Page 45 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

Perian’s face lit up. “Oh, me too! I mean, not with Molun, obviously. But I dance often at the pub. Definitely less formal than this.”

Arvus laughed. “Not enough space for it, for one.”

“True,” Perian agreed. “And I suppose not everyone learns this sort of dancing.”

Arvus hummed an agreement. “We learned when we came here. Part of our training, which now I think on it, doesn’t actually make a lot of sense.”

Perian grinned. “It’s a physical activity. You do physical things all the time. Does there need to be more of a reason?”

“I suppose not.”

“Or maybe it’s a nice way to relax, and they want to make sure you don’t all collapse from exhaustion.”

“Do you feel relaxed?” Arvus asked.

Perian couldn’t quite tell how the question was meant. He was enjoying the dancing, and he was certainly aware of the fact that he was inches from a very handsome man as they twirled around the room. He was attracted to Arvus, certainly, and there was perhaps a… small current of tension between them, but it wasn’t anything compared to the buzz of awareness that Perian felt around Brannal.

So, hoping he wasn’t about to insult the other man, Perian said, “Pretty relaxed, yes. I mean, the level of tension came way down when I stopped stepping on your feet.”

Arvus laughed. “True. For both of us. You dance quite well yourself, once you remember how.”

“Thank you. It’s a nice reminder of my father.”

Arvus blinked, and Perian’s eyes widened.

“I mean, not that you couldbemy father, I’m pretty sure we’re basically the same age? Ugh, sorry, my father taught me to dance, that’s all I meant!”

Arvus was laughing in earnest now, and the dancing came to an end.

“I’m twenty-three.”

Perian made a face. “Yeah, I’m twenty-two. Sorry!”

“No offense taken,” Arvus assured him, still looking entirely amused.

They danced for a few more minutes, and then Perian said, “Hold on, what time is it? I’m meant to be meeting Brannal.”

Arvus tugged out his pocket watch. “It’s almost noon.”

“Oh, excellent, I can be on time,” Perian said with a grin. “Thank you for the dancing. I really did enjoy it.”

Offering a wave, Perian hurried back towards the library.

He arrived with a scant minute to spare, at which point he realized it was a rather large place, and Brannal hadn’t specified an actual location. Was he meant to wait at the entrance? At the lending catalog?

Despite knowing it made more sense to stand still, Perian roamed the shelves. He headed deeper into the library, past rows and rows of books, pondering just how much knowledge was located here.

And then a hand caught his elbow and tugged, and Perian turned to find that Brannal had found him after all… and was pushing him up against a bookshelf and kissing him. Perian was a little surprised, needing a second to catch up, and then he relaxed into the contact and hungrily kissed Brannal back, clutching at him and not even minding that his spine was being pushed into the spines of various rather rigid books.

“Hello,” Perian gasped, when they drew back enough to breathe. “This is a nice surprise. I thought you were going to make me take out a really long and boring book or something.”

“Or something,” Brannal agreed with a look in his eyes that told Perian no reading whatsoever was about to get done.

They kissed again, tongues tangling, and Brannal’s leg slotted between Perian’s so that he could thrust against it. Soon, he was almost ready to come, but he wanted to taste Brannal first, so he gave him a little push, and Brannal obediently disengaged, blinking at Perian with lust-filled eyes.

“Your turn,” Perian said and then rearranged them so that Brannal was the one pushed up against the bookshelf.

Brannal reached to pull Perian back into his arms, but with a grin, Perian dropped to his knees.

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