Maybe he needed another drink.
He headed back to the table and found that Brannal was nursing his pint with Cormal. Brannal looked… very carefully neutral, which Perian interpreted as unhappy, because he’d looked more relaxed when they arrived. Cormal looked… actually, he looked pretty neutral, too, and Perian didn’t know him nearly well enough to be able to figure out what he was hiding.
Perian crowded in next to Brannal, mindful that they were out in public and with a whole bunch of Brannal’s subordinates, so he didn’t do most of the things he wanted to do, just made sure they were plastered together side by side.
“Hey,” Perian said. “You sure you don’t want to dance?”
Cormal scoffed. “Is that what you’re calling it?”
Perian leaned around Brannal to give him his best eyebrow raise.
“When people move around to music? Yes, I believe that’s whateverybodycalls it. Secundus.”
He made sure the title was tacked on a bit too late—but not absent so that Cormal couldn’t call him on it. The annoying redhead glowered. Brannal’s lips quirked up ever so slightly. Success!
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Brannal told Perian.
Which was… distinctly not the no of earlier.
“How about we try one song?” Perian suggested. “Just one, and we can come back if you don’t like it.”
Brannal drained his pint and thumped it down on the table. “All right.”
Perian led him out to the dance floor and pulled him into his arms. For the first minute or so, it was genuinely awkward, because Brannal clearly didnotdance to this type of music very often. Tugging Brannal’s hands onto Perian’s hips (no hardship there!), Perian got him to close his eyes and just concentrate on the music and the movement beneath his fingers, and pretty soon, they were dancing together just fine.
Perian slung his arms around Brannal’s neck, so glad that his burn had healed and he didn’t have to worry about anything hurting anymore. Brannal opened his eyes.
“Just like that,” Perian murmured. “Isn’t this nice?”
They were pressed together practically from head to toe, so it was impossible to miss that they were both hard. Perian loved the buzz of arousal that lit him up inside.
Brannal hummed an agreement. “I like my hands on you more than strangers’ hands.”
“Me too,” Perian agreed. “If a whole bunch of people who work for you weren’t here, I’d show you just how much.”
Brannal’s eyes were dark and hungry, just the way Perian liked, but after a moment, he let out a huff of breath, then took a slight step back so they weren’t plastered quite so close together.
“That’s a very good point. I would prefer not to put on… quite so public a show.”
Perian just nodded, because although he felt that pulse throbbing through him telling him to rub against Brannal—or maybe get on his knees—until they both came to completion, he could actually think with his brain, too. His smarter organ told him Brannal was alreadyoutside of his comfort zone, and not everyone was as open as Molun was to actual shows.
“You can take me back to your room and do all those things you’re thinking about,” Perian offered with a smile.
Brannal smiled back, gaze hot. “I’d like that.”
They headed back to the table, where Cormal was now absent—yay!—and Brannal let the remaining Mage Warriors know they were leaving. The looks were very knowing, but of course it was only Molun—sweaty and happy-looking and gulping down a pint—who said anything directly.
“Have fun! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” His bright blue eyes positively twinkled.
Perian winked at him, and Brannal sighed, but he looked amused.
The walk back to the castle was nice, the weather mild, still getting just a little cool at night. Perian felt totally safe with Brannal at his side. It wasn’t quite as late as the night he’d been attacked, and he knew peoplecouldbe ambushed, but he still felt a bone-deep certainty that with Brannal here, everything would be fine.
Brannal nudged him. “You all right?”
Perian contemplated not saying anything, but he wanted to be honest with Brannal.
“Thinking about the last time I left a pub at night, actually.”
