The Queen continued. “Try to stay out of trouble. More controversy right now will not be beneficial.”
There was a chorus of “Yes, Your Majesty” from every mouth and a number of bows, some deeper than others.
“Thank you, Mother,” Kinan said. “Renny and Perian can have a picnic, can’t they?”
Her lips twitched. “Don’t push your luck.”
“You know she’s going to do it anyway,” the world’s most stubborn prince pursued. “It would be much easier to manage if you’ve already given your permission.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose briefly. “Fine. Please make sure you and Brannal are with them. And she is not to give her escorts the slip.”
“Absolutely,” Kinan agreed sunnily.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Perian said earnestly. “Thank you so much.”
She inclined her head.
Clearly dismissed, they all headed for the door.
They’d made it past the first hurdle.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Trill
If Trill was being honest, he was still kind of shocked that no one had come to drag him off to the dungeon or worse. True, word had not yet spread to the entire castle about what he was. Yes, they’d tried to protect him by not having him go in front of the Queen yet. But Yannoma and Trill were the only strangers.The Prince had gotten two letters of protection from the Queen, and by process of elimination… Well, it was probably him, right?
And yet there had, in fact, been no issues today. It had still progressed oddly, though. Perian, Brannal, Cormal, and the Prince had all gone off for the picnic with the Princess. Perian was practically vibrating with excitement.
Molun and Arvus had done their very best to distract Trill from worry, and they’d confirmed quite exhaustively that the bed was still comfortable—despite the fact that the three of them had already amply demonstrated that there were no issues with it last night. The staff had set up what Yannoma assured them was a perfectly adequate cot in the sitting room, and when she returned from the meeting with the Queen, she told them all about it and then found a few books to read. (Molun had already raided the library for the “fun books,” as he called them.)
“Do you think it’s going to be all right?” Trill wanted to know.
Yannoma considered this. “I am… unsure. The little prince is very passionate, certainly. Everyone spoke eloquently. The Queen is scared, though, and I have seen what scared people do.”
He swallowed, but said, “But there are good people, too.”
She patted his arm, an expression that was a mix of fondness and exasperation on her face. “Yes, there are good people, too.” She hesitated for a moment. “Theyhavebeen more courteous than I expected thus far.”
She seemed… if not convinced that this was going to have a positive ending, at least slightly less certain that it was going to have a negative one.
In the day and a half since the others had met with the Queen, Trill had spent almost every moment in Molun and Arvus’s rooms trying not to think about it. The Queen had met briefly with Molun—she’d asked about the wound they’d healed—and then she’d requested a private meeting with Perian—thatBrannal had gone to as well because it was quite clear he wasn’t letting his partner out of his sight.
They’d all crowded into Brannal’s sitting room for dinner afterwards, and Perian had said he thought it went well. She’d wanted a more thorough understanding of what had happened when he’d been here last time from his perspective instead of anyone else’s.
“I think she really believes now that I didn’t know what I was and that I wasn’t trying to ingratiate myself with her or Renny.” Perian smiled slightly. “I think it’s a good sign. It’s not like we spent a lot of time together before, but I, uh, kind of thought she liked me.”
“She definitely liked you,” Brannal interjected.
Perian flashed him a small smile, though that fell from his face a moment later. “When she first found out what I was—what shethoughtI was—it wasn’t just a shock. She said it felt like a personal betrayal. She really believed I’d come after Renny deliberately, and she admitted that she reacted as much as a mother as a queen.” He was lost in contemplation for a moment, but then he shook it off. “She apologized for not treating me like the person she’d come to know.” And then he scowled. “Oh, and she wanted a live demonstration of what a Life Mage could do. Brannal cut himself, which was awful, but I was able to heal it fine.”
Brannal said blandly, “It was a simple, direct method of demonstration. It’s much harder to disbelieve what you can see with your eyes.”
“She already saw me heal Kee.”
“A situation that everyone will admit was highly unusual.”
“Molun, then!” Perian protested.
