Page 68 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong

Brannal huffed a laugh, body relaxing. “So now he’s thrown you over for someone else, and you’re coming crawling back to me?”

“I guess so?” Perian said, squinting. “Not totally sure how that fits in with all the people I’ve been telling we’re going to have sex and sex and sex. Maybe they think you just won’t notice or that’s my way of trying to distract you? I’m honestly not sure. It’s like no one has ever seen someone flirt before and not have it end in sex or a relationship. I like to be honest about my admiration, as long as it doesn’t upset someone.”

“And I take it Bennan was not upset?”

Perian shook his head. “No, he’s happy to show off. Did a number of those slow tunic and shirt removals after training, like ‘I’m so hot, I need to take this off, but I’m going to do it slowly for no reason whatsoever, oh, is everyone staring at me, that is such a coincidence, I wonder why that’s happening.’”

Brannal snorted with laughter. “Oh, is that how it happens?”

“So inexplicable,” Perian agreed, laughing as well. “But he was trying to catch Chamis’s attention, and Chamis figured it was just what he did witheveryone, only he got nervous and shy when Bennan tried to do it directly to him, so then Bennan gave up because he didn’t want to scare him off, but that made Chamis think he’d grown uninterested, and it was just really painful to watch.”

“So you had to fix it?” Brannal asked, sounding amused.

“I had to try. So I talked to Chamis, and last night he went to talk to Bennan after dinner, and Bennan just followed after him like no one else was in the room, and so I think everything’s going to be all right.”

Brannal pressed a kiss to his temple. “You have a very big heart.”

“Just the right size for you,” Perian mumbled against his skin.

Brannal’s arms tightened around him, and then he said in a more normal tone of voice, “I think we have a bath that is cooling as we speak. And you have done an extraordinary job of distracting me, but I’m not going to be put off any longer.”

“Huh?”

Brannal tapped the bandage on Perian’s arm, and Perian laughed, because he genuinely had forgotten, but clearly, Brannal had not. It was actually amazing he’d let himself be put off this long. But Perian had been distressed, and Brannal had dropped everything to fix it. He offered the man a wobbly smile.

“Let’s getin the bath.”

Brannal climbed in, and Perian took a moment to unbandage his arm and then settle in the bath, back to front, sighing in happiness as he leaned back against Brannal, his left arm up on the rim of the bathtub to keep it dry.

Chapter Thirteen

Brannal let him get all wet and settled against him, and then he gently picked up his left arm and ran his hands up and down it until he found the stitches. Perian sighed and bent his arm, letting Brannal peer at it.

Brannal’s voice went cold and hard. “What happened?”

Perian took Brannal’s arms and wrapped them around his chest. There was a moment of stillness, and then Brannal held on properly, cocooning Perian in a warmth that rivaled the hot water of the bath. Perian pressed back against him even harder, trying to sink into that connection. He clasped Brannal’s arms with his good one.

And then, a bit quietly, he explained about Fomadin, the heckling, and his decision to teach Perian a lesson. He was very glad he’d got them together in the bath like this, because there was a very charged moment, and then the water in the bath sloshed around them, the lamps flared up, wind buffeted them from all sides, and Perian heard an ominous cracking sound he worried was one or more essential pieces of stone the castle was made from.

Perian just kept clinging to the other man. “I’m all right. Brannal, I’m all right.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Brannal said through gritted teeth.

He made to move, like he was going to actually climb out of the bath, right now, and probably storm off naked. Perian let all his weight rest against the other man, and after a moment, the ruffled elements settled, though Perian could still feel the tension thrumming through him—not the good kind.

“This is why you wanted to tell me in the bath,” Brannal said, voice sharp.

“I wanted to make sure you listened to the whole story,” Perian confirmed, and proceeded to tell him how Onadal had had Fomadin thrown out, and how the Queen had agreed to extend the ban to the castle and the city.

“He’s been banished, and he’s not going to hurt me again. It’s all right, Brannal.”

Perian felt the other man’s chest rise, hold like that for one long moment, and then breath blew past the side of Perian’s face, and the worst of the tension faded.

“Start with that next time,” Brannal suggested.

“What?” Perian said, faintly amused. “I’m going to tell you what happened to me, but don’t worry, the person who did it has been banished? Do you really think that would have gone over better?”

Brannal huffed a breath. “Yes. No. I don’t know. No part of that was anything I wanted to hear.”

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