Perian nodded, eyes a bit glassy. “Yeah, he’s super serious about that. We actually have training sessions all the time. And, you know, they’re notallabout sex.”
Kinan laughed, and Cormal made a disgusted face so that Perian would laugh. Not that heparticularlywanted to think about Brannal having sex with Perian, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t known that detail for months. Perian wasnotshy.
“I’m glad you’re happy,” Cormal told him. “I know we gave you no options.”
Kinan’s voice vibrated with anger. “It’s outrageous that you did so much good and we trapped you here.”
Cormal nodded, glancing at Kinan. “It is, really. I assume all of you haven’t been protesting more in order to ensure I didn’t snap and declare that we should just kill Perian instead?”
“Notjustyou,” Kinan said after a moment.
There was that. Cormal’s change of heart didn’t mean that the Queen had had a similar one. Could she really stand up to all of them? Or rather, would she?
“It’ll help if I don’t agree with her,” Cormal said.
“Probably,” Kinan agreed. “But she’s always made her own decisions. And I suppose it’s not easy to overcome a lifetime of prejudices. We all did it the other way around, became good friends and then didn’t let anything else get in our way. But if you weren’t friends first, if you hadn’t seen as much as we’d seen…” He looked at Perian and shrugged. “It’s hard to see you as anything but Perian.”
Perian smiled. “Thank you. And you’re not wrong, really. Demons are certainly not an easy topic to discuss, especially with Mage Warriors and the ruler of the realm who is meant to be keeping everyone safe from them.”
Cormal faced him squarely. “Are we killing people we shouldn’t?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it?”
“Are there more people like you?” Cormal asked.
“I’ve never met anyone else like me,” Perian answered, and Cormal was pretty sure he was telling the truth. Not that he’d blame him for lying, under the circumstances.
“I think we know a lot less about demons than we thought we did,” Perian continued after a moment.
Cormal nodded. That was certainly clear.
“And I don’t know any wraiths or nightmares that want to have a conversation with anyone. Nor lesser demons, either.”
“We’re just talking about carnalions, then?” Cormal clarified.
There was an expression on Perian’s face that made Cormal think he was still missing something, but Perian nodded.
“I don’t think you can judge all of them based off one of them. I mean, imagine if you did that with a human.”
There was a furrow in Kinan’s brow. “Your entire perception would change depending on who you were observing.”
Perian smiled faintly. “Exactly. And maybe there are more… likely patterns of behavior than others. Maybe carnalions are more likely to be violent than humans—but I’m just saying that’spossible, not that I believe it to be true. And even then, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all carnalions are violent, or that all humans aren’t. And it’s hard to judge how anyone behaves naturally when they’re constantly feared and hunted. I think we made sweeping generalizations and… some nuance has been lost.”
Perian kept saying “they” not “us”, and Cormal wasn’t entirely certain why. Was he trying not to remind Cormal of what Perian was? Obviously, Cormal knew. Did he not think of himself as a carnalion? Having been raised thinking he was human, that would actually make sense. But if that wasn’t it… What was Perian?
“I haven’t been a very good host,” Perian said suddenly. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?”
“I would actually be really grateful for a glass of water,” Cormal said, before admitting, “There’s been far less drenching than I expected, to be honest.”
Perian smirked, and Kinan huffed a laugh.
“You know that was always Molun,” Perian pointed out.
Wryly, Cormal said, “I am one hundred percent certain Brannal sneaked a few in there because he was confident that I would blame Molun and not him.”
Perian laughed, his expression easy and open. Cormal was so glad that joy was still there. He hadn’t realized how much he’d feared—too late—that he’d snuffed it out.
“That’s probably true,” Perian agreed, still grinning. “Somehow, I don’t think Molun would mind. He seems very much to enjoy cooling down hotheads. I have to actually throw water at Brannal from a glass or pitcher. It’s not the same.”
