Page 58 of The Prince's Sacrifice

“Hi,” he said as he found himself clutching at Pel, who had an arm round his waist.

(Larexa was doing the same, but Tor wasn’t concentrating on that touch.)

“Recklessfool,” Pel told him, but he was back to sounding fond.

They managed a few stumbling steps around the room, and Tor was appalled by how hard it was, like his limbs had forgotten how to function properly, or his body wasn’t quite under his own direction. Plus, everything ached, making him uncomfortably aware of himself and his movement in an unhelpful way.

As they progressed, though, it began to get a little bit easier, like his body remembered how walking worked.

“This isn’t so bad,” he said with as much cheer as he could muster.

Pel looked exasperated. “You’re propped up by two people, Tor!”

So then Tor had to try to do it on his own, of course. He managed a half dozen or so shuffling steps before his legs wobbled seriously, and Pel was there again, darting under his arm to keep him from falling over completely.

“How’d you like to get back into bed now?”

Tor was pretty sure it wasn’t actually a question. “I suppose I could do that. I’m kind of hungry again.”

Pel snorted. “You just ate enough for half the castle.”

“Then I’ll eat for the other half,” Tor answered immediately.

Pel helped him back to bed and made sure he had more food, but also made him promise to rest.

Tor didnotwant to rest, but… that brief circuit around his room had taken more out of him than he wanted to admit. It felt like he’d been on a hard week-long campaign. Goddess help him.

Unfortunately, all Pel’s good intentions ended when King Forex heard Tor was awake. He’d apparently drawn the line atthrowing the High Prince out when he was unconscious and could perhaps be killed by such negligence.

But now that he was awake? The King actually stormed Tor’s room to lecture him on his “criminal behavior.” Pel tried to interrupt, Bavil showed up intending to intervene, and Larexa couldn’t even get a word in edgewise.

The upshot of the unnecessarily long rant was that Tor was no longer welcome in the castle or the realm.

Fortunately, Tor had a lot of experience with lectures from angry royalty, so he just let the man get on with it—despite the fact that it was seriously annoying to be propped up in bed while someone was towering over him and yelling.

Tor didn’t even try to defend himself, because while what Forex was accusing him of was outrageous, it was obvious that he wasn’t going to hear a word Tor said to the contrary. Tor’s lengthy experience in this area told him that staying quiet meant the rant or lecture would be over sooner.

Once Forex had finally reached the end of his extremely long diatribe, Tor told him that he would of course leave the castle now that he was no longer welcome. But he made sure to specify that he appreciated all the hospitality he’d been shown during his time here.

(ThiswasPel’s father, after all. And also, he was likely to be irritated by the politeness.)

The King huffed, blustered some more, and finally stormed off again.

Tor looked back at Pel. “Would that have been a good time to mention that you’re going with me?”

Pel grinned. “Yeah, no. In fact, I think once I’ve gone might be a better time.” He looked at Bavil and Larexa. “You can tell him, right?”

They both looked at him. “You’re just going toleave?”

Pel shrugged. “Well, I’ve not actually been told I can’t. And I think we all know Father is actually happier when I’m out of his sight. Maybe you shouldn’t say anything unless asked. He might not notice for ages.”

Tor wanted to protest this vociferously… but was pretty sure Pel had been brutally accurate. Larexa and Bavil looked embarrassed and awkward, and Tor couldn’t stand the tension.

“You’re so sneaky,” he told Pel. “You remind me of me.”

They all laughed, and Pel came over to perch on the side of Tor’s bed and slip an arm around him.

“I told you that you can’t get rid of me.”