Page 104 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

They were smiling at him. “Wow. That was a really besotted sigh.”

“I like him so much,” he repeated, huffing a breath. “This has never happened to me before, and I’m still figuring things out.”

“It’s fun to watch,” Nisal said with a grin, then made a face. “I mean, it’s mostly fun. These parts are good. Hearing about yesterday was not.”

Perian gave an answering grimace. “It was not ideal, but it turned out all right. And now it’s given me other fun things to do like try to bribe a person I don’t know very well.”

“And you came to me?”

“You’ve been able to get me anything I needed in the castle so far. Don’t tell me your powers have limits?”

Nisal laughed again, a bright, cheerful sound. “My powers definitely have limits, but you’re in luck that this particular request is still within my abilities. But theanswerto your request actually lies beyond the castle walls.”

“Ooh,” Perian said excitedly. “We get to go forth on an adventure?”

“We absolutely do,” Nisal agreed with a smirk.

He wondered if all of the Mage Warriors had this streak in them and that was why he liked them so much.

They soon slipped out of the castle, and Perian followed Nisal through the cobblestone streets, turning the conversation to Nisal for a little while, since the two of them seemed to talk about Perian a lot. He was affording everyone a lot of entertainment value at the moment, he got that, but he didn’t want the relationship to be entirely one-sided or for Nisal to think he was actually that self-involved. They discussed where Nisal had grown up, the family they had left behind to come here and train, and their decision to become a Mage Warrior instead of a Mage.

“May I make an observation?” Perian asked.

They hummed an agreement.

“You sometimes don’t sound totally sure. Or am I wrong?”

Their lips quirked. “You’re not totally wrong. I believe very much in defense, in protecting people, and it’s true that sometimes to defend, you have to stop what’s attacking. But I’m… not a big fan of that part.”

“Is that why you spend so much time with the doctor?”

Nisal nodded. “Summus is aware of how I feel. I still need to do what all the Mage Warriors are doing, but we all have interests and strengths, and he has tried to take that into account where he can.”

“I’m glad,” Perian said.

Nisal smiled. “Me too.”

He hesitated for a moment. Nisal was cheerful and funny, and Perian liked them very much. He remembered their willingness to rescue him just because he needed help, and he thought that protectiveness came out a mile wide.

“What?” Nisal asked.

“Have you ever considered becoming a Mage instead? I mean, is that a thing that can be done?”

They nodded. “It’s possible but fairly rare, at least at my age. Both directions, actually. Mages who realize they want to be way more active, and Mage Warriors who realize that Warrior life isn’t for them. It’s less common that Mages live in the castle, though, and—”

“—you like it here,” Perian finished for them, because he liked it here too.

They nodded, looking a little glum.

He reached out and squeezed their arm. “Hey, sorry, didn’t mean to make you think sad thoughts. I think you’re fitting in great here—way better than me, who doesn’t actually have a job at all and is just stumbling along trying to figure everything out.”

Nisal snorted at him. “So, in comparison, my life is just fine?”

Perian grinned at them. “Exactly.”

They shook their head but continued to look amused. “Thank you for the comparison. Certainly, life is not boring around you. I haven’t been to buy a good bribe in far too long. Come on.”

They wound up… in a bakery?

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