Cormal swallowed heavily as he realized what they were actually saying. They’d figured out what he was doing, and instead of trying to stop him, they were trying to maximize his chance of success.
“Thank you,” he whispered, throat thick with emotions he couldn’t name.
“Idiot,” Kinan said, rolling his eyes but looking very fond. “You should have known I would come with you.”
And maybe Cormal should have. He’d been so focused on whatheneeded to do, and there was still part of him that was used to being all alone on the losing side.
“Where does everyone think you are?” he asked.
Untouchable or not, hewasthe crown prince.
Kinan shrugged like this was the most unimportant thing imaginable. “Renny’s covering for me.”
Cormal gaped at him.
“She knows that I’m sneaking off. She probably guessed that I’m sneaking off with you, and she issofull of judgment.” He just sounded amused, like it was normal for his thirteen-year-old sister to be judgmental of her brother’s choice, nothing to do with the fact that it wasCormal.
Cormal couldn’t help but let out a crack of laughter that made Kinan smile.
“She knows that it’s safe enough for me to be out here, and I think she still feels bad about all the years we were stuck together, even though it was what kept me alive. She’s going to tell them that I’m being moody in my room for as long as possible, then use the old ‘you just missed him’ trick, and hopefully by the time anyone figures out that I’m not actually there, we’ll be back.”
Cormal wasn’t sure if this was really clever or really dumb.
“Don’t you have lessons?” he asked.
Kinan shrugged. “I’m taking a break. It’s not like there’s a fixed timeline for catching up on missed years of education.”
And he was here now. Cormal was going to have to trust Princess Larenia. Maybe they really could make it work.
“Thanks,” he said again, still kind of stunned.
Kinan climbed off Delana’s horse, and it really did mostly look like he did it like normal—but he stepped right through Delana’sfoot in the stirrup. Why could Kinan sit on the horse but go through Delana’s foot?
She waited until Kinan was mounted up behind Cormal.
“I’ll run interference as well,” Delana promised, glaring sternly at Cormal. “Do try not to die.”
He laughed. “I’ll try. Thank you.”
And then she was heading back to the castle, and Cormal was heading onward, not alone, when he’d been certain up to this point that it was his only option.
“Thank you,” he said again, because he couldn’t really get over it. He’d been completely in the wrong, and Kinan was supporting him anyway.
“You’re welcome. I’m only sorry that I can’t feel you right now, because then my cock would be right up against your ass for this whole ride.”
This surprised a laugh out of Cormal, which turned into a groan as his cock reacted rather predictably to this announcement.
“Hey, not fair.”
Kinan’s voice was right next to his ear, and Cormal wished with everything in him that he could feel the man as well as see and hear him. (Never mind that if Kinan was solid, the two of them shouldn’t be riding tandem.)
“Now we’re a matched pair.”
Right, because the image of the very aroused man behind him was going to make it easier for Cormal to concentrate and actually ride his horse. He shivered, and Kinan laughed, the joyful sound echoing around them.
And Cormal was, suddenly, very happy instead of wondering if he was riding to his doom.
He might still be doing that, of course, which he would very much prefer not to do in front of Kinan. But there was a chance it could work out, too.
