Page 43 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong (Lost Arts #2)

Chapter Eighteen

P erian blinked at him, taken aback by the angry demand.

Stupidly, he just said, “What?”

“Of all the irresponsible, dangerous stunts to pull!” His dark eyes were flashing, his body stiff and angry.

Brannal was late and annoyed, and he was clearly annoyed with Perian , but why?

“What are you talking about?” he asked, closing the book and setting it down as he rose to his feet, because he didn’t much like being loomed over.

“Did you deliberately not tell me what you were going to do? Do you know how that makes me look?” Brannal accused.

Perian could feel his own temper start to rise. If Brannal wasn’t outright yelling, it was awfully close, and there was an edge of Summus in the tone, and that… well that was just not all right.

He sucked in a deep breath and let it out.

Deliberately repeating the words slowly, he demanded, “What are you talking about?”

“Even if you’re reckless sometimes, I thought you at least cared about the Princess!” Brannal snapped .

“Of course I care about Renny!” Perian fired back, alarm zipping through him. Frantically, he demanded, “What happened to her, is she all right?”

“No thanks to your stunt this afternoon!”

Perian was confused and alarmed, feeling his heart rate spike. “Wait, you mean our ride? Oh, no, what happened? Did she have a dizzy spell? Is she all right?”

“She’s fine!” Brannal flared. “That’s not the point.”

Perian stared at him in confusion. “Wait, wait. So, you’re saying Renny is perfectly fine and nothing actually happened to her?”

Brannal let out a short nod.

Perian felt all of his relief turn to anger. “Then what in the name of all the elements are you doing, coming in here and yelling at me about nothing bad happening?”

“Just because nothing happened to her this time doesn’t mean it couldn’t have when you were being reckless and thoughtless and stupid!”

Perian stiffened.

Brannal wasn’t done. “Do you have any idea what would happen if she were hurt? Do you think you can do whatever you want with her and there won’t be consequences? Do you know how it looks when you put her in danger?”

Perian’s voice was clipped when he asked, “How it looks for you, or how it looks for me?”

A furrow appeared in Brannal’s brow. “What?”

Stiffly, Perian said, “It sounds like you’re saying I reflect badly on Summus. Is that it?”

And Brannal… hesitated.

Perian scoffed, even as he felt his heart sink. But he didn’t let that distract him. He marched up to Brannal and poked him in the chest. “Well, you know what? You might be Summus, but I’m not one of your novices or one of your Mage Warriors. You don’t get to berate me!”

Brannal’s eyes flashed with annoyance. “I wasn’t berating you.”

Perian raised an eyebrow and challenged, “Oh, no? Clearly something’s happened, and you think I didn’t behave appropriately.

Did you come in here and ask me about it?

Did you discuss it with me like I was your equal?

Or did Summus storm in here and yell at me like he had the right to dictate my behavior and actions? ”

Brannal sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes flickered closed, and when he opened them again, they looked much calmer. He nodded.

“The latter. I, uh, definitely did the latter. I apologize.”

“Thank you,” Perian said crisply, still a bit hurt, though it helped that Brannal had acknowledged it. “Was there something you wanted to discuss like calm, rational people?”

Brannal’s lips quirked up faintly. “Is that more effective communication than berating someone? Are you sure?”

Perian felt himself begin to properly relax at the attempted teasing. “Yes, I’m pretty sure.”

“Could I… hug you first?”

Smiling properly for the first time since the other man had stormed into the room, Perian said, “Yes, please,” and was soon wrapped in Brannal’s arms.

“I’m sorry,” Brannal told him. “Truly. I don’t always get the balance between being just me and being Summus right.

But regardless, I should have known better than to yell and accuse.

That’s actually not the best approach with Mage Warriors, either.

And it’s definitely not how I should ever approach you. Let’s sit down.”

They sat in the armchairs by the fire.

“What, exactly, was I accused of doing?” Perian wanted to know.

“Reckless riding with the Princess,” Brannal told him. “Modeling Prince Horsey as a horse she could handle, and encouraging her in behavior that would cause her harm.”

Perian frowned. “All right, first of all, I would never do anything to harm Renny, and if you don’t know that, we have a serious problem.”

Brannal grimaced. “I do know that. I’m not ever concerned you’ll do something out of malice. I guess I’m more worried than I realized that something you perceive as merely ‘fun’ could go wrong and have consequences you don’t anticipate—but that’s on me. Will you tell me what actually happened?”

Perian summarized the event, glossing over the beginning.

“When it came time to turn back, Prince Horsey was a little bit fidgety, which upset Renny. So I offered to race Prince Horsey and accompany them back. It was silly and immature, if that matters to you. I don’t think it qualified as irresponsible or reckless, personally.

I’m a good rider, and I would never have asked Prince Horsey to do anything I didn’t think him capable of. ”

“What did you do?” Brannal asked.

“Ran Prince Horsey in circles around everyone else. Not just around Renny—I knew that would be tight. We raced around her and all the Warriors and Mage Warriors, first one way and then the other, so that we stayed with them but Prince Horsey could go much faster. Then once we got close to the castle, we fell back in with everyone else and walked back to the stable yard.”

“Oh,” Brannal said, a little bit blankly.

Perian sighed. “I imagine that’s what someone meant with putting ideas in her head.

But that’s like saying she should never see regular people doing regular activities.

She is constantly surrounded by active, able-bodied Warriors and Mage Warriors.

Every ride, she’s surrounded by people on horses larger and more active than her own.

True, they don’t run circles around her, but she knows they’re capable of more.

If I’d done it to goad her, of course that would have been inappropriate, but it was to cheer her up, and she agreed that Prince Horsey should get the chance to show off.

She’s not six anymore, Brannal, and she has clearly been navigating the world for years with the uncomfortable knowledge that there are many things other people can do that she isn’t capable of. ”

“That’s very true,” Brannal said, looking as saddened by this as Perian was. “I should have asked more clarifying questions.”

“Maybe take stories that you hear about me with a grain of salt?” Perian suggested.

“It was very convincing when it was relayed to me,” Brannal said tightly, voice hard. “But believe me, I will find out exactly what Cormal was told.”

His tone made it clear this wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation for Cormal, but Perian definitely didn’t feel sorry for the man, not when he’d stirred up all this trouble. Surely, he knew better than to claim something had happened without actual firsthand witnesses?

“Are any of the Warriors or Mage Warriors bad riders?” Perian asked. “Could someone really have thought I was doing something dangerous?”

Brannal smiled softly at him. “They all ride well enough to do their job. And even if they weren’t particularly good, I would think it became obvious quite quickly that you are an excellent one. And I assume the Princess loved it?”

“It made her laugh,” Perian agreed, smiling.

“We’re all very protective of the Princess, but it doesn’t sound like any of that was remotely dangerous,” Brannal acknowledged. “Perhaps we’re not adjusting very well to the improvement in her health, but that’s not an excuse to attack you.”

“She was really sick?” Perian took the opportunity to ask, because he hadn’t wanted to make Renny uncomfortable by asking.

Brannal grimaced, nodding his head. “There were times when she could barely get out of bed and when she looked like she was very near to—” He cut himself off, eyes bleak.

“It wasn’t good. It’s varied over the years, times when she was a bit stronger or weaker, but she’s never been in good health since the wraith attack.

She’s always needed to rest a lot, couldn’t do most of the things that children would normally do.

She was prone to dizziness and collapsing, and—”

“Dizziness!” Perian exclaimed.

Brannal blinked at him, looking puzzled by the outburst. “Dizziness?”

“When I was going in circles. Renny said I was making her dizzy, and so I circled the other way. If someone heard that out of context, if they thought she meant she was getting one of her dizzy spells, I could see how they would be concerned.”

Brannal looked skeptical. “While she was laughing and riding a horse with perfect ease? I heard no report of her being carried in prostrate.”

Perian had to concede that. “Well, no, she was totally fine, and she seemed very happy when she left.” He eyed Brannal. “But you went off half-cocked without enough information. I’m just saying that maybe someone else did, too.”

Brannal didn’t seem to have an argument about that, and Perian realized he might be accidentally making excuses for Cormal. He hadn’t meant to do that , he just didn’t want this to cause any more misunderstandings than it already had.

“Renny had dizzy spells and sometimes collapsed,” Perian prompted.

Brannal nodded. “She needed to rest a lot, which resulted in those naps in the afternoon which she seems to have come to dislike so much.”

“But she hasn’t had a spell in weeks, right?”