Page 7 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

“Send him in!”

Perian was duly ushered in, and the door was pulled almost closed.

The room seemed brighter today. It literally was, he realized, since it was sunny and there was therefore more light coming in through the window, but it felt brighter, too.

Renny was already propped up on pillows so she could sit upright.

Her dark hair was neatly pulled back into braids that Perian was pretty sure had been freshly done.

She didn’t look as wan and lifeless as she had yesterday.

He wouldn’t go quite so far as to say that she was brimming with energy, but it seemed like a significant improvement that Perian thought underscored everything he’d argued about Renny’s health.

She was smiling. “Perian! You’re here!”

“I sure am,” he agreed. “I brought our picnic and picnic blankets before it occurred to me that you might like a cleaner blanket on your bed.”

She waved this aside as though it didn’t matter at all. “It’s our picnic blanket!”

So it was. But maybe he would see if he could get it washed. He probably should have considered that sooner.

He gave it a shake over Renny’s floor because that seemed better than risking lingering dirt on the bed. Then he smoothed the blanket over the bed including over Renny’s lower body, which was already tucked beneath the covers.

She huffed and protested, “I’m not supposed to be under the picnic blanket.”

He stared at her mutinous little face and decided that it was probably not a fight worth having. He didn’t think it would have a material effect on the function of the picnic, but if it affected her enjoyment of the picnic, then that was going to be a problem. Perian eyed Renny and the bed.

“I’m going to call in reinforcements,” he told her.

She gave a pained look. “I’m not an invalid.”

“Do you want everything to go perfectly well the first time so that your mother lets us keep doing this?”

She let out a very loud and obviously aggravated breath, but she didn’t actually object, which Perian took as acceptance. He stuck his head out the door.

“Delana, may we borrow you?”

She promptly came into the room.

Perian explained, “Renny would like to be on top of the picnic blanket. I thought perhaps you could scoop, and I could arrange the blankets? ”

Delana eyed both of them for a moment, and then she seemed to approach it much the same way he did.

“Of course. Pardon me, Princess.”

So that’s exactly what they did. Perian could have picked Renny up; he might not be made of muscle like the Warriors and many of the Mage Warriors, but Renny wasn’t that heavy.

It was awkward to manage her and the blankets, though, and he was sure it was better to be able to assure anyone who asked that Renny had not moved herself and that a big, strong Mage Warrior had done it.

(He had no idea if Cormal was going to pass by today, but Perian was ready.)

The switch was quickly accomplished, and Renny was soon settled on top of the picnic blanket.

Since Perian had brought the smaller lap blanket just like he always did, that one could be laid across Renny, so no one could protest that she was suddenly going to catch cold in the middle of the summer, either.

“Thanks, Delana.”

“Of course. Just give a holler if you need to switch back.”

They both nodded, and Delana slipped back out the door.

“All right,” Perian said, climbing up on the bed. “Let’s see what they’ve got for us today.”

He laid out all the food, trying to leave enough space for Kee at the end of the bed, and told Renny how everyone in the kitchen wished her well.

He tried to get Renny talking about what she’d done while he was gone—apart from have a dizzy spell and winding up in bed. She sighed but then told him about her boring lunch that was not a picnic, which she thought was rather inferior.

Perian laughed. “You see why Brannal and I had a picnic, too. We’ve found that it’s the best option for food!”

Renny shot him a doubtful look. “Is that why you had a picnic?”

He grinned at her. “Absolutely one of the reasons.”

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

The more they talked, the more she ate, and Perian was sure that would only help her recovery.

He had no idea how it happened, but he somehow ended up describing in loose detail the book that Brannal had got him. Seriously, he couldn’t actually retrace the conversation to figure out how he’d been lured into talking about a sex book to a twelve-year-old princess.

Renny was laughing. “You’re going to try a different one every day and rank it?”

“It’s a good way to learn new things, right?” he said, laughing a bit sheepishly. He thought it was very true in principle but wasn’t so sure he should have been telling any part of this to Renny.

“Certainly,” she agreed, shaking her head. “I’m not sure that other people need books.”

“Hey!” Perian protested indignantly. “We’re doing totally fine without books. We don’t need instruction .”

She was laughing again, and Perian couldn’t help but laugh with her. Then she started laughing harder.

“Kee says he wouldn’t mind seeing this book.”

“Uh…” Perian’s mind went blank for a moment.

“I’m really sorry, Kee, but I don’t think that’s a book I should bring when I’m coming to see Renny.

I know she wouldn’t actually need to look at it while you and I paged through it.

Which, actually, now that I think about it, sounds extremely embarrassing, but I’d do it for you. ”

Perian had often felt lonely and isolated on his estate once his father died, but he hadn’t been invisible. Even in the midst of his grief, he’d come here to the city for some companionship from time to time.

But he was still pretty sure he needed to draw the line here. With an apologetic expression, Perian continued, “I don’t think anyone would understand why I brought that book anywhere near your sister. I wouldn’t want anyone to think something inappropriate was going on.”

Renny made a face but agreed, “He didn’t think of that. You definitely shouldn’t bring the book. Sorry, Kee. I know it’s hard to be stuck with me.”

She sucked in a breath, and Perian knew without her having to say anything that Kee was telling her not to be an idiot and that he was happy to be stuck with her.

The situation might be extremely bizarre, and they didn’t know how it had happened or what to do about it, but he was sure they all believed that if Kee wasn’t somehow stuck with her, he wouldn’t be here at all.

And while Perian didn’t know if sometimes Kee maybe wished that were the case, he hoped that most of the time Kee was grateful that he was still here.

There was still a chance they could figure out what had happened, that they could maybe figure out how to solve this.

It wasn’t a conventional life, but it was still a life.

Talk passed to less consequential things.

Perian explained his talk with their mother this morning.

They tried to predict how long it would be after Renny was better before she would be allowed to go anywhere near a horse again.

Mindful of what he’d promised the Queen, Perian tried to be a bit circumspect.

“Less than six years,” he said promptly.

Renny made a face. “Kee said the same thing. The two of you are not funny.”

Perian flashed a grin at the space at the end of the bed that he presumed was still filled with Kee. Perian was going to do everything he could to make the man feel welcome and included.

Renny really was looking better, already more animated than she’d been the day before, sitting up from her pillows sometimes to grab for a piece of food or make an animated gesture. Yesterday, he didn’t think she’d been capable of that.

He honestly believed this could be only a minor setback. Those happened. Life didn’t move forward in a straight line. They could still get through this.

The afternoon ended with Perian reading another book, although Renny requested that he please find something that wasn’t as awful as the book from yesterday.

“It sounded like it was supposed to be interesting,” he argued.

“It wasn’t,” she said flatly.

“Well, no, not really,” he agreed. “All right, help me pick another one.”

They skewed all the way in the other direction today and went with a novel instead.

“Those are written to be interesting,” Renny declared. “Much better chance.”

“Let’s hope,” Perian agreed.

It was absolutely more interesting. He wasn’t so sure that he was teaching Renny a good life lesson, but on the other hand, what was life without novels? It couldn’t all be dull histories.

Perian gave the various characters different voices, but then he kept forgetting who he’d given which voice to, and Renny or Kee would tell him that he was doing it wrong, and he’d have to try again, and they’d wind up in a whole discussion about his voices—and then they couldn’t remember where they were in the novel, so they needed to go back, and then the discussion would start all over again.

They laughed a lot.

The doctor showed up as he was trying to remember if he was supposed to be using the low and crackly voice or the high-pitched voice for the heroine’s father.

“Why would the heroine’s father have a high-pitched voice?” Renny wanted to know.

“I don’t like to stereotype. Some men have higher-pitched voices. Maybe he’s one of them.”

Renny was laughing again. “But is he one of them? You’re the one who set his voice!”

“I can’t remember if I was thinking stereotypical thoughts when I started voicing him!” Perian exclaimed.

Renny dissolved into giggles again, and the doctor knocked and entered.

“Well, this is a nice sound to hear this afternoon, I must say.” She eyed Renny. “You look much better, Princess.”

Renny was nodding eagerly. “It’s the picnic and the company! It’s so much better than being wrapped up in bed and told I can’t move and can’t see anyone and can only stare at the ceiling!”

Perian was pretty sure the doctor hadn’t ordered that , but the woman didn’t attempt to argue.