Page 41 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

He’d met Brannal only a few days ago. Admittedly, the man had swept into his life in a dramatic fashion. Perian had been swept along, a little, but he’d also enthusiastically agreed to multiple parts of this experience. He could also leave at any point. Brannal hadn’t locked him in a dungeon, and maybe Perian was getting a little worked up over something that really wasn’t as complicated as he was making it out to be.

They were two people who were effectively living with one another after a very short acquaintance. It was entirely likely that there would be growing pains—and even more likely that at some point one or both of them would decide they didn’t want to do this anymore. That was perfectly fine. Perian needed to get a grip.

He briefly contemplated taking the time to have a bath, which would probably mean that Brannal would finish breakfast and leave before Perian was done. But then he imagined how much more awkward it would be if Brannal waited for him. Perian gave himself a perfunctory scrub at the sink and then went to pull on clean clothes. He felt a bit better just with that done, and he headed back out into the sitting room in an improved frame of mind.

Brannal was still at the breakfast table. Perian sat down and served himself from the array of food. He barely managed not to let out a sigh of relief when Brannal poured him a cup of tea. He’d refreshed his own cup too, but still. Maybe whatever was going on wasn’t too bad after all.

“How was your day yesterday?” Brannal asked.

“Fine,” Perian answered automatically, which made him think of Renny and the lies that adults told one another. But the real answer was entirely complicated and probably a bit much for the breakfast table. “Explored the castle some more, looked through the gallery, saw what the Warriors do to keep in shape. It was very impressive, really.”

Brannal was silent a moment too long, but his voice was mild when he said, “They have a very important duty.”

“True,” Perian agreed. Then he made a face. “Although really, when you think about it, everyone’s duty is important. If you suddenly eliminated the cooks or the cleaners or the weavers or the bookmakers—if you got rid of an entire group ofanyposition—there would be a sudden gap in our lives that we would notice and probably miss quite sorely.”

Brannal stared at him with his cup halfway to his mouth, a somewhat bemused expression on his face, like that was not, at all, how he thought Perian was going to respond. Then, suddenly, he smiled, and Perian could breathe a little easier.

“I would indeed be annoyed if my tea were not brought each morning just the way I preferred. I take your point. I did not mean to imply that a Warrior was more important than anyone else.”

“Although, in fairness,” Perian pointed out, “not every position requires quite that amount of muscle and manual dexterity.”

An eyebrow rose, and Brannal definitely sounded amused now. “I take it you were not watching their ability to fight?”

Perian shrugged. “I can’t tell good fighting from bad, generally. But I am as capable as the next person at gauging anattractiveperson.”

Brannal laughed. “I can’t argue with that.” Then his eyes narrowed slightly. “But I can perhaps correct it.”

Slowly, Perian said, “Correct my ability to gauge an attractive person?”

Brannal made a face. “No, of course not. I don’t have any complaints about your definition of an attractive person.”

He winked, and Perian couldn’t help but smile, suddenly feeling a lot less confused about this conversation. Blatant flirting, he understood.

Brannal clarified, “I’d like to correct your inability to know good fighting from bad. I can make some time this afternoon. How would you like to learn some basic defense moves?”

Perian was pretty sure this was going to be humiliating in the extreme. On the other hand, he hadn’t exactly acquitted himself well when he’d been attacked. And getting up close and personal with Brannal soundedexcellent.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Perian said, mostly truthful.

Brannal smiled and drained his tea. “Excellent. Meet me here after lunch, and I’ll show you the training room.” He rose to his feet, then paused. “Or would you like to have lunch first? I could have something delivered here.”

“I’d like that,” Perian said.

“Then let’s meet here at noon.”

Perian nodded, and Brannal headed off.

That was positive, right? Brannal wanted to spend time with him, maybe having realized he’d excluded Perian yesterday, inadvertently or otherwise, and this was his way of making up for it. He’d go with that explanation, he decided, because it made him feel better, and there was no one to gainsay him.

He finished his breakfast, and then decided to take one of his books out to the quadrangle. He needed to lose himself in something else, or he was going to spend the whole morning imagining this afternoon.

He made sure to head down a different path than the one that led to Renny, though she was probably not there right now. It was a large garden, and it was nice to enjoy more of it, to look at all the plants that were growing as they headed towards summer. He found a public bench that was right out there in the open, no little girls to tell him they were saving spots for their brother.

He cracked open his book and dived into an entirely ridiculous fictional romance between two Warriors who constantly butted heads when it was entirely obvious to the reader that they were totally flirting and just hadn’t realized it yet. Yes, this was just the sort of silly thing to make him concentrate on someone else’s fictional troubles. He could save serious books for later.

The brightening light made him realize that the sun was nearly overhead, and he made his way back to Brannal’s rooms to find that lunch was already there but Brannal wasn’t. Perian put away his book, freshened up in the water closet, and then settled at the table. A few minutes later, Brannal swept into the room and grinned when he saw Perian—or maybe the food.

“Wonderful. I’ve worked up an appetite. I’ll just be a moment.”

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