Page 49 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

Perian’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… you thought it would be nice to see what it was like to dance in the ballroom, so you danced. Even though there was no ball and no music.”

“To be fair, there were also no people when I got there. I didn’t think I was going to be observed.”

“Would it have stopped you?” she asked.

He tilted his head back and forth. “It depends. I mean, if the whole Council and the Queen herself had been there, I’d probably have been trying to find a seat at the back and not be noticed. If someone I knew who disapproved of me had been there, I might have decided not to push it… or I might have done exactly what I wanted and never mind what they thought. I guess I have to be inspired in the moment.”

Renny considered this carefully and then nodded. “That makes sense. No blanket statements for all eternity.”

“I guess not,” he agreed. “I think my blanket statements might be about intent or things that I’ll try to do, like protecting people or being true to myself. How that is expressed in any given moment might change depending on the situation. So much of life is not necessarily going to be exactly the way you expect—or at least that hasn’t been my experience. I didn’t expect to be attacked or wind up here at all, and—”

“Attacked!” Renny said sharply.

He nodded, surprised by her reaction. “Um, yes, didn’t I say? I thought I told you.”

“You said you wereinjured.”

“Ah,” Perian said, feeling his way, because he had not expected her to be this upset by the news. “Injured when I was attacked.”

“By a demon?” she demanded, face drained of color.

“Oh,” Perian said, reaching out to lay a hand on her arm. “No, no, Renny, nothing like that. No demons at all. I was attacked by humans.”

A little color washed back into her face, but now she was frowning fiercely, a little groove appearing in her forehead.

“Why did humans attack you?”

Realizing there was no getting out of it now, though it might have been better not to bring the topic up at all, Perian laid out the basics of his attack to her.

“Some people didn’t learn the right things growing up,” he concluded. “They treat other people in a way they would never want to be treated themselves, thinking only about what they want, getting angry when things don’t go their way. I was unlucky enough to be their target that day.”

“You should have kneed them in the groin,” Renny said fiercely.

Perian huffed a laugh, nodded. “I should have. Truthfully, I was so shocked that it devolved to physical violence that I mostly just reacted with surprise. They were all justthere, and—” And that really wasn’t something he should be discussing with a twelve-year-old, he was sure of it. “It happened really fast, and they were on me before I could contemplate running.”

“You needed help. And Brannal saved you.”

“Yes, he did,” Perian agreed. “I was so very grateful.”

“And then he brought you back here and healed you himself and took care of you every minute and then asked you to stay with him?”

There was an older-than-twelve curl to her lip as she pointed all this out.

“It does sound very suggestive when you put it all together like that,” he agreed, not quite able to keep his own smile from peeking out.

“Because he makes you happy.”

Perian nodded again, not able to deny it.

After another moment of thought, she said slowly, “And you might never have met him if you weren’t attacked.”

“Exactly!” Perian exclaimed, glad to be brought back to the point he had been trying to make originally. “I can’t ever be grateful to those men for attacking me. What they did was wrong, and had it happened a few minutes earlier or later, had Brannal chosen another night to be walking back from a different pub, I might not be here now.” Oh, that was probably not the thing to say to her. “But, thanks in part to what happened, Brannal and Ididcross paths, and we decided that we enjoyed one another’s company.” She snorted, but he certainly wasn’t getting more explicit with her. “And of course, if Brannal was anyone else, I might not be here in the castle, I wouldn’t have met the other Mage Warriors, I wouldn’t have met you. A couple weeks ago, I didn’t know that any of you existed, and now I can’t imagine not knowing and getting to spend time with all of you.”

She smiled at him. “I like spending time with you too.” Then she eyed that bit of sky they could see above the evergreens and let out a big sigh.

“Hiding time over for the day?” he asked gently.

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