Page 21

Chapter Twenty

“W hoa,” Perian said. “It’s a nice spring day, but it’s still a little chilly out.”

She actually stamped her foot. “Coat. Now!”

“You get really shrill when you’re losing your temper, did you know that?”

She squinted at him, looking thoroughly aggravated.

“I’m serious,” she told him.

“I can see that you are. But if I take my coat off, you’re still not going to see anything. I’d have to take my vest off, and then my shirt off, and I’ve already assured your mother that I’m not interested in you like that.”

Renny made a totally disgusted face that made Perian laugh.

“You’re old,” she said flatly.

Perian laughed harder. “But we’re alone here because your mother has kindly decided to trust me. I don’t want to abuse that trust.”

She huffed out a breath, not looking totally convinced. “I wouldn’t be looking at your body. I can see you’re pretty, but bleh .”

He couldn’t stop grinning at her, which was better than addressing this serious topic in a serious manner. “You wouldn’t be looking at my burn, either. It’s covered in bandages that the doctor already looked at this morning. I’m not undoing all her hard work just so you can see a burn. You know what burns look like, surely?”

Her eyes were still narrowed. “They look like a really good reason to throw someone in the dungeon and throw away the key. Can’t throw fireballs in the dungeon, can you?”

Perian laughed again. “Thank you. That’s very thoughtful of you, but it wouldn’t actually be helpful right now.”

She still looked mutinous, and Perian realized his attempts to humor her out of this weren’t going to work.

“Help me get the blankets set out,” he requested. “Then I’d like to tell you something.”

Still looking suspicious, she nevertheless helped him arrange the blankets and lay out the picnic, and then they sat down across from one another as usual. Perian greeted her brother, who didn’t seem to have anything to share about Perian’s injury. He wasn’t sure if that was because it was only Renny who was so concerned or if she just wasn’t sharing any of his comments because she was so focused on her own feelings.

Once the food was set out, Perian said, “Thank you very much for being upset on my behalf. I really appreciate it. Last night got a bit messy, in part because Brannal was trying to make sure he was acting like Summus and not… overly concerned about me.”

“Nope,” she said firmly, like her utterance on the topic was the be all and end all.

Perian grinned at her. “You’re not wrong. Brannal didn’t realize I’d actually been hurt by Cormal. I’m not totally sure what he thought—I guess that I blocked the fireball and that it didn’t hurt me.” She scoffed. “Yes, well, as dumb as that sounds, fire doesn’t hurt Fire Mages, right? And it was chaos in that room, and he evidently didn’t see exactly what happened.”

“Cormal attacked you!” she growled.

“He did,” Perian agreed. “And I’m not delighted by my burned arm, but it’s much better than a burned anything else. I was really upset and kind of hurt last night, and Brannal and I had a gigantic fight.”

Her eyes grew wide. “You didn’t break up, did you? Am I going to need to throw him in the dungeons too?”

Perian smiled. “No, I’d much rather keep him in bed with me, if it’s all the same to you.”

She managed to look relieved and kind of repulsed at the same time, which just made Perian’s smile widen.

“Leaving aside any of those bits, like I said, we had a proper fight. We were both upset, and we weren’t communicating very well, but Molun and Arvus showed up, and they took care of my burn, which is when Brannal realized I’d been hurt, and do you promise not to say anything to anyone?”

She perked up immediately at the idea of knowing something that was secret. She nodded, then amended, “Well, Kee and I might talk about it, but he’ll hear too.”

Perian nodded. “That’s fair.”

She nodded again and said solemnly, “Promise.”

“Brannal was really upset when he realized I was hurt. Upset enough that it helped get me past my own feelings so we could actually talk about it. He doesn’t want anything to happen to me… and that’s why he set up that whole training exercise so that Cormal could ‘win’ against me.”

Renny looked outraged. “But you got hurt!”

“And Brannal has solemnly sworn not to do anything like that ever again,” Perian continued to explain. “It’s not what he meant to have happen at all. As annoying as it is, we sometimes do things with the best of intentions that have unexpected consequences. And Cormal did get to win against me in a room full of fellow Mage Warriors and Warriors. He was very triumphant, and hopefully that means it’s less likely I’m ever going to get hit by a fireball in a deserted corridor one day.”

She huffed a breath that sounded a lot like, “Dungeon.”

“I know I can’t tell you what to do,” Perian went on. Perish the thought of trying, really. “But I’d like to request that you leave this alone. I really don’t want to go through anything like that again, and if he feels better now, then that’s better for me. As upsetting as it was at the time, and as much as I don’t think he should have used that much force in a training exercise, it was a training exercise.”

She made another disgruntled sound. “That’s stupid. You could have really been hurt.”

“And that’s why Brannal is talking to Onadal about me training with the Warriors sometimes so that I can learn how to handle myself a bit better. I mean, unless I carry a bucket of water around with me all the time, I’m not really sure what I could do about a fireball, but faster reflexes can never hurt.”

“A big shield?” she suggested.

“Oh, come on,” he cajoled, “the image of the bucket of water is way better.”

And finally, she laughed. “Yes, it is.”

He looked at her and asked, “All right?”

She sighed. “I guess. But if he attacks you again, I’m sending him to the dungeon, and I don’t care what anyone else says.”

Perian wasn’t actually sure she had that power, but he was definitely smart enough not to question such a declaration.

And Renny proved she was rather smart because after another couple of minutes, she said, “He didn’t like me hurting him, did he?”

“This was not your fault,” Perian said emphatically.

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s not what you didn’t say, either,” he pointed out.

Her lips tipped up a little.

“The only person who decides what Cormal does is Cormal,” Perian pointed out, just as he had with Brannal. “I mean, am I responsible for what you did to Cormal, or are you?”

She considered this and then nodded. “You showed me what to do, but I was the one who chose to do it.”

“Exactly,” Perian agreed. “And of course we can influence people, suggest things, say or do things to them. In extreme situations, perhaps you could argue that someone didn’t have any other choice, but for the most part, every single day, hundreds of times per day, people are making their own decisions influenced by an entire world around them, but ultimately it’s up to them how they choose to react.”

Renny sighed, but she sounded resigned now. “I really wanted to throw him in the dungeon.”

“I don’t necessarily disagree with you,” Perian admitted with a small smile. “But I’m pretty sure your mother would let him out, and then we’d have to deal with him being annoyed again.”

She eyed him and said dryly, “You don’t think he’s going to be annoyed again unless that happens?”

Perian laughed. “I wish. But we can still control how we react, right?”

She made a face. “Why are you sounding so sensible?”

This made him grin. “It has to happen occasionally. Do you want to hear about my ridiculous adventure this morning instead?”

She brightened immediately, and Perian told her all about his outing this morning and his delivery to Delana.

She was grinning. “ That ’s more what I would expect from you.”

Perian smiled back, and they settled to the business of eating lunch.

He checked if there was anything new going on in Renny’s brother’s life and got a weird look from Renny.

“It seems impolite not to ask,” Perian explained with a shrug. “Maybe something exciting happened. I don’t know, do I?”

“Call him Kee,” Renny instructed.

Perian looked at her brother—well, his empty space. “Are you sure?”

Renny nodded. “He says it’s fine. He doesn’t feel very much like a prince like this.”

Perian eyed the empty space again. “So, wouldn’t it be nice if you were recognized as such? I mean, I get why you wouldn’t want your sister to call you Prince Kinan—”

“As if,” Renny scoffed.

“—But I could do it.”

Renny tilted her head, then answered. “He says that would just feel weird at this point, like trying to go back in time when he knows he can’t. He’s Kee for us.”

Perian had to wonder how much of his identity was wrapped up in being a prince and how disassociated he felt now. But he’d said what he would prefer, and Perian would respect that. Even if it felt a little weird calling a prince “Kee”. Renny had sneaked into Perian’s vocabulary since she had made sure he got used to calling her that before he learned who she was. He knew that Princess Larenia existed, he knew that technically Renny was Princess Larenia, but he kind of still separated the two in his mind.

“So, anything new happening, Kee?” Perian asked politely.

Renny rolled her eyes at him and duly reported that nothing new had happened recently, although there was talk of attending more functions with their mother. With Renny less tired than she had been in years, her mother was cautiously considering more events, which meant Kee got to attend too.

“It’s pretty boring, mostly,” Renny confessed. “But I know it’s all important if you’re actually ruling a country.”

She sounded like the last thing she wanted to do was rule a country. She was still young, and her mother would hopefully live for many years to come, but that fate still loomed in her future. Perian assumed she would be given more and more duties as the years progressed—assuming her health permitted.

He wondered what would happen if the worst were to occur. Who was the next heir after Renny? But he was definitely not going to ask. She’d been looking better almost every time he saw her, and he could only hope that she’d turned a corner and was on the mend. If the ailment had mysteriously struck her when she was younger, it could just as easily mysteriously stop affecting her, couldn’t it?

Perian sure hoped so.

The rest of the picnic thankfully passed with no heavy topics of conversation, and they were simply able to eat and chat and eventually lean back and look at the clouds in the gap in the shrubbery for a little while.

It turned out Kee had eyeballs that were just as faulty as Renny’s.

“That is absolutely not a cat,” Perian declared. “It does not resemble a cat in any way.”

“Two against one!” Renny exclaimed.

“That’s cheating,” he protested.

But she was giggling, and Perian liked the sound of her laughter.

They parted in good spirits, and he was able to return the basket and then head back to Brannal’s rooms, feeling remarkably in charity with the world.

He settled down in the chair by the fire, and a gentle touch on his shoulder roused him some time later. He hadn’t even realized he’d fallen asleep.

Brannal was looking at him with concern. “I’m sorry to wake you.”

“No, I’m glad you did,” Perian said, shifting back in the chair so that he was sitting up properly. He blinked, stretched a little. “I didn’t even realize I fell asleep, but I definitely don’t want to spend the night in the chair again. Is it time for riding?”

Brannal still looked a bit concerned. “If you’re tired, we don’t have to—”

“No, no, I insist,” Perian said, rising to his feet. “I think the last couple days caught up with me, but I just got a nap to help deal with that. I’ve really been looking forward to riding with you.”

Brannal shot him an unimpressed look. “So you can race off into the distance and leave me in your dust?”

Perian smirked. “Well, I can’t help it if I’m on the superior horse, now can I?”

“Those are fighting words,” Brannal said, but he was smiling.

“Truthfully, Warrior is an excellent horse. It’s just that Prince Horsey is even better. Someone has to be the best, right?”

“And the best just happens to be the horse that you’re riding?”

Perian shrugged. “What can you do?”

Brannal huffed an exasperated breath, though he still looked amused. “Come on, let’s get you and that ego out to the stables.”

“By way of the kitchen,” Perian instructed. “I promised treats last time.”

“Bribes work well for you, do they?”

Perian eyed Brannal, because there had been quite a bit of tone there.

Brannal explained, “By the time I got to Onadal, he told me that there was room for you three days a week in the mornings, possibly four, but you’d do well to keep the pastries coming.”

Perian grinned. “Done.”

“I am actually able to manage this sort of thing,” Brannal said, and Perian realized he sounded put out for real.

Perian’s grin faded, and he agreed seriously, “Of course, you are. You manage all of it on a regular basis. It’s your job.” Oh, was that the problem? “I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. But this was a favor for me, so I’d much prefer that the effort comes from me, you know?”

Especially if they were trying to prevent any accusations of favoritism.

Brannal considered this, and then he conceded, “I can respect that. But please don’t think I’m not able and willing to do things for you. I know that we’re still figuring this out and navigating how everyone else is reacting to our relationship, but it’s not something I’m going to hide. I would have made it perfectly clear to Onadal that he was not obligated to agree and that it would have been a personal favor to me.”

Perian smiled at him. “I definitely don’t mind knowing that everyone has to deal with our relationship.”

Brannal snorted. “Of course that’s what you took out of that.”

They passed by the kitchen, and Perian got several of last year’s carrots and apples, as well as a few cubes of sugar.

Brannal eyed his bounty. “And what did you do to get on the good side of everyone in the kitchen?”

Perian regarded him with amusement. “Do they not like you?”

Brannal huffed. “They like me fine. Or at least, they’re perfectly willing to serve me, and they are fully aware of the position I hold. But they don’t do that .”

He gestured broadly, which Perian took to encompass everything he was now carrying.

“Possibility of two things,” he said after a moment of consideration. “One, some of them might think I’m pretty. Nisal and Renny both commented on it. Sometimes it means people are really nice to me. Or if you’re twelve, it doesn’t quite cancel out the ‘old’ factor.”

Brannal snorted.

“Two,” Perian continued, “I’m pretty sure it’s something along the lines of making their little princess happy and having picnics with her. And possibly teaching her how to knee someone in the balls. I’m not absolutely certain how far the truth about that spread.”

Brannal shook his head. “Sometimes it’s very hard to figure out how to describe you. You encompass so many ways of being.”

“Thank you,” Perian said, head tilted to one side. “I think.”

“Oh, it’s definitely a compliment,” Brannal assured him, eyes warm and fond.

Perian smiled back at him, once again feeling what Nisal had described this morning as besotted.

They made their way out to the stables, and Perian asked where he could put some of these treats because he was not dumb enough to take them all over to Prince Horsey at the same time.

He put the sugar cubes in his pocket, divested himself of most of the apples and carrots, and handed a couple over to Brannal because Warrior really deserved some too. Then Perian made his way over to the stall at the back of the stables.

“Good afternoon, Prince Horsey,” Perian said cheerfully. “How are you doing today? Have you decided that you’re going to stomp me after all, or do you think you’d like to go out for a ride again today? I’ve got treats.”

Prince Horsey shook his mane and snorted, nostrils flaring, ears pricking forward. He definitely smelled the treats.

“I told you I’d bring them,” Perian reminded him. “Sorry it took me a couple days, I’ve been having a long week. But here you go.”

He fed Prince Horsey two carrots and an apple and then was able to get him bridled and saddled and out of the stall. Perian went to mount and was very grateful that he needed the power of his left arm and side to mount, which meant he could still do it while favoring his right arm. It didn’t hurt too much, but when he moved it, especially if he forgot and moved it forcefully, he was reminded he was injured.

They headed out at a leisurely pace until they were well into the park.

“Go on,” Brannal said, a little bit resigned and a little bit fond. “He does deserve the exercise.”

Accordingly, Perian gave Prince Horsey his head, and they went galloping over the grass. The wind whipped past them, the sound of the horse’s hooves accompanying the powerful muscles moving repetitively beneath him. There was so much power in a horse, that thrumming energy and life, and it was beautiful to see it unleashed.

Not wanting to be too insulting, he made sure to slow Prince Horsey down to a more reasonable gallop after a few minutes, and it wasn’t too long before he heard the sound of thundering hooves as Warrior caught up to them.

Despite the fact they’d actually only done this once before, the repetition of the activity made Perian already feel like it was a habit they now had. He loved the time they chatted about nothing and everything while the horses recovered and grazed.

For all that Perian had been talking just this morning to Nisal about being lonely at home, it was also a different pace that he missed sometimes as well. Having a bit of time and space to stretch and just be yourself and not have all those competing people and desires could be nice, too.

Today, at least, it meant having this ride with Brannal, the two of them watching the sunset together and then riding back to the castle amidst the growing twilight.

When they got back to the stables, after Perian had done all the cleaning up and brushing down, he pulled out the sugar lumps, and he made sure that Warrior got one as well. (Although Prince Horsey got two. Or maybe three. Perian had no self-control.)

“Come on,” Brannal finally said, pulling him away. “If we stay here much longer, you’re going to turn that horse fat.”

“Can’t have too much sugar,” Perian protested.

“He’s going to break down the stables and run wild.”

That would… not be ideal. Renny and Kee would probably find it funny, but perhaps he shouldn’t risk it.

“I’ll be back soon,” Perian told Prince Horsey. “Tomorrow, I hope, and you know there’s more where that came from. Thank you for taking me on such a wonderful ride.”

Then he and Brannal were heading back to their room, where Brannal declared that they could not possibly go to dinner when they smelled like horse, and they lost a bit more time than they should have getting clean together.