Page 101 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong

His tone made it clear this wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation for Cormal, but Perian definitely didn’t feel sorry for the man, not when he’d stirred up all this trouble. Surely, he knew better than to claim something had happened without actual firsthand witnesses?

“Are any of the Warriors or Mage Warriors bad riders?” Perian asked. “Could someone really have thought I was doing something dangerous?”

Brannal smiled softly at him. “They all ride well enough to do their job. And even if they weren’t particularly good, I would think it became obvious quite quickly that you are an excellent one. And I assume the Princess loved it?”

“It made her laugh,” Perian agreed, smiling.

“We’re all very protective of the Princess, but it doesn’t sound like any of that was remotely dangerous,” Brannal acknowledged. “Perhaps we’re not adjusting very well to the improvement in her health, but that’s not an excuse to attack you.”

“She was really sick?” Perian took the opportunity to ask, because he hadn’t wanted to make Renny uncomfortable by asking.

Brannal grimaced, nodding his head. “There were times when she could barely get out of bed and when she looked like she was very near to—” He cut himself off, eyesbleak. “It wasn’t good. It’s varied over the years, times when she was a bit stronger or weaker, but she’s never been in good health since the wraith attack. She’s always needed to rest a lot, couldn’t do most of the things that children would normally do. She was prone to dizziness and collapsing, and—”

“Dizziness!” Perian exclaimed.

Brannal blinked at him, looking puzzled by the outburst. “Dizziness?”

“When I was going in circles. Renny said I was making her dizzy, and so I circled the other way. If someone heard that out of context, if they thought she meant she was getting one of her dizzy spells, I could see how they would be concerned.”

Brannal looked skeptical. “While she was laughing and riding a horse with perfect ease? I heard no report of her being carried in prostrate.”

Perian had to concede that. “Well, no, she was totally fine, and she seemed very happy when she left.” He eyed Brannal. “But you went off half-cocked without enough information. I’m just saying that maybe someone else did, too.”

Brannal didn’t seem to have an argument about that, and Perian realized he might be accidentally making excuses for Cormal. He hadn’t meant to dothat, he just didn’t want this to cause any more misunderstandings than it already had.

“Renny had dizzy spells and sometimes collapsed,” Perian prompted.

Brannal nodded. “She needed to rest a lot, which resulted in those naps in the afternoon which she seems to have come to dislike so much.”

“But she hasn’t had a spell in weeks, right?”

Nodding again, Brannal acknowledged, “She seems much improved, and I believe this is the longest bout of good health, as well as being better health than we’ve seen in some time. But she has seemed to improve a little and then faded before. The doctor hasn’t been able to identify exactly what’s wrong, and nothing has cured her illness.”

“Makes you wish we hadn’t lost Life Magic.”

Brannal nodded, expression sad. “No one has discovered so much as a hint since the Great Cataclysm. We were saved, but so much was lost.”

“I guess we can only look forward now,” Perian said.

Brannal smiled faintly at him. “Exactly. All we have now is elemental magic, and it simply doesn’t work like that.”

“It can’t be used on a person directly.”

“Exactly,” Brannal agreed, a little bit of lecture tone slipping into his voice. “We can harm a person with our elements—though we never would, of course—but that is still an external force acting upon them. Life Magic was said to interact with them, inside them, and elemental magic has never worked like that.”

Perian nodded. He considered for a moment. “It’s part of why being Summus is so important to you, isn’t it? All the responsibility is on the Mage Warriors, and you’re still trying to make up for what happened when the wraiths attacked.”

When so many people had died, including the Prince (as far as most people were concerned), and Renny had been so badly injured, though no one really understood how. When a wraith attacked, the most likely outcome was that it killed its victim. If they survived—only if someone intervened and killed the wraith—they would often be weakened, but they recovered within weeks. Only Renny never had.

Brannal nodded, eyes shadowed. “We did everything we could. Molun, Cormal, and I were able to stop the wraiths, but they’d already done so much damage. We never did discover how they got into the castle, though there has been no hint of anything similar since. I’ve worked very hard to make sure the castle is well protected.” He swallowed. “It’s a huge responsibility.”

And it was why, sometimes, he overreacted and yelled at Perian instead of behaving with the calm he normally exhibited. Why Renny’s wellbeing was so important to him, more than just wanting her to be safe and well.

“It matters a lot to you,” Perian said softly.

“Yes,” Brannal agreed. “I want to try to live up to Tramad’s legacy. He served as Summus for thirty years, and it’s a tragedy we lost him in that attack.”

Perian chewed on his lip. There was a lead weight in his stomach. “I, uh, hadn’t ever thought of it quite like that. Maybe there’s not really room in your life for anything else?”

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