Brannal nodded.
After a moment, he continued. “Gribon caught a glimpse of Venoran as he was dropping you off. He explained to Fomadin what Cormal had said, that you just needed to be kept out of the way for a few days and then gotten out of the city. But he apparently had enough misgivings that he eventually sought me out. Despite what it meant to reveal his own involvement, he told me what happened and brought me there. By that time, the house was in flames, Fomadin and his sister were falling over themselves to blame you, and I was barely in time to save you.”
Brannal’s face was twisted with pain.
“I got you back to the castle, but the fire had already spread to the adjacent houses. I wanted to stay with you, I swear, but I left the doctor with you, and I went back to help put the fire out with Delana and Simiala. By the time the fire was under control and I returned to the castle, Cormal had told everyone you were a carnalion and had you thrown in the dungeon. We nearly came to blows, and it was obvious that he thought that I was under your influence, as absurd as that was. The Queen was involved by then.”
Brannal looked incredibly frustrated. “I realized that emotional appeals were not helping your situation; to the contrary, it further convinced them that I was being unduly influenced. So I tried to keep everything rational. I made sure that the doctor continued to see you, because we would never deny anyone medical aid. I ensured that you had blankets and were as comfortable as I could make you, but I took a step back. I tried to act as Summus in everything, with the intention that once everyone had the chance to calm down, they would all see that no matter what labels Cormal used, it didn’t change anything about you or me, and we’d be able to figure it out.”
Brannal looked thoroughly ashamed, shoulders slumped and expression chagrined. “Not only did I underestimate the Queen and Cormal, I didn’t think about what that would look like toyou, that you could only see the way I was behaving, not the way I was feeling on the inside. Iswearthat all I was trying to do was protect you, but I realize that’s not what it looked like.”
Perian digested this. It was really the best possible construction that could be placed on the events which had occurred. He could all-too-easily imagine the Queen and Cormal isolating Perian like that. He’d known, hadn’t he, that Renny wouldn’t have stood for it if she’d been involved. He’d watched them cut off the possibility of him saying goodbye to anyone, getting any support that way, so why hadn’t it occurred to him that they would do it the other way, too? But it hadn’t crossed his mind that Brannal wouldn’t know it was happening, because that was ridiculous… unless you were so underhanded that you actually lured him out of the castle with the only thing that would make him go.
It was very smart, really.
Perian would be impressed, if it wasn’t so nasty.
And it didn’t address everything.
“You knew I was a carnalion,” he said, trying to keep his voice even.
Brannal’s features twitched minutely. “I… suspected.”
“From the moment you tried to strangle me when we had sex for the first time?”
A visible flinch this time. He nodded. “I’ve had a carnalion try to feed from me before. You’re a lot gentler, but I thought it was the same thing. Only you didn’t react like any carnalion I’d ever met.”
“Or burn like them?”
Brannal went poker straight, his eyes boring into Perian’s. “I didn’t plan that. Perian, I wouldn’tever! I swear!”
Perian hadn’t… really thought that he would. But the rapid, visceral reaction had eased something inside of him.
“So I wasn’t behaving like a normal carnalion.”
Brannal was still watching him warily, like he thought Perian might not fully believe him. But slowly, he shook his head.
“Not at all, really. You stuck with me, and although you seemed to admire a lot of other people, you didn’t sleep with any of them. And you never drained me badly. Most of the time, I could barely tell.”
Perian swallowed. “But you still made sure someone was there tofeed mewhen you were gone. Is that why you set up our play?”
Brannal shook his head, then frowned, and it turned into something that was more half a shrug. He blew out a frustrated breath.
“I can’t truthfully say that it had nothing to do with it, but it also wasn’t the primary motivator, either. It was complicated. I thought that maybe I was imagining things and you were actually completely ordinary. I certainly didn’t make up anything about Molun and Arvus and their enjoyment of a third, nor the fact that they were interested in you. You must realize that if I thought you were dangerous, I would never have suggested it at all. They’re my best friends. The day I suggested we play, I think it was genuinely because I thought that we would all enjoy it. I knew they’d like it, and I’d discovered how much I liked the idea when you were involved. I think that’s all.”
“But not when you left.”
He hesitated for a moment, sighed, and admitted, “No. I wasn’t sure what would happen when I was gone. If you needed other people, I didn’t want—”
“—me to snap and start killing people?” Perian snapped.
“No!” Brannal said, sounding offended. “Of course not! You hadn’t shown yourself to be the least bit violent. But I wasn’t sure if youneededsex the way I needed food and therefore if a week would be too long to go without it. Since I wouldn’t be there and you might require it, I didn’t want you to have to get it behind my back. I wouldn’t have liked that, and I didn’t think you would have liked it, either. So I found what I thought was the perfect solution.”
“But you didn’t like it,” Perian remembered. “You were unhappy after all.”
Brannal shrugged. “It turns out I’m more possessive than I realized, like we already discussed. But it seemed we both felt the same way, and you figured out a way to not be alone that didn’t require having sex with anyone else. I just fell harder for you every day.”
Perian crossed his arms. “But not hard enough, apparently, to tell me the truth about what I was. You left a demon surrounded by demon hunters when you must have realized I didn’t know the truth.”
