Page 19 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

Leaning closer, Brannal told him, “You can show me how impressive you think it is later.”

Perian huffed a breath, although he wasn’t opposed to doing exactly that. He didn’t truly mind the showing off. Apparently, he found everything Brannal did attractive.

“Thank you for showing me,” Perian added, realizing he probably sounded ungracious. “It’s definitely not something you see every day, and I was too out of it to really appreciate it last time.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t do more,” Brannal said, a furrow in his brow.

Confused, Perian asked, “More than rescue me and nurse me back to health?”

“I could have arrested them. I would have, if I’d realized how badly you were injured.”

Perian blinked. This hadn’t even occurred to him. “My thoughts were all centered on not dying.” As much as he’d been able to think coherently at all, anyway. “And I think we both know that I couldn’t have gotten away, even after you drove them off. I much prefer you taking care of me.”

“But they’re still out there.”

“I suppose they are,” Perian agreed. “Hopefully, given that you swooped in as suddenly for them as you did for me, they’ve decided to think twice before they attack someone like that. And I know Warriors and City Wardens patrol.”

There could never be a big enough force to patrol everywhere all at once, though.

“I want you to feel safe,” Brannal said earnestly.

“I do, generally,” Perian assured him. “I mean, when I went back to the inn, I determined that I’d shift my habits a little. Maybe stay away from the pub for a bit, change when I went and how I left, that sort of thing.”

Brannal protested, “But that’s you changing everything rather than them ceasing their behavior.”

“But I can only control what I do, not what anyone else does.”

“Isn’t that immensely frustrating?” Brannal demanded.

Perian let out a helpless laugh. “Yes, sometimes. Are you saying that you change what everyone else does?”

Brannal shrugged. “If it needs changing.”

Oh, wow. Yeah, that was definitely coming at the world in a different way than Perian was used to.

“I don’t think the world works like that for most of us,” Perian observed.

“Maybe you only think it doesn’t,” Brannal suggested.

Perian laughed. “I’m going to remember that the next time there’s something you don’t want to do.”

Brannal eyed him. “I didn’t tell you that to change me.”

“Too late.”

Brannal tried to look stern, but one corner of his mouth kept quirking up.

“Come on,” he said. “We can see if anyone’s practicing.”

They were, and Perian quite enjoyed watching a bunch of very fit people summon air, water, and earth.

“It takes training to be able to summon elements without the raw materials being present, so our novices have help.”

He gestured to what looked weirdly like a well in one corner of the room, but dirt rose from it and came twisting through the air to curl around them. Perian turned round a few times to watch it circling.

With another wave of his hand, the earth flowed back to where it had been stored.

“That was awesome,” Perian told him.

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