Page 16 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

Another fireball launched into the sky, bursting above the bonfire and falling back down into it. The crowd roared its approval.

Perian hadn’t really thought about what he would see beyond “fireball.” That had seemed pretty self-explanatory.

But it had failed utterly to capture the scope.

Sure, there were balls of fire, but there was every other shape of fire as well.

Hearts and stars outlined in fire danced through the air.

What looked like vines of fire climbed out of the flames, growing what looked like leaves and fantastic fire flowers before they eventually fell back into the bonfire below.

Brannal created a huge ring of fire that Cormal then threw fireballs through.

They tossed balls of fire between one another, like they really were playing an elaborate game of catch.

One of them created a shield that they held horizontally above the fire—Perian hadn’t even known they could do that—and the other bounced fireballs across it, almost like they were skipping stones in a lake.

They launched balls of fire that exploded into the sky, raining down on the bonfire.

It was truly beautiful to watch, and Perian was “oohing” and “ahhing” along with the rest of the crowd.

The grand finale was what looked like dozens of fireballs that circled one another, diving in and out in an intricate dance until they all crashed together and fell back into the bonfire, making it leap up like it was going to take over the sky, until it fell back once more to a manageable level.

The crowd exploded in cheers and yells and claps of appreciation, and Perian was cheering and yelling right along with everyone else.

Perian wasn’t sure if Brannal could actually hear him, or maybe he’d just found Arvus in the crowd.

Arvus was one of the tallest people Perian knew (only Chamis beat him, as far as Perian was aware), so he could be seen over most people.

Perian was only a few inches shorter than Arvus, but in a crowd like this, those inches mattered.

Brannal made his way over to the three of them, with Cormal in tow, the chattering crowd mostly parting for them.

The two of them were glistening with sweat and grinning.

Perian threw himself at Brannal as soon as he was within reach.

“Oh, Brannal, that was so wonderful, I’m so glad you did that. It was beautiful!”

He leaned in to kiss him, and it had honestly only been meant to be a congratulatory kiss, but it maybe got a bit hot and bothered. Perian had been completely turned on by that display.

Distantly, Perian heard Cormal mutter, “I’ve got to go.”

Perian made himself pull away.

“That was really amazing, Secundus,” he said, feeling bad because the man had been half of that display, and Perian hadn’t actually meant to focus solely on Brannal.

“It was your best yet,” Arvus added.

“The two of you outdid yourselves,” Molun agreed .

Something that looked almost like a smile graced Cormal’s lips, not an expression that Perian saw very often in his presence, and it faded a little when Cormal looked at him, but he said, “Thank you,” politely enough.

Perian thought he seemed a little sad. Did Cormal think that if Perian hadn’t been here, he and Brannal would have gotten back together?

Might it be true? They’d been together briefly when they were teenagers, more than a decade ago.

If they hadn’t gone back to one another so far, it didn’t seem likely to Perian.

But they’d both been united by fire, and who knew what might have happened.

But no matter how much Perian reluctantly sympathized with Cormal in that moment, he was definitely not going to give up Brannal for him.

(If Brannal suddenly decided that Cormal was who he wanted, he supposed he wouldn’t get in the way, but he definitely wasn’t going to simply step aside based on a look.)

As Cormal took a step back, the crowd seemed to take that to mean their discussion was over, and the redhead was suddenly surrounded by other people who wanted to tell him just how amazing he’d been, reaching out to pat his arm or shoulder—or in a few cases, downright caress him.

Perian had definitely glimpsed some wandering hands.

Brannal’s arm was firmly around Perian, and the crowd seemed to correctly read him. They stuck to respectful nods.

Perian watched Cormal flush as a pretty, dark-haired man laid his hand on Cormal’s chest.

“Ooh, you’re so strong,” the man purred.

Biting his lip, Perian managed not to laugh. He made sure not to meet Molun’s gaze, certain that the two of them would lose it if he did. There was definitely a lot of admiration and attraction there, and, well… sometimes, that was exactly what someone wanted.

Perian didn’t think he gave a nudge, but Cormal definitely wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. Perian happily put the other man out of his mind, hoping that whatever happened was exactly what the ornery second-in-command of the Mage Warriors needed.

He leaned into Brannal’s side.

“So you enjoyed that, did you?” Brannal asked.

Perian grinned at him. “That was extremely impressive, and I’ll show you just how impressed I am whenever you like.”

Brannal and Molun both groaned.

“That sounds like a very appealing offer,” Brannal said, eyes hot and dark, “but if you showed me whenever I liked, these good people would get quite a show.”

Perian laughed. “Anticipation makes the act that much more enjoyable, don’t you think?”

Brannal’s expression turned wry. “I’m certainly about to find out.”

“Are the other festivals like this?” Perian wanted to know.

He definitely wanted to make sure he was here in the city for all of them if that was the case.

But Arvus shook his head. “Most of the elements aren’t nearly as showy as fire. Earth is very steady and reliable.”

Brannal huffed a breath, but he looked amused.

They resumed their walking that was sort of patrolling.

As it got later, the dancing and frolicking got a little, uh, more playful, and the Mage Warriors did need to put out a handful of small fires that sprang up, because people were not always very smart judges of how much fire spread when they were drunk and having a good time.

Molun was not at all shy about dumping the water over the fire and whoever had set it or let it get out of control, which Perian thought was fair, under the circumstances.

“This must be a carnalion’s worst nightmare,” Perian realized.

Unlike nightmares, wraiths, and lesser demons, carnalions could blend in with humans, as their form was entirely human-looking.

A festival like this would be like a prime buffet for them, populated as it was with so many aroused people.

Carnalions scared everyone because they could consume so much sex energy that they killed people.

Brannal had told Perian that they could also make their victim feel so much unnatural lust that they didn’t fight back or realize anything was wrong.

In this case, Perian couldn’t imagine them needing to kill anyone when there was so much arousal in evidence.

But carnalions weren’t human, and they didn’t seem to think like that.

Even if they were tempted, though, carnalions were particularly susceptible to fire, just like nightmares were to earth and wraiths to water.

Perian imagined the idea of fire springing up at any moment would be terrifying for a carnalion.

Brannal hesitated for a moment, and it was Molun who said, laughing, “Yes, we don’t worry about carnalions at the Fire Festival. They’re crafty, not stupid. ”

Perian nodded. This was probably a good way to keep them away from what otherwise must be a tempting target.

Though, really, any carnalion would be stupid to venture into Royal City at all, given its abundance of Mage Warriors protecting the royal family and the city, Brannal and Cormal in particular.

There weren’t a lot of Fire Mages in the country, as it seemed to be the rarest elemental magic—but then, it wasn’t like regular humans couldn’t produce fire too, as they were witnessing tonight.

Fortunately, the inadvertent fires were few and far between, and with the patrolling Mage Warriors, Warriors, and more sober citizens, everything was quickly contained. Perian saw a Warrior dump one of the barrels of water onto a blaze and realized that they worked for that as well as wraiths.

Brannal checked to see if Perian wanted to head back to the castle, but Perian shook his head, squeezing the man’s hand.

“No, I’ll stay until you’re done. It’s fun to watch everyone.”

Brannal squeezed his hand back, smiling.

They didn’t head back to the castle until the wee hours of the morning when the festival had finally drawn to a close and the crowd dispersed. A ceremonial burning brand was taken from the bonfire to burn in the castle, and then the bonfire was extinguished by Brannal, Cormal, Molun, and Simiala.

(If it wasn’t Perian’s imagination, Cormal looked a little… rumpled. Perian scanned the area and saw that the cute dark-haired man with the really wandering hands was sticking around. He smirked to himself.)

Perian hadn’t really thought about how handling fire meant that you could put it out as well as start it, and he brought this up as they walked back to the castle with Molun and Arvus. The others had gone their own way.