Page 42 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong (Lost Arts #2)

“You certainly do,” Perian said. “Quiet, well-mannered company.”

Molun snorted. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Prince Horsey is very well-behaved,” Perian said with… perhaps not perfect truth.

“I wasn’t talking about the horse,” Molun said dryly.

Perian stuck his tongue out, and Renny laughed, the sound bright and happy in the summer air.

“Come on,” she told them.

And they all set off. It was definitely not the most exciting of rides, but Perian patted Prince Horsey’s neck and told him he was doing such a great job, and sometimes it was nice to go slowly and admire the flowers, right?

“I’m not sure horses like flowers,” Renny observed.

“Do you speak horse?”

Slowly, she shook her head.

“Then you don’t know, do you? Maybe it’s their favorite thing, and they’re always wishing we would slow down and let them pay more attention!”

She laughed again. “You don’t speak horse, either. You don’t know that.”

“But you don’t know I’m wrong!” Perian pointed out irrefutably.

Several very pleasant minutes were lost in imagining all the ridiculous things horses could be talking about that humans would never realize.

Molun made a few suggestions as well, and Nisal laughed a lot, but the rest of the Warriors and Mage Warriors didn’t join in. Perian couldn’t tell if they didn’t think it was their place, if they were too busy scanning their surroundings, or if they just thought the conversation was stupid.

Perian thought if everyone was willing to be a little more silly, it would probably be a much more entertaining, happier world. But he was on this ride because Renny had asked him. They were here to protect their princess from any threat.

When they reached the point at which Perian usually gave Prince Horsey his head, the horse tried to turn them where they usually headed off to a run.

“Oh, no,” Perian said, pulling him back under control, petting his neck.

“Not this time. I know you want to leave everyone else in the dust and show them what an amazing horse you are, but you can’t do that right now.

I mean, you are always amazing, and I’m sure they all know it.

You don’t get to demonstrate your ability to run long distances just at the moment.

” Leaning closer, he said in a carrying whisper, “Come on. I’ve got them half-convinced about the flowers. Don’t blow it for me now.”

“Cheater!” Renny shouted, laughing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Perian said with mock innocence.

“I bet he doesn’t like flowers at all. I bet he’s talking about apples .”

Prince Horsey’s ears pricked forward at the mention of his favorite fruit, and he nickered.

“Actually,” Perian conceded, “it’s extremely likely he’s thinking about those all the time. I’m pretty sure he would eat them until he was as round as an apple if I let him.”

Renny scoffed. “If the stable hands didn’t stop you, I think you mean.”

Perian laughed and admitted, “Maybe more like that. But he works hard.” He patted Prince Horsey, ruffling his mane. “He deserves to have lots of treats, doesn’t he?”

Renny made another disparaging noise. “It’s a good thing you aren’t in charge of the stable.”

“It really is,” Perian agreed. “He would convince me it was always time for treats.”

They laughed again and then ambled along the flat green expanse, keeping to an entirely decorous walk that Perian was sure Prince Horsey thought was weird.

But while the horse occasionally shook his head, ruffling his mane, like he had too much energy and would love to expel it, he was actually very well behaved beneath Perian.

Prince Horsey really was a good horse, and Perian wished he was able to convince him to let other people ride him.

Not that Perian wasn’t loving being the one who did—and if he were being perfectly honest, flattered to have been chosen—but even if Perian was here for quite a while, he couldn’t ride Prince Horsey all the time. More people would be more options.

Perian wanted everyone to have options. He could keep going for rides with Renny, and he could keep hosting Kee on Prince Horsey’s back if they were all enjoying it. It wasn’t at all the same as the reality from before the attack six years ago, but it was more than they’d had recently.

Renny was laughing and animated, and she looked like she was having the time of her life, even if her mount was placid and steady.

“I don’t think I ever asked,” Perian said. “What’s your horse’s name?”

“Buttercup,” Renny answered.

“Not Princess Horsey?” Perian proposed.

She made a face, looking a bit embarrassed. “Hey,” she protested. “I was four. You can’t expect me to be the most creative thinker at four.”

“Your clarity was excellent.”

She laughed. “You better be careful, or I’m going to name your next horse.”

Perian grinned. He could think of worse things than having Renny name one of his horses. Prince Horsey might be ridiculous, but the name had clearly been given with love.

“Princess,” Molun said after a few minutes.

Renny sighed, but then she nodded.

“Time to turn around,” she said reluctantly.

“Oh, is it that time already?” Perian said. “Goodness, that went fast.”

“When you’re having fun?” Renny proposed, a bit of a challenge.

“Of course I had fun,” he answered honestly.

“It wasn’t a gallop.”

“No,” he agreed. “But it didn’t need to be.”

As they turned around, however, Prince Horsey was a little more fractious.

Renny huffed a breath. “See? He doesn’t think this was a good enough ride.”

“It was a perfectly lovely ride,” Perian answered staunchly. “Prince Horsey just didn’t get much of a chance to show off, and you know he likes to do that.”

She smiled faintly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Perian had definitely not meant to bring her down, and he hated the idea that his riding with her had contributed to that feeling.

“Do you really think he should get to show off?”

She perked up. “Of course.”

Perian considered. “Well, then, what if we ran circles around you all the way home?”

She sat straighter. “What?”

Perian nodded, pretty sure they could pull this off. “You keep walking home, just like you’re doing, and Prince Horsey and I will run circles around you. All of you, I mean.”

He gestured at the Warriors. He was pretty sure Prince Horsey could even do it just around Renny and Buttercup, but those turns would be much tighter, and he didn’t want to risk hurting her if he miscalculated.

“I’d like to see that,” Renny declared happily.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” one of the Warriors asked.

“Totally sure!” Perian said cheerfully and steered Prince Horsey out between the Warriors surrounding Renny .

“I don’t see any circles,” Renny called.

So Perian nudged Prince Horsey into a trot.

“Let’s show them what we’re made of, shall we?” he said.

Prince Horsey seemed to think that was an excellent idea.

Perian sent him surging ahead at first, and Prince Horsey looked like he was just going to streak into the hills, but Perian nudged him and got him running back in the other direction after a moment.

They streaked right past the group, and he heard Renny laughing.

He turned Prince Horsey again, who snorted but obeyed anyway, and they passed Renny on the other side.

Then Perian started tightening up the circle until the changes of direction weren’t so abrupt, until Prince Horsey seemed to understand what they were doing even if it was weird.

Some of the other horses seemed to be a bit nervous or confused about this, but Perian trusted the Warriors and Mage Warriors to control their mounts.

Buttercup was walking along as placidly as ever, like this was an everyday occurrence.

And Prince Horsey had really got into it and was continuing to whiz around them like this was the best thing he’d ever done.

“You’re making me dizzy!” Renny shouted eventually.

Perian pulled Prince Horsey around, and they started circling the other way, with Renny’s delighted shouts of laughter in his ears.

Finally, as they neared the entrance to the stable yard, Perian pulled Prince Horsey up, and they walked the last of the way at the same pace as the rest of the horses.

Renny was still laughing.

“That was the silliest thing I’ve ever seen!” she said, sounding utterly delighted.

“I think I managed to get the fidgets out of him, what do you think?”

“I think you probably did,” she agreed, eyes still dancing with laughter.

They reached the stable, and Perian stayed on Prince Horsey while Renny carefully dismounted, Molun and Nisal hovering to ensure she did so safely. She looked to be in fine form, and she waved cheerfully at Perian.

“Thank you, Perian, that was so much fun. We should do it again!”

“Anytime you want,” he assured her.

Then she was gone, whisked away into the safety of the castle. Perian took care of Prince Horsey, praising him for being so patient and then being willing to do something silly.

“Sometimes, that’s the best way to deal with the fidgets, you know? If you’re too serious, you miss out on the glory of silliness.”

Perian had done serious and grieving and quiet contemplation at his estate. There’d been silly when his father was still alive, but not afterwards. Perian was glad to have found it again—and to be able to share it with Renny.

He fed Prince Horsey only slightly too many apples and carrots, and then Perian went to get cleaned up himself.

“Sometimes, it feels like that’s all I’m doing!”

Yes, and sometimes, he talked to himself. But he’d worked up a sweat with that silly show all the way back to the stables.

Unfortunately, Brannal wasn’t in evidence, so Perian didn’t have company, but it wasn’t that long until dinner, and he was sure whoever sat next to him would appreciate it if he smelled better.

It grew later, but Brannal didn’t turn up, and eventually, Perian headed down to dinner on his own.

He was slightly worried, but he assumed a task had run over.

Usually, Brannal was able to send him notice when that happened, but if he got suddenly pulled in by the Queen or got an urgent report, Perian could imagine he’d either lost track of the time or didn’t feel it was appropriate to delay while sending a note to his lover.

(Perian might have done it—and let everyone know what he was doing—but he respected that Brannal was Summus and had a slightly different way of working.)

Molun and Arvus were at dinner, though they looked a little surprised when Perian showed up on his own.

“No Brannal?”

Perian shook his head. “I guess he’s running late. You haven’t seen him?”

Molun shook his head. “I was with the Princess today, though.”

Arvus had been in with the novices, and he hadn’t seen him either.

Perian must have started to look more worried, because Molun nudged him.

“Look who else is missing. Want to bet they’re arguing in front of the Queen right now?”

A quick scan showed Cormal wasn’t at the table, and while it might not be related, Perian could totally imagine them arguing, that was for sure.

Nisal had an afternoon through evening shift today, he remembered; the castle had to be guarded all the time, not just during daylight hours.

Brannal hadn’t had to do that since Perian had been here, but maybe that was because Summus did more of the organizing than the actual guarding.

Maybe Perian shouldn’t assume it was always like that.

Arvus and Molun helped to keep him entertained, and across the table, Bennan told Perian all about Chamis’s current carvings.

Chamis was mostly eating, but he did nod occasionally, and that seemed to be how he was most comfortable, letting Bennan say a lot of the words and only interjecting occasionally. It really was nice to see just how proud Bennan was of the big redhead.

Brannal and Cormal still hadn’t shown up by the time dinner finished, so Molun and Arvus walked Perian back upstairs. He stuck his head in Brannal’s room, but it was still empty.

“You want company?” Molun offered.

But Perian shook his head. “I’d rather be here when he gets back.”

They both nodded, the smirk on Molun’s face saying he knew what Perian was waiting for.

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

He waved the two of them off and decided to change into his sleep trousers, but rather than lounging in bed or spreading himself over the table or something, he settled at the fireplace with a book.

He didn’t know how long Brannal was going to be, after all, and he’d rather not fall asleep or have a body part go numb while waiting.

Perian turned up the lamp. He was reading about elemental magic from one of the books that Brannal had loaned him.

It really was interesting, even if it was clearly meant for people who were actually Mages.

Just reading about the concentration involved, and the effort that was needed to get the elements to do what was wanted…

Not actually surprising, he supposed, that those who had trained for years made it look easy when it actually wasn’t.

Like anything else, he supposed, honing abilities took practice.

He got lost in the pages and was taken by surprise when the door finally opened and Brannal arrived.

“Hey, you’re late,” Perian said. “I hope—”

“ What do you think you were doing?” Brannal thundered.