“Saddle Fireball, please.”
The stable hand followed the Prince’s instructions.
“Get on,” the Prince ordered.
Cormal, somewhat confused, mounted his horse. There was movement in his peripheral vision, and a moment later, hepeered around and saw that yes, the Prince was now behind him. There wasn’t really room for two people to sit comfortably on this saddle, but he supposed that didn’t matter when you couldn’t actually interact with anything and nothing could interact with you.
“We’re going to my secret place,” the Prince said.
“What?” Cormal said.
The Prince raised an eyebrow. “Are you worried that some harm can come to the person that absolutely no one and nothing can touch?”
Well. When he put it like that.
So Cormal faced forward again, guided Fireball out of the stable yard, and then pointed him in the direction of the secret spot that had become not-so-secret when it had been revealed to Perian. Cormal still wondered what might have happened had he been there when their training exercise had gone disastrously wrong and Molun had been nearly killed by the lesser demon. Fire did work against lesser demons. But then, so did wind and air and earth, as well as blades. But it had only been Molun and Perian during that first attack, and Nisal had appeared in the nick of time.
It was so easy to dwell on what might have been.
There had been no sign of demons anywhere near here since then, and Cormal had kept up the extra patrols that Brannal had added, just in case. It might have been a fluke, but no one wanted to take that chance.
It was quiet except for the sound of Fireball galloping through the royal park, and it felt weird, because he knew the Prince was pressed up against his back, but he couldn’t feel him. He wondered if he was going to hear about this from the Queen and realized that he almost definitely was.
Imagine just leaving with the Prince.
On the other hand, imagine a prince who was invulnerable to every form of attack because nothing could touch him.
He knew which life the Prince would choose without hesitation.
The further away they got from the castle, the more he slowed, until Fireball was coming closer to ambling along, and it didn’t feel quite so much like the world was tearing apart at the seams.
“Why don’t you fall through the horse?” Cormal asked. “Does he not have energy like humans do?”
The Prince was quiet for a moment. “He does. It doesn’t feel quite the same. And he can see me. I don’t know if that’s what makes him solid, that we both expect that I should be able to sit on his back? It worked for Prince Horsey as well. But I can’t ride them on my own, because they don’tfeelme once I’m sitting here, and I can’t hold the reins or direct them in any way.”
“And that’s why you sent Prince Horsey to Perian? Someone who can ride and appreciate him?”
The Prince was silent again, and Cormal cursed himself, thinking this was going to be a very quiet ride if the Prince wouldn’t talk to him now because, like an idiot, he’d brought up the one thing they didn’t talk about.
But finally, the Prince said, “He saved Renny’s life. And he made mine much more bearable. Once I knew that I was hurting Renny… I had to stop it. I would never hurt her.”
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Cormal agreed instantly. “You love her. Just as I know that she loves you and wouldn’t have changed a moment of what happened.”
The Prince made a wet-sounding noise that Cormal was pretty sure was supposed to be a laugh.
“She has said as much more than once,” he admitted. He sighed. “But it was almost seven years, and she was so unwell. There were times that I didn’t think she would make it. I thoughtit was due to that awful attack, inexplicable, just like what happened to me. It never occurred to me that our two situations could belinked. I should have thought of it.”
“And if you had?” Cormal asked. “Could you have done anything? Or would you just have made both of you miserable with your guilt?”
“Ouch,” the Prince said.
Cormal huffed. “I just mean—”
“No, I know what you mean. I would have tried harder to break the connection. But for all I know, that would have done her irreparable harm. I just hate that I hurt her.”
Cormal nodded.
“And Perian helped her,” the Prince said, reminding Cormal of what had started this conversation. “He helped us both before he even knew that he could, just by caring about us. And then he tried to help us more, because he wanted the best for her. For me, too, of course, but he didn’t know me like he knows Renny. And even though he was hurting, even though he should probably have turned his back on all of us, he poured everything he had into trying to make us better. I don’t think anyone’s ever cared about me like that before, about either of us. Not because of our position but simply because ofwhowe are, because of shared picnics and animal-shaped clouds and a very opinionated horse.” He swallowed audibly. “I didn’t even get to thank him in person. I couldn’t give him back the castle. Brannal was not mine to direct. But I could at least give Perian a horse he had come to care about. It’s the tiniest thing compared to what he’s done for me and Renny, but at least it’s something.”
