Page 33 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

“He doesn’t like me.”

“I don’t think he dislikes you,” Brannal objected.

Perian laughed softly. “He definitely dislikes me.”

“I know it was a rough start, and sometimes the two of you snap at one another, but it’s been getting better, hasn’t it?”

“It’s been better than it was,” Perian admitted. “But it’s not… great.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Brannal said. “We’re all still getting to know one another, right? There’s still plenty of time for it to get better.”

Perian appreciated the optimism and the fact that Brannal was saying this like Perian was going to be here for a long time.

He hadn’t made it very far in his quest to find someone for Cormal, but it was true that he didn’t know the man that well.

That didn’t seem to be a requirement with some of the other people he nudged, but maybe Cormal was particularly difficult.

(Ha! He was definitely particularly difficult.) Perian could make more of an effort, couldn’t he, in a quest to not only make Brannal’s life easier but make his and Brannal’s collective life easier?

Obviously, he would be selfishly served by getting to travel on the inspections with Brannal, but if it did work out, couldn’t it benefit other people? Perian would hate for the idea to be discarded just because Cormal didn’t like him.

Yes, he would definitely try to do better. Even if Cormal seemed to be stewing in thwarted desire sometimes, that didn’t mean he couldn’t get past it. (Actually, he might be a much happier person for it.)

“You’re right,” Perian said. “There’s plenty of time. And I’m really glad to be here with you,” he added, because he felt like maybe that sentiment had gotten a little bit lost, and it was the most important one.

Brannal’s arm around him tightened a little. “I’m so glad to be here with you, too. I always will be. I want you to know that.”

Perian nodded, cuddling into him and promising himself that for tonight, at least, he was banishing all these awkward thoughts.

“I love you,” he said.

“And I love you,” Brannal responded, quiet but definite. “So very much.”

They stayed tucked up together, quiet and connected, just the way Perian liked best. The future was still out there, looming uncertainly, because no one knew what came next, but at least they’d started talking about trying to shape it a bit. And he was definitely enjoying these moments together.

He’d looked up at these same stars with his father when he was a boy. That ache would always be there, the place where the man had been in his life, but being able to gaze at them now with Brannal soothed the pain a little.

“It’s beautiful,” he whispered.

“Yes,” Brannal agreed. “You can forget it’s out there when you’re so busy rushing from one thing to the next, so caught up in day-to-day life. And then there’s a quiet moment, and you look up, and all that beauty is laid out before you.”

Perian leaned his head against Brannal’s shoulder. “This watch thing isn’t so bad.”

Brannal huffed a laugh. They both knew this wasn’t much of an example of a watch.

“Oh, do you want to sign up for more of them?” Brannal asked.

Perian clucked his tongue. “I want to get into our tent and do the same thing Molun and Arvus are doing.”

“Sleeping?”

Perian laughed. “They’re definitely not sleeping.”

Brannal sounded faintly surprised. “No?”

Perian shook his head, snorting. “Oh, come on, you can practically feel the desire from here. And they’re not being that quiet.”

They both fell silent, and sure enough, they could hear faint sounds coming from Molun and Arvus’s tent.

Brannal suddenly pressed more closely against him. “I guess that means you’re going to need to be really quiet when it’s your turn, doesn’t it?”

Perian, who’d already been perking up a little thanks to what Molun and Arvus were up to, perked up even more. Oh, he did like it when Brannal teased him.

“I can be quiet,” he said a little bit breathily.

“Even when I try to make you scream?” Brannal asked, a whisper against his ear.

He was playing dirty now.

“I can be so quiet,” Perian promised. “You’ll have to work so hard to make me talk.”

“That’s a promise,” Brannal said, voice low, and although Perian couldn’t see it, he knew that his eyes would have gone dark and full of want, just the way Perian loved .

Molun climaxed a moment before Arvus did, the sounds faint but perceptible, and Perian sucked in a breath, feeling full almost to bursting with their desire.

It wasn’t quite as good as actually getting to watch them, but he’d spent enough time with them to be able to easily imagined how satisfied they’d be now.

He was practically jumping in his seat by the time Brannal told him that his watch was coming to an end.

“How can you tell?” Perian asked.

He hadn’t even thought about that.

Brannal pointed up. “The stars.”

Right. Right. Because people who had to go hunting and didn’t always stay in inns could actually tell the time and directions by way of the stars.

“So it’s time for sex?” Perian asked hopefully.

Brannal sounded like he was smiling as he said, “Why don’t you go get naked in our tent, and I’ll be there in a minute, once I’ve woken Molun.”

“I don’t think they’re going to need any waking up,” Perian told him.

Brannal laughed softly. “Once I get him out here to do his job.”

Perian nodded and made his way to their tent, crawling inside and immediately stripping off—and then diving under the covers because it wasn’t that warm. Curled up against Brannal, it hadn’t been so bad outside, but now that he was naked and alone, he was definitely noticing the lack of heat.

It would be so much better once Brannal was here.

It felt like a really long time but couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before Brannal arrived, and Perian goaded him as best he could to get him naked and on top of Perian as quickly as possible.

He let out a happy sigh when this finally resulted in the other man pressing him into the ground; he didn’t even care if it wasn’t as nice as when they were on a bed.

Brannal on top of him was perhaps the best thing that he’d ever experienced.

Always. Even if his skin was a little chilled at the moment, it would warm up soon.

He wrapped his arms around the other man and held onto him.

They were always able to generate plenty of heat between them.

“I seem to remember someone saying something about being able to be very quiet ,” Brannal said before he went to work to try to make Perian as loud as possible.

Brannal was a fantastic tease when he wanted to be, no trace of the staid, rule-abiding Summus at the moment. Lips, teeth, tongue, and fingers all worked to drive Perian wild.

If it had been just Arvus and Molun, Perian would have screamed his satisfaction to the world. But Nisal and Delana were here, too, and they hadn’t agreed to be woken because Perian was having really good sex. No, no, he could be quiet. For Nisal and Delana, he would be quiet.

He bit his lip as Brannal thrust into him. He could always find the angle that would give Perian maximum pleasure, which usually made Perian very enthusiastic and got him babbling about how good this was and how much he wanted it and—

All right, that was a small moan because it was fantastic, but he wasn’t going to be loud, he wasn’t—

Brannal swooped in and captured Perian’s mouth, devouring it hungrily as he thrust into Perian with renewed vigor, and Perian melted into it, surging up to meet him, allowing the energy building inside of him to coil higher and higher, brighter and brighter—until it suddenly exploded, shattering Perian and leaving him gasping into Brannal’s mouth, filled up with all that energy as Brannal surged inside of him and gave him exactly what he needed.

Brannal collapsed on top of him, and Perian wrapped rubbery arms around him.

“See,” he whispered, still a bit breathless. “Told you I could be quiet.”

Brannal pressed a kiss to his mouth.

“I knew you had it in you. But I kind of like it when you scream or babble.”

Perian grinned, because he kind of liked it, too.

“Next time,” Perian promised.

“Does that mean we’re not having sex in the morning?” Brannal teased.

“The time after that. No, wait; I want at least one more forest encounter before we go. The next time we’re in our bed!” Perian said triumphantly.

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Brannal said.

Perian had no objections.

Maybe you really could fall into accidental permanence with someone and have everything you ever wanted.

Perian liked that image a lot, and he carried it with him into sleep.

Perian woke before Brannal in the morning, a little disoriented before he remembered the camping; that explained why the “bed” was so hard beneath him.

He was now half lying on Brannal, and that definitely helped.

Perian’s lower body was on the ground, and his cock seemed to be trying to drill a hole through the blankets.

There were other things Perian would much rather rub against.

Perian slithered down and got his hands on the prize, stroking Brannal a few times to bring him to full hardness and then swallowing him down; Brannal had teased Perian thoroughly the night before, so it was only fair that Perian got to do the teasing this morning, right?

He knew exactly when Brannal surged to wakefulness with a lovely moan, and also the moment he realized where he was and what Perian was doing; it was his turn to clench his jaw and bite his lip.

He reached down, but it was definitely not to push Perian away.

No, he twined his fingers into Perian’s hair and tugged, just the way Perian loved, trying to get him closer even though Perian was burying Brannal’s cock in the back of his throat.

Oh, yes, he liked the other man when he was desperate, and he did enjoy this game of trying to make Brannal make as much noise as possible while he tried to be quiet.

He actually stuffed his face in Perian’s pillow, pulling it over his head as he came.

Perian swallowed eagerly and then grinned at the image of the man needing to muffle his sounds so desperately.

He crawled up Brannal’s body and nudged the pillow out of the way for a kiss.

Brannal flipped them around with that casual display of strength that turned Perian on so much, then wrapped his hand around Perian’s cock and brought him off with more urgency than finesse.

They sagged against one another, trading lazy kisses and basking in the happy energy of completion before Molun’s voice could be heard calling, “Breakfast. Lazy people need to get up if they want breakfast!”

Perian called back, “Lucky people are going to be a few more minutes. Breakfast is overrated.”

There was a chorus of laughter, and Brannal rolled his eyes but kissed Perian again, so that was all right.

They did start to get ready, though, cleaning up as best they could—Brannal’s ability to summon a bit of water was very helpful for this sort of situation—and then pulling on clothing.

It was a bit chilly this early in the morning, and the warmth of their exertion was wearing off.

Perian pressed a kiss to the other man’s lips. “Good morning.”

Brannal smiled and kissed him back. “Morning.”

And then they ventured forth, crawling out of their tents and finding that the others were settled around the fire. Someone was clearly better at setting it than Perian had been, because even without Brannal’s skills, it was crackling merrily, and Perian could see that the food looked hot.

“Mm,” Perian said, “thank you for not actually eating all of that. I’m hungry.”

“I wonder why,” Molun said with a wink, and Perian grinned at him.

“I don’t think I’m the only one who got lucky last night.”

“Or this morning?” he said with a teasing wink.

“Hey,” Perian said. “When you wake up next to someone who is just so appealing, what are you supposed to do?”

“Take advantage of it, of course,” Molun answered promptly.

They grinned at one another.

Delana groaned. “Too early. Could you tone it down a little bit until I’ve had more tea?”

Onadal was back at the castle, Perian reminded himself. Maybe she wanted happy sex, too, but couldn’t have it out here.

“Sorry,” he said, and topped up her cup as he went to pour some for him and Brannal, because Brannal had started grabbing them food, like he really was worried they were going to run out, and he wanted to make sure Perian got some.

“Thanks,” she muttered. Then, almost reluctantly but like she had to get it out there, “I’m glad you’re happy.”

He grinned at her, probably more widely than she wanted.

“Thanks.”

Because he was so happy.

They finished eating breakfast in near silence. Delana definitely looked more awake after the second cup of tea .

They made sure the horses were fed and watered and that they were fine from their night outside. They released them from the picket line, and Prince Horsey headed over to the area that they hadn’t totally grazed yet, the rest of the horses following.

Really, he was quite well-behaved, in his own way. Perian was pretty sure he was exactly where he wanted to be.

“Thank you for not making me try to chase you down, since that would be embarrassing,” Perian told him, since he believed in rewarding good behavior.

Prince Horsey made a whuffing sound and just kept cropping grass, which Perian took to mean that he would run if he felt like running, but he just didn’t want to do it now, or maybe he thought that his rider was supposed to have a little bit of dignity.

“We’re going to have an adventure in the forest this morning, and I think we’re heading back in the afternoon. Thank you for bringing us here. It really is lovely, and I’m sorry that Kee isn’t here to see it.”

Maybe one day, the Queen would relax enough that Renny could come all the way out here, and then Kee would be able to come back after all, even if it wasn’t the same.

Perian gave Prince Horsey one last pat, made sure that all the other horses were all right too, and then headed back to the fire.

“So,” Molun was just starting to say as Perian got within earshot, “I was thinking—”