Page 106 of The Prince's Sacrifice

Beluna laughed even as her cheeks darkened. “Did you really not notice? Let’s pretend I never mentioned it.”

Denil’s grin was huge. “Yeah, no, we’re going to commemorate this forever. What were you interested in? I was scrawny.”

“You had a lot of potential,” Beluna answered with a shrug. “And it was so clear that you needed someone to take care of you. I wanted that person to be me. Or so I thought, until I finally realized that I wanted to mother you more than I wanted to do anything else.”

Grinning, Denil said fervently, “Thank goodness.”

They all laughed, and Pel managed a smile, though most of his attention was on Tor. They’d got the bedroll and blankets out and had Tor carefully arranged… as still and silent as he had been for the last dozen days. His pulse was still stumbling along under Pel’s fingers, still no worse, but no better, either.

It felt like this was becoming a permanent state, which was so incredibly wrong for such an active, vital person.

Pel tried to push the worry aside. Just at the moment, they’d found Pel’s childhood cave. They had supplies for several days, and they were tucked away where no one was going to look for them.

Pel would need to make more decisions, and he’d need to think carefully about what they were going to do next—but he didn’t need to do that tonight.

Cavun got a fire going in the fire pit, sheltered from the rain but where the smoke could still escape outside. They’d mostly eaten dry rations for speed and discretion on the way here, so this was a nice change.

Pel was seated next to the supine Tor, and he ate mostly one-handed because his other hand was twined with Tor’s. Being connected eased something inside of him, even if he didn’t understand why.

They turned in early, all of them exhausted. If he actually got a full night’s sleep, perhaps Pel would be capable of deciding what needed to happen next.

Cavun insisted on taking the first watch.

“I will wake Beluna, she will wake Denil, and you will stay with Prince Torex.”

A protestation rose to Pel’s lips, but honestly, that sounded like the best idea he’d heard in a long time—possibly by virtue of the fact that someone else had made the decision and all Pel had to do was agree with it.

So he nodded his thanks and curled up with Tor at the back of the cave, wrapped around him and still holding his hand, trying to keep him warm and comfortable andwelleven though he feared that was beyond his power.

Keep beating. Please, just keep beating.

Pel startled awake, not sure what had woken him, and then he realized that there were voices at the entrance to the cave.

“Well, this is awkward.”

It was an amused-sounding female—but it wasn’t Beluna’s voice.

“This cave has never actually been occupied before, and I’m afraid that I was meant to be meeting someone.”

Pel rose from Tor’s side and came closer to the entrance of the cave where he could see a woman standing in the moonlight. She looked to be roughly his age, maybe a little older, with golden brown skin and reddish-brown hair pulled back. She was standing at the entrance to the cave with Beluna’s sword aimed at her.

Her hands were spread wide.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

“What do you want me to do with her?” Beluna asked.

Pel… did not have a plan. Was it safe to let her go on her way? She probably didn’t know who any of them were, but would she tell someone else that the cave was occupied? Might someone whowouldrecognize them come to investigate?

But what was the alternative? Pel didn’t think the close quarters of the cave would be improved by kidnapping someone—especially if anyone came looking for her.

And then someone else was rushing out of the darkness with their own sword drawn. Pel reached for his—already strapped to his waist, a lovely perk of no beds and traveling while worrying they might be attacked—and stopped, abruptly, at the same moment that his assailant jerked to stop.

“Pel?”

“Bavil?”

Chapter Twenty-One