Page 53 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

Renny probably wasn’t going to decide she didn’t like him anymore just because he was having a bad day. And if she did decide that, well…

Well, if she did decide that, then that was her choice, and it would mean fewer reasons why Perian was here in the castle. He could always leave, he reminded himself, even if part of him twisted itself up in knots at the very idea. He wasn’t a prisoner here, and he could choose to go home. He had an entire home that was available to him, and honestly, just at the moment, the idea of being far away from people didn’t seem so bad at all.

If you were alone, you couldn’t mess things up with the people you cared about.

Perian retrieved the food from the kitchen and realized only after he’d left that he’d got some weird looks from the people there. Had he remembered to say thank you? Had he even said anything at all? Or had he just stood there like an idiot until someone shoved a basket at him? For a moment, he thought about going back and apologizing, but he could do that when he returned the empty basket.

Shaking his head, he tried to push away some of the worst thoughts. He was going to see Renny. They were going to have a picnic together, and he wasnotgoing to be the reason a twelve-year-old girl was depressed. No, he would get his act together, and it would be fine, totally fine. All right, bad choice of words. It would be… acceptable.

He’d been walking without paying any attention to where he was going, but thankfully, his legs seemed to know where the quadrangle was. He was nearly there when a voice caught his attention.

He’d recognize it anywhere because it generally sounded this angry and upset when he was around.

Cormal was saying, “You’re supposed to be resting! And you’re not supposed to be alone! What do you think you’re doing? What if you collapsed again and no one was there to see you?”

And then another voice spoke, and Perian’s blood ran cold.

“I was feeling better, and I wasn’t alone!”

That was Renny.

Perian rushed forward without thought.

“Not this again!” Cormal snapped, sounding dismissive. “There was no one with you!”

“I was meeting someone!” Renny practically screeched.

Perian reached the entrance to the quadrangle and saw that Cormal had hold of Renny by the elbow.

“This has to end!” Cormal snarled. “You’re twelve years old, not a child any longer. Your brother is dead!”

For a terrible moment, they all stood frozen, an awful grief etched on Renny’s face. And then Perian started to run, rage overtook Renny’s expression, and just like Perian had taught her, she stomped on Cormal’s instep and kneed him square in the groin as she screamed, “He’s not, he’s not! I hate you!”

Cormal let her go with a high-pitched yelp of pain as he bent over. Renny bolted towards the garden.

Perian reached Cormal, who had gone down to one knee and hunched over.

“What in the name of all the elements is wrong with you?” Perian demanded. “You don’t say that to a little girl!”

“She’s not—!” Cormal started.

Perian didn’t stop to listen, he just bolted after Renny.

He could only guess where she’d gone, but a secret hiding space seemed like the best bet given everything that had just happened. Perian had never raced through the path faster, dodging trees and bushes and bursting through to the secluded area. Renny was on the ground, sobbing her heart out. Perian flung himself to the ground beside her and hauled her into his arms. She fought him for a moment, and then she seemed to figure out who it was because all the fight went out of her and she clung to him, sobbing into his chest.

“He’s not! He’s not dead! I swear—I swear he’s not.”

“All right,” Perian told her, rubbing her back and holding her close. “I believe you, it’s all right, we’ll figure this out.”

She continued to cry and cry, a storm of tears that told him more clearly than any words from either her or Cormal what had happened to her brother.

Eventually, he managed to shift them so they were on the blanket, sort of perched on it, because he hadn’t completely unfolded it. But he made sure to unfold it enough that there was room for two, Renny in Perian’s lap, and a space next to them for the brother Perian feared would never sit beside his sister again.

Renny started to shiver, so Perian got the smaller blanket tucked round her, still rubbing her back and murmuring anything he could think of to try to calm her. He told her it was all right to be sad and angry, that it was good to let emotions out, that they would figure this out. He might have mentioned that some people were ignorant asses, and he might have promised he would stay and that Renny wouldn’t be alone.

Finally, she was quiet, and he realized she had fallen asleep. He made sure the blanket was tucked securely around her, and then he just sat there, with a little girl asleep in his arms, his coat and shirt wet with her tears. Maybe there wasn’t anything so wrong with his life after all. Perhaps things weren’t going to work out with Brannal. Perian would really like it if they did, but both of them were alive, and both of them were reasonably well, as far as he knew. He’d definitely lost perspective, and this poor little girl in his arms had just reminded him to get his act together.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting there when Renny startled awake. It had to be pretty weird to wake up in someone’s lap.

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