Yet one more of those consequences that he hadn’t anticipated.
Xametta looked very wary but agreed to speak with him, probably more because he was Summus than because she actually wanted to hear anything Cormal had to say.
He made sure they were far enough away from the other Warriors training that they wouldn’t be overheard.
“I wanted to apologize,” Cormal told her. “I put you in an untenable situation, and I didn’t think about what it would mean for you. I was wrong. I should never have asked you to lie, and I apologize for it.”
The woman stared at him for a long moment, and then she nodded. She still looked upset, but she surprised him.
“I wouldn’t have done it for you, you know.” He blinked at her. “He was Summus, and you were Secundus. But the royal seal was on that letter. That’s why I did it.” Her lips pressed into a thin line. “I don’t think I made the right choice, but it was a royal order.”
He felt something ease a little inside him, even if maybe it shouldn’t have. It had been his stupid idea, but he’d executed it with the full approval of the Queen. He’d genuinely thought that getting Brannal away from Perian’s influence would fix everything.
He swallowed. “Still, I’m sorry that you got mixed up in it all.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
And that was that. She went back to training, and he wondered if he could count that as someone accepting his apology. Of course, she’d been involved in only one small part of the whole.
Hedidfeel better acknowledging his mistake, and he hoped she felt a little better, too.
He wondered if he could write a letter to Gribon. Had enough time passed?
He went back to Onadal and asked. The man stared at him for a long moment.
“I’ll take the blame for it,” Cormal said. “If everyone doesn’t know already, they should know that it was me. I made him help.”
“Did you hold a fireball to his face?”
Cormal shook his head.
Onadal said, “He made his own choices.”
“Did he? If I hadn’t been Secundus, would he have done it?”
“That is between him and his conscience.”
“But is that fair? We train them to follow our orders,” Cormal argued. “That’s exactly what he did. If this is what he wants, I’ll try to give it back to him.”
Onadal blew a breath out through his nose. Finally, he said, “Let me write to him. I don’t think it would be helpful for him to receive a letter from you right now.”
Cormal had to be content with that. He wasn’t the only one who’d been hurt by what had happened. He might feel that it was time to apologize and try to heal, but he didn’t want to make it worse for anyone else.
“Thank you,” he told Onadal.
“Now, go away,” the stern man responded. “I have training to oversee.”
But he offered Cormal a nod, and that was more than Cormal had got in some time. He went, blowing out a breath as he walked. He headed to his office, reflecting that even when it was going not so bad, apologizing was more draining than he’d expected.
But just because it was hard didn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. There was no quick fix for this. He wouldn’t give up.
He didn’t see Molun for two days. He was impressed that the man had managed to avoid him so completely. Yes, they were Summus and Secundus (a large part of the problem), and in a normal day, they would encounter one another a few times, but if what Molun most needed right now was to have a little less Cormal, then that was fine.
When Molun reappeared, he seemed to have decided to act like Cormal hadn’t said anything, and while Cormal couldn’t let that stand forever, it would work for now. They’d never gotten through their reports so easily, and Cormal handed them over for Molun to give to Onadal without protest. It was their routine now, and he definitely wanted to show that he thought Molun was useful. He’d learned his lesson that any comment related to Molun’s injuries wouldn’t be beneficial to their relationship, so he didn’t mention that Molun looked more steady on his feet than he had since the injury had happened. He was still limping, but less so, and he didn’t look as pained when he was sitting down and rising from the chair.
But Cormal didn’t mention it.
Molun didn’t mention it.
