Page 4 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong (Lost Arts #2)

Perian managed to open his eyelids when he realized they were closed again to look at the two men. Arvus was nodding his head.

“That was beautiful,” Arvus agreed. “Thank you.”

“I feel like I should be the one to say thank you,” Perian said, voice thick. “That really was great. And I mean, Brannal did all the work.”

They laughed, and Brannal kissed the side of Perian’s head. “I assure you, that wasn’t work. It was nothing but pleasure.”

Molun said, sounding serious, “It was a privilege to watch, truly. Thank you. ”

Perian could only nod, touched. He’d been expecting more jokes.

Then Molun’s lips tipped up. Ah, here it was.

“Any time you would like to make a repeat performance, you will definitely not hear us complaining.”

“But don’t feel it’s something you need to do,” Arvus continued with a gentle smile. “If this was the only time you felt like it, it was our privilege to watch. All right?”

Perian nodded, soothed by both messages.

Molun wet several handkerchiefs—always so handy having a Water Mage nearby when it came to clean-up—and he and Arvus cleaned up and tucked themselves away and then brought over a cloth for Perian. Brannal cleaned Perian up, which was amazing, because he still felt like he might never move again.

“All right?” Brannal asked quietly as he was making Perian presentable.

“So all right,” Perian confirmed with deep contentment.

He definitely felt a bit sex drunk, like his bones had turned to jelly and he would never walk again. How could he feel both so full of energy but so relaxed at the same time? It didn’t make sense, but it felt great.

Molun yawned, and Arvus and Brannal did the same. Perian was pretty sure he was already past the yawning stage and practically sleeping.

“On that note,” Brannal said with a smile, “I think we’d better find our bed.”

Perian thought about the effort it was going to take to rise—and then found it was unnecessary because Brannal had risen to his feet and simply switched his hold on Perian so he was being carried. Mm, all those muscles. Perian was a very lucky man. He twined his arms around Brannal’s neck.

“This all right?” Brannal asked.

Perian smiled up at him. It was the first time he’d looked the man in the face since this had started, and he grinned at him with what he was pretty sure was a too-dopey, entirely-besotted smile, but he couldn’t help it.

“You’re wonderful.”

Brannal’s face creased into a warm smile, and he pressed a gentle kiss to Perian’s lips.

“So are you. Goodnight,” Brannal told Molun and Arvus, and Perian remembered to politely echo this.

“’Night,” Molun said.

“Sleep well,” Arvus told them.

“Oh, I will,” Perian told them, voice full of satisfaction.

They all laughed, and then Brannal was carrying Perian back to their room, somehow getting the door opened without even jostling Perian—seriously, did his muscles have muscles?—and carrying Perian straight to bed and laying him down in it.

Perian just lay there and let Brannal pull off his boots and then his trousers.

Brannal carefully tucked him under the covers, disappeared and then reappeared a few minutes later, having apparently cleaned himself up and changed into sleep trousers.

Brannal climbed into bed and then immediately pulled Perian into his arms, making him sigh in utter contentment.

Brannal kissed the side of his head again.

“Good night, Perian.”

“’Night, Brannal.”

Had he been awake enough to keep talking, he might have made an unwise declaration. Perhaps fortunately, Perian was warm and content, curled up against his favorite person after one of the best orgasms of his life, and sleep immediately grasped him and pulled him under.

Perian wasn’t totally sure what to expect the next time he saw Molun and Arvus. He hoped it wouldn’t change anything, but he couldn’t be sure until he actually saw them.

“Are you all right?” Brannal asked at breakfast.

“I’m fine,” Perian said, then thought of Renny and her assertion of how absurd adults were when they said one thing and meant another. He sighed. “All right, maybe a little less than fine. I guess I’m a little worried about whether or not things are going to change with Molun and Arvus now.”

“Do you regret it?” Brannal asked quietly, looking unhappy. “I really thought you would enjoy it. I didn’t mean to—”

Perian leaned across the table to grab his arm and squeeze. “Not for so much as a second,” Perian assured him. “You asked me what I wanted, and you were so good to me. I enjoyed it immensely.”

Brannal’s expression softened to that look Perian had only ever seen directed at him.

“I enjoyed it, too. You were wonderful, as always. Surely you don’t think they regretted it? It looked pretty obvious to me that they enjoyed it completely.”

Perian laughed a little, since it was certainly true everyone had come and seemed pleased.

“I don’t know quite what I’m feeling,” he admitted, struggling to put it into words. “But things are really good, and I guess I want them to stay that way.”

Brannal clasped their hands together. “They will. You’ll see.”

And it seemed Brannal’s optimism was borne out because Molun was one of the ones on duty with Renny when she was escorted to her picnic, and he smiled at Perian just the way he always did. And then he winked.

“Got any desserts in there?” He leered at the picnic basket.

Perian was sure he was blushing scarlet, but he rolled his eyes at the man and relaxed at the confirmation that Molun was going to treat him just the way he usually did—with friendly humor and at least a little inappropriateness.

Everything was going to be fine.

Before Perian knew it, it was the day before Brannal had to leave on patrol.

His heart sank at the idea of having to sit around just waiting for possible news.

But this was a patrol of Warriors and Mage Warriors who were protecting the country’s citizens from wraiths, nightmares, carnalions, and lesser demons.

This was Brannal’s job. The idea of something happening to Brannal was nerve-wracking… but it came with the territory.

“It’s only a week,” Brannal reminded him at the end of breakfast in the sitting room.

Perian nodded. Thank goodness it wasn’t longer than that; thank goodness Brannal was only patrolling between here and the closest watch station, the one in the fourth district.

“You’re sure you don’t want—” Brannal started.

Perian cut him off before he could finish, fearing he wouldn’t be strong enough to refuse a second offer to cancel.

But that would leave them open to Cormal accusing Brannal of not doing his job.

Plus, it wasn’t a practical solution, not if this relationship was to last, which Perian very much wanted.

Making his tone firm by sheer force of will, Perian said, “You’ll be fine, I’ll be fine, and we’ll have a wonderful reunion when you get back.”

Brannal considered him for a long moment, and then he leaned in and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to Perian’s lips.

“It has never been so hard to leave the castle before,” he admitted.

Perian flung his arms around him, glad to hear it was affecting Brannal, too.

“Other people do it all the time,” Perian whispered.

“I don’t care what other people do,” Brannal whispered back, making Perian snort with laughter.

Brannal cradled him close. “I’ve also never been so anxious to get back to the castle.”

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Perian admonished. “Be careful and take care of yourself.”

“I definitely will.” He eyed Perian. “I have someone to come back for, don’t I?”

Perian swallowed, nodded, and managed to smile. Apparently, it was convincing enough, because Brannal headed off to work.

Perian did his best to go about his day like normal, even if he was more than a little distracted.

If there was one thing Perian had learned in his life, it was that someone could leave with every intention of coming back and yet not do it.

Brannal would try to come back. He was an excellent Mage Warrior.

Demons were a scourge upon the earth, and this patrol would help destroy them before they could hurt anyone.

Perian blew out a shaky breath. He knew all that, but it didn’t quite banish the part of him that knew only that his father had gone into the city, intending to return, only he never had. There had been a fire, something no one could predict, and Perian had been left alone .

Brannal was probably the most powerful person Perian had ever met, one of the extremely rare Mages who could control all four elements. He had the best chance of survival of anyone , but nothing was guaranteed.

This wasn’t going to be easy, but Perian would manage. He had to. He wanted to. He was really proud of Brannal and his desire to protect people. In order to do that, he kind of had to be… allowed to protect people.

It was going to be fine. Of course, it would be fine.

Brannal was taking Cormal with him, which was apparently a bit unusual; typically, if Summus was out of the castle for days, then Secundus was in it.

Perian was pretty sure this change of routine was solely for Perian’s benefit, not leaving the two of them in the castle together without Brannal’s buffering presence.

Molun, Arvus, and Nisal were staying here, too, while Delana would be going on the patrol.

“You’ll dump water over both of them if they get out of control, right?” Perian had asked her, a bit too anxiously to successfully make it a joke.

She’d nodded, looking a little amused. “I most certainly will.”

Delana didn’t put up with nonsense. She and Onadal were rather similar in that respect, and Perian wondered if their work ethics were so in sync that people thought they just clicked that way instead of romantically.