Kinan nodded. “It’s awful.”
Cormal couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, it really is. Thank you for not letting me lock myself away.”
Kinan smiled at him again. “Of course.”
There was no “of course” about it. Cormal didn’t think there was anyone else who would have tried, not after what Cormal had done.
But maybe all he’d needed was that one person, the right person. His life already felt changed, even if he couldn’t go back to the castle and fix everything.
“You’ve given me hope,” Cormal whispered, voice a little rough.
A look of understanding crossed Kinan’s face, and he nodded. “That’s what Perian gave me. Gave Renny. It meant so much to us, even before he managed this.” He gestured at his body, visible for Cormal right now. “It was a hard burden to bear, and he made it lighter just by caring, before we even knew that he could do anything else.”
And Cormal nodded, because he’d seen it happening, and maybe he’d been a bit jealous.
“It’s a terrible and stupid way to think about it,” Cormal confessed impulsively, “but it was hard to witness that, him making all these positive changes when the rest of us had beentrying and failing for years. I mean, of course I want you to have hope!” he stuttered out, suddenly realizing how that sounded.
But Kinan was shaking his head, looking amused. “No, I know what you mean. It’s like that moment of realizing that all this time, I’d been hurting Renny.”
Perian had exposed that, and Kinan had chosen not to blame him for it. He’d been grateful that Perian had proposed a solution instead of resentful.
“You’re a very good person,” Cormal told him.
Kinan smiled faintly, though there was still a trace of a shadow in him. “I’m trying.”
“You’re succeeding,” Cormal assured him.
The smile grew a little more genuine. “Thank you.”
“I swear I will do everything in my power to fix this for you,” Cormal told him earnestly. “We’re still working on it, we’ve still got books to read, we’re not going to give up. But even if—even if wecan’tfix it, I’m so glad you’re here. And it would be my privilege to one day serve you as one of your Mage Warriors.”
The Prince looked down, and then tears spilled onto his cheeks.
“Oh, I—” Cormal started, horrified.
But then Kinan looked up again, and he was smiling with the tears, a strangely bashful expression on his face that Cormal had never seen before.
“Thank you. That’s a really nice thing to say.” He sniffed. “Surprising, coming from you.”
Cormal squawked a protest, Kinan managed a laugh, and then it was all right,theywere all right, and Cormal felt lighter than he had in months—possibly in years.
He blew out a breath. “I guess we have to go back, don’t we?”
“I’m afraid so,” Kinan said. “If nothing else, Renny would stage a revolt.”
Cormal laughed. “Well, there is that. All right, let’s go.”
Because if Cormal didn’t get up right now, didn’t start heading back to the castlenow, he was very much afraid that he was going to say something stupid, like propose that they get on Fireball and just… ride in the other direction.
And he’d been running from his problems for long enough, hadn’t he?
“Thank you for this,” Cormal repeated, as he retrieved Fireball and mounted, and a moment later, Kinan was behind him.
Cormal was going to spend the entire trip wishing that he could feel Kinan’s arms wrapped around his waist. And equally long reminding himself why it was a good thing that he couldn’t.
“You’re very welcome,” Kinan said. “Thankyou. For listening to me.”
Cormal nodded, and then he turned Fireball around and pointed him in the direction of the castle.
