Page 71 of Grave Situation

Not without sex, anyway.

Does that make me the kind of horrible person who’s been taking advantage of Coryn? Because for all he said that he doesn’t mind sex, I got the distinct impression he only does it to get cuddles.

No. I wouldn’t have taken him up on his offer. Though if he hadn’t said anything, just crawled into my bedroll one night, I might not have asked as many questions as I should. I mentally flinch away from what that says about me.

“Okay,” I say as Coryn finally lets go of Tia. “That’s settled then. Coryn gets cuddles whenever he wants them. And I suppose we need another packhorse?” The ratio of humans to horses just keeps getting smaller. Pretty soon, there will be enough horses for them to plan an uprising and kill us all. Sweetie would be their leader.

“Yes,” Jaimin confirms. “Coryn, who’s the best person for us to speak to about that?”

“I can do it,” he offers cheerfully. “I just need official orders from the king to say I’m coming with you.”

“We’ll go talk to the king, then.” I stand. “And then make plans to leave tomorrow. Maybe after lunch—that will give us the morning to?—”

~No~

Dammit.Tia laughs outright, but Coryn seems confused.

“Doesn’t the pretty stone want to go?”

“It wants to leave early,” Jaimin explains, sounding far too amused for my liking. “Is that right, stone?”

~Yes~

Stupid chipped gravel. “Fine,” I grumble. “We’ll leave in the morning. Butafterbreakfast. None of this sunrise bollocks.”

“Talon doesn’t like mornings,” Tia informs Coryn. “Or afternoons, to be fair. Or people. Or horses.”

“Please, continue,” I invite acidly. She makes it sound like all of that is unreasonable.

“The list is too long, and we don’t have time. Don’t you need to talk to the king?”

I narrow my eyes and snatch up the stone. “There are times I wish I was an only child. Come on, Coryn.” The sound of her laughter follows us out of the room.

“You don’t really, do you?” Coryn asks, trailing after me. With a glance over my shoulder, I slow my pace so he can catch up.

“Don’t what?”

“Wish you were an only child.”

“No. But Tia and I are very good at annoying each other.”

He nods, lips pressed together. “I annoy my brothers too. Sometimes…” He sighs. “Sometimes I did wish they were different. They’re not nice like you and Tia are. Not to me, anyway.”

Hmm. When this is all over, I think a visit to Coryn’s father and brothers might be in order. Someone needs to dangle them by the ankle over a ravine. “Do you need another hug?” I ask, a little grudgingly. It’s not something I particularly want to do, but the last thing we need right now is for the king to see him all mopey and think we had something to do with it.

He immediately brightens. “Yes, please. Just a little one, though.”

I hold out my arms and he steps into them. At first, it’s strange. He’s taller and wider than me, and I’m not used to hugging or being hugged. But it’s also… nice. It obviously makeshim happy too. Is this what doing nice things for other people feels like?

It’s not terrible.

“There!” he pronounces, letting me go and grinning at me with his beautiful face. “Much better.”

“Much better,” I echo. “Thank you.” Did I just… thank him? For a hug?

The stone must be playing with my mind.Stop that.

There’s no response.

---