Page 80 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

He reached out and clasped Perian’s arm.

Perian nodded, swallowing against the lump in his throat. “It’s, uh, it was hard. Being alone in the world.”

“Yes, it is,” Brannal agreed. Perian looked at him, and he continued quietly, “I showed up here a twelve-year-old orphan. Demons overran our farm. I manifested fire for the first time, but it was too late to save them.”

Perian sucked in a breath sharply and covered Brannal’s hand with his own. “Brannal.”

He shook his head. “It’s fine. It happened a long time ago.” But he flipped his hand so that he could twine their fingers together. “But if we’re lucky, we find people so we’re not so alone anymore.”

Perian clasped those fingers perhaps a little bit harder than was strictly necessary.

“That’s very true,” he said, voice thick. “We do that.”

Perian hadn’t really had anyone before he came here to the castle. And that was all thanks to Brannal finding him and choosing to help him—and then deciding he wanted to keep him. Not likekeepkeep him, Perian was aware this wasn’t permanent, but at least keep him temporarily. And that had led Perian into the sphere of a lot more people, and with a few notable exceptions, they really seemed to like him.

“I’m so glad to be here,” he whispered, feeling like it needed to be said.

Brannal squeezed his hand gently. “I’m so glad you’re here, too.”

They just sat there for a little while, in the shade of the tree, as the horses grazed and the world moved quietly around them. There were no other people, the sounds were all those of nature. Perian really did like the hustle and bustle of the castle as opposed to constant solitude, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t nice to have some quiet peace sometimes as well.

It was actually Prince Horsey who decided they were done, coming over from his grazing and nudging at Perian. He looked up at that big face, and imagined he looked impatient.

“Oh, is that it? I’d better get riding again or you’re going to just leave?”

Prince Horsey nudged him again. Laughing, Perian and Brannal rose to their feet.

“I really don’t fancy running after him,” Perian admitted, “not even if you have the best corralling skills in the world.”

“I do seem to remember the Queen threatening to throw you in the dungeon if anything went wrong,” Brannal pointed out. “I think it might be better to try to avoid that.”

Perian made a horrified face. “Thanks for reminding me!”

Brannal just laughed, and for that, as soon as Perian was in the saddle, he nudged Prince Horsey into a gallop.

He thought he might have heard Brannal swear, and then they were gone, too far away to hear anything. Perian yelled out for joy once again, loving the way Prince Horsey stretched himself to the utmost, how he could move with such speed and energy as though there was nothing in the world he liked so much as this.

Mindful of the fact they were heading back to the stables and he wasn’t sure what sort of mood Prince Horsey was going to be in when he got there, Perian didn’t let him gallop madly for too long. He allowed Brannal and Warrior to catch up with them once again, and they headed the last distance at a trot, letting Prince Horsey get his breath back and ensuring he didn’t show up in the stable in a sweaty lather that might make everyone think Perian had mistreated him.

This had been the best ride ever, and Perian would very much like to be able to do it again—as well as not wanting to wind up in the dungeon—so it seemed wise to make it clear everything had gone well.

They garnered a fair bit of attention coming back into the stable yard, but Perian had been mostly expecting it. He wasn’t sure if they were surprised by the horse or Perian—or maybe the fact Perian was still on top of the horse. He patted Prince Horsey’s neck.

“You were amazing,” Perian told him. “Thank you very much for taking me for such an enjoyable ride.”

Prince Horsey still seemed full of energy but also more relaxed. Perian was pretty sure the horse had enjoyed this as much as Perian had.

“We’d better get you cleaned up,” he said, “or you’re not going to want to do it ever again.”

Unsurprisingly, Prince Horsey was not delighted by the idea of anyone but Perian doing that cleaning up, but he didn’t mind. He’d done most of the work with his own horses back home, and he’d been happy to do it. You had the best experience with your animals when you did everything with them.

Perian pulled off the saddle and blanket and handed them off to a stable hand, removed the bridle, and then set to work brushing Prince Horsey down and telling him what a good horse he was and what a pretty horse he was and how Perian hoped they could continue to be friends and would get to do this again in the future.

“Is that how you charm the horses?” Brannal asked. “Give lots of compliments?”

He was doing the same work with Warrior in a stall a couple over from Prince Horsey.

Perian shrugged. “I like to acknowledge when awesome things are awesome. I don’t see the point of not sharing it when I’m thinking it.”

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