Page 117 of The Prince's Fealty

“Hey, it’s all right,” Tor told her. “I’m fine.”

It took a few minutes for her to calm down. When she finally looked more composed, she asked, “How did you not know you were bonded?”

Tor and Pel made faces.

Tor confessed, “Because I’m too clever for my own good. I came up with what I thought was a super cool time to Blend, and I didn’t realize that if we both really wished to be together like that forever, it could actually result in our bonding.”

Var was shaking his head, but he sounded fond when he said, “Only you, Tor.”

“We really did both want to bond,” Tor said, a bit defensively. “But Pel wanted to wait until you approved. I didn’t like it, but I respected his choice. And I knew you wouldn’t like to be backed into a corner.”

Var made a face. “No one likes to be backed into a corner—and yes, I understand now that that was exactly what I was doing to you and why you ran for the hills to get away from my plan.”

Tor flashed a smile at Pel. “But it worked out better than I could ever have imagined.”

Pel squeezed his hand. “I’m really grateful, too. But now we get to the part of the story that you’re probably all waiting for. I just thought it was important you understand everything that led up to it. Tor was unconscious for twelve days until we reached that cave in the mountain and Tama helped him recover enough to wake up. He knew by then that he’d been set up, and he reasoned that Ada might be in danger along with the rest of you. He wanted to make sure you were safe immediately.”

Tor added, “We found out from the exiles that Nostex had offered them amnesty, and that’s why they were heading for the pass. And that was so contrary to how he’d behaved in other ways that we began to get suspicious.”

Pel forged ahead. “The plan was to check quickly in Filon before heading to Lotar and Adexa. Only we were in the north west of Tond, and Tor was just recovering from a magical coma and the injuries he’d sustained fighting in the nursery.”

Fernila was looking at him with astonishment. “But you fought so well!”

Tor squeezed Pel’s hand, and Pel let him speak, even though he kind of wanted to keep explaining. ThiswasTor’s story.

“I knew that I needed to get to you, and I was going to do it no matter what, but I was offered a way to do itwell, in addition to being able to protect a group of people who couldn’t protect themselves.” Tor looked squarely at his brother. “It came at the cost of committing treason, but I did it anyway.”

Pel stiffened at his side becausethatwasn’t the way he would have announced it.

“What did you do?” Varex asked.

“The exiles pledged their Fealty to me,” Tor said baldly.

The room went completely silent. Pel didn’t think anyone was even breathing. Then Cala let out a shriek that startled all of them. Fernila scooped her up again.

“Why?” Varex finally asked.

Tor didn’t look away from his brother. “I needed my magic back to try to protect you all, but it wasn’t just for us. They needed help. The land beyond the mountain has grownincreasingly inhospitable. It’s killing them, and some of them believe they need the ruler and the Fealty to calm the land. I agreed to be that person.”

Neither of them was blinking, and Pel kind of wanted to shake both of them.

“You offered yourself to them,” Varex said very evenly.

“Actually, they offered themselves to me,” Tor answered. “They were desperate, but they remembered what I did during the landslide, and they believed I could protect them. They were willing to accept my word that I would try to take care of them after I tried to save my family.”

“Even though it was committing treason.”

Tor nodded stiffly. “If you hadn’t been in danger, I would have tried to talk to you about it first, but… yes. It was children, Var, and civilians, and people who were just trying to live their lives. The very land is killing them, after we nearly did it twenty-five years ago. They need someone to listen to them.”

“You think we were ignoring them.”

“Weren’t you?” Tor challenged.

“They wanted to be left alone,” Varex pointed out.

“They wanted to be free,” Tor corrected sternly. “They didn’t want to be killed by rulers who cared more about power than protecting them.”

Varex flinched.