Arvus slipped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close.
“Well,” Molun admitted, “I guess I can’t promise we would have accepted everythingquiteso quickly if we hadn't met Perian first, but I’m confident we would have figured it out anyway, given how much we care about you. We accepted him, after all, even though it was a shock.”
“I can’t really imagine,” Trill said.
When he envisioned it, it ended in fire or other dramatic deaths. What must it have been like for Perian, who didn’t even realize what he was?
Molun said, “Well, the thing is, by the time Cormal announced that Perian was a carnalion, we’d been friends for months. If there was one thing we knew, it was that he’d never hurt us. Arvus told me all about how Brannal had said the two of them needed to pleasure themselves while I was unconscious after my injury and Perian was sleeping next to me. I mean, honestly, I’m not sure how he didn’t figure everything out at that point.”
Arvus’s expression was rueful. “I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to anything that wasn’t you, baby.”
Molun said, “Aww,” and gave Arvus a kiss, which he returned gently.
Arvus continued, “Truly, though, almost as soon as Cormal said it, a lot of things suddenly started to make sense. I mean, apart from that bit about Perian being dangerous. As soon as I understood that he could heal people, it was obvious what he’d been doing with Molun. For that alone, I would care for him and protect him forever.”
“I’m so glad he was there,” Trill said fervently.
They both nodded rapidly.
“Do you think he’d like me to demonstrate more healing of your leg?” Trill asked.
“I think he’d appreciate that very much,” Arvus agreed.
“Maybe we’d better talk about it,” Molun suggested. “I wouldn’t want to take away from anything for the Prince.”
Ah, Trill could see why they might think that.
“As long as the two of you aren’t going to start withholding sex, and assuming Brannal isn’t doing so with Perian, we would probably be fine. I mean, unless we decide to try something as extreme as what Perian did the first time. But I’m not sure that’s even a thing that could happen.” He made a face. “I mean, I still don’t understand how it happenedlasttime.”
But since normal humans couldn’t see the energy when it was pulled out by demons, maybe it sort of made sense that whatever had happened, the Prince hadn’t been visible to them. That he’d been visible to his sister could perhaps be explained in that he’d somehow tied himself to her, so he was an extension of her in some way.
That Perian could render him visible to everyone was… not something that Trill would have said was possible, and he was very glad to be wrong.
“Can we go ask?” he asked.
“Of course.”
They found Perian and Brannal in the sitting room, and Perian closed his book as soon as he saw them.
“Good walk?” he asked.
“Good talk,” Arvus corrected.
Perian grinned. “I’m glad.”
Trill said, “I was wondering if you wanted a walk-through of how I heal Molun’s leg.”
Perian perked up immediately. “Oh, yes, please. Brannal and I had intended to do more experiments, but the only way to really do that was for Brannal to be injured.” His mouthflattened for a moment. “And I couldn’t stand that. Accidents are one thing, but deliberately hurting him so I could try to heal him?” He shuddered. “Just, no.”
Trill nodded in understanding. He couldn’t imagine deliberately hurting Molun or Arvus. Brannal was looking at Perian with pure affection on his face.
“But we don’t want to take any energy away from the Prince,” Molun interjected immediately.
Perian was already shaking his head. “I spoke to him earlier. We agreed to put everything on hold until we hear back from Trill’s friend, one way or the other. If they come, we might have more answers. If they don’t, then we can reassess. He doesn’t want to do anything that might risk harm to me unnecessarily. I’d try it anyway, of course, but I agree that it makes more sense to wait until we hear back. If it’s not likely to do much good, then it does seem silly to take needless risks.”
Brannal’s tone was sardonic. “Note how he soundssoreasonable.”
Molun laughed. “Oh, is this the cleaned-up version?”
