Page 105 of The Prince's Sacrifice

Beluna went for food, and Denil stayed to guard Pel and Tor, who was still laid out in the boat. Pel hovered anxiously next to him.

Cavun returned with four horses, all sturdy-looking, placid beasts, which he explained they were borrowing in exchange for the boats and a rental fee. Pel hoped they’d be able to get the horses back to their owners one day, but at least they’d received something in exchange. Pel couldn’t begin to guess how long they’d need them. If Pel got up the courage to contact Bavil or Larexa, they might be able to bring Extraordinary and Melody with them.

Beluna returned with enough supplies for several days. Hopefully Pel would have a plan by then. They got Pel mounted up with Torex in front of him again, and Pel slowly breathed out and reminded himself that the last time that they’d done this, it had ended well.

As soon as they were out of sight of town, Pel picked up speed. He wasn’t galloping with Tor unconscious in front of him, but he didn’t feel like they should be dawdling, either.

He’d sworn that he’d keep Tor safe, and Pel was reposing all his hope in being able to tuck them away in that cave. Then they could reassess.

He just prayed that he was making the right choice.

They took as direct a route as Pel could manage from memory and the lay of the land, cutting across fields and avoiding roads that might have other travelers as often possible.

It was a nightmarish journey. Pel clutched at Tor the whole time, wondering if a cart would have been smarter, but it wouldn’t work well in the foothills of the mountain or the little path he remembered to the cave. Worry hummed through him constantly. What if Tor fell off? Or they were spotted? Or… or King Forex suddenly appeared and tried to drag Tor to the dungeon? Or armed mercenaries popped up and tried to kill them all?

He was nervous and sleep-deprived and suspicious of every movement, but he had a goal in mind, and he tried to focus on that. He spent every minute cradling Tor as best he could, their hands tangled together on the reins.

Goddess, please let Tor wake up. Please let him be well.

How long could a person stay in a magical coma? Was Pel doing permanent damage to Tor by not finding him a healer? Should he have tried to fling himself on Sovereign Gornexi’s mercy, maybe claimed that Pel needed a healer and tried to hide Tor?

He grimaced. The healer would know who they were healing, so that was unlikely to work.

They finally made it to the mountains as evening was setting in. They were lucky the days were long at this time of year.

Away from Tond, Pel had almost gotten used to the wide open space and lack of mountains, but now that he was back, the looming gray presence was exactly what he expected.

When Tor woke up, Pel would have to apologize.

Pel had tried, just once, to suggest that now that they’d made it back to Tond, perhaps the others would prefer to go home.

Beluna had flat-out scoffed.

Pel pulled Denil aside and made extra sure that the man was all right to stay.

Denil only smiled. “It’s actually been a fair few years since I let her tell me what to do solely because she has more direction than my entire family put together. I’ve made my choice.”

And so Pel led them up the mountain, where they were soon damp from the sprinkling rain. Thankfully, it was nothing like the deluge they’d experienced further south.

Honestly, Pel hoped for almost no parallels to last time—although from a life-saving standpoint, it was nothing short of highly successful, and he’d likethattrend to continue. But it somehow felt like the weight of everything that had happened before was following them around, getting heavier and heavier the more time passed.

Pel only led them astray twice—it had been years, all right?—but they reached the cave eventually, picking their way through the tree-lined slope until the entrance appeared. It was smaller than he remembered, but he supposed he’d been seeing it with a child’s eyes then.

It still had a neat stock of wood packed on one side, a fire pit near the entrance, and it was deep enough they’d all be able to fit inside, even if it would be cozy. They were getting rather used to cozy by now.

Pel’s knees wobbled as relief set in. He’d tried not to let himself think about it, but he’d feared he was leading them somewhere totally useless. He’d chosen to trust that this childhood memory of safety would protect them, but he’d worried that something had changed.

“You’re not even going to have the opportunity to miss your wife at this point,” Beluna told Denil with a wink. “You’re going to have to tell her that you’ve been sleeping with all sorts of bedfellows.”

He laughed. “That won’t surprise her at all—or worry her, when she hears that it’s you.”

Beluna raised an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to be insulted?”

Scoffing, Denil said, “She knows full well that you’ve never been romantically interested in me.”

“Not since I was twelve, anyway,” Beluna muttered.

Denil looked shocked. “You were interested in me when you were twelve?”