The Prince's Boy

THE PRINCE'S BOY: CHAPTER 60

I clutched at him as a surge of emotions went through me, nearly as painful as any palsy or spasm. I desperately wanted to see Kenet, to touch him and reassure myself that he was alive. I also did not want him to see me like this. I did not want to kiss him with the taste of hatred on my lips. Oh, except that Sergetten said I would no longer feel toward Korl as I did, once the spell had used up my anger?

"What do you mean, try to find...?" I asked, trying to replace feelings with logic, but not doing very well at it.

"There is no guarantee the spell will work. Far-seeing is difficult and can be unreliable. But I will take what I have seen, and if we can, we will travel to him, as soon as you are able."

"I'm fine," I said, trying to sit up.

"You are not," he said vehemently, pressing me back into the bed. "I would ruin you for certain if I try riding you within a day or two. And that is because it is you, Jorin. Any other boy who withstood what you have I would say not for a week, and even then—" He broke off suddenly, and could not meet my eyes.

"And even then, what?"

I was surprised that his answer was a passionate, yet gentle kiss, one that left me breathless and trembling.

"And even then, some of them might have truly been ruint," he said. "never fit for Night Magic again. I need to know your mind won't retreat as it did under Korl, or you will leave us stranded in the wastelands between places, trapped forever."

"I won't."

"You stubborn thing. Just because you say you won't, does not make it so." He ran his fingers through my hair. "You know I will be cruel to you and hurt you terribly in order to ride you. So, decide. Keep your feelings bottled up, for they are truly your own and hard earned, or give them to me, and—"

"You cannot seriously believe I would choose to help our king over finding Kenet."

Sergetten's eyes flashed with a bit of anger, whether at being interrupted or at my choice, I do not know. "If we hurry to the prince only to leave our enemies stronger, such that our enemies prevail in the end, have we helped the prince at all?"

"This is not your classroom, Sergetten, and you said the choice was mine."

To my surprise, he chuckled. "But you should make an informed choice. And who says this is not my classroom? There is much I could teach you in this bed, had we time."

"Very well. I acquiesce to thinking about it further. How likely is it that our enemies will prevail if we do not protect Korl? And is there not someone else you could work a spell like this with if not me?"

He gave another of those answering kisses before speaking. "Even were there to be someone willing easily available to us, I am as bound to you as you are to me, sura'an."

There was that word. He had used it once before, and I had taken it to mean "my very own slave." This time it sounded more like "my dearest."

I sighed. "I can make no other choice. We must find Kenet."

He sighed in return. "I knew you would say that, and yet I had to ask." Then there was silence for a long while, as he looked at me, and stroked my hair, his own eyes flickering with thoughts like the surface of a pond full of fish.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

"I am thinking that blond hair does not suit you at all, and that I may regret keeping something from you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"There is one other choice I did not offer you. I could..." His voice faltered and I found his palm, warm and dry against my cheek. "I could heal you more quickly, both body and mind. I could... take away all the pain and hurt. I make you forget it had happened, if you wanted."