Page 19 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

Perian clenched his fists. He couldn’t leave the woman here. He wasn’t sure when someone else would pass by. Maybe he could get between them? That meant getting closer to the man, which his instincts were telling him was a very bad idea, but he didn’t know what else to do.

So he started edging towards the woman at the wall, and the man watched him like he was a cat and Perian was a mouse. He let Perian get just close enough that he actually thought he might be able to grab her hand and pull her away, and then faster than Perian could track, he attacked.

Perian managed to bring up his other arm and break the man’s hold, but it didn’t take more than two moves before the man had caught him, grabbing his arm and bending his wrist back so far that Perian cried out and then cringed at the spike of arousal that tainted the room.

The man took a step forward, driving Perian back towards the wall, towards where the woman was trapped.

“ What is going on here?”

Fire and water. Of all the possible people who could come by in this moment.

It was Cormal.

The Warrior’s expression turned irritated and ingratiating, the cruelty that had been there suddenly subsumed, and he was no longer holding Perian.

Smoothly, the man said, “The little toy wandered in making a fuss just because I was having a pleasant time. Probably jealous.”

“That’s not—!” Perian started, outraged.

Cormal scoffed, his lip curling up. “He’s known for doing this. Let me take care of it, will you?”

The Warrior’s lips tipped up into a big smile, and he strolled out of the room as though he hadn’t a care in the world.

“Cormal!” Perian started.

Cormal held up his hand, and Perian ground his teeth together.

“No, really,” he insisted. “You need to listen to me!”

“Shut up,” Cormal snapped. “For once, recognize this is not about you.”

Perian shut up, confused, and watched in surprise as Cormal walked over to the woman who was still frozen against the wall a short distance away from Perian. He dropped to his knees far enough away that he couldn’t touch her.

“He’s gone now,” Cormal said gently. “Is there someone you’d like us to get for you? So you’ll feel more supported. ”

What… was even happening now?

Like she was a string puppet and her strings had been cut, she slid to the floor in front of Cormal, buried her face in her hands, and began to sob big heart-wrenching sobs.

“We need Delana,” Cormal instructed Perian. “Or someone who isn’t a Warrior and male. And we’ll need the doctor and Brannal and Onadal.”

And Perian, who two minutes before would have said nothing could convince him to do this, left Cormal with the woman and darted out into the hall until he found a runner and sent them pelting off to find the people they needed, blankets, and water.

When he returned, Cormal and the woman were still where they’d been before, but the woman had a handkerchief clutched in her hand, and Cormal was just sitting there patiently beside her, telling her that everything was going to be all right and they were going to fix this.

Perian was still stunned.

Nisal arrived first—the best soothing, non-threatening person Perian could think of, who could also flatten someone with air if they misbehaved—and Perian caught them at the entrance to the room.

“I don’t know exactly what happened,” he told them, but explained what he’d seen when he came into the room.

They made a horrified face and entered. And because they were Nisal—Perian was pretty sure they knew everything—they actually knew the woman’s name, and it wasn’t long before she was sobbing in Nisal’s arms, and Nisal was patting her soothingly but just letting her cry.

Cormal and Perian slipped away from them, since Nisal clearly had it under control at the moment, and kept everyone else out in the hall so as not to overwhelm the woman inside.

Once the doctor had heard what Perian had witnessed, she went into the room.

Soon after, the blanket and drinks arrived, and Perian sent Delana in with those, hoping that the woman would feel more comfortable without any men present.

The last thing Perian wanted was to make her feel uncomfortable.

“How did you know something was happening?” Cormal asked.

Perian frowned. “I’m not sure,” he admitted, trying to think over what had happened. How had he known, when he wasn’t even in the room to see them? “I just—”

Delana came to the door. “Misalla would like to see you, Perian. ”

He hurried in and was soon hugging the sobbing woman as she clung to him and thanked him over and over for coming in and for refusing to leave.

“You’re welcome,” Perian assured her. “He shouldn’t have done that to you.”

“I couldn’t say anything,” she sobbed. “I should have said something. I couldn’t say anything. I was so afraid.”

“He’s a lot bigger than you are,” Perian said. “I was scared, too.”

In a whisper, she said, “I was afraid he’d hurt me more .”

Oh . Perian’s temper was at risk of boiling over, and if he could have lobbed fireballs, then that particular Warrior would definitely have been burnt to a crisp.

The doctor spoke before Perian could, which was probably a good thing, because Perian wouldn’t have had anything sensible to say.

“We won’t allow him to harm you or anyone else again. Now I know this is difficult, but do you think you can tell me what happened?”

She nodded.

“I can go,” Perian offered.

But Misalla wouldn’t release him, and if supporting her and bearing witness was what she needed, then he could do that.

In a whisper, she said, “He gets mean. And he doesn’t take no for an answer.”

Based on the impressions that Perian had got when he’d seen the man interacting with her, he was pretty sure that ignoring the “no” was exactly what the man wanted to do. Perian felt more than a little ill.

“We’ll take care of it,” the doctor promised her firmly. “Is there anyone else who might wish to speak with us? It will be in confidence, and I’ll approach them to see if they would be willing to speak to me.”

She was silent for a moment, and then she gave a shaky nod.

Fire and water and all the elements. If there was a way to make this worse, that was definitely it. Perian only realized he was shaking when the doctor spoke to him.

“I think you should drink this, Perian.”

He stared at the glass of water like he’d never seen one before, but he eventually figured out to take it into his hands and drink some of it. It tasted funny. Or maybe it was his mouth that tasted funny, like the bile in his stomach had crawled up his throat and invaded .

Nisal had apparently found some of Misalla’s friends who could cuddle up with her.

When she turned to them, Perian gave her arm a pat and then climbed to his shaky feet.

He felt weirdly cold. Brannal had come in at some point, and he eyed Perian with concern, but Perian squeezed his arm and summoned a smile from somewhere. He wasn’t the priority right now.

Onadal, the doctor, and Brannal were all sending out instructions, runners running into and out of the room.

Perian made sure that nothing more was needed from him, then made his way blindly back to his and Brannal’s rooms. He stood there blankly for a long moment, unable to imagine what he was possibly supposed to do now, then he left the room and went across the hall.

Thankfully, Molun was there.

“Oh, Perian, I thought—” he cut off as he got a look at him. “Perian! What happened?”

And Perian, who’d been trying to keep all of this in so that he’d be a good support for Misalla, burst into tears.