Page 72 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

Actually, he could see the resemblance. The Queen was a little plumper where Renny was too thin, and she was obviously several decades older than her daughter, but they had the same gray eyes and the same nose.

Perian explained as calmly as he could how he liked his tea, and he managed to take the cup and saucer without dropping either of them, so there was that. Actually, it helped to have something in his hands again.

He declined any of the sweets as politely as he was able, to reduce the chance of him choking to death or having his mouth full when the Queen asked him a question. Because there was no way he was here for anything other than to answer questions.

The Queen’s posture was ramrod straight, and Perian found himself correcting his own posture automatically.

“You’ve been spending time with my daughter.” Her voice was calm and cool.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Perian agreed.

He sipped the tea. It was excellent. He vastly preferred the tea with Brannal.

“Without telling anyone.”

Perian cleared his throat and resisted the urge to fidget. “I didn’t realize there was anyone I needed to tell.”

Her eyes were penetrating. “You didn’t think it unusual that a young girl was on her own?”

“To be honest, Your Majesty, I don’t spend a lot of time with children. Renny”—the Queen stiffened slightly and Perian, not knowing what else to do, just kept going—“admittedly wasn’t an adult, but she seemed like a well-reasoning young person who wasn’t in any danger, either from her behavior or her location.”

“So, you continued to see her.”

The Queen was extremely good at neutral statements that he couldn’t interpret.

“She seemed sad and lonely when I met her. She seemed happier after she spent some time with me. So yes, I kept seeing her.”

“And what do you get out of it?”

Perian eyed the Queen, trying to figure out if this was a fair question or if she was being immensely insulting. She was Renny’s mother, he reminded himself.

“To spend time with a very engaging person, Your Majesty. Renny is funny and bright. I’ve been very much enjoying her company.” He panicked. “In an extremely platonic way. Uh, just to be clear, Your Majesty. She is a child and a female, and I am not even a little bit interested!”

There had probably been many better ways to say that, but as he suddenly realized one of the reasons she might have been concerned, he’d… blathered.

Fortunately for his continued freedom, she seemed almost amused, her face relaxing into an expression that reminded him a little bit of Renny.

“I’m given to understand your interests lie elsewhere.”

There wasn’t really anything he could possibly say about that beyond, “They really do, Your Majesty.”

“You’re very curious,” she told him, gray eyes scanning his face. “My Summus is extremely protective. My Secundus is extremely wary. And my daughter is extremely fond. And you’ve sprung up from virtually nowhere. You’re a bit of a puzzle.”

“I haven’t meant to be particularly puzzling, Your Majesty,” Perian said carefully. “I’m visiting the city from my home in the country. I’m in the second district. Brannal rescued me after I was attacked on the street, as you may have heard. When it comes to Cormal…” Perian’s mind momentarily went blank of anything that wasn’t rude, and he floundered, before he thankfully managed, “I think Cormal and I got off on the wrong foot. We don’t actually know one another at all well. And as I’m sure you are aware, sometimes people simply don’t get along, even if there’s nothing actually wrong with either of them. As for your daughter, I think she needed a friend.”

There was something sad in her eyes for a moment, and then her face went hard.

“She’s the Crown Princess.”

“Yes,” Perian agreed. “But can she not also be Renny? At least a little of the time?”

“Her brother used to call her that,” the Queen said, voice tight, eyes sad again. “She hasn’t allowed anyone else to call her that since he died.”

Fire and water.

All Perian could say was, “It’s how she introduced herself to me the first day.”

“I hope it means she is finally moving on.”

---