Page 23 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

Chapter Ten

A re you all right?” she demanded. “What happened? How badly are you hurt?”

Perian blew out a breath. “Let’s get this set up first. I do need help.”

Renny assisted with laying out the picnic blanket, and once they were settled, she insisted on pulling out all of the food.

“What are these?” she asked.

Pulling them out, Perian saw that “these” were in fact little hearts that had been made out of scraps of fabric, pieces of food, paper, leaves, and other odds and ends. Perian just stared at them.

“Oh.”

He could feel his eyes stinging with tears. Renny shuffled across the blanket and poured them into his hands.

“They’re for you, aren’t they?”

The tears spilled over as Perian nodded, and Renny wrapped her arms around him.

“What happened, Perian?” she asked. “You were hurt again. Do they want you to get well?”

Perian shook his head, then amended, “Well, yes, they want me to get well, but I was trying to help someone when it happened, and I think they’re acknowledging that.”

“What happened?”

Perian wondered if he should tell Renny everything, but she seemed to know what he was thinking. She poked him in the side. “I’m twelve. I’ll be thirteen soon.”

And one day, she was going to be Queen. He wouldn’t go into graphic detail, but maybe this was exactly the sort of thing she needed to know.

So taking a deep breath, Perian told her what had happened the day before, the horrible feeling he still didn’t totally understand—could something be so awful that it made the place it was happening feel wrong?

—the scared woman, and what they had discovered.

He finished by explaining how the man was in the dungeons right now and the Queen would be pronouncing judgment.

Renny’s face screwed up with resolution. “I’m going to be there, too.”

Perian’s eyes widened. “Uh, Renny—”

She waved this aside. “Oh, I’ll talk to Mother, but this is clearly an important topic!

This isn’t the sort of thing that can be allowed to continue!

It’s completely unacceptable! It’s not even that you got hurt—sorry, Perian, of course I don’t want you to have been hurt!

—but no one should do that sort of thing to someone else. ”

Perian nodded. “No, that’s exactly it. It should never happen.”

They weren’t going to be able to singlehandedly stop this from happening ever again, but they should be able to stop this person from ever doing it to someone else.

And if they made clear that it was unacceptable behavior with severe consequences, it would hopefully make someone else think twice before they tried to do the same thing.

Perian could only hope.

It was a strange lunch, not nearly as lighthearted as their lunches usually were, but while the topic was a heavy one, it was nice to see Renny so engaged and inspired, believing that she could and should be involved and that this was an injustice that shouldn’t be allowed to pass.

After lunch, Renny helped him pack everything away again, and when they climbed out of the bushes, she told Molun and the Warrior with him, “I want to see my mother.”

This was not the normal routine at all, but after a glance at Perian, Molun nodded, “Of course, Princess.”

Renny reached out and squeezed Perian’s hand—his left one.

“It’ll be all right, Perian. You’ll see.”

He sure hoped so.

It was a weird couple of days. The little hearts for Perian continued to appear, and he found a few creeping into their rooms. They were left on the table in the sitting room, so it wasn’t like they were being hidden or anything like that, and they never failed to make Perian sniff.

Brannal kissed his temple a lot, or pulled him into a hug.

Perian felt very supported, even if he was still getting some downcast eyes or weird looks at the training yard or at dinner.

He’d agreed with Onadal that it was important that everyone know this was not all right, and so despite the fact that he probably could have used a few nights of just having a relaxing meal with Brannal, they went to the dining hall instead so that no one would think Perian was embarrassed or ashamed.

The trial with the Queen was not easy. She had decided to convene her Councilors as well, so all ten of them were also present.

Perian didn’t know what Renny had said to her mother, but there she was, sitting at the Queen’s side, in a dress fancier than any that Perian had ever seen her in, a circlet in her hair, looking every inch the princess, expression grave as she carefully listened to the testimony.

Perian went first, explaining what had happened and how he’d been hurt.

Molun and the doctor corroborated his injury, and then it was Cormal’s turn to take over from when he’d heard the yelling (which Perian didn’t really remember doing, but he was so glad he had).

Perian was dismissed at that point, because next were the statements of the people who had come forward to accuse Venoran.

The Queen and her Councilors had agreed to hear them privately so their statements weren’t made public.

The doctor and any other witnesses would be called upon after, and Venoran would have the chance to speak for himself.

It was nerve-wracking to wait, but Perian knew that Brannal would share the outcome straightaway afterwards. Arvus and Molun, who’d also been dismissed, waited with Perian in their room so that Perian wasn’t alone and feeling like he was going to crawl up the walls.

“What if the Queen decides it wasn’t that bad?” Perian wanted to know. “Or what if the Councilors don’t care?”

Arvus said, “It is unlikely, but he would still cease to be a Warrior. It would be extremely unusual for her to reinstate him after Onadal has dismissed him.”

“She could do that?” Perian demanded.

Molun shot Arvus a look and then tugged Perian into his arms. Perian sagged against him.

“The Queen is the Queen, so she can do pretty much anything, but Arvus is correct. Just what you witnessed was bad enough, and we all know there was a lot more than that. I’m certain the Queen and the Councilors will take it seriously.

It affects the safety and well-being of multiple people in the castle.

This can’t be claimed to be a training exercise gone wrong. You’ll see, Perian.”

Despite these assurances, Perian stewed the whole time they waited for a verdict.

It felt like an eternity later when Brannal arrived.

“He’s been sentenced with twenty years’ hard labor. Ten people spoke against him.”

Ten. Fire and water. Ten people had stood up to speak out against what he’d done to them, and that was bad enough, but Perian was afraid it meant there were those who had chosen not to speak up, who hadn’t wanted or been able to talk about it.

But twenty years. Twenty years was good.

Twenty years in prison was twenty years that he couldn’t hurt anyone else.

Perian didn’t know if it was possible that Venoran would learn the error of his ways in that time, but he could hope.

At the very least, Venoran might decide it wasn’t worth the punishment that he could face if he was caught again.

Brannal pulled him into his arms, and Perian melted against that strong body. Brannal pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

“I’m very proud of you.”

“I’m very proud of them .”

“I’m very proud of all of you,” Brannal amended. “I know it wasn’t easy. It was hard to listen to. But you helped stop him, and that’s something to be proud of.”

Perian sniffed and nodded and just basked in the feeling of the other man’s arms around him. He felt safe .

“Where’s he doing the hard labor? ”

That didn’t seem like something that could be done here in the castle, right?

“He will be transferred to the prison in the tenth district in a few days,” Brannal said. “The Mage Warriors are guarding him in the meantime to ensure there is no… conflict of interest.”

Mage Warriors and Warriors worked together frequently, but there was still a divide between them, and they didn’t report to the same person. Perian trusted that Brannal had hand-picked them to ensure they were people who would make sure Venoran was well-guarded.

“Thank you,” Perian said.

Brannal nodded. “Now, I hate to bring this up, but it’s dinner time.”

Perian sighed. “Yes, we’d better get down there.”

“We don’t have to,” Brannal started.

But Perian smiled a little bit wryly at him. “But we really do, don’t we?”

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Brannal told him firmly.

Perian’s smile became more genuine. “I know you won’t.”

He might actually be best protected at the dining hall, never mind that he was surrounded by Warriors who might be upset with him, because Brannal, Molun, Arvus, Nisal, Delana, Onadal, Bennan, Chamis, and others were all there, too, and they tended to be the ones sitting right next to him.

There was a moment when they walked into the room that everything went completely and utterly silent, like the entire room had been talking about him right before he arrived, and then they suddenly had to stop.

Brannal just kept walking, and that meant, fortunately, that Perian kept walking at his side, and as they arrived at their usual table, the talking started up again, though it was quieter than it had been.

Perian saw that spaces had been saved for them this time, enough room for everyone, and Perian was definitely tucked into the middle where no one was going to be able to hurt him, with Bennan, Chamis, Nisal, and Delana on the other side of the table so that he was truly surrounded by people who would keep him safe.

He drew in a deep breath and then let it out again.

“Can we talk about anything but the obvious?” Perian asked plaintively.

He knew it was an important topic that was on everyone’s minds, but it was the last thing he wanted to discuss.

There was silence for a long moment, as though they all tried and failed to come up with another topic, and then, to Perian’s immense surprise, it was Chamis who spoke.