with them, too.
They’re a place of great learning, and we want to ensure that this new learning is disseminated. ”
The doctor spoke up. “I’d be happy to volunteer a copy of the journal.” She eyed Yannoma. “Would you be willing to fully translate it? In the short term, I’m not sure how many people there might be who could understand it.”
Yannoma said, “Yes.” Her lip curled as she looked at the Prince. “I still think you are wildly optimistic, but it seems that perhaps that was exactly what we needed.”
The Prince grinned at her. “Thank you for sticking it out with us. I’m sure it can’t have been easy. But I’m so glad you’re here.”
“I won’t stay,” she warned. “Not for long.”
“That’s all right,” he said simply, no censure in his voice. “You’re here now, when we needed you.”