Page 98 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong

Then Perian started tightening up the circle until the changes of direction weren’t so abrupt, until Prince Horsey seemed to understand what they were doing even if it was weird.

Some of the other horses seemed to be a bit nervous or confused about this, but Perian trusted the Warriors and Mage Warriors to control their mounts. Buttercup was walking along as placidly as ever, like this was an everyday occurrence. And Prince Horsey had really got into it and was continuing to whiz around them like this was the best thing he’d ever done.

“You’re making me dizzy!” Renny shouted eventually.

Perian pulled Prince Horsey around, and they started circling the other way, with Renny’s delighted shouts of laughter in his ears. Finally, as they neared the entrance to the stable yard, Perian pulled Prince Horsey up, and they walked the last of the way at the same pace as the rest of the horses.

Renny was still laughing.

“That was the silliest thing I’ve ever seen!” she said, sounding utterly delighted.

“I think I managed to get the fidgets out of him, what do you think?”

“I think you probably did,” she agreed, eyes still dancing with laughter.

They reached the stable, and Perian stayed on Prince Horsey while Renny carefully dismounted, Molun and Nisal hovering to ensure she did so safely. She looked to be in fine form, and she waved cheerfully at Perian.

“Thank you, Perian, that was so much fun. We should do it again!”

“Anytime you want,” he assured her.

Then she was gone, whisked away into the safety of the castle. Perian took care of Prince Horsey, praising him for being so patient and then being willing to do somethingsilly.

“Sometimes, that’s the best way to deal with the fidgets, you know? If you’re too serious, you miss out on the glory of silliness.”

Perian had done serious and grieving and quiet contemplation at his estate. There’d been silly when his father was still alive, but not afterwards. Perian was glad to have found it again—and to be able to share it with Renny.

He fed Prince Horsey only slightly too many apples and carrots, and then Perian went to get cleaned up himself.

“Sometimes, it feels like that’s all I’m doing!”

Yes, and sometimes, he talked to himself. But he’d worked up a sweat with that silly show all the way back to the stables.

Unfortunately, Brannal wasn’t in evidence, so Perian didn’t have company, but it wasn’t that long until dinner, and he was sure whoever sat next to him would appreciate it if he smelled better.

It grew later, but Brannal didn’t turn up, and eventually, Perian headed down to dinner on his own. He was slightly worried, but he assumed a task had run over. Usually, Brannal was able to send him notice when that happened, but if he got suddenly pulled in by the Queen or got an urgent report, Perian could imagine he’d either lost track of the time or didn’t feel it was appropriate to delay while sending a note to his lover.

(Perian might have done it—and let everyone know what he was doing—but he respected that Brannal was Summus and had a slightly different way of working.)

Molun and Arvus were at dinner, though they looked a little surprised when Perian showed up on his own.

“No Brannal?”

Perian shook his head. “I guess he’s running late. You haven’t seen him?”

Molun shook his head. “I was with the Princess today, though.”

Arvus had been in with the novices, and he hadn’t seen him either.

Perian must have started to look more worried, because Molun nudged him.

“Look who else is missing. Want to bet they’re arguing in front of the Queen right now?”

A quick scan showed Cormal wasn’t at the table, and while it might not be related, Perian could totally imagine them arguing, that was for sure. Nisal had an afternoon through evening shift today, he remembered; the castle had to be guarded all the time, not just during daylight hours. Brannal hadn’t had to do that since Perian had been here, butmaybe that was because Summus did more of the organizing than the actual guarding. Maybe Perian shouldn’t assume it was always like that.

Arvus and Molun helped to keep him entertained, and across the table, Bennan told Perian all about Chamis’s current carvings.

Chamis was mostly eating, but he did nod occasionally, and that seemed to be how he was most comfortable, letting Bennan say a lot of the words and only interjecting occasionally. It really was nice to see just how proud Bennan was of the big redhead.

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