Trill started to say, “Oh, you c—”
But Yannoma shot him a look, and he stopped abruptly.
“And if I won’t help your friend?” She said it like a challenge.
“Then I’ll be sad,” Perian told her simply. “And I’ll keep searching for another solution. But I’ll do what I can for your injuries regardless. I don’t like to see people in pain.”
She regarded him for a long moment. “You may try, if you wish.”
“Let’s at least sit down,” Brannal said, voice tight.
So Yannoma was seated in one of the armchairs, and Perian sat on a footstool at her feet. Brannal hovered. The rest of them were reluctantly seated as well, all anxiously watching.
Perian held out his hands, and after another moment of consideration, she pulled off her gloves and placed her scarred hands in his. Some of her fingers appeared to have fused together. It looked painful.
Perian’s eyes fell closed, a look of intense concentration on his face.
Yannoma sucked in a sharp breath, loud in the silence of the room, and then blew it out slowly. Everyone was focused intently on the two of them. And then, as they watched, it was likeYannoma’s skin… rippled. As they stared speechlessly, it began to smooth out, the ropy scar tissue merging back into paler, unblemished skin.
It was one of the weirdest things Cormal had ever witnessed. But it was also amazing to watch the evidence of the damage his father—and thinking like Cormal’s—had caused slowly disappear. It was yet more evidence that Perian cared more about other people than himself and was, probably, the least monstrous of all the people in the room, excepting Kinan.
Perian was breathing heavily by the time the woman in front of them was unrecognizable from the ravaged figure whom they had first met. Shewasbeautiful. It was impossible to tell her age, and those bright blue eyes now sparkled in a face where it was impossible to pick the most attractive feature. Flawless skin, high cheekbones, sharp chin, straight nose, red lips, and flowing blond hair that he’d actually seen growing out of her scalp—but it was like his brain couldn’t quite catch up and accept the before and after were actually the same woman. There was something viscerally appealing about her, which Cormal had to assume was her being a carnalion, because he’d never been particularly attracted to women.
He realized that she was clutching Perian’s hands and that she was trembling. Perian opened his eyes, and when he saw her, he beamed. There was no attraction in that smile, just pure happiness.
Trill had a weird expression on his face, some sort of shock that Cormal wouldn’t have expected under the circumstances, not from him. Of all the people in the room, shouldn’t he have been the least surprised by what had just happened? Although, if Trill and Yannoma were friends, why hadn’thehealed her? Was he not strong enough, or—
And then Perian listed slightly to the side, and a moment later, Brannal was on his knees gathering him into his arms as a chorus of alarm rippled around the room.
“I think you overdid it,” Brannal said gently. “Come on, feed from me.”
“Are you turned on right now?” Perian asked in a voice that was a bit threadier than normal.
“I’m always turned on by you,” Brannal told him with remarkable seriousness given the question.
Perian made a happy sound, and Brannal hugged him closer. Cormal watched Perian’s back rise and fall as he breathed in and out. That seemed to be the extent of it. He hadn’t realized that he was being watched closely until Yannoma spoke.
“It’s not always about sex, at least not for children of two worlds.”
“It didn’t seem quite the moment,” he observed as mildly as he could.
“It’s always the moment for a carnalion.”
Cautiously, Cormal said, “If it’s how you survive, then I imagine it would be of paramount importance.”
“It scares you, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“It, uh, does make me a bit uncomfortable,” Cormal acknowledged, making sure he didn’t squirm, even though part of him wanted to.
He’d hated looking at her injured form, but this powerfully seductive form was disturbing, too.
“And if that’s what my help costs?”
“What?” he croaked out.
“Not money,” she said, never looking away from him. “Would you feed me to help your Prince?”
And Cormal didn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”
