“That was nice of you.”
Cormal startled badly, but although the fire ball appeared in his hand, he didn’t throw it.
“You’re really quiet,” he managed to say after a moment.
The Prince smiled faintly, even as Cormal realized that the words might have been harmful. The Prince hadn’t asked to be quiet.
“Sorry,” he muttered, and the fireball winked out.
“It’s good that you’re able to defend yourself,” the Prince said, coming to sit on the edge of Cormal’s desk.
Anyone else, and Cormal would have told them to get off, but it wasn’t like the Prince could disturb anything—and it wasn’tlike Cormal got very far trying to tell the Prince or Princess to do anything.
Weirdly, it hadn’t sounded like the Prince was insulting him. Cormal conjured a fireball deliberately this time, holding it in his hand.
“Do you think so?” he asked. “I do wonder sometimes.”
The Prince made a considering noise. “Is that a crack in your armor?”
Cormal looked at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s very frustrating working with someone who never admits that they’re wrong.”
Cormal digested this. “But what if someone isn’t wrong?”
The Prince looked faintly amused. “I think you’re missing the point. Let’s be hypothetical, if that makes you more comfortable.”
Cormal huffed a breath. “Are you saying that my father would admit that he was wrong? That Brannal would? They were the strongest Summuses that I know, and I can tell you right now, my father didn’t believe in being wrong. Ever.”
The Prince nodded.
“No, I don’t suppose he did. And I think he tried to pass that on to both you and Brannal. So think about that for a moment. You were both raised learning all the same warning stories, both dedicated to protecting my family and the country. You fought the same demons. Literally. Do youtrulybelieve, in your heart, that it’s just his cock that made Brannal decide that his past learning was wrong and Perian was more than a demon who should be destroyed?”
Cormal stared at the Prince and his earnest gray eyes… and found that he couldn’t, quite, say so.
“Just something to think about,” the Prince added. “Thank you again for defending the search on my behalf. How about if I stop by tomorrow and thank everyone? Do you think that mightinspire them a little more? Itisa lot of reading, and while I miss it dreadfully, I can see why the others are getting tired of it.”
Cormal nodded. “Yes, that’s an excellent idea. And you know, I’d be happy to flip the pages if you wanted to be involved.”
The Prince went very still. “Would you?”
“Of course.” Cormal shrugged. “I’ll be reading as well. It isn’t much work to flip a page anytime you ask. And as you say, it would probably be good for morale.” Ruefully, he admitted, “A sight better than me yelling at them. It’s like you’ve been raised to rule or something.”
The Prince’s lips tipped up, but there was a shadow in his eyes. “Can’t really rule when you can’t touch anything, can you?”
“Can’t you?” Cormal answered. “There’s no law that says you have to be able to touch to rule.”
The Prince scoffed. “Then that is solely because no one thought of a situation as absurd as this one.”
“I grant you that it’s far from ideal,” Cormal agreed. “But your brain works just fine, clearly. You can speak and be seen by everyone now. If everyone can see and hear you, what more do they need?”
Stiffly, the Prince said, “Perhaps they’re all wasting their time after all?”
Cormal winced and rose to his feet, reaching for a man whom he couldn’t touch. The Prince leaned away from him.
“No, no, I didn’t mean that, not at all!” Cormal apologized hurriedly. “We’ll look for a solution until we find one. You should get to feel the sun on your face, touch whoever you want, ride a horse again, and do everything that everyone else does! I meant only that it’s not strictly necessary to rule. The essential pieces of you are still here. They always have been.”
The Prince stared at him for a long moment, and then his lips tipped up slightly, and his shoulders unbunched.
