Page 40 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

Perian shook his head immediately. “Oh, no, don’t worry about me. I’m not very hungry.”

“Well, if you change your mind, the Warriors have a dining hall on the second floor on the west side, and the Mage Warriors usually join them.”

Delana lingered for another moment, and Perian forced a smile that he hoped looked halfway genuine.

She nodded and made her way over to the captain of the Warriors. (Perian didn’t know his name, but enough people had said “Yes, Captain” or “No, Captain” to make his title plain.) One look at their body language told Perian those two definitely weren’t going to miss him. He was pretty sure Delana still didn’t much like him, but the offer had been kind.

Perian stood there, watching as everyone who had been a spectator like him dispersed, a few of them pairing up with a Warrior who had been practicing, but most going on their way alone. The Warriors headed off in a clump together, perhaps to get cleaned up or to go straight to dinner.

Delana cast a last lingering look at Perian as she and the Captain headed in the same direction but then split up, her going one way and him heading off with the Warriors. Getting clean almost for certain, then. Perian was confident they would meet up again. He didn’t want her to think she needed to renew her invitation because Perian looked pathetic, so he quickly headed off at a brisk pace as though he had somewhere he needed to be.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. He tried to analyze his thoughts. Was he really this upset because Brannal couldn’t have one meal with him? He’d known Brannal for mere days, he reminded himself, and he had been injured and slept through many of them. Yes, it felt as though they connected in a way Perian had never felt before, but that didn’t mean Brannal felt the same way.

Even if Brannaldid, his time wasn’t altogether his own. He was extremely important and not at loose ends like Perian. For all Perian knew, the Queen herself had asked for Brannal.

Only it turned out that wasn’t it. Perian hadn’t been watching where he was going, and it was the rising tide of sound that made him realize he was passing by the Warriors’ dining hall, now filled with people Perian had been watching such a short time ago. He spotted Delana, the captain of the Warriors… and Brannal, sitting and eating with them.

Perian made himself keep walking past before anyone could catch sight of him. He reminded himself there could be any number of reasons for Brannal to be eating there today. Perian shouldn’t feel upset, but… wasn’t it alittleodd Brannal hadn’t invited him?

He was doubly glad he hadn’t accepted Delana’s invitation. He could only imagine the awkwardness if he’d shown up after Brannal had excluded him. Maybe all they did was talk about Warrior things and Brannal had thought Perian would be bored. Maybe Perian’s brain should just stop thinking about this, and if he really wanted to know, he could ask Brannal the next time he saw him.

Part of Perian winced at the very idea. Since when did he get himself into knots like this? He didn’t expect anyone he met at the pub to be inviting him to dinner with their friends. Was that it? Maybe Perian wasn’t a secret, but Brannal didn’t intend their lives to intersect all that much? Perian was for the bedroom, and everyone else was for the rest of Brannal’s life?

Thoroughly confused, Perian found himself back at Brannal’s rooms. He wished he had more experience with relationships. He sank into one of the chairs by the fire. He reminded himself that Brannal had seemed to genuinely like the time they spent together. It took time to integrate someone new into your life. Brannal must have dozens of habits and typical ways of functioning.

That made sense. The weird, unsettled feeling in the pit of Perian’s stomach told him that his emotions weren’t at all convinced.

He made himself grab one of the books from the library, back when things had been going fine, as far as he knew. Or was he being naive and missing the signs?

“Don’t be an idiot!” Perian told himself.

He wasnotgoing to turn himself inside out or behave any way other than how he was. If Brannal didn’t like Perian like this, then this liaison was going to end sooner than later.

He nodded to himself resolutely, then rose to get a lamp, light it, and sit it on the side table by the chair. He made himself look at the book… and spent a long time re-reading the same page, trying to actually take in any of the information with a marked lack of success.

Chapter Eight

Startingawake,Periangroanedat the crick in his neck. He was momentarily disoriented but then realized he had fallen asleep in the chair by the fire. The book had slid to one side but fortunately not fallen off the chair. Perian hadn’t thought to ask what happened if you returned a book in an inferior condition, but he couldn’t imagine that would be acceptable. Whether the book was new or old, it deserved to be treated with care. Perian set the book on the side table and reached up to stretch, his spine cracking as he did so. Gingerly, he twisted his neck back and forth and rolled his shoulders. These chairs were extremely comfortable, but they were definitely not designed for protracted sleeping.

The light coming through the window told Perian that dawn was approaching. Alarmed, he sprang up to go look in the bedroom. Brannal was in bed, asleep. Perian felt his heart sink as the worry that Brannal had been kept out with some sort of demon-related emergency was replaced with the knowledge that the man had come back to the room, presumably found Perian sleeping in the chair, and left him there to go to bed alone.

Perian carefully closed the door again, frowning to himself. Two nights ago, Brannal had roused Perian when he’d dozed off, and they’d gone to bed together. What was different about last night? Perian wanted answers, but part of him was contemplating not saying anything to keep the status quo. He scrubbed his hands over his face, then ran them through his hair, which had half fallen out of its tie. He liked Brannal so much that he was maybe willing to do more than he’d thought to be able to keep him.

He blew out a breath and reminded himself it had only been one awkward evening. His father had always told him it was better not to make decisions in the heat of the moment. Perian would see how today went and then reassess.

He was still standing there when there was a tap on the door proceeded by staff bringing the food in for breakfast. They inclined their heads in respect, and Perian smiled at them.

“Thank you,” he managed to say as they finished their work.

He was still standing there like an idiot when Brannal emerged from the bedroom. He had clearly taken the time to clean up and dress, which made Perian feel doubly stupid for standing here in his wrinkled clothes from yesterday. At the very least, he could have been eating or reading or doinganythingother than standing aimlessly in the middle of the room. He could only hope he didn’t look as lost as he felt.

“Good morning,” Brannal said.

“Morning,” Perian returned, not at all sure yet if it was good.

He couldn’t even decide if it was a good thing or not that Brannal had said good morning. Did that mean he thought it was one? That he’d enjoyed waking on his own? Or was he simply saying good morning because that was a standard greeting?

“I’ll just go get dressed,” Perian mumbled, brushing past the other man and heading into the water closet. After relieving his bladder, he splashed water on his face and then stared at his dripping reflection in the mirror.

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