Page 37 of The Prince's Sacrifice

“They took the risk with the raiding,” Pel pointed out. “This was always a danger.”

“But they went from minimizing the danger to courting it. I don’t like going into this without knowing why.”

“We may not get the chance to find out,” Pel observed with a furrow between his brows.

Tor made a face. “I know. But I’m confident that the two of us will at leasttry, and I can’t say the same for anyone else traveling with us.”

Pel conceded this with his own grimace.

Tor stared up at the ominous clouds that hovered over his least favorite mountains. They were at the head of a huge group of guards—truly, itwasan army right now—who had been ordered to kill every exile in their path.

Tor would pray to the goddess that the exiles were smart enough to stay out of their way. There was still a chance this was a misunderstanding, and Tor hoped they’d learn something new that could help stem the tide.

Goddess, he really hated these mountains. It was like their dismal presence loomed especially large in his mind, coloring all his thoughts.

It was possible that Tor was leading people who were going to die in them once again. But this time, Tor would be clearly ordering them to uphold the law and stay in Tond. If they chose to obey King Forex instead of the High King… Well, Tor couldn’t actually stop them if they rode up the mountain. But he’d sure try, even if it stirred up all the worst of his terrible memories.

He knew not everyone had agreed with the idea of leaving the exiles alone, of granting them this area free of the Fealty to the United Realms. Tor had only been ten at the time the war ended, and he and Varex weren’t involved in those long, laborious meetings as the peace accords had been hammered out.

But Tor’s mother had insisted the exiles be left alone, and eventually, the others had agreed—as long as they stayed on their side of the mountain. High Queen Ralexa had seemed certain they would. He’d heard his mother point out that the one thing the exiles wanted was to be left alone, which was what made her confident this would work.

Some had viewed them as traitors or cowards, though, citizens who’d forsaken their oath of Fealty to their ruler and tried to stay out of the war.

Tor had been protected from almost every aspect of the war by virtue of his position and his youth, but he thoughtcondemning the exiles for not wanting to die and for choosing to flee was way too simplistic.

Forex was one of the loudest agitators, but he wasn’t the only one. Tor heard grumblings amongst the guards sometimes, and he’d overheard one say that they wouldn’t have so much work if the exiles had been done away with. The man hadn’t madethatremark ever again in Tor’s hearing. They didn’t have accurate numbers when it came to the exiles, but there were probably thousands.

Anyone who could calmly suggest that slaughtering them would be better than having to go on patrols didn’t haveanyof Tor’s respect.

If not for the exiles, Tor might not have made the worst mistake of his life and sent his guards into the mountains to die. But that washisfault, not the exiles’. Tor didn’t know about anyone else, but he didn’t want to build peace on the slaughter of hundreds or thousands of people who’d refused to fight sooner than anyone else.

But if those people were killing now, what did it mean?

His stomach clenched. If Tor couldn’t handle this, they might be looking at the breakdown of a twenty-five-year peace.

Tor wanted a hundred more years. A thousand!

And sure, this might distract Varex from the fact that Tor wanted to bond with Pel, but not even his love for Pel could make Tor take that bargain.

He was here now, and there was still a chance that he could fix this.

He had to try.

Chapter Seven

Pel

Pel had hoped that he might be on the way to Alossa by now. He’d thought the most difficult thing he was going to have to face was a High King who thought he was a horrible match for his twin. He was still sort of dreading that, but it wasn’t comparable to fighting for the lives of who knew how many people.

Pel would do everything he could to support peace—and to make sure that Tor didn’t blame himself for whatever happened. Goddess preserve them all.

In the meantime, Tor had insisted on spending the night the same way as the guards, which mostly meant sleeping outside inbedrolls… not together, for obvious reasons. Planning to go to Alossa and ask the High King’s blessing was not the same at all as cuddling up together on a march to try to prevent a bloodbath.

Not that Pel would want to do anything in front of the guards, but… he and Tor had spent every night together for several weeks now, and Pel liked it that way. It wasn’t even the sex, although that was fantastic. Pel loved the proximity, the warmth, the intimacy. He’d gotten really used to curling up next to Tor, and he didn’t want to lose that.

Knowing the High King might put a stop to all of it made Pel want to enjoy the days they had left—but revealing their relationship now might cause more problems.

Pel groaned. Why was life so complicated?