Page 77 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

Perian burst into laughter, which seemed to surprise the stable hand, though he looked rather relieved at the same time, probably that the message had been taken so well.

Perian inclined his head. “Thank you.”

The man made himself scarce. Another appeared with an offer to help get Prince Horsey ready, but it became immediately clear that wasn’t going to work.

“Why are you making such a fuss?” Perian asked, giving Prince Horsey a stern look. “People are going to start thinking that you are difficult and moody.”

“Oh, we already think that,” one of the hands said, probably a little louder than she’d intended, because her eyes went wide when Perian and Brannal looked at her.

“She’s not wrong,” Perian told the horse. “You’re going to make me do everything, aren’t you?”

The horse was entirely well behaved—in a very high-strung sort of way—if Perian approached him. So he headed into the stall with Brannal poised there as though he was going to leap to protect him if anything went the slightest bit wrong. (Actually, Brannal was probably one of the only people whocouldeasily protect Perian without risking his own life. Perian didn’t think even as determined a horse as this could defeat the shield Brannal was capable of throwing up, and a gale wind in here, while it would probably disturb a number of the horses, would probably put a stop to any shenanigans.)

But as long as Perian was talking about what he was doing, Prince Horsey just let him get on with it. And since Perian had regularly saddled his own horses back home, this wasn’t a problem for him.

“You’ve done this before,” Brannal observed, seeming to relax a bit more as he saw the competence with which Perian went through every step.

“I sure have.” Cheekily, Perian added, “Don’t worry, the saddle isn’t going to fall off halfway through the ride.”

Brannal blew out a breath and rolled his eyes.

And then it was just a matter of Perian leading Prince Horsey out of the stables, although everyone stopped and watched what he was doing.

“Because that’s not disconcerting at all,” Perian whispered to the horse. “Honestly, you’re acting likeyou’reroyalty.”

“Pretty sure he thinks he is,” Brannal said unhelpfully.

Once they were out in the yard, Brannal with his own horse and Perian with the most opinionated one in the world, they mounted. Perian took a minute to just settle and make sure Prince Horsey had not decided that now Perian was in the saddle, he didn’t want him here after all. Perian could handle an attempt or two to toss him if it came to that, so he would be ready if he needed to be. But a bit of playfulness or an accident was a different thing from a horse that was bound and determined to get you off its back.

But in the mysterious way of horses, now that Perian was settled in the saddle, Prince Horsey was nice as you please. Maybe he was lulling Perian into a false sense of security because he really did want that gallop, and he’d show his true colors once he was out of here. Perian smirked to himself. Yes, that seemed likely. Perian patted Prince Horsey’s neck. He could feel the strong muscles and coiled energy beneath him. He definitely, definitely wanted a gallop. Had Prince Horsey been waiting for six years to find someone he wanted to ride with? Perian hoped he wouldn’t be the only one, because it was such a shame to leave a horse like this stuck in a stable.

“What do you do with him normally?” Perian asked out of curiosity. “Surely, he’s not cooped up all the time?”

“With difficulty, they get him out to a paddock sometimes. But he definitely doesn’t get this experience.”

“Well, we’ve got that sorted,” Perian said proudly.

Brannal shook his head a little, but he was smiling.

“All right, let’s see what you can do.”

Chapter Fifteen

Theydidnotimmediatelyhead off at a gallop, of course. They made their way at a trot out of the stable yard, over the guarded drawbridge, and into the royal park, whose land had been preserved for anyone to ride or walk in. Brannal kicked them into a canter and was leading them in a mostly northern direction, and a little bit to the east. Perian was pretty sure he was getting them out of easy viewing distance of the castle.

Prince Horsey was highly responsive, barely needing Perian to indicate what he wanted to do—or Prince Horsey was just doing what he wanted. But Perian was entirely certain this horse deserved the best gallop ever. Humans weren’t the only ones who grieved, after all, and it must be even more confusing when you didn’t actually know what had happened, and the person you depended on just didn’t come back one day. (Perian knew that feeling. It was an awful feeling.)

Once they were well out in the open, in fields dotted with trees and growing things, Perian couldn’t help himself. He urged Prince Horsey into a gallop as he yelled, “Catch me if you can!” to Brannal as he shot past him.

It became immediately clear that Prince Horsey was an exceptional horse. He didn’t just look pretty, and he wasn’t just fractious in the stables. No, he was, truly, born to run. He surged into the smoothest gallop Perian had ever felt, and Perian threw back his head and whooped with joy.

He was pretty sure Brannal yelled something, but Perian missed it. He leaned low over Prince Horsey’s back and watched as the world flew by around them. Perian hadn’t given a lot of thought to how long he’d been in the castle. Going out into the quadrangle had made it feel as though he was getting outside, and he loved all of the picnics and the time spent out in nature, but it was still surrounded by walls. It had been too long since he’d been in the country and on a horse. It was only dawning on him now just how much he’d missed it.

But… they probably shouldn’t gallop forever. He slowed Prince Horsey to a canter and then took a look around him. Brannal was still following, and his horse was clearly very good, just not as good as Prince Horsey. Perian patted his horse’s neck.

“That was a nice run to get us warmed up, wasn’t it?”

He dropped to a walk until Brannal finally caught up with him. He was looking at Perian with a hilarious mixture of respect and annoyance.

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