Trill could only smile at him. “There is absolutely no time that Idon’twant to have all the sex.”
Molun beamed. “Excellent. Let’s go.”
They’d already established a rule that no one would have sex in the study in order to avoid anyone potentially seeing something they didn’t want to, so they headed upstairs. Molun took them nearly at his normal gait, but it wasn’t until they got naked that they realized what a difference the healing had made, not just to how it felt but to how itlooked.
The injury wasn’t completely healed, but the scars had not only become less noticeable, Trill was quite sure that in some spots, they’d disappeared entirely.
“Fire and water,” Molun breathed.
Perian was clearly powerful—which shouldn’t really come as a surprise given what Trill had heard he’d done for the Prince, but it was still different to have the evidence in front of them.
“Wow,” Trill said.
Molun looked at him with an expression that was a little uncertain, which confused him until he said, “You know I’m happy about everything that you do for me, right?”
Trill laughed and leaned in to kiss him. “The happier and more pain-free you are, the happier I am. I don’t care one bit who does the healing.”
Trillcoulddo more now that it wasn’t a secret. He still doubted he could match Perian—but it truly didn’t matter to him. All he cared about was the healing happening.
He must have adequately got that across, because Molun looked relieved, and then he tugged Trill so that he’d settle on top of him.
“C’mere,” Molun said, voice full of affection. “I haven’t thanked you for being amazing today.”
They spent a wonderful afternoon in bed with Molun doing exactly that (and Arvus, not to be left out, demonstrating his thanks very thoroughly, too). Trill was gloriously spoiled.
Really, the time on Perian’s estate felt like the most amazing holiday. Trill didn’t have to worry about money or food or Yannoma. Molun and Arvus didn’t have to work; they even left off their Mage Warrior armor most of the time and wandered around in trousers and shirts. Trill had another child of two worlds he could talk to and compare notes with. Trill had never seen Cormal so relaxed, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders; he and the Prince got to spend more time together than they usually would at the castle. Everyone was having lots of sex, and while there were still the occasional awkward moments, mostly it was days of laughter and sex and camaraderie.
Trill wasn’t sure how long they could keep this up, though. The Prince’s sister couldn’t cover for him indefinitely. Delana was the only one left in charge of the Mage Warriors—assuming she’d gotten back—and while hopefully nothing bad was happening, it wasn’t fair to leave her covering everything, either.
But Trill didn’t want to be the one to suggest any changes. They were waiting to see if Yannoma responded, of course, and she wouldprobablywrite to tell Trill no, but what if she didn’t? They’d have to talk about it eventually, but he had to admit that he wasn’t particularly eager to do so.
It was like a step out of reality where they all got to enjoy one another. Even if things hadn’t been completely fixed between Cormal and Brannal, they were vastly improved.
The last thing Trill expected was for a knock on the door to herald the arrival of the cloaked and hooded figure of—
“Yannoma!” he exclaimed.
She’d actually come.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cormal
Cormal hadn’t known what to expect when it came to Trill’s “friend.” They all knew that Perian had guessed correctly about them being a carnalion, but Trill had carefully not given them any information. Not that Cormal blamed him. He really had meant what he’d told everyone about being willing to dowhatever was needed for Kinan, but he knew it would take time for everyone to believe him.
Now that he knew that Trill and Perian werenot, in fact, carnalions, he had to admit that he was even more anxious about meeting thisactualcarnalion. He’dkilledcarnalions. Not even the realization that he got along with Trill and Perian was enough to make him certain that this was going to go well. How differentwerecarnalions? How would this one feel about them?
But Kinan was more important than all of that, so Cormal wouldn’t make a move against them unless they attacked Cormal or his friends. And given that two of them were children of two worlds, two had gone up against carnalions before, and he and Brannal could wield fire, the only person he wasreallyworried about was Kinan.
The fact that Trill thought Kinan was a walking feast for demons wasterrifying. Cormal didn’t care what anyone else said; he would defend Kinan with every ability at his disposal. But he was equally aware this might be the best chance Kinan had, and he wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize that needlessly.
The whole situation put him on edge, especially when their guest was cloaked and hooded to the point where they couldn’t see them at all. Seriously, the hood was pulled down practically to their chin. It was extremely suspicious.
On the other hand, if Cormal were a carnalion coming to meet a bunch of Mage Warriors, he’d probably be inclined to keep his identity a secret, too.
They met in the sitting room, and the carnalion made an incredulous noise when they saw the Prince for the first time. Cormal stepped in front of him.
They turned to look at Trill. “You didn’t do him justice.”
