It had never been less fine in the history of ever.
Her eyes were filled with compassion.
“You shouldn’t touch him,” Cormal admonished sternly.
She ignored him and produced a handkerchief, wiping carefully at Perian’s face.
“You can tell who it is, can’t you?” she said quietly.
He nodded faintly. The tears kept coming, and she kept wiping them away. Perian had never, ever, had such a blissful feeling feel so terrible, feel so much like a goodbye. He’d never wished so much that he could touch another person, and he’d never been so grateful that a wall separated them because if it didn’t, he would have fallen apart so much worse than he was falling apart right now.
The doctor went to the door, and Perian closed his eyes again and tried to get his breathing under control. She returned a few moments later with a glass of water for Perian, which almost made him laugh, because apparently, it was always important to hydrate, even when you were busy absorbing the sexual satisfaction of a fair portion of the castle’s inhabitants.
It gave him something to do with his hands, and it let him get himself a little bit more under control.
“Thank you,” he said a bit hoarsely.
She smiled at him and sat down next to him on the bed, completely ignoring Cormal’s stern recommendation to get away from the carnalion.
She offered her hand, and Perian clasped it, absurdly grateful.
The energy continued, so much sex, and yet so muchlessthan before. He wasn’t participating, and it was definitely not his preferred method. It wasn’t his preferredperson—that experience had just been emotionally gutting, really—and no matter what the books would have you believe about carnalions, that mattered.
He now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could feed on a huge variety of people—but that wasn’t the same thing at all as being with the one person he loved.
There were a few more people, including Simiala and… Mitor, he thought, but he hadn’t spent a lot of time with the man to be sure. And then with the next few people, Perian found that although he could feel that buzz along his skin just like he usually did, he… didn’t think he was drawing it in. He hadn’t even fully realized that he was drawing it in before, but now it was somehow obvious that he wasn’t. It was just… doing whatever it normally did when people reached a climax, spilling out and dissipating, however that worked.
Maybe none of it mattered.
He blew out a breath and said, “I think that’s it.” He looked up at the doctor. “I think I’ve, uh, got as much energy asI can take.”
Because that sounded slightly better than saying he wasfull.
She nodded, and Cormal popped to attention at the other side of the room.
“You’ve finished? Finally?”
Every word was an attack, but Perian couldn’t even be bothered to fight with the man. There was no point.
“I’ve finished,” he agreed simply.
He was immediately shuffled back down to the dungeon, where the doctor insisted he get some actual food and water, ignoring Cormal’s snide suggestions that Perian must surely be full at this point.
“It’s important to feed the body as well,” she told him quellingly.
Cormal, of course, wanted to move ahead immediately, and the doctor wanted to give Perian the chance to rest and relax. Perian could see the doctor’s point, but oddly, he was with Cormal on this one.
“I think I’m at my most energized right now, Doctor,” Perian told her. “I think the longer we wait, the more I’ll absorb this energy, and the less there will be for Renny and Kee. I think we need to act now.”
She was silent for a moment, and then she said, “Your bruises are already better.”
He startled. He couldn’t see his face, but he looked down at his hands and saw that she was right, that everything looked more healed than it had yesterday.
He managed a smile that only wobbled slightly.
“Then we should definitely get started,” he said.
“You should be at your best,” she told him gently.
