Page 57 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

Nisal smirked. “And he can always douse Cormal with water if he loses his temper.”

“Ah, was that Molun the other day?” Perian asked. “It occurred to me after watching your lessons that someone could probably simply have doused his hands.”

“Couldhave,” Arvus agreed smoothly.

Perian couldn’t help but laugh, releasing a bit of the tension tightening his whole body. Clearly, word of what had happened between Cormal, Renny, and Perian had spread already, and as Nisal had said, Perian was only responsible for his own actions. If asked, he would confirm to anyone exactly what he had done. He couldn’t pretend that it had been he who had injured Cormal, but he would readily admit to having been the one to train Renny.

Arvus just kept pouring tea, and Delana kept putting sandwiches on his plate until Perian finally had to push the dish away. He didn’t feel full, exactly, but he felt like he’d had his limit of food. He was pretty sure at least half his stomach was taken up with a big ball of unease, so that was probably blocking some of the room for nourishment.

The door opened, and this time it was Brannal. He checked on the threshold, having apparently not expected so many people in the room. Perian sprang to his feet.

Anxiously, he asked, “Is Renny all right?”

Brannal’s expression softened, and he came all the way into the room and closed the door. “She’s fine.”

Perian blew out a relieved breath, some of his anxiety easing. “And is Cormal having me thrown in the dungeons or banished?”

Best to just ask and get the worst of it out of the way.

Brannal’s lips twisted. “He… might have suggested something along those lines, but the Princess threatened to drown him in the moat.”

“Ouch,” Nisal mumbled.

Right, because on top of threatening major bodily harm, it would be done with the opposing element to Cormal’s. Perian assumed that was a most insulting death.

“Um, I’m very grateful to the Princess,” Perian said. “But why was she defending me?”

Or maybe she just really didn’t like Cormal?

The expression on Brannal’s face was one that Perian couldn’t figure out. Affection and… sorrow?

Carefully, he said, “Because in Princess Larenia, you have made a friend for life.”

Perian just stared at him, not understanding the gravitas with which the words had been spoken. It didn’t answer his question at all. Why would Princess Larenia—

Larenia.

Surely not.

Perian gaped. “You’re not saying thatRennyis actually—”

“Crown Princess Larenia of Plenarra. Yes.”

“Oh,” Perian said a bit blankly, because his entire world had shifted unexpectedly, and this had already been a really weird couple of days. He’d known that was the Princess’s name, if he’d thought about it, but it had never occurred to him that the girl he had befriended could be that person. “So, when she said she was going to go talk to her mother—?”

“Queen Talira,” Brannal confirmed.

Perian nodded, because that actually made a lot of sense, looking back.

“So, I guess we can’t have another picnic tomorrow?”

Brannal’s head tilted to one side. “Do you want to?”

“Of course I do!” Perian exclaimed. “I promised her I would. I’ve been enjoying those picnics. I thought she was too.”

“She’s been enjoying them very much,” Brannal confirmed. “But she was supposed to be resting in her rooms in the afternoon.”

Ah. And instead, she’d been sneaking away, and Perian had sort of been aiding and abetting her.

---