Cormal sighed. There was so much emotion there, and it tugged at him. And made him feel guilty.
“I don’t suppose it means much coming from me, but I’m sorry you didn’t get to thank him in person or say goodbye. That was definitely one of a series of… imperfect decisions.”
He wasn’t quite sure he could apologize for all of it. But he could apologize for that.
The Prince made a funny noise that Cormal couldn’t interpret—probably why you weren’t supposed to have intense conversations like this on the back of a horse not facing one another.
“I don’t know how to tell you this…”
The Prince trailed off, like he really couldn’t figure out how to tell Cormal what he wanted to say, and Cormal knewthatcouldn’t be good. The Prince hadn’t been shy about telling him how he really felt about a lot of things.
“Just hit me with it,” Cormal said, trying to brace himself.
Maybe it was better if they weren’t facing one another after all.
“I think you missed a lesson on apologizing as a child or something. It’s actually a really powerful thing to do, especially when you’re an asshole and you do something wrong.”
Cormal was stunned silent for a moment, and then he let out a sharp crack of laughter that surprised Fireball, who looked at him to see if anything was wrong. Cormal patted his neck.
“No, no, you’re fine. Let’s get to this less-than-secret hiding place.”
“I do wish no one had been hurt,” the Prince said.
“Please don’t blame yourself for that. It was Prince Horsey who brought Perian here, wasn’t it?”
The Prince nodded. “Yes. And he asked Renny and me about it. I assured him that I was fine with him sharing it with other people.”
Of course.Because Cormal had stewed at the time that Perian had been sharing it with everyone when it wasn’t his secret. Only it turned out, he’d had permission. How many of Cormal’s memories of past events could be twisted to a different shape if he had more information or looked at them in a different way?
“It was a terrible idea that we really shouldn’t have indulged you in to begin with,” Cormal pointed out.
Brannal and Cormal had brought him out here a handful of times in the years before the attack, when the Prince had been chafing from the restrictions of the castle. They’d convinced themselves it was perfectly safe with the two of them.
The Prince huffed a laugh. “Oh, you’re thinking about what could have happened if we’d been caught out here with all those demons?”
“Of course I’m thinking of that!” Cormal exclaimed. “Just imagine!”
The Prince let out a sigh. “It was always a risk, I suppose. But you would both have been with me. And you do know what would have happened if you hadn’t agreed to bring me, right?”
Cormal let out a gusty sigh. “Yes.”
He’d considered going straight to the Prince’s mother, or going to Tramad. But even if they’d scolded him, even if they’d forbidden him to do any such thing… They could have put a watch on the stables, maybe? But Cormal had seen that streak of stubbornness in the growing boy he’d been. This outlet had been as safe as Cormal could think to make it.
He still wasn’t absolutely certain that he’d been right—but he was pretty sure he hadn’t been wrong, either.
“Here we are.”
They pushed through to the beach, and by the time Cormal dismounted, the Prince was on the ground as well. Cormal hadn’t been watching to see if he’d actually dismounted or if he’d just sort of… slid to the ground? Would his feet have connected to the stirrup? But it must have, mustn’t it, or how would he have gotten onto the horse to begin with?
“You don’t float, do you?” Cormal asked.
The Prince looked bemused. “No, I don’t float. Or, I suppose you could argue that I always float. I don’t disturb anything onthe ground, so perhaps I’m not actually touching it. But I’m not about to blow away, if you’re worried about that.”
Cormal’s eyes widened. “Well, I wasn’t worried until you mentioned it!”
The Prince threw back his head and laughed, and Cormal felt something tight in his chest ease. The Prince was relaxed and happy out here in this place that had been, a long time ago, their happy place.
Brannal and Cormal hadnevermade him train while they had blithely lied to Cormal’s father about that fact. It had been perhaps one of the only lies they’d ever gotten away with, although Cormal wasn’t sure that they hadreallygotten away with it. The Queen had been convinced, and the most that Cormal’s father had had to say about it was that it was wise of Cormal to build a rapport with the Prince.
