Arvus smirked, but to their surprise, Molun wasn’t actually diverted.
“But Livala is here now. And he’s going around apologizing to everyone, plus actually engaging and talking to Trill and everyone at dinner. As painful as it is to admit, it really seems like he’s trying.”
“So why would he leave?” Arvus suggested.
“Exactly! There’s no reason why he would—” Molun cut off abruptly. “We’re not the ones he hurt.Fire and water. He sneaked off to confront Brannal and Perian! Son of a wraith! We can’t actually let them kill him, can we? Then the Queen will get upset, and then Brannal will get upset, and then the country will probably be leveled!” He leaped up. “We have to do something!”
Arvus tried to calm him down, hands raised in a placating gesture. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Baby, we don’t know that’s what happened.”
“Of course that’s what happened!” Molun snapped. “He tried to apologize to everyone here, and I told him he didn’t hurt us, and now he’s made up these secret inspections because he’snotinspecting—he’s going to Brannal and Perian.”
“He’s apologizing to everyone?” Arvus repeated.
Molun slapped him on the chest. “And I didn’t believe him and just got pissed off. I told him that it wasn’t us that he hurt, and now they’re going tokillhim. Come on, Arvus, we have to stop it!”
“But—” Arvus protested.
Molun shot him a look. “He kidnapped Perian, who almost died. He banished Perian to the estate and said he’d kill him if he ever left or did anything suspicious. Now he’s going alone to the estate. Arvus!”
Oh, wow. That really didn’t sound good. Trill had only heard the tiniest bits about this, since Molun and Arvus didn’t talk about it in their rooms, at least not with Trill around, and no one seemed to want to talk about it in front of Cormal. He could see why, if all of that had happened.
Arvus was starting to look alarmed. “All right. Let’s see if we can find Delana. She may be aware of his plan. I’ll do that, and you and Trill start packing, just in case.”
Molun started throwing things into bags haphazardly, and Trill pulled the useless things out and repacked. (The robe was beautiful, but Trill didn’t really think they needed it, six of Arvus’s shirts, and no trousers.)
Trill laid a hand on his arm. “It’s going to be all right.”
Molun was practically frantic with anxiety. “What if it’s not? I was angry. I wanted to make him feel bad because he hurt Perian so much. I don’t want himdead. I don’t want to start a war!”
“We’re not going to let that happen,” Trill assured him.
There was no way to know that, but feeding Molun’s fears wouldn’t help right now.
A tiny bit of the wildness left Molun’s eyes, but he still whirled too fast when Arvus got back to the room.
“She’s not here. Cormal went east, and she took her horse out about an hour later.”
“Maybe she went to stop him?” Trill suggested.
“We can’t be sure of that!” Molun exclaimed. “I packed. We’re good to go.”
“You better leave a note for Delana,” Trill reminded them.
If shehadn’tgone after Cormal, then she needed to know what they’d done when she got back.
Molun was Secundus, so he probably wasn’t supposed to be leaving while CormalandDelana were gone, but at the very least, he should explain.
“Right, right.” Molun tried to move too fast and stumbled a little.
“Molun—” Arvus said.
Molun held up a rigid hand, and Arvus went silent. Molun limped into the sitting room. Both of them followed, Arvus carrying the bags.
Arvus waited until Molun had finished dashing off what didn’t look like a super explanatory note for Delana, but then he spoke again.
“Baby,” he said gently.
“Please don’t,” Molun said, and he sounded soresigned.
