Page 49 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

Chapter Twenty-Two

D espite the fact that it would require him to do one of the most embarrassing things he’d ever had to do in front of one of his least favorite people, it was actually a relief when Cormal came to collect him.

He’d brought two other Mage Warriors with him, ones that Perian didn’t know that well, and two Warriors. Perian barely suppressed an eye roll and just let the man bind his wrists and hobble him, while the Warriors had their swords trained on him.

“One wrong move, and you’re a dead man,” Cormal told him.

Perian was already well aware he was a dead man, thank you very much.

“I would never do anything to jeopardize this chance for Renny and Kee,” he said carefully.

“You better not,” Cormal said threateningly.

Perian wasn’t sure what the man thought he was threatening Perian with, but he couldn’t be bothered to argue about it, just shuffled along in the wake of the excessive and entirely useless number of guards .

Really, if Cormal wanted an effective group to protect against him, he should be surrounded by children.

(Children with swords? Children that someone else was threatening with swords?

All right, that was a bit awkward.) But honestly, surrounding him by multiple large, attractive people who found him attractive was just about the stupidest thing you could do if you actually wanted to protect yourself from a carnalion.

Perian didn’t really know what the man was thinking. Or maybe he was hoping that Perian would try something and he would have an excuse to kill him.

Since Perian really would do anything for Renny and Kee, he shuffled along, ignoring the sense of curiosity and revulsion and desire that he could feel swirling in the air around them.

It was pretty clear to him that the whole group knew what he was and that they were pretty horrified, but that couldn’t actually stop the underlying attraction that they had for him.

If he tried harder, he might be able to sort out each person from the other, see if any of them were feeling more pure desire and maybe didn’t think he should immediately be run through with a sword or caught on fire, but… Perian decided he didn’t really want to know.

The room they arrived in was smaller than Brannal’s, with no separate sitting room, just one room with a screened off area where the bed was, and what he assumed was a small water closet through the second doorway.

“Get on the bed,” Cormal said.

Perian bit his tongue and didn’t say anything snippy, because it wouldn’t make anything better, and there was a chance that Cormal was wound so tight he would react first and destroy Renny and Kee’s chance.

Perian sat. It took him a little work to get arranged more or less comfortably with his arms and legs restrained, but it could have been worse.

They weren’t metal restraints, and he wasn’t actually tied to the bed.

He swallowed heavily and pushed away all the images of his captivity.

He was perfectly safe—for a given value of safe.

The room was well lit, it was made of stone, and the bed was comfortable.

Sure, someone was looking at him with hate and suspicion, but Perian wasn’t at all worried that Cormal was going to try to touch him.

Cormal had gone out of his way to stay away from him, and that helped, under the circumstances.

The doctor arrived, eyed Perian, and said to Cormal as she gestured at the restraints, “Is that really necessary?”

“Of course!” Cormal exclaimed. “He shouldn’t even be allowed out of the dungeon! ”

“I’m fine,” Perian said, because he could tell that Cormal wasn’t going to relent, and he really didn’t want to spend his time arguing about this.

Because the doctor didn’t seem to really care what other people thought, she came over and made sure that his restraints weren’t hurting him, and she looked over his wounds.

“I’m fine,” he told her.

A raised eyebrow said that she rather doubted that statement, but she didn’t argue with him, just sat down on a chair she pulled up next to him.

Cormal stood at the opposite end of the room with his eyes trained on Perian.

The other guards were waiting outside the door, at least. Cormal no doubt wanted to be certain that even if he somehow got past Cormal, Perian wouldn’t be able to get away. Perian was glad that no one else was going to see this.

“Would you be more comfortable under a blanket?” the doctor asked.

It was like she could read his mind.

“Yes, thank you.”

“Keep your hands where I can see them!” Cormal spat.

The doctor said dryly, “I rather think he might need to use them.”

Cormal flushed a dull red.

“I can keep my hands above the blanket,” Perian told them, “but I would very much appreciate the blanket.”

He could imagine few situations in which he would be less likely to want to get himself off, but he didn’t actually know what was going to happen once he started to… feed. Even the illusion of a layer of privacy, flimsy and woven as it was, made Perian feel ever-so-slightly better.

“Thank you,” Perian said, after the doctor had helped him arrange the blanket around himself.

She sat down again.

Cormal stewed, visibly annoyed, across the room.

Perian continued to sit on the bed as he tried to think about just about anything other than what was actually going on here.

And then, of course, something was going on, and he didn’t have to ask if they’d started, because he knew they had.

Part of him was morbidly curious about how Brannal had arranged this and exactly what the set-up was.

If Perian could only see the corridor now, was it lined with people just waiting to come into the room next to his?

He couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to do that.

Or was there a discreet system, where people were being kept separated or around a corner or something?

It seemed ludicrous, but people cared about Renny, Perian knew that.

He thought that Brannal probably wouldn’t have said anything about Kee, because it was possible the whole thing wouldn’t work.

But if he told them this was for Renny, that it was a chance to make her well, as crazy as it sounded…

Yes, Perian could imagine people agreeing to it.

And it felt all right, he supposed. There was an instinctive part of him that was delighted, that could feel that heady buzz of arousal and wanted nothing more than to drink it down.

But there was part of him now that was aware of what was happening, that knew this wasn’t simple, entirely voluntary pleasure, and that spoiled it, a little.

But he didn’t suppose it could ever be as enjoyable as it used to be, because that had been before Perian’s life had been torn apart.

He sighed quietly and said, “It’s working.”

“What?” Cormal snapped.

Perian looked at him, annoyed.

“What do you mean, what? I told you I would tell you if it’s working, and it is . Whoever is next door is having sex, and I can feel it. All right?”

Cormal was glaring at Perian like this was all his fault, like he had asked for this.

And sure, yes, technically Perian had requested this weird event, but it wasn’t for him , it was Renny and Kee.

Cormal addressed the doctor. “Go and tell them it’s working.”

She regarded him very steadily. Cormal’s jaw clenched.

“Please,” he added through gritted teeth.

She rose to her feet and went to report the news. Perian kind of loathed the man right now, but a small part of him respected the fact that he wouldn’t let the doctor be alone with Perian when he really thought it was unsafe.

Perian didn’t move, just turned to stare at the wall, trying not to think about anything at all.

The doctor returned and sat back down.

The couple in the next room climaxed, and Perian let the feeling fill him, still sort of shocked by how it simultaneously felt pleasant—just as good as Perian remembered—and how there was still a yawning void inside of him, because this wasn’t actually what he wanted at all, never mind if it technically fed him.

Before, he’d just been happy when people got together, happy when he had sex, happy when he observed Molun and Arvus being so tender and intimate with one another.

Was that all tainted now? But if he only cared about sex and feeding, then he wouldn’t have cared if people weren’t ready to get together.

He would have tried to force that connection, wouldn’t he?

Just the idea was repugnant to him, and he could imagine it no more now that he knew what he was than before when he’d been ignorant.

He didn’t just want to be fed. Sex wasn’t just about feeding. Sex was about happiness and pleasure and delight, and he wanted that for the people who were coming together.

And for him, ideally.

But now he was deliberately trying to consume this desire, the wisps that shed off people as they were in the act of sex, and the bigger boost at the culmination, when they reached that pinnacle and tumbled over it, a little bit of Perian tumbling with them.

How could something be so pleasurable and so empty at the same time?

“They’ve finished,” Perian said, because that was the best he could manage, under the circumstances. “I don’t think anything happened to them, but if you could ensure they’re fine, Doctor, I would appreciate it.”

“Of course,” she said, as though this were a perfectly normal request, and she slipped out of the room again.

She was back a moment later to confirm that they were perfectly fine.

“Thank you,” Perian said.

And that was how it worked. Another couple. One individual and then another. A couple again, then a triad. Some of them were a little nervous—he could feel that edge of uncertainty tinging the desire—but no one was categorically opposed to being there. Brannal appeared to have kept his word.