Page 9 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

“Didn’t you?” Perian demanded.

Brannal’s nostrils flared, and for a moment, Perian thought that he was going to be witness to the other man losing his temper—just as he remembered that like Cormal, that could be in the form of fireballs. But then Brannal’s eyes flickered closed, he drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly before opening his eyes again.

Carefully, he said, “I believe I made a misjudgment.”

Perian raised an eyebrow. If this was Brannal’s version of an apology, it wasn’t great so far.

“A misjudgment,” Perian repeated flatly.

Brannal nodded. He hesitated for a moment, and it looked like perhaps he was just going to leave it at that, but then he blurted out, “It was the thanking me.”

Perian frowned, confused. “Are you saying you got angry because I didn’tthank you enough?”

Brannal looked as uncomfortable as Perian felt. “No! Rather the opposite. I thought you were thanking me too much.”

Perian still didn’t get it. “I mean, I know I said thank you a few times, but I was there for days, and you did save my life.”

Only the other manstilllooked uncomfortable, and he seemed to be having trouble meeting Perian’s eyes.

“No, I thought… I thought last night was your way of… repaying me for what I’d done.”

Perian digested this with rising indignation. “You thought I had sex with you to repay you for saving my life?”

Brannal winced.

Perian made a scoffing noise. “I scarcely know whether to be flattered or offended that my life ranked on par with a blow job!”

Brannal’s ears went red. “I might have thought you hadn’t any money, and so that was your way—”

“—ofpaying you, I get it,” Perian ground out. “Forgive me for not realizing that your saving my life was a transaction with a bill.”

“It wasn’t!” Brannal snapped, meeting Perian’s eyes so he could glare at him. “Of course it wasn’t! So, this morning when I woke up and realized that you might have thought you needed to pay me back, that you might have thought you couldn’t say no, that I was no better than those men, I couldn’t…”

And abruptly, the knot that had been tying up Perian’s stomach since this morning unraveled.

“Let me get this straight.”

Brannal looked as though he was bracing himself for an angry rant.

Perian crossed his arms over his chest and stared Brannal down. “After really awesome sex that we both wanted, you woke up this morning worried that you’d accidentally pressured me in some way. Instead of remembering my boundless enthusiasm or asking me about it, you let me think you couldn’t care less about me and sent me away.”

Brannal’s eyes narrowed. “I did ask you how you were, andyou’re the one who said you were going to go.”

Perian countered, “I told you I was fine, and you were acting like my presence was the most inconvenient thing that had ever inconvenienced you.”

“I didn’t want to make any demands.”

“You could have asked me to stay.”

“No, I couldn’t,” Brannal said with a definite shake of his head.

Perian had been waiting to hear any sort of indication that Brannal wanted him to stay, and Brannal had been carefully avoiding the same so that Perian didn’t feel pressured.

Perian blew out a breath. “To avoid further misjudgments, allow me to clarify: those men followed me from the pub where I’d been dancing—and not with them. They didn’t like that I wouldn’t take them up on their offer to show me a good time. I can assure you, I didn’t actually owe them anything.”

Wincing, Brannal conceded, “I might have taken more stock of their words than I should have.”

“I would certainly have preferred that you clarified with me. If I did offer sex for favors or money, it certainly wouldn’t be without discussing it with the other person first.”

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