The Prince's Boy

THE PRINCE'S BOY: CHAPTER 60

60: Jorin

There is a span of time I do not remember. No, I am not speaking of the misty time after I was born and before I could speak. I speak of the hour after the king finished with me. Indeed, I have no memory of his actual finishing, for my mind had fled to some safe corner of my dreams before then.

When at last I surfaced, it was because there was a soft murmuring from somewhere, coaxing me back with a promise of gentle warmth. I gradually became aware that I was lying on my side in a bed somewhere, and that a warm body was wrapped around mine from behind. At the recognition of Sergetten's scent on the sheets I had the sudden hope that he had transported us back to the keep, far from Maldevar.

"Hold onto it," he said, quite clearly, into my ear, as if he were aware that I had returned to my body.

He did not say what "it" was, but I knew at the very least he was going to hold onto me until I felt ready to move. It was more of a comfort than I can adequately describe and I was grateful he was there. Had I woken hooded and chained somewhere, I do not know what I would have done nor how I would have borne it.

As my awareness returned, so did my memory. The king using me. Ordering Sergetten to control me magically so that I could neither experience release, nor scream with pain. I shook in his arms as I felt the distinct burn of white-hot anger down my throat and in my gut. "It." He must have meant hold onto my outrage.

I held it and stoked it, until I wanted little more than to burst from the bedchamber, find Korl, and do something dire. The moment I tried to actually move, though, Sergetten tightened his grip.

"You have a choice to make," he said.

"I do?"

"Yes. Listen carefully. What you feel inside you, you can bury deep until you have an opportunity to unleash that rage, perhaps on the target you so dearly would like to, or perhaps some other enemy. Or you can give it to me, and I can use it to work a spell."

"What spell?" I tried to turn in his arms to see his face, and he loosened his hold enough that I could do so. The sheets felt luxurious against my skin and in the dim light of the lantern by the bed I saw we were in what had to be Sergetten's private rooms in the castle.

"There are two spells we need most now," he said, shifting so that one of his legs lay across one of mine and he propped his head up on one bent arm. "But before I tell you what they are, understand this. If I burn away your outrage with magic, you will no longer feel toward our king as you do now. You will remember what happened, but you will not feel the same. I will understand if you choose to cling to your hatred and desire for revenge. I find it likely that I would."

"Am I injured?" I asked. "In... I mean..." I had to close my eyes, trying to escape his penetrating gaze, when I could not bring myself to say what I meant.

I felt a soft brush of his lips against my forehead and opened my eyes again. "You are intact, but fragile. You will heal fully," he whispered. "If I thought he would have truly ruined you, I would not have allowed it."

I could not quite bring myself to say thank you for that, but I pressed my cheek against him, drawing a few deep breaths. "All right, then. What are the two spells you might do?"

"One would protect our king's mind from intrusion by... others," he said, and I knew he meant from Seroi. "I have worked this spell on him from time to time, but it needs periodic renewal and I fear of late it has been particularly ineffective."

I said nothing, waiting to hear the other choice.

He laid his palm against my bare chest and I only then realized that he was still fully clothed. "It will be another day or so before I should ride you, Jorin Weltskin," he said. "However, I could use the energy you have bottled up inside you... to try to locate Kenet."