“I really didn’t mean to damage it.”
Brannal slung an arm around his waist and pulled him into asideways hug.
“I’m delighted by how much you enjoyed what we did, and I think the book is going to be fine. But if it comes to it, we can always have it rebound if needed.”
Perian snorted a laugh. “Becausethat’sa conversation you want to have with a book binder.”
Brannal shrugged. “I got you that book so we could enjoy it. I consider this use of it to be eminently fulfilling that purpose, don’t you? I mean, we could leave it on the shelf and ensure that it stayed pristine, but what would be the fun of that?”
That was very true. Perian would try to be careful, but Brannal was right, this was definitely a book meant to be enjoyed.
“You’re right,” he said.
“Of course I am,” Brannal agreed promptly, making Perian laugh.
They cleaned up a little more in the water closet, Brannal stripping properly out of his clothes and Perian setting aside the wonderful robe. It was going to be saved for special occasions.
Then they crawled into bed, Brannal yawning again and pulling Perian into his arms, wrapping around him the way Perian loved best.
“I love you,” Perian told him.
“I love you too, dear heart,” Brannal returned. “You don’t know how much.”
Perian couldn’t exactly quantify it, he supposed, but it felt like Brannal showed him how much every single day.
The next few days passed quickly, with Perian continuing his defense lessons most mornings but otherwise wrapped up in Renny’s recovery, usually spending the whole afternoon with her. They had their picnic, chatted, and then often ended with reading, which usually coincided with the doctor’s visit to see how she was doing. Thankfully, Renny really was improving in leaps and bounds—it wasn’t just Perian’s wishful thinking—and she was soon given permission to sit up in her sitting room. It wasn’t the same as actually having free rein of the castle again, but it was a marked improvement.
He gave her the blanket he’d found during his getaway. It was in various shades of blue and green and looked soft and warm. Renny hugged it, then him, and told him she’d love it forever. It was too nice to be a picnic blanket, she told him, and was going to live on her bed. Forever.
Perian decided he’d let Renny have that argument with the cleaning staff.
A few days more, and she was permitted to sit up on the picnic blanket on the floor of the sitting room, under her own power, and then came the day that the doctor pronounced that although she would like Renny to be carried, just to be on the safe side, she was allowed to return to the quadrangle.
Brannal himself carried her, and Perian wasn’t sure if this was because he was literally the most powerful of the Mage Warriors (not that his mastery of all the elements was needed here), or if it was the unspoken agreement that no one but Renny and Perian were allowed in the now least-secret hiding space where Perian had first found Renny when he’d come to the castle. Brannal had already known about the space from Kee, so he was getting in on a technicality.
It was probably somewhat ridiculous, given that the entirety of the complement of Warriors and Mage Warriors now knew about the bushes in the quadrangle garden that had a hollow center where people could hide, but everyone wanted Renny to feel better and be happy, and so they all seemed to be willing to go along with it.
Perian wondered if they were supposed to invite Brannal to stay with them. He wouldn’t have minded on the one hand, but this was also his and Renny’s thing, and he didn’t want to mess that up. But he didn’t have to make a decision, because once Brannal had made sure that Renny was comfortably arranged, he let them know that he needed to get back to work. (There was no way that his work was being ranked above taking care of Renny, there just wasn’t.)
“If you’re feeling well enough,” Brannal said, “then you can step out to the Warriors afterwards.” He leveled a stern gaze on her. “If not, call for help or get Perian to carry you, all right?”
Renny huffed a breath but nodded obediently. She knew it was possible she’d be put under more restrictions if this didn’t go well, and more than anyone, she wanted this to succeed. Brannal inclined his head and then ducked back through the opening between the bushes.
Eying Perian skeptically, she said, “Do you really think you cancarry me?”
Perian laughed, not at all offended, because made of muscle, he was not—especially when compared to all the Warriors and Mage Warriors in the castle. “I’m not sure I could carry you all the way to your room comfortably, but I’m sure I could get you to the Warriors that are standing less than a dozen steps away, all right?”
Renny nodded.
Perian had been working on getting stronger, but he was never going to be a wall of muscle like the vast majority of the Warriors. He probablycouldcarry Renny to her room if needed, but given that he’d be paranoid the entire time about dropping her or otherwise hurting her somehow, he’d much rather leave that to someone else.
Renny was delighted to be back outside, and Perian did his best to meet her exuberance with his own. She was full of the fact that she’d recovered so much faster than she ever had before, that she’d only had the one dizzy spell, and that she had begun to feel better so much more quickly even though she’d been afraid it was going to be like before.
She shot him a grateful smile. “But you wouldn’t let it be like that.”
“Iampretty stubbornly cheerful,” he told her with a smile.
“It was really helpful. Thank you.”
