Page 15

Chapter Fourteen

A voice called for them to enter, one of the Warriors pulled open the door, and without permission from Perian, his feet moved, and he was walking inside.

The room was… not what he was expecting. This wasn’t a gigantic throne room with lots of weapons on the wall and row upon row of Warriors just waiting for him to make a mistake. This looked a lot more like the study he had at home, decent-sized windows on one side facing the quadrangle, a large desk covered in papers, bookshelves filled with books on every available wall, and two chairs by the fire opposite the desk that made him think of Brannal’s rooms. And then he tried not to think of Brannal’s rooms because he needed to be fully focused on the fact he was in the presence of the Queen.

She was writing at the desk when he entered, but she presently finished with what looked like a letter and rose to her feet. She was shorter than he expected, which was absurd. Had he really had expectations about how tall the Queen was, and she was failing them? How rude of him. Which reminded him—Fire and water, he was such an idiot.

He offered a very belated bow.

“Your Majesty.”

“You can set your things down here.”

She gestured, and Perian promptly set the blankets and basket down. Now that he was relieved of the awkward burden, he felt as though his hands were weirdly empty.

“Come and sit,” the Queen said, gesturing towards the chairs by the fire. “There’s tea.”

Tea with the Queen. Perian was not sure this was an event he could handle, but given who had issued the instructions, he… went and sat.

The Queen poured. Perian was about to drink tea the Queen had poured for him with her own hands. His fingers were shaking a little with nerves, and he tucked them together. He needed to get a grip. This was Renny’s mother. He’d always wanted to talk to Renny’s mother, hadn’t he?

Actually, he could see the resemblance. The Queen was a little plumper where Renny was too thin, and she was obviously several decades older than her daughter, but they had the same gray eyes and the same nose.

Perian explained as calmly as he could how he liked his tea, and he managed to take the cup and saucer without dropping either of them, so there was that. Actually, it helped to have something in his hands again.

He declined any of the sweets as politely as he was able, to reduce the chance of him choking to death or having his mouth full when the Queen asked him a question. Because there was no way he was here for anything other than to answer questions.

The Queen’s posture was ramrod straight, and Perian found himself correcting his own posture automatically.

“You’ve been spending time with my daughter.” Her voice was calm and cool.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Perian agreed.

He sipped the tea. It was excellent. He vastly preferred the tea with Brannal.

“Without telling anyone.”

Perian cleared his throat and resisted the urge to fidget. “I didn’t realize there was anyone I needed to tell.”

Her eyes were penetrating. “You didn’t think it unusual that a young girl was on her own?”

“To be honest, Your Majesty, I don’t spend a lot of time with children. Renny”—the Queen stiffened slightly and Perian, not knowing what else to do, just kept going—“admittedly wasn’t an adult, but she seemed like a well-reasoning young person who wasn’t in any danger, either from her behavior or her location.”

“So, you continued to see her.”

The Queen was extremely good at neutral statements that he couldn’t interpret.

“She seemed sad and lonely when I met her. She seemed happier after she spent some time with me. So yes, I kept seeing her.”

“And what do you get out of it?”

Perian eyed the Queen, trying to figure out if this was a fair question or if she was being immensely insulting. She was Renny’s mother, he reminded himself.

“To spend time with a very engaging person, Your Majesty. Renny is funny and bright. I’ve been very much enjoying her company.” He panicked. “In an extremely platonic way. Uh, just to be clear, Your Majesty. She is a child and a female, and I am not even a little bit interested!”

There had probably been many better ways to say that, but as he suddenly realized one of the reasons she might have been concerned, he’d… blathered.

Fortunately for his continued freedom, she seemed almost amused, her face relaxing into an expression that reminded him a little bit of Renny.

“I’m given to understand your interests lie elsewhere.”

There wasn’t really anything he could possibly say about that beyond, “They really do, Your Majesty.”

“You’re very curious,” she told him, gray eyes scanning his face. “My Summus is extremely protective. My Secundus is extremely wary. And my daughter is extremely fond. And you’ve sprung up from virtually nowhere. You’re a bit of a puzzle.”

“I haven’t meant to be particularly puzzling, Your Majesty,” Perian said carefully. “I’m visiting the city from my home in the country. I’m in the second district. Brannal rescued me after I was attacked on the street, as you may have heard. When it comes to Cormal…” Perian’s mind momentarily went blank of anything that wasn’t rude, and he floundered, before he thankfully managed, “I think Cormal and I got off on the wrong foot. We don’t actually know one another at all well. And as I’m sure you are aware, sometimes people simply don’t get along, even if there’s nothing actually wrong with either of them. As for your daughter, I think she needed a friend.”

There was something sad in her eyes for a moment, and then her face went hard.

“She’s the Crown Princess.”

“Yes,” Perian agreed. “But can she not also be Renny? At least a little of the time?”

“Her brother used to call her that,” the Queen said, voice tight, eyes sad again. “She hasn’t allowed anyone else to call her that since he died.”

Fire and water.

All Perian could say was, “It’s how she introduced herself to me the first day.”

“I hope it means she is finally moving on.”

Perian wondered if it was his duty to tell the Queen her daughter definitely wasn’t moving on. He decided it wasn’t. Cormal and Brannal had made it clear it was well known that Renny thought she could converse with her brother. Perian didn’t actually have any new information to provide. His opinions and impressions were certainly not those of an expert. Besides, just because Renny believed that her brother was with her didn’t mean that she wasn’t actually healing from the trauma of what happened.

Perian was definitely not going to say anything.

“I lost my father four years ago,” Perian told the Queen instead. “Everyone grieves differently. Some days and weeks and months are good ones, and others are not. That doesn’t mean we’re not still growing and learning and enjoying life.”

The Queen said, “And yet you found her sad and lonely.”

“That was the impression I had when I first met her, yes. But I have also seen her laugh and find the shapes of animals in the clouds and ask me back for another picnic. I can’t speak to how she is when she’s not with me, of course, but I believe I’ve seen her happy. I’ve seen her reluctant but determined to head to her lessons. I’ve seen her in a rage, and I’ve seen her sob her heart out.” He sniffed. “I’ve seen her frustrated by her illness, and I have seen her determined to persevere. We missed a picnic because she knew she really needed to rest so she could spend time with you a few days ago. She’s fierce, Your Majesty, and like all of us, she’s still learning how to grow in the world.”

The Queen considered him for a long moment, and then she inclined her head.

“You have very decided opinions, do you not?”

Perian admitted, “I suppose so. I think most people do.”

“Perhaps,” she allowed. “Not everyone is willing to share them.”

Perian pondered this. “Is that your way of saying that I should keep my opinions to myself, Your Majesty?”

But she smiled faintly and shook her head. “No. I think, perhaps, that you would do well to continue on as you are.”

Perian couldn’t help but smile at her and think that just maybe, this was going to be all right, and he wasn’t going to wind up in the dungeon.

They were sipping at their tea now, and it actually wasn’t too tense at all. Perian had even risked a biscuit and so far hadn’t choked to death.

There was a knock at the door, and it opened before the Queen could speak.

Perian raised an eyebrow and caught the Queen doing the same.

It was Brannal.

“Excuse me, Your Majesty,” he said with an inclination of his head. “I… wanted to make sure that everything was all right.”

Perian couldn’t help but cross his gaze with the Queen, and she was looking at him with an even more elevated eyebrow. He was pretty sure they were both thinking of that observation that Brannal was rather protective . He had just burst in on the Queen virtually unannounced, and unless he was worried that Perian was about to do something to the reigning monarch, then he was really here because he was worried about Perian. He coughed to hide his laugh and then tried to take a sip of tea to cover it.

“Everything is quite all right, Brannal,” the Queen said coolly. “Were you concerned I was about to consign Perian to the dungeon?”

A laugh slipped out of him before he could stop it, but the Queen just looked faintly amused, and after a look between the two of them, Brannal’s tense stance softened a great deal.

“Of course not, Your Majesty.” His lip curled up. “I thought you might have got a big enough dose of Perian to be hoping that someone would come to spirit him away.”

“Hey,” Perian protested. “Everyone wants a big dose of me.”

The moment the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them, but while Brannal looked at him like he was an idiot, the Queen just sipped her tea serenely.

“Yes, by all means, spirit him away,” she said with an inclination of her head.

Perian rose immediately to his feet and offered another bow.

“Thank you very much for speaking with me, Your Majesty,” he said.

“Thank you for befriending my daughter,” she replied.

“It’s been my pleasure.”

He set down his cup and carefully backed away, trying to figure out how you took your leave of a queen and if there was anything he should be doing differently. He remembered to retrieve his basket and blankets, and he was nearly at the door with Brannal when the Queen spoke.

“Perian.”

He turned to look at her.

“If you do harm my baby girl, I will lock you in the darkest dungeon and throw away the key.”

Brannal’s eyes went wide with alarm, but Perian smiled at the Queen.

“I would expect nothing less, Your Majesty. Thank you for the tea.”

She smiled at him, and Brannal whisked him out of the room. The two remaining Warriors—it appeared Perian wasn’t going to have an escort forevermore, thank goodness—inclined their heads to Brannal, and he acknowledged them with a brisk nod, but he really was pulling Perian away like the more distance he had from the Queen, the safer he was.

“Everything all right?” Perian finally asked.

Brannal eyed him. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“I’m fine,” Perian assured him. “I mean, it was more than a little panic-inducing, but the actual meeting went way better than I was worried it would. I can see a lot of Renny in her, actually.” Perian made a face. “If I’m allowed to make such an observation.”

Brannal smiled at him. “I’m pretty sure she likes you, so you’re fine.”

Perian would err on the side of caution. “Do you really think so?”

“Absolutely,” Brannal said without hesitation. “I don’t see a lot of people having casual chats with her on their first encounter.”

It was probably a good thing he hadn’t known that going in. He would have been more nervous.

“I managed not to spill my tea or choke on a biscuit, so I am definitely considering it a success.”

Brannal laughed. “Well, that’s good.”

“Right?” Perian paused for a moment, then hurriedly asked, “Really, you think it was fine?”

He’d definitely felt much better after they’d finished talking, but that didn’t mean for sure that the Queen felt that way.

“I might have shown up to rescue you, but it was entirely clear you didn’t need it,” Brannal assured him.

This made Perian grin. “Overreacting again, were you?”

Brannal shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed but largely unrepentant. “Maybe a little.”

“I appreciate it,” Perian told him.

Since his father had died, Perian hadn’t had anyone to care about him like this.

“Still want to go for that ride?” Brannal asked.

“Yes, please,” Perian said hopefully.

So, they went back to Brannal’s rooms to drop off the basket and blanket. Only Perian changed into riding gear—apparently, Warrior garb was multi-purpose—and then Brannal escorted Perian outside to the stables.

Perian had never left the castle from the north side. It had its own guarded drawbridge, but this one led to the stable yard, with a further moat and final drawbridge separating the stable yard from the grounds beyond.

They were past the city here, abutting the cliffs to the west, with the forested areas and plains of the royal park to the north. They walked into the stables and Perian breathed in the smells of horse, hay, straw, and manure. He smiled.

“It smells like home.”

Brannal’s lips tipped up. “I take that to mean you’d like to pick your own mount.”

Perian eyed him. “You were going to pick for me?”

Brannal laughed. “Not anymore, I assure you. You said you could ride, but there were no qualifiers.”

“I would just sound conceited if I told you I can ride well.”

Brannal laughed. “How about I go and get my horse saddled, and you take a look around. I wouldn’t want to influence your choice.”

Perian laughed. “Thank you.”

He roamed, looking in each stall so he could get an idea of the horse, and they could get an idea of him. The Queen kept beautiful horses; Perian could see at a glance there was a variety, both in breed and temperament. Some looked as though they were just raring to go, some looked entirely easy-going, and some looked very middle of the road. Perian was leaning towards feisty, especially now that he felt he had something to prove to Brannal, but he hadn’t quite settled on which horse when he made it all the way to the end of the stable.

There were a few empty stalls that were entirely cleaned out and then at the very end by the wall, there was a final stall occupied by an absolutely magnificent stallion. One shake of his majestic head and mane told Perian he was a handful. He looked to be nearly 16 hands and pure black except for a blaze across his forehead right between his eyes. He was truly lovely.

Perian stepped up to the stall carefully. This was definitely an animal who would not hesitate to stomp you if he didn’t like you.

“Hello,” he greeted. “I’m Perian. You are absolutely magnificent.”

The horse turned his head toward Perian. He continued to stand there, letting the horse get used to his scent. The horse stomped around and huffed at him, but his ears were pricked forward.

Perian smiled at him. “Oh, you look like you would like to gallop forever.” He carefully held out his hand palm down. “I’m sorry I didn’t think to bring anything for you to eat. But do you think that you might like to gallop with me?”

By the time Brannal found him, Perian was running his fingers over the horse’s shiny coat, petting his neck, and running his fingers through his mane.

“Oh, you’re just so handsome,” Perian was telling him.

“ What are you doing?” Brannal asked sharply.

The horse let out an angry huff of breath, stomped, and bared his teeth. Perian clucked at him, soothing him with a soft touch.

“It’s all right,” he told the horse. “Brannal is just being a bit annoying.” He turned and made a face at Brannal. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m making friends.”

Brannal just stared at him for a very long moment, and Perian wasn’t sure what was going on, since this was really very standard before riding a new horse, surely.

And then Brannal said quietly, “That was the Prince’s horse. He’s not allowed anyone near him since the Prince died.”

Perian froze.

The horse nudged into his hand with enough force that Perian was jostled.

“Oh,” Perian said a little bit blankly. “That… doesn’t seem to be the case for me?”

“Apparently not,” Brannal agreed, his expression a bit wry. “I’m not sure how it would be perceived if you tried to take him for a ride, however.”

“Oh,” Perian said, unaccountably disappointed. “No, of course, that makes sense.”

Perian could only imagine the reports going back to the Queen or Renny.

Reluctantly, Perian pulled his hand back.

“It seems I’m not allowed to ride with you today. Perhaps another day?” he suggested, stepping away.

This did not go over well. At all. The horse reared up, front legs striking out. He snorted, his ears pricked back, and put up such a fuss that a whole group of stable hands came running.

“What did you have to go and do that for?” one of the stable hands demanded, not looking like he wanted to get anywhere near the snorting and rearing horse.

Perian leaped forward and reached for the horse’s head.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said soothingly. “Calm down, it’s all right, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

And the horse quieted immediately, sighing and leaning into Perian’s hand as though he hadn’t just been making a huge fuss and bother.

“Wow,” he said. “You’re a bit overdramatic, aren’t you?”

There was complete silence, Perian realized after a moment. Looking around, he saw that everyone was staring at him as though there were something wrong with him.

He just stared back. It was clear Brannal had been speaking the truth and no one got through to this horse—until Perian, who was able to talk to him just fine.

One of the stable hands tried to step closer, and the horse bared his teeth and snorted warningly. She immediately stepped back.

Brannal sighed. “Could you please send a runner to the Queen and get permission for Perian to take Prince Horsey out for a ride? They appear to have made friends.”

The stable hand Brannal had addressed looked like this was the last message he wanted to relay, but he inclined his head, and said, “Of course, Summus.”

Once the stable hand had run off, Perian swiveled to look at Brannal in astonishment.

“ Prince Horsey ?”

Brannal’s lips tipped up, but his eyes were sad. “The Princess named him when the Prince first got him. It stuck.”

Perian turned back to… Prince Horsey.

“Do you ever just call him Prince?” he wondered.

Prince Horsey let out a shrill noise that was not happy.

“Prince Horsey,” Perian said quickly. “Got it. It’s not exactly the name I expected, but if anyone can carry it off, it’s you. Are you Prince Horsey?”

The horse neighed. He clearly recognized his name. Perian couldn’t help but run a hand through his mane.

“Oh, yes, you’re the best horse, aren’t you? The very best.”

Brannal sighed beside him, and the rest of the gawking people went back to their work.

“You don’t like to do things the easy way, do you?” he asked.

Perian laughed, assuming this was a rhetorical question.

“Of all the horses in the stables, this is the one you picked.”

“He’s wonderful,” Perian breathed. “How could I not pick him?”

“But why did he pick you ?” Brannal asked.

Perian shot him an unimpressed look.

Brannal’s eyes flickered closed and open again. “That came out wrong. It’s just that in the last six years, he has turned his nose up at everyone . I was wondering what made you different.”

Perian shrugged. “Not a clue. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Renny. Maybe she smells a bit like her brother?”

He’d been spending a lot of time with Renny who said that her brother was with her. But Perian was pretty sure that an invisible, only-possibly-alive and not flesh-and-blood person didn’t have a smell. But was it possible that something had… transferred to Perian?

“Has Renny ever tried to ride Prince Horsey?” Perian asked.

“Not to my knowledge,” Brannal said. “She is young and unwell.”

That was all true, but Perian still wondered if Renny did try to approach, would Prince Horsey be as welcoming?

It was tempting to suggest it, only if it didn’t work, if Perian was wrong and Prince Horsey did not react positively to her, it might not only put her in physical danger but could make her feel like she was losing another piece of her brother.

The stable hand came back a few minutes later and offered an inclination to Brannal and then a shorter one to Perian, who just sort of stood there in shock. The stable hand still looked like he wished to be anywhere but here.

“With the Queen’s compliments, you are welcome to ride Prince Horsey. And you’ll only be thrown into the deepest, darkest dungeon and the key thrown away if anything bad happens.”

Perian burst into laughter, which seemed to surprise the stable hand, though he looked rather relieved at the same time, probably that the message had been taken so well.

Perian inclined his head. “Thank you.”

The man made himself scarce. Another appeared with an offer to help get Prince Horsey ready, but it became immediately clear that wasn’t going to work.

“Why are you making such a fuss?” Perian asked, giving Prince Horsey a stern look. “People are going to start thinking that you are difficult and moody.”

“Oh, we already think that,” one of the hands said, probably a little louder than she’d intended, because her eyes went wide when Perian and Brannal looked at her.

“She’s not wrong,” Perian told the horse. “You’re going to make me do everything, aren’t you?”

The horse was entirely well behaved—in a very high-strung sort of way—if Perian approached him. So he headed into the stall with Brannal poised there as though he was going to leap to protect him if anything went the slightest bit wrong. (Actually, Brannal was probably one of the only people who could easily protect Perian without risking his own life. Perian didn’t think even as determined a horse as this could defeat the shield Brannal was capable of throwing up, and a gale wind in here, while it would probably disturb a number of the horses, would probably put a stop to any shenanigans.)

But as long as Perian was talking about what he was doing, Prince Horsey just let him get on with it. And since Perian had regularly saddled his own horses back home, this wasn’t a problem for him.

“You’ve done this before,” Brannal observed, seeming to relax a bit more as he saw the competence with which Perian went through every step.

“I sure have.” Cheekily, Perian added, “Don’t worry, the saddle isn’t going to fall off halfway through the ride.”

Brannal blew out a breath and rolled his eyes.

And then it was just a matter of Perian leading Prince Horsey out of the stables, although everyone stopped and watched what he was doing.

“Because that’s not disconcerting at all,” Perian whispered to the horse. “Honestly, you’re acting like you’re royalty.”

“Pretty sure he thinks he is,” Brannal said unhelpfully.

Once they were out in the yard, Brannal with his own horse and Perian with the most opinionated one in the world, they mounted. Perian took a minute to just settle and make sure Prince Horsey had not decided that now Perian was in the saddle, he didn’t want him here after all. Perian could handle an attempt or two to toss him if it came to that, so he would be ready if he needed to be. But a bit of playfulness or an accident was a different thing from a horse that was bound and determined to get you off its back.

But in the mysterious way of horses, now that Perian was settled in the saddle, Prince Horsey was nice as you please. Maybe he was lulling Perian into a false sense of security because he really did want that gallop, and he’d show his true colors once he was out of here. Perian smirked to himself. Yes, that seemed likely. Perian patted Prince Horsey’s neck. He could feel the strong muscles and coiled energy beneath him. He definitely, definitely wanted a gallop. Had Prince Horsey been waiting for six years to find someone he wanted to ride with? Perian hoped he wouldn’t be the only one, because it was such a shame to leave a horse like this stuck in a stable.

“What do you do with him normally?” Perian asked out of curiosity. “Surely, he’s not cooped up all the time?”

“With difficulty, they get him out to a paddock sometimes. But he definitely doesn’t get this experience.”

“Well, we’ve got that sorted,” Perian said proudly.

Brannal shook his head a little, but he was smiling.

“All right, let’s see what you can do.”