To his surprise, Brannal shook his head, face etched into bitter lines that Perian had never seen before.
“Because there was no nest. There never had been. The report was falsified solely to get me out of the castle, the one thing that could make me leave you.”
Oh.
“You mean—”
Brannal’s jaw was clenched, and he nodded. “A strong enough force that required water and earth to counteract, so I took more of your friends with me. And while I wasgone, as soon as you were awake, each person who had agreed to keep an eye on you was told that someone else was doing it. They were given urgent business, and you were swept up and threatened and thrown out of the castle before any of us knew what had happened.”
Perian sucked in a breath. “I shouldn’t really be surprised, I suppose.”
But he hadn’t… Somehow, he still hadn’t been expecting that, no matter what had come before.
Brannal looked truly distressed. “I’m so sorry they made you think that none of us cared what happened to you. We care so much, Perian.”
“Do you?” Perian made himself ask. “Because it wasn’t just that meeting.”
As awful as it had been.
But Brannal was already nodding. “I know. I was an idiot. I can’t apologize enough. The Princess already threatened to kick my ass if I didn’t get my act together.”
Perian made a scoffing sound that almost sounded right. His throat was thick, and tears were prickling his eyes.
Brannal’s lips tipped up fleetingly, but the smile soon faded.
“From the moment that I woke up and couldn’t find you, I panicked. I knew immediately that something had happened. I got people looking for you. We scoured the castle. Cormal kept telling me to calm down and not overreact, that it was bound to be something simple.”
Perian made a noise of disgust.
Brannal’s eyes flickered shut for a moment. He opened them again and nodded. “I know now how self-serving that was. I still can’t totally believe it.”
“Howdidyou find me?” Perian asked.
He’d wondered, and he’d assumed it would remain a mystery he’d never know the answer to.
“Gribon,” Brannal said.
Perian’s head snapped up. “What?”
Gribon had been friends with Fomadin and Venoran. Sure, he’d apologized to Perian after the trial. But… what? What did he have to do with anything?
Brannal nodded.
“I don’t think Cormal carefully planned what he was doing. He decided you needed to be stopped and that he had to get you out of the castle—but that required actuallygetting you out of the castle. He went to someone he knew you’d had problems with, someone who wouldn’t be questioned by the Warriors or Mage Warriors, and told him that you had to be moved, that you were a danger and needed to be gotten out of the castle urgently.
“Gribon went along with it, I’m still not sure how willingly, but the only place he could think to stash you with so little time to consider was with Fomadin’s sister. The problem was that she was already harboring not only Fomadin but also Venoran, whom Fomadin had freed.”
Perian couldn’t let that go.
“You knew he’d escaped? And you didn’t say anything?”
Brannal’s face was tight. “Just one more bad decision, yes. I thought that no danger could come to you in the castle and that you would rest easier not knowing.”
“That wasn’t fair,” Perian protested.
Brannal shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t common knowledge that he’d escaped, but I should have told you the truth.”
“Thank you,” Perian said stiffly. “I know it probably wouldn’t have changed anything—it wasn’t like I wandered out into town on my own—but Icouldhave, and I would still have liked to have been told.”
