Page 10

Chapter Nine

A fter sleepy morning hand jobs prior to getting cleaned, dressed, and fed, Perian felt as though all was right with the world.

“Have lunch with me,” Brannal requested.

“I can’t,” Perian told him regretfully. “I’m already getting a basket from the kitchen. But I’m yours until one, or later in the afternoon if you’re available.”

He didn’t want to get Renny into trouble, so he wasn’t going to mention her, but he’d make time for Brannal at any other point that he could.

Brannal seemed to consider this for a moment. “Meet me in the library at noon.”

That… wasn’t where Perian thought Brannal was going to go with that, but he nodded agreeably.

“The library it is.” He pressed a kiss to Brannal’s lips. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Now with plans for the library and the garden, Perian decided to spend the intervening hours elsewhere. He set out for the public wing, since it had some of the most entertaining rooms he’d found so far that weren’t likely to wind up with him covered in mud or suddenly engaged in self-defense.

This made him realize he was feeling in top form. He didn’t notice any soreness at all from his self-defense training yesterday. He made a few weird long strides as he tested his muscles, twisting back and forth, swinging his arms. But no, he really didn’t feel the effects of his efforts at all.

Perhaps you could counter the effects of rigorous training with rigorous bouts of sex? Smirking, Perian decided he would definitely propose this as a solution that Brannal could help him out with as often as possible. Eventually, he found himself in a music room. Perian didn’t play any instruments himself, but he could admire the ones that were there and could strike a key or string and listen to the beautiful notes fill the room. From there, he ended up striding through the ballroom, envisioning what it must be like when there was an actual ball, when it was decorated and full of people. His father had not entertained, although he had taken pains to teach Perian to dance.

Naturally, it was while he was dancing with an imaginary partner that he caught sight of someone in his peripheral vision. He fumbled to a stop, clapping a hand to his chest as he realized it was Arvus.

“Oh, you startled me. I definitely didn’t mean to be seen by anyone while I was doing that.”

Arvus’s lips tipped up into a smile. “It’s the perfect space for it.” He walked further into the room. “It’s been some time since it’s been used for a celebration, but that’s definitely what it’s intended for.” He held out a hand. “Would you like to try it out properly?”

Perian blinked at the hand and the offer, and then couldn’t help but smile at the man, who had chosen to indulge Perian rather than make him feel like an idiot for dancing in an empty room with no partner and no music.

He took Arvus’s hand. “Yes, thank you. Just to warn you, though, it’s been a few years, and there is every chance I will step on your feet.”

Arvus smiled faintly. “Consider me forewarned.”

It was harder to dance without music when another person was involved. Perian did step on Arvus’s feet several times until the other man began to hum, and then Perian was able to catch the rhythm of the music and swing around the dance floor. It definitely worked better when Perian let the other man lead.

“You’re a very good dancer,” he observed eventually.

“Thank you,” Arvus said. “Molun and I often dance, though not usually this formally. There are small dances at the castle sometimes, or we’ll go to the pub.”

Perian’s face lit up. “Oh, me too! I mean, not with Molun, obviously. But I dance often at the pub. Definitely less formal than this.”

Arvus laughed. “Not enough space for it, for one.”

“True,” Perian agreed. “And I suppose not everyone learns this sort of dancing.”

Arvus hummed an agreement. “We learned when we came here. Part of our training, which now I think on it, doesn’t actually make a lot of sense.”

Perian grinned. “It’s a physical activity. You do physical things all the time. Does there need to be more of a reason?”

“I suppose not.”

“Or maybe it’s a nice way to relax, and they want to make sure you don’t all collapse from exhaustion.”

“Do you feel relaxed?” Arvus asked.

Perian couldn’t quite tell how the question was meant. He was enjoying the dancing, and he was certainly aware of the fact that he was inches from a very handsome man as they twirled around the room. He was attracted to Arvus, certainly, and there was perhaps a… small current of tension between them, but it wasn’t anything compared to the buzz of awareness that Perian felt around Brannal.

So, hoping he wasn’t about to insult the other man, Perian said, “Pretty relaxed, yes. I mean, the level of tension came way down when I stopped stepping on your feet.”

Arvus laughed. “True. For both of us. You dance quite well yourself, once you remember how.”

“Thank you. It’s a nice reminder of my father.”

Arvus blinked, and Perian’s eyes widened.

“I mean, not that you could be my father, I’m pretty sure we’re basically the same age? Ugh, sorry, my father taught me to dance, that’s all I meant!”

Arvus was laughing in earnest now, and the dancing came to an end.

“I’m twenty-three.”

Perian made a face. “Yeah, I’m twenty-two. Sorry!”

“No offense taken,” Arvus assured him, still looking entirely amused.

They danced for a few more minutes, and then Perian said, “Hold on, what time is it? I’m meant to be meeting Brannal.”

Arvus tugged out his pocket watch. “It’s almost noon.”

“Oh, excellent, I can be on time,” Perian said with a grin. “Thank you for the dancing. I really did enjoy it.”

Offering a wave, Perian hurried back towards the library.

He arrived with a scant minute to spare, at which point he realized it was a rather large place, and Brannal hadn’t specified an actual location. Was he meant to wait at the entrance? At the lending catalog?

Despite knowing it made more sense to stand still, Perian roamed the shelves. He headed deeper into the library, past rows and rows of books, pondering just how much knowledge was located here.

And then a hand caught his elbow and tugged, and Perian turned to find that Brannal had found him after all… and was pushing him up against a bookshelf and kissing him. Perian was a little surprised, needing a second to catch up, and then he relaxed into the contact and hungrily kissed Brannal back, clutching at him and not even minding that his spine was being pushed into the spines of various rather rigid books.

“Hello,” Perian gasped, when they drew back enough to breathe. “This is a nice surprise. I thought you were going to make me take out a really long and boring book or something.”

“Or something,” Brannal agreed with a look in his eyes that told Perian no reading whatsoever was about to get done.

They kissed again, tongues tangling, and Brannal’s leg slotted between Perian’s so that he could thrust against it. Soon, he was almost ready to come, but he wanted to taste Brannal first, so he gave him a little push, and Brannal obediently disengaged, blinking at Perian with lust-filled eyes.

“Your turn,” Perian said and then rearranged them so that Brannal was the one pushed up against the bookshelf.

Brannal reached to pull Perian back into his arms, but with a grin, Perian dropped to his knees.

Brannal bit his lip, head thunking back against the bookshelf as Perian sucked his cock. Oh, that really was an incredible image, Brannal’s eyes closed and his neck arched, splayed against a whole wall of books. This was an excellent idea, and Perian was only sorry he hadn’t jumped the man on any of the other occasions they had been in the library together. He would certainly keep it in mind for every future occasion.

He sucked harder, fingers toying with Brannal’s balls, and the man’s hips surged as he came like he was trying to thrust all the way down Perian’s throat. Perian hungrily swallowed him down, loving the other man’s release, the knowledge that it had been Perian who had made Brannal come.

He climbed to his feet, and Brannal pulled him in for a kiss, no doubt tasking himself in Perian’s mouth.

With a smile, Brannal reached into Perian’s trousers and jerked him off until he too, was coming, rutting into the other man’s hand, chasing his release.

In retrospect, that was not the tidiest option in a public place, but it was hard to feel too upset when the wonderful languor of coming was sinking through his bones. And he could at least deal with some of the mess. Perian retrieved Brannal’s hand and licked his palm before sucking each finger into his mouth and swirling it clean with liberal use of his tongue.

Brannal’s eyes went hot and dark again, but it was a little too early for them to do anything about it.

“I need to go get cleaned up,” Perian told him.

Brannal hummed an agreement that made Perian think he wasn’t entirely processing what Perian had just said, his face still open and sated-looking. Perian was rather flattered.

“I’m heading back to your rooms,” Perian told him.

This finally made Brannal push off from the bookshelf and follow Perian back. They both got cleaned up, and Perian changed trousers and underclothes, grateful for the laundry that was done so regularly here at the castle.

“I suppose it’s hard to keep a secret about what goes on here,” Perian said, gesturing at his clothing.

Brannal looked confused.

“Someone always knows what you’re doing.” Perian made a face. “Or I suppose people may think I jerk off a lot. But I like to hope they don’t think that I’m producing all this laundry on my own.”

Brannal snorted. “Given where they get your laundry from, I suspect they’re well aware.”

Perian smiled at him. “There is that. All right, do I look presentable?” he asked, now that he’d straightened his hair.

“You look as appealing as always,” Brannal told him.

Perian flashed him a grin. “Good. Thank you. But I also don’t look like I’ve just had sex, right?”

“You’re not going for that post-coital look?” Brannal asked.

Perian cursed and darted back into the water closet, peered at himself in the mirror and tried to smooth his hair more, tightening the tie.

“Well, this will just have to do.” He darted into the sitting room and collected the two blankets. “All right, I’m off. Are you meeting any Queens today, or might I see you for dinner?”

Brannal was leaning against the bedroom door frame, and there was an expression on his face that Perian couldn’t quite decipher.

But he answered readily enough, “No current plans to eat with the Queen, but I am, of course, available at her leisure.”

“Oh, no, of course,” Perian said hurriedly. “I am definitely not trying to dictate to the Queen. But barring any royal decree, should I plan my own dinner again or not?”

“I’d be happy to dine with you,” Brannal said.

“Here? At six thirty? Not throw any unexpected challenges the way of the kitchen staff?”

Brannal looked amused. “Here at six thirty. Have a good time.”

He nodded at the blankets in Perian’s arms, reminding him they were there. Yikes! Perian had been so busy flirting, he’d forgotten.

“Yes, thanks, I’m going to be late again. See you at dinner!”

Perian darted out into the corridor, thankfully just reaching the stairs as Cormal was turning into the hallway. Perian pretended not to have seen him, because the last thing he needed was to get into a fight. He would almost definitely end up the crispy victim of a fireball if there were no witnesses, and at the very least, he would be late for meeting Renny.

He hurried out to the quadrangle, rushed down the path, and ducked through the bushes to find that Renny was already there on her bench… and Perian had forgotten the food.

“I’m such an idiot,” Perian told her. “I was worried I was going to be late, and then I might have sort of been hiding from someone, and I just rushed out here without remembering to go by the kitchen.”

Renny laughed, though this didn’t quite hide that she looked tired, more so than the last couple of days. Perian laid out the blanket, making sure to leave plenty of room so that Renny’s brother could join them, just in case. It was a bit chillier today, but Perian wrapped the second blanket around Renny’s shoulders and promised he’d be right back with the food.

“It’s fine,” she told him. “I’m not very hungry.”

“Well, you may not be hungry,” Perian told her, “but I’m starving. I’ve been waiting since breakfast for this meal! Why don’t you decide what the clouds are doing, and I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. I’ll run, promise.”

He left a giggling Renny lying back on the blanket, and he dashed back into the castle, pelted to the kitchen, and managed a slightly out of breath wish for a basket of food as quickly as they could put it together because he was an idiot and had forgotten to come sooner.

Either they had a lot of idiots stop by or they were just really nice about accommodating everyone’s wants and desires, because it was only a minute or two later later that Perian was rushing back to the garden with the basket in his arms. He plowed back down the path, dodged the bushes that were in the way as he heard the sound of Renny’s voice, and emerged into their secret area to the sound of her bright laughter… and just Renny, lying on the blanket looking up at the sky. For a minute, he had really thought her brother had shown up.

“I come bearing food,” Perian told her triumphantly.

“I’m not sure that should sound like such an accomplishment when you couldn’t actually manage it the first time,” she told him as she sat up.

Perian snorted because that was a fair point.

“I also don’t do anything except go to the kitchen and beg for food. Really, it’s probably the least-impressive accomplishment ever.”

This made her smile. “But no one else has ever brought me a picnic, even if they didn’t make it all themselves. So, thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” he told her, settling onto the blanket and laying out the food, leaving that conspicuous empty space for her brother.

Maybe he was allowed to sort of… test the waters at this point?

“I hope everything was all right yesterday?”

He started to put together a plate of food as she nodded.

“Oh, it was fine.” Then she made a face because they were never going to be able to say those words to one another with a straight face ever again. After a moment, she admitted, “My mother wanted me to spend some time with her in the evening. There was an, um, event that we needed to attend.” She grimaced. “I needed to take a nap in the afternoon to make sure that I would be functional later.”

She addressed most of this speech to her lap, and Perian could only imagine how frustrating it was when her body didn’t do everything she wanted it to do, especially at her age.

“I could have used a nap yesterday,” Perian told her in as matter-of-fact a voice as he could manage, not wanting her to think he was placating her but not wanting to embarrass her, either. “Brannal decided it would be a good idea for me to start learning some defense moves, and I thought it was going to be just the two of us, but he brought a whole bunch of friends to trounce me!”

Renny laughed at his slightly expurgated version of the attempt to teach him how to defend himself, and then she made him demonstrate how he had learned to fall. It turned out it was definitely a harder landing on the grass and dirt than on the mats, but he did feel as though he’d made progress. He remembered falling when he was attacked, when he hadn’t known how to protect himself at all. He hoped he wouldn’t ever need to put what he was learning to good use, but it was much better to know it and not need it than to find himself lacking.

“Can you teach me?” Renny asked.

“Uh,” Perian looked at her blankly. “I’ve had one day of lessons, and you’re surrounded by Mage Warriors and Warriors.”

“They’re busy.”

They had their duty, sure, but so far, they’d pelted Perian with elements, taught him defense, helped him find blankets, heckled him in hallways, and danced with him in ballrooms. He was pretty sure they could make a bit of time for one little girl.

Renny pouted like she’d read his mind.

“They’re not here,” she pointed out.

Perian laughed. Well, that was certainly true.

He looked at her slender form, thought of the admission that she was tired. He wasn’t confident he was the best teacher, and he didn’t want her to hurt herself with falls or anything like that.

But he also couldn’t imagine telling her no.

“All right, how about I teach you the most basic move to defend against a man you need to get away from. Not that a woman or nonbinary person couldn’t ever try to hurt you, but if we’re talking about probability, it, uh…”

And then he trailed off, because he wasn’t sure he was supposed to be saying anything like this to a twelve-year-old.

Only she rolled her eyes.

“I’m twelve, not two. You mean if I think they’re going to take something I don’t want to give.”

Perian nodded, since that was close enough. He tried to remember how old he’d been when his father had explained about sex, but he couldn’t quite recall. His father had also been quite open, and Renny’s parents might not be.

But Renny was looking at him eagerly, and he was committed to this endeavor now.

Perian got them both standing up.

“Now, if possible, the best thing to do is always to simply get away from a dangerous situation. But if you can’t run or you’re being restrained, you can try to incapacitate the man who’s got you.”

And Perian showed Renny how to stomp on someone’s instep and either knee them in the groin or punch them, because he hadn’t really thought a lot about the height difference between a twelve-year-old and a fully-grown man.

“However you do it, you hit as hard as you possibly can, and that should slow any man down so you can run away.”

She offered him an innocent look that he didn’t trust for a second.

“Shouldn’t I practice to make sure I know where to hit?”

“Whoa!” he protested.

She chased after him, and they briefly ran in circles around the blanket until he could see that she was breathing too fast, and he immediately flopped down.

After a moment, she flopped down beside him, chest heaving.

“You don’t really need to practice, do you?” he asked, wincing at the very idea.

She laughed. “I’m twelve,” she reminded him. “I can figure that out. I understand what grown-ups do. I mean, I don’t really understand why they do it, but they’re not actually very subtle.” She shot him a look. “Like everything you got up to yesterday.”

Perian had to laugh. “I thought I managed to clean up that story a lot.”

“I saw Brannal yesterday evening.” Her voice was very dry as she added, “He was in a very good mood.”

Perian could feel his cheeks heat, but he said, “Glad to hear it.”

Renny smiled at him. “He makes you happy?”

And sometimes very confused, but—

“Yes, he makes me happy.”

She nodded decisively, as though that concluded everything in her mind. He wished he had her certainty.

He sat up so he could eat a little more food.

“Good,” she said. “What did you do this morning?”

Perian had actually done plenty this morning, but given what they’d just been discussing, it was probably no surprise where his mind first went, and he found himself flushing again.

Renny made a disgusted face. “Not that!”

He had to laugh. “No, no. Well, not only that. You’re the one who brought it up; I wasn’t going to say anything!”

“Did you do anything else with your morning?” she asked with thinly-veiled impatience.

“Nothing that probably doesn’t sound stupid in retrospect,” he admitted, before retelling it anyway, letting her know about the music room and dancing, first by himself and then with Arvus.

She smiled, looking amused, but what she said was a more serious, “You just… do what you want, don’t you?”

Perian’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… you thought it would be nice to see what it was like to dance in the ballroom, so you danced. Even though there was no ball and no music.”

“To be fair, there were also no people when I got there. I didn’t think I was going to be observed.”

“Would it have stopped you?” she asked.

He tilted his head back and forth. “It depends. I mean, if the whole Council and the Queen herself had been there, I’d probably have been trying to find a seat at the back and not be noticed. If someone I knew who disapproved of me had been there, I might have decided not to push it… or I might have done exactly what I wanted and never mind what they thought. I guess I have to be inspired in the moment.”

Renny considered this carefully and then nodded. “That makes sense. No blanket statements for all eternity.”

“I guess not,” he agreed. “I think my blanket statements might be about intent or things that I’ll try to do, like protecting people or being true to myself. How that is expressed in any given moment might change depending on the situation. So much of life is not necessarily going to be exactly the way you expect—or at least that hasn’t been my experience. I didn’t expect to be attacked or wind up here at all, and—”

“Attacked!” Renny said sharply.

He nodded, surprised by her reaction. “Um, yes, didn’t I say? I thought I told you.”

“You said you were injured .”

“Ah,” Perian said, feeling his way, because he had not expected her to be this upset by the news. “Injured when I was attacked.”

“By a demon?” she demanded, face drained of color.

“Oh,” Perian said, reaching out to lay a hand on her arm. “No, no, Renny, nothing like that. No demons at all. I was attacked by humans.”

A little color washed back into her face, but now she was frowning fiercely, a little groove appearing in her forehead.

“Why did humans attack you?”

Realizing there was no getting out of it now, though it might have been better not to bring the topic up at all, Perian laid out the basics of his attack to her.

“Some people didn’t learn the right things growing up,” he concluded. “They treat other people in a way they would never want to be treated themselves, thinking only about what they want, getting angry when things don’t go their way. I was unlucky enough to be their target that day.”

“You should have kneed them in the groin,” Renny said fiercely.

Perian huffed a laugh, nodded. “I should have. Truthfully, I was so shocked that it devolved to physical violence that I mostly just reacted with surprise. They were all just there , and—” And that really wasn’t something he should be discussing with a twelve-year-old, he was sure of it. “It happened really fast, and they were on me before I could contemplate running.”

“You needed help. And Brannal saved you.”

“Yes, he did,” Perian agreed. “I was so very grateful.”

“And then he brought you back here and healed you himself and took care of you every minute and then asked you to stay with him?”

There was an older-than-twelve curl to her lip as she pointed all this out.

“It does sound very suggestive when you put it all together like that,” he agreed, not quite able to keep his own smile from peeking out.

“Because he makes you happy.”

Perian nodded again, not able to deny it.

After another moment of thought, she said slowly, “And you might never have met him if you weren’t attacked.”

“Exactly!” Perian exclaimed, glad to be brought back to the point he had been trying to make originally. “I can’t ever be grateful to those men for attacking me. What they did was wrong, and had it happened a few minutes earlier or later, had Brannal chosen another night to be walking back from a different pub, I might not be here now.” Oh, that was probably not the thing to say to her. “ But , thanks in part to what happened, Brannal and I did cross paths, and we decided that we enjoyed one another’s company.” She snorted, but he certainly wasn’t getting more explicit with her. “And of course, if Brannal was anyone else, I might not be here in the castle, I wouldn’t have met the other Mage Warriors, I wouldn’t have met you. A couple weeks ago, I didn’t know that any of you existed, and now I can’t imagine not knowing and getting to spend time with all of you.”

She smiled at him. “I like spending time with you too.” Then she eyed that bit of sky they could see above the evergreens and let out a big sigh.

“Hiding time over for the day?” he asked gently.

She nodded. While she did still look tired, he thought she looked better than she had earlier, even with the bit of running around. He wondered if whatever she had done the night before had been draining. Still too early to talk to her mother? Renny had herself mentioned that she was sick, so Perian didn’t really want to stumble in and accuse anyone of being a bad parent if Renny’s illness was actually being managed as well as it could be. With no information, it was altogether possibly this was the best-case scenario.

And it felt like they were getting to know one another better, were sharing more personal information. Maybe tomorrow, Perian could ask a little more. Speaking of—

“Lunch tomorrow?” he asked hopefully.

She beamed at him, a bright smile full of hope and happiness that made him wish he had a magical cure so that she felt better all the time. But if even the Mage Warriors couldn’t do it, Perian definitely didn’t stand a chance.

“Same time, same place,” Renny told him with satisfaction.

Perian gathered up the remains of the food, folded up the blankets after remembering to shake them out completely this time, and made his way back to the kitchen to drop off the basket.

The same woman from earlier took it back. She was a little plump, with honey blond hair and warm brown eyes.

“Assignation not a total loss?” she asked.

Oh, good, apparently, he was now actually recognizable as the idiot who had forgotten to pick up the food earlier.

He grinned at her, a bit embarrassed, but it really was his own fault.

“It was a complete success. The food was a highlight, thank you.”

She gave him a weird look but nodded and took back the basket, and it was only once he was back in the hallway that it occurred to him she had probably thought he was having a romantic assignation. Telling her that the food had been one of the best parts wouldn’t have done his reputation any favors. He burst into laughter—and got several weird looks from the people he was passing, but there was likely no hope for him now anyway.