Page 18 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

Chapter Eight

O nce the door was closed, Brannal pressed him flat against the wooden surface and began to nibble at his skin in earnest, sucking on his ear, biting the cords of his neck, licking lower, biting at his collarbone as he tugged Perian’s shirt to the side to expose it.

Perian hummed a happy sound. “You’re going to have to play with fire more often if it makes you like this.”

Brannal’s hands, which Perian hadn’t even noticed because he’d been distracted by his mouth, delved into his trousers to wrap around his cock, and Perian jerked against him.

Brannal pumped his handful, and with the bit of his brain that could focus, Perian tried to figure out the best way to get naked while not releasing one another. It didn’t actually seem possible. Maybe they could just get off once to take the edge off and then get naked? Yes, that would do.

Accordingly, he hooked a leg around Brannal’s waist, dragging him closer, grinding them together.

Brannal kept pumping, groaning as his own cock was stimulated by the friction—yes, that was what Perian wanted—and mouthing at Perian’s neck, his jaw, his ear, and his mouth as Perian whimpered, reveling in the feelings until they tumbled over the edge, Brannal biting the juncture of Perian’s neck and shoulder, Perian’s head thunking back into the door, both of them spilling in their trousers.

Oh, that had been lovely. Messy but lovely.

Brannal just stood there for a moment, panting against him. He pressed a kiss to the skin he’d bitten, and Perian shivered.

“Too much?” Brannal asked.

“Not enough,” Perian corrected, and Brannal laughed, the sound low and husky.

“Let’s try again on the bed,” Perian suggested.

He grabbed Brannal’s hand and pulled him into the bedroom, and they set about getting properly naked, shedding clothes in sloppy disorder and then falling into bed together, rubbing against one another, kissing and touching, until they were both hard again.

“You always make me feel so good,” Brannal told him.

Perian beamed. “I feel the exact same way about you. No one has ever made me feel the way you do.”

Brannal nodded. “I’m going to make you come.”

Perian’s smile became more of a leer. “Oh, are you?”

Brannal’s smile deepened. “I’m going to make you come so hard .”

Brannal proved as good as his word, sucking Perian but always drawing back, building him up and then holding him off, not letting the climax come yet because it was so much more fun to let it build again and again and again until they were both panting messes and they knew that when they did finally come, it was going to be the absolute biggest and best orgasm ever.

(There were a lot of those where the two of them were concerned.)

Then Brannal got Perian spread face down on the mattress and licked and tongued at Perian’s hole, which he always loved, especially when Brannal was relentless, pushing him higher and higher until he spurted all over the sheets with a desperate cry of pleasure.

Brannal dived in again, using tongue and fingers until Perian was hard once more.

Perian groaned and squirmed and loved it.

Brannal pressed slowly inside him, filling him just the way Perian liked best.

“Gonna come for me?” Brannal asked.

“Gonna come so hard,” Perian agreed, because there was really nothing else to say.

Brannal was the best. He always knew just how to touch Perian .

He loved all their orgasms, but he thought his favorite was like now, when they came together, toppling into a pleasure that obliterated everything for a moment, hazing out the world so that there was nothing but the two of them and their joint satisfaction.

Slowly, the world regained focus, and Perian let out a very satisfied breath.

“You really are the best at that.”

“You’re very inspiring,” Brannal told him.

Perian laughed, husky and replete. He didn’t think he could take credit for all the amazing things Brannal did to him, but he certainly didn’t mind being an inspiration for something as amazing as this.

“I love you,” Perian said.

“And I love you. You’re the light of my life,” Brannal told him, eyes soft and dark.

Perian smiled. “And you’re the fireball that lights up mine.”

Brannal chuckled and pulled him closer. Perian was certain there couldn’t be anything better than this in the world. They fell asleep together, skin pressed against skin.

It was wonderful to have Renny back at her best. It seemed like the time after the Fire Festival had everyone at their most energetic, like a little bit of that leaping bonfire really had been transferred into everyone.

Everything was growing in proliferation, the sun was shining, and people just seemed to be happy.

Honestly, Perian seemed scarcely to need to nudge anyone these days because they were all taking risks and pairing up on their own.

He couldn’t count the number of times he’d run into someone kissing in a corridor, holding hands, or heading into a private room with what could only be described as bedroom eyes.

“Is it the heat?” he wanted to know.

Brannal laughed. “This time of year does tend to inspire people. It’s easy to go off for a long and romantic walk. Or shed clothes for what seems like a prosaic reason.”

Perian laughed. He liked the way he could wander almost anywhere in the castle and feel that buzz of happy energy.

Even Cormal seemed a bit more mellow than usual, and Perian happily relayed to Renny that he thought maybe the man was seeing someone, explaining the encounter at the Fire Festival.

Renny wrinkled her nose. “But who would want to go out with Cormal?”

Perian was working on a diplomatic reply when Renny tilted her head the way she did when she was listening to Kee. Her brow furrowed, and she made a face.

“Well, I guess .”

Perian raised an eyebrow.

Renny huffed out a breath. “Kee says Cormal is the second-in-command of the Mage Warriors and not completely terrible to look at if you like fiery redheads who lose their temper and are angry and mean a lot of the time.”

Then she giggled at what Perian assumed was Kee trying to correct what didn’t sound like an entirely accurate relaying of what he’d said.

Objectively, Cormal really wasn’t terrible to look at, but it was the rest of him that Perian had more trouble with.

“Do you think most people think he’s a fiery redhead who loses his temper?

” Perian asked, thinking out loud. “I’ve been trying to figure out who I could maybe nudge in his direction, but I didn’t fully consider that maybe those in the castle aren’t the best option.

” Was that why it was working with that man from the Fire Festival, assuming it was working?

Did the man not know Cormal well enough to be put off—or was it just possible that Cormal could show another side of himself outside the castle?

A little bit doubtfully, Perian asked, “Should I try to get Cormal to the pub more often?”

Renny’s head snapped to the side. “Don’t shout! I can hear you just fine.” She paused, then nodded. “Thank you.” She rolled her eyes and turned back to Perian. “Kee thinks that’s a dumb idea. Cormal won’t want to go out with you.” She made a face and grumbled, “That’s what you meant .”

Perian couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, you’re not wrong. And I don’t exactly want to go out to the pub with him. I’ll keep thinking about it.”

He didn’t want even Cormal to be lonely—especially if being not lonely improved his behavior this much.

Maybe he’d just see if Molun could get everyone out to the pub again.

Or he could bribe Delana with pastries and see if she’d suggest that Cormal needed to spend some more time unwinding.

It would probably be better not coming from Perian anyway .

He continued to ponder it off and on over the next few days, but it seemed like a less pressing concern when so many people seemed to be content and reveling in their attraction to other people. It certainly put a spring into Perian’s step.

It was perhaps for this reason that he was brought up short by what felt like a…

twinge as he was passing a room on his way back from the stables.

(Prince Horsey had forgiven him. Eventually.) He grimaced because if most of the castle was buzzing with satisfied desire, this was…

not that. This was… something darker and crueler, and it had Perian barreling through the door before he’d thought it through.

There were only two people in the room, and one of them had the other one pinned to the wall, a hand around her throat, leaning too close. Her strawberry blond hair had half fallen out of its arrangement.

“Get out,” the man snapped. “We’re busy.”

“Get away from her!” Perian yelled.

The man whirled, releasing the woman’s throat, and Perian saw that it was one of the Warriors who liked to give him a hard time, one of Fomadin’s friends, who had restrained himself to the occasional snide remark and angry look since Fomadin had been dismissed for attacking Perian during training.

His face twisted into an ugly sneer when he saw Perian.

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Come here.” Perian beckoned the woman.

But she was frozen, and the man’s lips curled up into a worse smirk.

“She’s exactly where she wants to be. Leave. Now.”

She was definitely not where she wanted to be. Her eyes were huge and terrified.

Perian was aware that this man could easily defeat him. Maybe Perian stood a slightly better chance than he had when he’d last been attacked by someone, but not by that much. He was still no match for someone who’d trained for years and whose actual job was being a Warrior.

“No,” Perian said, standing his ground.

The very worst part was that the man’s arousal jumped, and Perian knew, he just knew that the man liked to hurt people, that he was glad that Perian had refused to leave and hadn’t made this easy on himself.