Brannal laughed. “This time of year does tend to inspire people. It’s easy to go off for a long and romantic walk. Or shed clothes for what seems like a prosaic reason.”
Perian laughed. He liked the way he could wander almost anywhere in the castle and feel that buzz of happy energy.
EvenCormal seemed a bit more mellow than usual, and Perian happily relayed to Renny that he thought maybe the man was seeing someone, explaining the encounter at the Fire Festival.
Renny wrinkled her nose. “But who would want to go out with Cormal?”
Perian was working on a diplomatic reply when Renny tilted her head the way she did when she was listening to Kee. Her brow furrowed, and she made a face.
“Well, Iguess.”
Perian raised an eyebrow.
Renny huffed out a breath. “Kee says Cormalisthe second-in-command of the Mage Warriors and notcompletelyterrible to look at if you like fiery redheads who lose their temper and are angry and mean a lot of the time.”
Then she giggled at what Perian assumed was Kee trying to correct what didn’t sound like an entirely accurate relaying of what he’d said.
Objectively, Cormal really wasn’t terrible to look at, but it was the rest of him that Perian had more trouble with.
“Do you think most people think he’s a fiery redhead who loses his temper?” Perian asked, thinking out loud. “I’ve been trying to figure out who I could maybe nudge in his direction, but I didn’t fully consider that maybe those in the castle aren’t the best option.” Wasthatwhy it was working with that man from the Fire Festival, assuming itwasworking? Did the man not know Cormal well enough to be put off—or was it just possible that Cormal could show another side of himself outside the castle? A little bit doubtfully, Perian asked, “Should I try to get Cormal to the pub more often?”
Renny’s head snapped to the side. “Don’t shout! I can hear you just fine.” She paused, then nodded. “Thank you.” She rolled her eyes and turned back to Perian. “Kee thinks that’s a dumb idea. Cormal won’t want to go out with you.” She made a face and grumbled, “That’s what youmeant.”
Perian couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, you’re not wrong. And I don’t exactly want to go out to the pub with him. I’ll keep thinking about it.”
He didn’t want even Cormal to be lonely—especially if being not lonely improved his behavior this much. Maybe he’d just see if Molun could get everyone out to the pub again. Or he could bribe Delana with pastries and see if she’d suggest that Cormal needed to spend some more time unwinding. It would probably be better not coming from Perian anyway.
He continued to ponder it off and on over the next few days, but it seemed like a less pressing concern when so many people seemed to be content and reveling in their attraction to other people. It certainly put a spring into Perian’s step.
It was perhaps for this reason that he was brought up short by what felt like a…twingeas he was passing a room on his way back from the stables. (Prince Horsey had forgiven him. Eventually.) He grimaced because if most of the castle was buzzing with satisfied desire, this was… not that. This was… something darker and crueler, and it had Perian barreling through the door before he’d thought it through.
There were only two people in the room, and one of them had the other one pinned to the wall, a hand around her throat, leaning too close. Her strawberry blond hair had half fallen out of its arrangement.
“Get out,” the man snapped. “We’re busy.”
“Get away from her!” Perian yelled.
The man whirled, releasing the woman’s throat, and Perian saw that it was one of the Warriors who liked to give him a hard time, one of Fomadin’s friends, who had restrained himself to the occasional snide remark and angry look since Fomadin had been dismissed for attacking Perian during training. His face twisted into an ugly sneer when he saw Perian.
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Come here.” Perian beckoned the woman.
But she was frozen, and the man’s lips curled up into a worse smirk.
“She’s exactly where she wants to be. Leave. Now.”
She was definitely not where she wanted to be. Her eyes were huge and terrified.
Perian was aware that this man could easily defeat him. Maybe Perian stood a slightly better chance than he had when he’d last been attacked by someone, but not bythatmuch. He was still no match for someone who’d trained for years and whose actual job was being a Warrior.
“No,” Perian said, standing his ground.
The very worst part was that the man’s arousal jumped, and Perian knew, he justknewthat the man liked to hurt people, that he was glad that Perian had refused to leave and hadn’t made this easy on himself.
Perian clenched his fists. He couldn’t leave the woman here. He wasn’t sure when someone else would pass by. Maybe he could get between them? That meant gettingcloser to the man, which his instincts were telling him was a very bad idea, but he didn’t know what else to do.
So he started edging towards the woman at the wall, and the man watched him like he was a cat and Perian was a mouse. He let Perian get just close enough that he actually thought he might be able to grab her hand and pull her away, and then faster than Perian could track, he attacked.
