The look of affection and appreciation he sent to the Prince made the man puff up with visible pride, made Molun melt, and made the entire assemblage of Warriors and Mage Warriors stare at them in utter fascination.
“Let’s see to the horses,” Onadal said sensibly. “And we need to know where to set up the tents.”
“I’ll show you,” Perian said easily.
Trill noticed that no matter how cordial everything seemed, Brannal didn’t leave Perian’s side for so much as a moment.
The next day, they were on the road at a good hour, bundled up against the cold. It had been clear that even though the Warriors and Mage Warriors who had been sent were mostly friends, no one was as comfortable with them on Perian’s land. And they were anxious to get back to the castle—to get the Prince back to safety. They could at least all agree on that.
Trill still didn’t know exactly what the Prince had written to his mother, nor what the Queen had responded to him, but in addition to a written response and the Warriors that had been sent to guard the Prince, the Queen seemed to be sincere in her desire to at least secure their help in order to help the Prince.
Just as the Prince had promised, he’d not named either Trill or Yannoma, yet they had been given written letters affixed with the royal seal that declared that they were under the protection of the Queen and should be given all due assistance and protection as long as they didn’t harm anyone except in defense of their life. Yannoma had curled her lip up at that, but Trill had thought it a fair compromise.
Perian and Brannal had gotten similar letters, though they’d been named.
The Warriors had also brought a carriage for the Prince, and he’d not been at all subtle about how much he didn’t want to ride in it. Onadal had been quite insistent that it made him less visible, less vulnerable, and easier for them to protect.
“I’ll ride with you,” Cormal offered.
The Prince had sighed and given in to the inevitable.
Maybe Trill wasn’t the only one who vastly preferred the ridetoPerian’s estate over the one they were taking back to the castle. (Of course, the ride here had also been full of concern for Cormal; Trill didn’t miss that part. But he’d liked very much that it had just been him and Molun and Arvus.)
Still, he was delighted that Molun was no longer injured, even if their breaks were sadly… shenanigan-free. Everyone was on high alert to protect the Prince, and no one wanted an accident.
And, of course, they didn’t know what sort of reception they were going to receive when they got to their destination.
There was also a weird twist of tension because people kept deferring to Brannal and then remembering that Cormal was Summus now. Brannal always deferred to Cormal, and Cormal said he really didn’t mind—he even muttered that it would be good practice for later—but it made everything a little bit awkward.
The looks people kept shooting at Cormal suggested they hadn’t expected him to take this so well. It wasn’t the most relaxing journey, that was for certain. Trill hoped that Cormal and Prince Kinan were having more fun in the carriage. He was too far back to feel if anything interesting was happening.
(It hadn’t escaped his notice that a wall of Warriors tended to be between the Prince and him and Yannoma. Well, he couldn’t really blame them for that. If nothing else, they were comparative strangers.)
Perian rode with Trill, and where Perian was, so was Brannal. Arvus and Molun stuck with Trill, too. He’d heard a little about Prince Horsey when they were on the estate, but watching him on this longer journey made evident that he was both a magnificent animal and full of opinions.
Perian had insisted that he would ride him because when the Prince had his body back, he would want his horse. The Prince looked like he wanted to argue, but Cormal had put a hand near his arm, and he let the matter go. Arvus had quietly filled Trill in, and it was clear that the horse represented a lot.
Perian grinned. “Also, if we left him behind, there’s an excellent chance that he would knock the stable down, stage a rebellion, and probably figure out how to take over the house.”
The Prince had smiled at that, at least.
Although they wanted to get back to the castle in good time, they were keeping a steady pace. They didn’t want to tire out the horses or attract more attention than they already were.
It wasn’t until their first night in an inn—some of the Warriors had ridden ahead and secured most of the building for them—that Trill confessed one of the worries that had begun to preoccupy him on the ride.
“Do you think this whole thing will fall apart if we’ve injured people in the past?”
They were in a private parlor, and the Prince had insisted that all the new Warriors and Mage Warriors stay out of it.
“Then it is doomed before it begins,” Yannoma said.
Trill hadn’t been thinking of her. “I don’t want to be a liability,” he clarified. “If they want children of two worlds to be pristine and helpful, I don’t want to make that worse.”
Perian looked him straight in the eye. “I killed a man.”
Trill blinked, stunned.
“You did not!” Brannal snapped.
