Yannoma had been so determined to keep her independence… and yet. She could have sneaked out last night, but she hadn’t.
“Thank you for sharing this with me,” Perian said, voice sounding choked. “It means a lot. Even if you don’t want to see me again after this. Father would be so glad to know that you’re well.”
She let out a huff of breath. “He loved with his whole heart, that man. I could see it, but carnalions don’t…feellike that.”
Thankfully, Perian laughed. “Yeah, I definitely took after my father in that regard.”
He smiled warmly at Brannal, and Brannal smiled back, expression softer than Trill had ever seen.
Maybe it was naive, but… how could anything change if there weren’t people who dreamed that it would?
Yannoma’s mind had clearly gone another way. “I fear there are things we will never see the same way.”
“But does that have to be an insurmountable barrier?” Brannal asked. “If you were left alone unless you committed a crime, would you live in harmony with humans?”
“What would you constitute a crime?” she countered. “I must absorb human life energy to survive.”
“But you need not absorb so much from one person that you kill them,” Brannal challenged.
“It is not required, no. But can you honestly tell me that you would not be scared that Icould?”
“It would certainly not be easy,” Brannal agreed, meeting her gaze steadily. “There are those who will always be afraid no matter what. But then, there are those who are afraid of me, since Icouldlight someone on fire as easily as look at them. The fact that I have never done so does not enter much into the equation.”
“And if you had spent your entire life hunted because youmightdo such a thing?”
“I might feel exactly as you do now,” he acknowledged. “But I hope I would react more like Perian or Trill or the Prince and dream of a better future.”
“That dream could get you killed.”
In the blink of an eye, all of the elements were swirling around Brannal, fire, water, earth, and air all separate and yet moving together as a whole at the same time. Trill and Yannoma both jerked back in surprise, but Perian was smiling softly.
“I will do everything within my power to protect those I care about,” Brannal said firmly.
Trill wasn’t certain how Yannoma was going to react, and then she smirked, which seemed a little weird to Trill, only then he realized she was looking at Perian.
“That does it for you, does it?”
Trill let out a laugh as he caught the growing arousal that Yannoma had noticed first. Oh, yes, it was quite clear that was doing it for Perian in a big way.
“It sure does,” Perian said cheerfully, grinning widely.
With a smile of his own, Brannal made the elements disappear as suddenly as they’d arrived.
“Thank you, dear heart.”
Perian grinned.
Yannoma’s lip curled up in faint disgust. “You two are ridiculous.”
“Happily so,” Perian told her, enthusiasm not reduced by her scorn. “Thank you for telling me the truth.”
“I will not be what you want,” she warned him.
“You’re roots,” he told her simply. “You’re family, but it’s up to the two of us what that means. I don’t expect you to replace my father.”
“I brought you to him for a reason.”
“He was a wonderful father. I’m very grateful.”
