Page 37 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

“I told you it sounded ridiculous,” he said, groaning with embarrassment. “But yes, I really do need a blanket. Can you help me find one?”

They still looked indecently amused, but they nodded.

“Of course, I can help you get a blanket. The cost, of course, is thereasonwhy you suddenly need a blanket. Does your room not have enough? Are you worried about next winter? Have you heard that there is about to be a sudden blanket shortage?”

“Shut up,” Perian told them, trying to sound serious.

They mimed locking their lips with a key, but that didn’t last very long.

“There are supply rooms,” Nisal told him. “You can get as many of those sorts of supplies as needed. And you can always ask the castle staff.”

“That just seems rude,” Perian told them. Now that they said it, though, he vaguely remembered Brannal mentioning supply rooms in the public wing. “I mean, I don’t know where the staff normally are, but if I find one in the corridor, you can bet they’re not there to get me a blanket. So that means I’ve interrupted whatever they’re supposed to be doing, and they have to run to wherever the blankets are, and then they have to run back to me, and then they have to go do whatever it was they were supposed to be doing before they were waylaid by a random guest who wanted a blanket.” He made a face. “Which, now I think on it, is sort of what I’m asking you to do, but truly, if I’d known you were busy and if Molun didn’t have a ridiculous sense of humor, I wouldn’t have bothered you.”

“I don’t mind,” Nisal assured him with another smile. “Honestly. How are you going to be comfortable here if you don’t get the chance to get to know where things are and get help when you need it? And, seriously, what if you got really cold? You should always know where the extra blankets are.”

Perian couldn’t help but grin at them, because they seemed perfectly willing to make up ridiculous reasons why he was not being an imposition.

They showed him where the supply rooms were, and they were on the scale of a large royal castle. So, where Perian had been envisioning a linen closet, he found a fairly large room that came complete with staff to help you find what you needed as they folded, sorted, and organized the contents. There were multiple different blankets to choose from. Remembering Renny’s dress from yesterday, Perian selected a smaller blanket of various oranges and yellows and a larger blanket that was blue.

“Thank you so much,” he told Nisal.

“You’re very welcome. And just to be clear, this is not an indication that I don’t want you to ask me for help any time you need it. But for your knowledge, at the corner of every wing on every floor, there’s a runner stationed. Their actual job is to stand there until someone needs something and then run around to get them what they want.”

Perian gaped at them. “You’re kidding me.”

They laughed. “No, I’m being entirely serious.”

And now that Nisal had said that, Perian did have a vague memory of passing some stationary staff yesterday and the day before, but he’d dismissed that as having nothing to do with him. Brannal clearly thought nothing of asking for whatever he needed when he needed it, and it didn’t seem to have occurred to him to point these people out to Perian.

“Well, I’m glad I know now. But thank you for your help anyway.”

“Anytime,” they told him. “Is there anything else I can help with?”

“Absolutely not,” Perian told them. “Go back to saving people’s lives. I’ve got these.”

He held up the blankets, and after a moment, they nodded and headed back the way they’d come.

Perian took the blankets to Brannal’s room. Once he’d dropped them off, he decided that his knowledge of the castle was obviously weak, and he really needed to become more familiar with it. He looped through the wings, just turning around and switching floors whenever he hit the royal wing so he could avoid it entirely.

It was good for exercise, it confirmed exactly what Nisal had said about those runners, and it made him feel like he had a slightly better idea of where many things were.

There was a gallery in the public wing that had a vast array of paintings and sculptures, and Perian spent some time strolling through there, looking at portraits of people he didn’t know and landscapes of places he’d never been and comparing them to where he had spent the majority of his life.

His father had chosen a beautiful area to retire. There had been gardens, forests, fields, water, and a nice-sized house. Perian was very grateful for where he’d grown up, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever want to live somewhere as large as this, but it had the advantage of all the people in it.

Perian would never want people bothering him all the time, but the knowledge that he wasn’t alone was welcome. Not that he’d been entirely alone on his estate, either, but they’d had only a handful of staff, and they’d gone home at night. It was definitely not the same. He liked the underlying hum of activity and energy in the castle. It made him feel alive.

The rumbling of his stomach alerted him that it had to be around lunchtime, and a glance at his pocket watch confirmed it was past midday and nearing one. Perian flew back through the hallways and rushed into Brannal’s rooms, completely surprised to find Brannal there.

“I thought we might—” the other man started.

“So sorry,” Perian said, grabbing up the blankets, detouring to smack a kiss to Brannal’s lips, and then heading for the door. “I’ve got another engagement, and I’m late, I’ll see you later!”

Perian rushed to the kitchen, begged for another basket of food, and then made his way back out to the garden, rushing as quickly as he could and so glad he could find his way back to the bush in question.

Renny was waiting, and her face lit up when she saw him.

“Sorry if I’m late,” he told her. “I was in the gallery, and I lost track of the time.”

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