“Oh, I’m sorry, am I ignoring you?” Perian said, pulling out of Brannal’s embrace, sniffing again and wiping at his eyes. “That’s so rude of me when you just got here.” He glanced at Brannal. “Would you like a horseback tour of the environs?”
Brannal smiled at him. “I would love that.”
So that’s what they did. Prince Horsey was definitely a bit fractious, and Perian didn’t think he’d been forgiven yet for effectively disappearing. He was pretty sure Prince Horsey didn’t think banishment was an adequate excuse.
But Kee had apparentlygivenPrince Horsey to Perian, and Brannal had brought him all the way here—as well as Warrior, and Perian could only imagine how that had worked. He was going to have to juggle all his horses and try to figure out how to convince Prince Horsey that it was all right for him to ride all of them. He couldn’t abandon the others. Maybe they could work up to it in small doses. None of the rest of his horses were as moody as this one.
He really would write to Kee. If they figured out a way to get Kee a solid body—that was stillso weird—then Perian would be happy to give him his horse back. This was a loan.
Prince Horsey was in a better mood once Perian let him run all around the estate, and Brannal and Warrior were in top form, too. It was a lovely few hours spent on the land that Perian loved with the person that he most loved in the world. Perian took Brannal all over: the flat areas, the hills, the sand.
They kicked up great clods of sand as they went along the water’s edge. Prince Horsey didn’t seem to be totally sure that he liked it—but he seemed to be equally sure thatit was not going to beat him. Perian laughed and laughed.
By the time they got the horses cleaned up, it was well past lunchtime, but Evalon simply agreed that lunch could be served as soon as they cleaned up.
Perian eyed the sweaty, happy Brannal.
“Maybe an hour?” he suggested.
They came close to rolling their eyes, but agreed, “Certainly, Master Perian.”
Doing something that was perilously close to giggling, Perian pulled Brannal up to his bedroom and then into the water closet. They stripped and had a bath together—“Faster that way!”—that was absolutely not faster than bathing separately but was way more fun.
Oh, Perian had missed this so much, missed the shape of the man, missed how well they fit together, missed how Perian could lean back against that solid wall of muscle and Brannal’s warmth would rival the warmth of the water.
They did eventually get properly cleaned up and dressed again, and Perian didn’t think it wastoomuch past an hour when they were seated for their meal.
His housekeeper didn’t bat an eyelash, but Perian was pretty sure that was because they were a professional and not because Perian wasn’t acting like a lovesick teen. But he didn’t care. He was sohappythat Brannal was here, and while he wanted to just… live in this wonderful, glorious moment as long as he could, he thought maybe he’d better start preparing himself.
And so, once they’d eaten the majority of their meal and then been served tea and an apple tart that made Perian hum with excitement, he asked the question he’d been dreading.
“How long can you stay?”
He’d take anything he could get, he reminded himself. He would enjoy every moment. It would give him so many good memories before he had tofigure out how to wait until the next time.
Brannal froze in the act of pouring the tea. After a stilted moment, he finished pouring for both of them, and then he finally spoke.
“About that,” he said, and then stalled, like he didn’t know how to continue.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Perian’s heart sank. So it wasn’t going to be very long. But realistically, he’d known that no answer was going to be as long as Perian wanted.
Brannal pressed his lips together for a moment, like he was lining up things to say in his head.
“It’s all right,” Perian said hurriedly. “You’re welcome whenever you can come.”
He didn’t want Brannal to think he was ungrateful!
Brannal’s lips tipped up, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Well, I do hope you mean that. Um.” He struggled for words for another moment, and then he said, gaze directed at the table, “The Queen was extremely clear about her opinion on Summus consorting with a carnalion.”
Perian’s heart sank further. Was this to be the only visit?
“In fact,” Brannal continued, “she could not be swayed from her opinion that Summus wouldnotconsort with a carnalion. It was her last word on the matter.”
“I understand,” Periansaid woodenly.
