Page 11 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

Chapter Five

R eally, that was probably all they could hope for, and Perian resisted the urge to yell a goodnight after him.

They made it safely to Brannal’s rooms after that. Perian sighed as the door closed.

Brannal was eying him carefully. Perian shrugged.

“I just… can’t quite figure him out.”

“He’s not so bad,” Brannal said gently.

Perian could believe that he wasn’t so bad to Brannal , but he wasn’t at all certain that it was true when it came to him. The man certainly hadn’t restrained himself for Perian just then. But he had chosen not to engage, regardless, and that was better than the alternative.

“I’m really glad we did this tonight,” Perian said instead.

Brannal allowed the change of subject, smiling a satisfied smile. “Me, too.”

Perian rubbed at the cover of the book, which was still slightly damp from where they’d carefully cleaned it.

“I really didn’t mean to damage it.”

Brannal slung an arm around his waist and pulled him into a sideways hug.

“I’m delighted by how much you enjoyed what we did, and I think the book is going to be fine. But if it comes to it, we can always have it rebound if needed.”

Perian snorted a laugh. “Because that’s a conversation you want to have with a book binder.”

Brannal shrugged. “I got you that book so we could enjoy it. I consider this use of it to be eminently fulfilling that purpose, don’t you? I mean, we could leave it on the shelf and ensure that it stayed pristine, but what would be the fun of that?”

That was very true. Perian would try to be careful, but Brannal was right, this was definitely a book meant to be enjoyed.

“You’re right,” he said.

“Of course I am,” Brannal agreed promptly, making Perian laugh.

They cleaned up a little more in the water closet, Brannal stripping properly out of his clothes and Perian setting aside the wonderful robe. It was going to be saved for special occasions.

Then they crawled into bed, Brannal yawning again and pulling Perian into his arms, wrapping around him the way Perian loved best.

“I love you,” Perian told him.

“I love you too, dear heart,” Brannal returned. “You don’t know how much.”

Perian couldn’t exactly quantify it, he supposed, but it felt like Brannal showed him how much every single day.

The next few days passed quickly, with Perian continuing his defense lessons most mornings but otherwise wrapped up in Renny’s recovery, usually spending the whole afternoon with her.

They had their picnic, chatted, and then often ended with reading, which usually coincided with the doctor’s visit to see how she was doing.

Thankfully, Renny really was improving in leaps and bounds—it wasn’t just Perian’s wishful thinking—and she was soon given permission to sit up in her sitting room.

It wasn’t the same as actually having free rein of the castle again, but it was a marked improvement .

He gave her the blanket he’d found during his getaway. It was in various shades of blue and green and looked soft and warm. Renny hugged it, then him, and told him she’d love it forever. It was too nice to be a picnic blanket, she told him, and was going to live on her bed. Forever.

Perian decided he’d let Renny have that argument with the cleaning staff.

A few days more, and she was permitted to sit up on the picnic blanket on the floor of the sitting room, under her own power, and then came the day that the doctor pronounced that although she would like Renny to be carried, just to be on the safe side, she was allowed to return to the quadrangle.

Brannal himself carried her, and Perian wasn’t sure if this was because he was literally the most powerful of the Mage Warriors (not that his mastery of all the elements was needed here), or if it was the unspoken agreement that no one but Renny and Perian were allowed in the now least-secret hiding space where Perian had first found Renny when he’d come to the castle.

Brannal had already known about the space from Kee, so he was getting in on a technicality.

It was probably somewhat ridiculous, given that the entirety of the complement of Warriors and Mage Warriors now knew about the bushes in the quadrangle garden that had a hollow center where people could hide, but everyone wanted Renny to feel better and be happy, and so they all seemed to be willing to go along with it.

Perian wondered if they were supposed to invite Brannal to stay with them.

He wouldn’t have minded on the one hand, but this was also his and Renny’s thing, and he didn’t want to mess that up.

But he didn’t have to make a decision, because once Brannal had made sure that Renny was comfortably arranged, he let them know that he needed to get back to work.

(There was no way that his work was being ranked above taking care of Renny, there just wasn’t.)

“If you’re feeling well enough,” Brannal said, “then you can step out to the Warriors afterwards.” He leveled a stern gaze on her. “If not, call for help or get Perian to carry you, all right?”

Renny huffed a breath but nodded obediently. She knew it was possible she’d be put under more restrictions if this didn’t go well, and more than anyone, she wanted this to succeed. Brannal inclined his head and then ducked back through the opening between the bushes.

Eying Perian skeptically, she said, “Do you really think you can carry me?”

Perian laughed, not at all offended, because made of muscle, he was not—especially when compared to all the Warriors and Mage Warriors in the castle.

“I’m not sure I could carry you all the way to your room comfortably, but I’m sure I could get you to the Warriors that are standing less than a dozen steps away, all right? ”

Renny nodded.

Perian had been working on getting stronger, but he was never going to be a wall of muscle like the vast majority of the Warriors.

He probably could carry Renny to her room if needed, but given that he’d be paranoid the entire time about dropping her or otherwise hurting her somehow, he’d much rather leave that to someone else.

Renny was delighted to be back outside, and Perian did his best to meet her exuberance with his own.

She was full of the fact that she’d recovered so much faster than she ever had before, that she’d only had the one dizzy spell, and that she had begun to feel better so much more quickly even though she’d been afraid it was going to be like before.

She shot him a grateful smile. “But you wouldn’t let it be like that.”

“I am pretty stubbornly cheerful,” he told her with a smile.

“It was really helpful. Thank you.”

“I’m glad I could help,” Perian told her. “But don’t underestimate yourself. I’m really proud of you.”

Renny leaned in and gave him a hug. “Thanks, Perian.”

The doctor had indicated that they should have an indoor picnic tomorrow to give time to observe and ensure that there were no negative effects to this outing. Renny had frowned but hadn’t actually tried to argue.

“We’re going to prove that these are the most decorous, most fun picnics ever and that you should be able to come out here as often as you want, aren’t we?” Perian said.

And Renny had smiled. “I’m not sure how you can make it sound so boring and yet pleasant at the same time.”

Truly, though, with the exception of the picnic that lived on in infamy where he’d taught Renny how to knee someone in the groin, their lunches really weren’t particularly physically energetic.

It was nice to sit out in the sun again, as it shone through the gap at the top of the bushes where they'd been shaped to almost meet above their heads.

The days were starting to get shorter as they headed towards the end of summer, and the harvest was abundant.

Perian would never tire of fresh fruit and berries and good things to eat.

Sitting out under the sun, it maybe felt a little bit to him like they were getting the chance to grow, as silly as that seemed.

He knew humans grew whether there was sunlight or not, but experiencing that bright warmth had to be beneficial, too.

“Can you feel the sun on your face, Kee?” Perian asked.

There was silence for a moment, and then Renny answered, “He can’t feel anything. Just like we can’t touch him, he can’t touch anything else.”

Not even the light of the sun. That felt unbearably sad to Perian.

“But then,” Renny added, “he doesn’t need to eat or drink or go pee or anything like that. Imagine how awkward that could be.”

Being eternally hungry and not being able to touch anything, never being able to eat? Perian shivered. Oh, that would definitely be worse.

“I’m so glad about that, at least,” he said fervently.

Renny nodded.

They flopped back on the blanket once they finished their meal and looked up at the clouds.

They argued about what animals they were seeing, just like they always did.

Renny insisted that she and Kee were seeing the same thing, and Perian accused her of cheating and just saying that Kee was seeing the same as her, because clearly, that in no way resembled a fox.

“It looks nothing like a fox, and I refuse to believe that you are both delusional!”

Renny laughed and laughed and insisted that he was the one who was wrong, and it was the perfect afternoon.

They packed everything up reluctantly, but Renny agreed that it wouldn’t help their cause if they stayed so long that she really was overtired and the doctor thought she shouldn’t do this again.

They made sure that she sat up first from looking at the clouds, and then Perian offered an arm as she rose, to make extra sure that she was all right.

She smiled when she was back on her feet.

“No dizzy spell, I promise.”

She hugged him, and Perian hugged her back. She certainly seemed entirely steady, and he didn’t think that she could hide a dizzy spell. She’d told him it was like all the energy being drained right out of her, and she often couldn’t even hold herself up.