Page 74 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong

Rolling his eyes, Onadal said, “I’m glad everything went well. Try to actually look at something other than the pretty people, or you’re going to be useless when you start practicing again.”

“Uh huh,” Perian agreed.

Onadal made a scoffing noise and headed back to his training. Perian wondered if he should have asked about Bennan and Chamis, but he reminded himself that they hadn’t been there every day before.Perianwasn’t normally here every day, either; he’d shown up every day while Brannal was away to help fill the time. He needed to not blow this out of proportion.

He watched the training, but his mind was a million miles away, mostly revisiting the amazing reunion and how very happy he was that Brannal was back. He definitely wanted to raise the idea of figuring out if he could go with Brannal in the future, but he didn’t think now was the time to bring it up. Brannal had just gotten back, and it made more sense to let everything settle back into a regular routine before he proposed any adjustments.

Besides, Brannal would likely be exhausted after his late night and long day. This was a hope for the future, and Perian would first prove that they could manage just the way they were doing now if that proved necessary. (Perian could certainly imagine protest from certain red-headed quarters.) Plus, he didn’t want to cut into their reunion cuddle time.

“Based on the look on your face, I take it Brannal made it back in good order last night?”

Perian’s eyes flew open to find Delana standing in front of him. He jumped to his feet and gave her a hug. She seemed a little surprised but hugged him back.

She still smelled a bit like horses, and that meant she’d come straight from the stables, and Perian wassureshe hadn’t come here for him. He continued to hug her until he’d got his smile under control, then pulled back.

No, he was still smiling. He couldn’t help it.

“Yes, he did, thank you. It was glorious.”

She laughed. “I can see that. I think they can see that smile from the tenth district watch station.”

Perian’s smile just got wider.

“Wow,” she said. “It was that good?”

“It wassogood. A week is a really long time.”

Her expression softened a little. “It can be, yes.”

“I wanted to thank you, because I’m not sure I can bring myself to thank Cormal, but I’m really very grateful you were both with him while he was traveling and that he wasn’t battling wraiths or lesser demons on his own.”

Her eyes widened slightly.

“Fire and water, don’t tell me he was battling them on his own!” Perian exclaimed, heart suddenly hammering.

She was already shaking her head. “No, no, I swear. It’s just that I remember a whole discussion where we weren’t going to mention it.”

Perian couldn’t help but laugh, relieved. “Oh, yeah, I can totally see that. I definitely worried a bit. But I’m pretty sure I blew it out of the water by getting attacked while he was gone. Fomadin was thrown out from the Warriors, as well as banned from the castle and the city. The Queen was involved and everything.”

Delana’s eyebrows rose. “Seriously?”

Perian raised his left arm, though it was covered. “I remembered to block with my left. It had to be stitched up and everything.”

“Fire and water. And Summus knows all about this?”

“I sat on him in the bath to tell him.”

She laughed. “Oh, I would have liked to see that.”

“It helped,” Perian said, grinning a little, though the smile faded. “It wasn’t pretty. But we’re all right. And I made sure to emphasize everything Onadal did and the fact that he wouldn’t let me train again while still injured. So he’s in one piece and all yours.”

Her expression softened to one he didn’t see very often from her. “Thank you, Perian.”

“Oh, hey, of course,” he said, feeling a little awkward now. “Not like it was Onadal’s fault. He took a risk on me. He shouldn’t be punished for it.”

She squeezed his shoulder. “You know, I don’t really think it was a risk at all.” She cleared her throat, and her expression grew more neutral. “I was wondering why you were just lounging around over here.”

“I’ve graduated to just watching everyone,” he declared loftily.

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