Page 31 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths
Perian felt like he was settling back into the castle routine. Renny had been given a clean bill of health from the doctor (as clean as she ever got, anyway), and so they were back to picnics outside and the normal allocation of Perian’s day.
The feeling of being torn apart from Brannal had settled as the days back at the castle grew. He and Brannal had separate things that they needed to do, but they were still spending their evenings and mornings together—and nights, of course—which was hours of time which Perian thoroughlyenjoyed.
They’d started making their way through the book just like they’d said they would, trying out one new position a day and then ranking it. Molun had, predictably, asked if they could do the same thing, and now the two of them were also ranking experiences, and then they all periodically compared notes.
It was absurd, and Perian loved it. They weren’t trying the same positions, necessarily, agreeing that it was better to let each couple decide what they were in the mood for and not try to force them to keep a schedule.
“The last thing we want is for this to feel likework,” Arvus said with a wink, and Perian had laughed and agreed.
He couldn’t actually imagine anything that could make him feel like having sex with Brannal was a chore, but he didn’t want to be proved wrong.
It was nice to have this new adventure that had come out of their holiday but carried on back at the castle, even amidst the regular calls on their time. It helped make it feel like they were advancing.
Brannal had to go away overnight, and he took Molun, Delana, and Simiala with him. There was a report of a concerning nest of wraiths not too far away from the city, and they wanted to deal with it immediately. Water was still the best way to combat wraiths, but the nest was apparently big enough that the patrolling group who had found it didn’t want to approach on their own, afraid the wraiths might overpower them and flee to attack the nearby town.
Perian was pretty sure Arvus hadn’t been invited along only because then Perian would have been on his own.
“You can go,” Perian told him. “I’m sure you want to be with Molun.”
“Brannal and the others will take care of Molun,” Arvus said calmly. “I wouldn’t be particularly useful against wraiths.”
Wraiths were rarely in physical form, leaving a lot less for Arvus to be able to fight against. Shadowy creatures that earth would pass right through wouldn’t have much to fear from an Earth Mage.
“Wouldn’t you rather watch his back anyway?” Perian worried.
“I wouldn’t want to be a liability,” Arvus said simply. “It will be all right.”
Maybe Arvus had a lot more practice with this sort of thing, or maybe he was able to quell any of his nerves by attending to so many of Perian’s. Maybe he was just a lot calmer than Perian was.
By unspoken accord, they hadn’t gotten up to anything sexual while the other two were away, not even jerking off for one another, which would have fallen well within the parameters of what was allowed. It might even have been a good distraction, but it definitely wasn’t what Perian was feeling right now, and Arvus seemed to be of the same mind. After dinner, they just spent a few hours chatting by the fire, and then Arvus towed Perian into the bedroom and curled up around him, much to Perian’s relief. It wasn’t as good as Brannal, but it was so much better than being alone.
The whole group returned the next day without a scratch on them, and Perian felt like he could breathe again. It didn’t hurt that the first thing Brannal did was haul Perian back into the bedroom and take him to bed.
“Well,” Perian said afterwards, sated and happy, “I can’t say that I don’t mind when you go off into battle, butthisis certainly a positive aspect of it.”
Brannal laughed. “Sometimes the energy of being so ready for a fight needs to go somewhere.”
“I’malwayswilling to help with that,” Perian agreed fervently.
He wasn’t sure that he was ever going to be used to Brannal and the others getting called away to fight demons, but he did understand it was a critical part of their job. He was very grateful that they were living post-Great-Cataclysm and there were so few demons in the world compared to how it had been. How terrifying must it have been, when it seemed like the world was going to be overrun, and there had been constant battles and so many kept dying? This was hard enough.
As much as Perian didn’t want Brannal to ever go, itdidactually help a little bit every time he went and fought and came back unharmed. It didn’t mean it would always be like that, but it did serve to remind Perian just how good Brannal was at what he did.
Life in the castle had settled to a good sort of routine. Perian felt like he was filled with energy. He didn’t know if it was the season—everything bursting with life in nature—but he seemed to be unable to help himself, and he gave a lot more “nudges” to potential relationships than he had before he’d gone away.
He tried to keep in mind what Brannal had said about being careful, but the thing was, there seemed to be so many people who were interested in one another, and it was so evident to Perian that ignoring it felt harder than doing something about it. Brannal had just looked bemused when Perian had tried to explain it to him. Brannal had assured him that it wasn’t so obvious toanyone else.
“In fact, I’m not sure it’s something that other people would even notice.”
Perian had looked at him skeptically. “I hate to say this, Brannal, but I’m pretty sure you’re blind.”
Brannal had only laughed. “It’s not something that I pay very much attention to, that’s true.”
Being Summus took a lot of Brannal’s energy. Perian didn’t have a job that was as critical to everyone’s overall safety, but he liked to think he was making a difference with their happiness. To be fair to Brannal, Perian couldn’t actually remember noticing attractionthisreadily in the past, but he was spending time with a lot more people these days. And he had himself and Brannal as models, so maybe that made him more aware of the potential in others. Whatever the reason, ignoring it was more difficult—certainly compared to catching someone’s attention so they accidentally bumped into just the right person at just the right time or inviting someone to sit down next to him because the right person was on their other side.
Only once had he resorted to knocking a glass of water on someone so that the passing Warrior offered their handkerchief and then offered to go and help them clean up. Brannal seemed to think that was pushing it a little, although Perian had tried to claim that he’d just been clumsy. (Brannal knew him too well.)
Overall, it was just a few small things here and there. Sometimes, it seemed almost as though people were sort of… drifting closer to him, like they were putting themselves into his sphere to see what happened? But that might have been his imagination.
