He was doing it for Renny and Kee.
He’d always said how much he wished he could make her better. Well, here was his chance.
“How close do you need to be?” Cormaldemanded.
Perian blinked at him. “Um, I’m not sure exactly. But relatively close, I think. I mean, I’m not absorbing desire from the entire castle right now.”
Cormal’s eyes narrowed. “What if you were in one room and people were in the room next door? Isn’t that how you noticed Venoran?”
Perian stiffened slightly, but said, “His energy was so wrong that I couldn’t help but notice it. I wasn’t consuming it. It, uh, was one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever felt. I don’t know that that’s a good example.”
“But it seems like walls don’t get in the way. What if you were next to the wall, and the people were on the other side of it.”
As close as possible while keeping people separate from Perian. He couldn’t be surprised, he supposed, that Cormal was suggesting it. He’d actually be more comfortable if he could see people, to make sure that he wasn’t taking more than he should, but he understood the caution.
Cormal wasn’t ever going to believe that Perian meant him no harm, and it wasn’t a bad idea, really. Perian had been able to passively feed off of people in close proximity for months. (Years. His father had taken him to the house of pleasure, so it had to have been foryears.) He could surely keep doing that.
“I think that would work.” Perian cleared his throat. “If we try it, I can tell you if it’s not working. And look, I know you want me in the dungeon, but I don’t think people are going to be comfortable here.”
Cormal’s face twisted, but he didn’t argue that fact. Instead, he said, “I can’t imagine that anyone would want to—”
“It’s for the royal family!” the Queen pronounced.
Perian tried not to stare at her with horror, because surely, they wouldn’t order anyone to do this. Perian would refuse, that wasn’t—
“I’ll take care of it,” Brannal said.
They all stared at him, and his cheeks reddened.
“I’ll talk to people,” he amended, and Perian’s heart plunged in his chest because of course,of course, that’s what he’d meant. Perian swallowed the lump in his throat.
“I won’t do it if anyone’s unwilling. I can’t.”
Brannal gave a sharp, stilted nod. “Understood.”
“But why—” Renny started.
Perian squeezed her hand, a little too hard, and she subsided, looking at him unhappily, but then she must have seen how close he was to tears, and she hugged him instead. He sniffed, squinched his eyes closed, and tried to force the tears back.
It was fine. He’d thought he was going to die in that fire, and instead, he got this chance to help Renny and Kee. He couldn’t ever regret that, not even when it was shredding his heart. That wasn’t their fault.
“I’m staying with you,” Cormal said. “I’ll be watching you every minute.”
Perian didn’t even bother to tell him how absolutely creepy that was. He knew Cormal meant it.
Brannal started, “I think—”
“Excellent,” the Queen said firmly. “It is essential that no one be in any danger.”
Except Perian. It was all a risk to Perian, and no one cared. Well, Kee and Renny probably cared, but there was a risk to them, too.
“I’d like to supervise,” the doctor said calmly.
Normally, Perian would say that the absolute last thing that awkward room needed was more people in it, but he was pretty sure that putting Perian and Cormal alone in a room together while Perian was feeding off people having sex was a terrible idea.
“You don’t need—” Cormal started.
“This is an untried effort, and a doctor should be present,” she said sternly.
