Page 75 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong

“Oh, is that the next step? Learn how to defend yourself and then just idly admire instead?”

He nodded. “I highly recommend it.”

Delana smirked. “I’ll keep that in mind. For now, I’m going to go see how everything else went while I was gone. Any fights between Warriors and Mage Warriors?”

“None that I heard about. And apart from the occasional heckler, people have been really good. Onadal invited me to dinner and everything, so I do that now sometimes.”

She nodded. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ll see you later, Perian.”

“Welcome back.”

She headed over to Onadal, and Perian watched them for a long moment. They really were being entirely professional. He could see he wasn’t the only one watching. They scarcely touched, their gazes didn’t even linger, and Perian didn’t doubt they were absolutely talking about Warriors and Mage Warriors.

He was equally certain down to his very bones that they were delighted to be back together. They were definitely,definitelygoing to have sex as soon as they were alone.

Perian was relieved Brannal hadn’t asked him to keep it so professional. He would have tried—he never wanted to embarrass the man, and he knew everyone was not as open as Perian—but he was well aware it wasn’t his best skill. Thankfully, Brannal knew that about him, and he’d given him that perfect night and morning without expecting him to hide anything.

As the clock tower tolled, Perian realized how late it was, and he sprang to his feet and hurried up to Brannal’s rooms to grab the picnic blankets. He hurried to the kitchens,grabbed the food from a smirking Alona—yeah, the staff definitely knew Brannal was back—and made his way out to the garden.

Perian waved at the two Warriors and ducked through the bushes. Renny was waiting with a very expectant look on her face, and when she saw him, she burst into the biggest grin.

“What?” he asked, though he figured he could probably guess.

“I wondered if Brannal managed to see you before he had to see Mother, but I can see he did.”

Perian nodded and then couldn’t help but confess, “He rode extra late last night so he could get back and surprise me.”

“Did you get any sleep?” she asked.

“Renny!” he exclaimed, but he rather spoiled his attempt at censure by bursting into laugher, and she grinned at him. “We did sleep, thank you.”

“After?”

“After,” he said firmly. That surely wasn’t a surprise, but he was definitely not going into detail. “It was so nice waking up in his arms this morning.”

“Worth the wait?” Renny asked.

They pulled out the blanket and started setting everything up. He still brought the second, smaller blanket that he used to wrap Renny in when she was cold. It was warmer now, and she seemed stronger, so it wasn’t always necessary. But it was always ready, just in case.

“Absolutely,” Perian said with a nod. “I mean, it wasn’t easy, sometimes. You know how worried I got and how much I missed him. But you all helped me, and it was absolutely worth it for the moment he got back and I was holding him again.”

“Aww,” she said, looking really happy. “You two are just so sweet.”

He laughed again. “I’m not sure Brannal wants to be sweet.”

“Summus can be fierce and tough, all right?” Renny told him. “You and Brannal are sweet.”

Perian grinned and nodded. Maybe she was right. There were absolutely times where Brannal was going to have to be Summus and make the tough calls and conciliate with Cormal or not go after someone who’d hurt Perian. But there were times where he could overreact and they could just spend time together and read or cuddle or go riding. That was how they made this work.

They’d made it past this first separation and through the first reunion, and overall, it had gone really well. Brannal had fought demons, Perian had been injured, andthey were still all right. He wasn’t so naive as to think there wasn’t plenty more they were going to need to face, but it did give him hope.

Renny chattered about how gladshewas that Brannal was back, even if it meant Cormal was back as well, because maybe now her mother would actually let her get onto a horse like she’d promised.

“She decided I couldn’t possibly do it without Brannal, like there isn’t an entire castle filled with Warriors and Mage Warriors without him. Like she thinks she can get him to put up his shield around me, and then nothing could possibly happen to me.”

“Can you ride a horse in a shield?” Perian asked.

“Exactly!” Renny exclaimed, flinging up her hands. “If the shield was big enough for me to ride in, it wouldn’t do any good, and if it was close enough to stop me falling, then I couldn’t actually ride, and what would be the point?”

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