Page 92 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong

Perian groaned and pushed back against him.

“Like that?” Brannal asked.

“So much,” Perian breathed on a sigh.

Compared to earlier, it was slow and remarkably devoid of tension. It was just.. easy and beautiful, filling Perian up the way he loved, damp skin against damp skin, Brannal sliding into him in slow, easy motions, like he had all the time in the world.

“You’re so good to me,” Perian mumbled.

It was slow and languid, like the point was connection rather than coming, like it could go on forever.

Perian would be happy with that, truly.

Eventually, though, Brannal began to speed up his thrusts. It was almost imperceptible at first, but that delicious pressure started to build, moment by moment, until Perian was squirming and trying to press back further.

“Please, more,” he managed to pant out, wondering if it was possible to fuck the words right out of someone.

Brannal laughed and pressed a kiss to his ear, to the back of his neck, to his shoulder.

“Eventually,” he promised.

That was… kind of not what Perian was looking for. But Brannal wouldn’t be rushed, which was its own kind of pleasure.

Finally,finallyhe wrapped one hand around Perian’s cock as he thrust more firmly into him, stroking him with a sure grip. Perian whimpered.

“That’s it,” Brannal whispered. “Come for me.”

Perian arched into the other man’s hand, body flooding with pleasure, a white haze descending over everything. He was barely aware of Brannal thrusting and coming inside of him, except that added to his pleasure, the sweet buzz of completion, both of them together, both of them content, just the way they were supposed to be.

After the slight unevenness of the initial catch-up of Brannal’s return, the weeks following settled into a pleasant routine. Renny was riding, Perian and Brannal were happily insatiable, and Perian was getting back into defense.

There was still the occasional grumble from the Warriors who used to hang around with Fomadin, but they were very careful to keep it to words only and the occasional glare. And really, Perian couldn’t entirely blame them for that. (He might think their attitude was awful, but if this was loyalty to a friend, he could mostly understand that.) With Brannal swinging by more often than before, although he never again attended an entire training session, and Mage Warriors and Warriors keeping an extra close eye on the novices, they were safer than they’d ever been.

Outside of the yard, things were also going well. Perian and Cormal seemed to have… maybe come to a truce? Or they’d gotten so good at ignoring one another while Cormal was gone that they’d figured out how to maintain it even now.

The garden was a riot of colors, the air was warm, and Renny had been allowed to take some slow rides on her horse a little way out beyond the castle in the royal park. They’d determined that Kee could mount up with her and go along, since he needed to stay close to her, but he said it didn’t really feel like riding a horse.

Renny explained, “He says it’s actually a bit weird, since he can’t feel the horse. And he can’t control anything. He’s just perched awkwardly behind me, and he says it probably wouldn’t work if he were solid, but at least he doesn’t fall off like this.”

“I’m glad of that, at least,” Perian said, since there didn’t seem to be much to say.

Tilting her head, Renny made a face and then said, “Yeah, it’s a good thing nothing can touch Kee, because otherwise, he’d get trampled by all the Warriors.”

There had been an entire complement of Warriors who had gone with her, and there were still four Mage Warriors in attendance as well.

It wasn’t quite just a young person learning how to ride again, but it was the best that could be managed with Renny under the circumstances. She definitely had more energy, though she confessed that by the end of the day, she was still tired.

“Everyone goes to bed at the end of the day!” Perian teased.

She laughed but shook her head. “Not like that.”

And he could only nod because she was the best judge of her own situation.

“Still no dizzy spells, at least?” he asked hopefully.

She shook her head, perking up and confirming happily, “No dizzy spells!”

It wasn’t perfect, but it was so much better than it had been.

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