Page 122 of The Prince's Fealty

It meant that while Tor and Rin were thick as thieves, Terila and Pel sort of ended up together by default. Pel remained a little wary, but the more time he spent with her, the more he realized how much of her past behavior had been a mask. It didn’t make it right, but it showed how unhappy she’d been. She was making a real effort to behave differently now. Without the nasty expression, Pel could acknowledge how very beautiful she was, all blond hair and violet eyes and curves.

Really, Pel should probably be grateful for her previous bad temper, because otherwise, he was pretty sure Tor would have wound up sleeping with her at a bare minimum—and probably bonded toher as well.

And if there was one thing that was obvious, it was that all of them were happier now than they’d ever been before, with the exact partner they’d wound up with.

At this point, it felt like a waste of energy to hold onto the hurt and resentment that had shaped three years of his life.

“I thought the High Prince was everything that I deserved,” Terila confessed one day as they walked through the gardens.

Fall was approaching, and Pel was enjoying the slightly cooler weather and the sunshine.

She sighed. “I told myself he was the perfect match. But I didn’t know him at all, and I simply ignored the fact that our magic repelled one another. As if everything would work out if I didn’t pay attention to the parts I didn’t like.” She scoffed. “I very nearly lost Rin because I couldn’t admit that magic and status were less important than people and feelings.” She blew out a breath. “I pushed him away because I couldn’t admit how much I wanted him and how scared I was that he was going to find me repulsive.”

“Incompatible,” Pel corrected, no longer feeling any of the triumph that he had when he’d first learned that that was how Tor felt about her.

She nodded, but he could see the shadow in her eyes, the scar that didn’t go away merely because someone had corrected a term that had once been used to wound.

“Thurnil found Adexa incompatible,” Pel told her. “You wouldn’t say that she was repulsive, would you?”

An arrested expression crossed her face, and then she smiled faintly at him.

“No, I wouldn’t.” She made a face. “And if Tor hadn’t found me incompatible, I would probably have figured out a way to end up bonded with him, and just think how horriblethatwould have been.”

They both burst into laughter, and Pel reflected that people were always complicated. They had layers, and it was usually worth making the effort to get past the surface.

It was weirdly peaceful, given that Pel and Tor had been avoiding Terila for ages and the castle was the scene of the attempt to wipe out Tor’s whole family.

Pamexa and Nawila had already begun to make changes. They’d been holding open court sessions, with Terila and Solil consulting, and it seemed like a lot of people came out of curiosity and maybe to see if Pamexa was going to be like her father.

Because Tor had no shame, he asked for details. It turned out that Pamexa’s mother had been one of Fernila’s mother’s attendants. After the Queen’s death, Pamexa’s mother had sometimes warmed Nostex’s bed. She’d managed to convince him that Pamexa washer husband’s child—she’d been born a month early—and Nostex had always thought them loyal to him.

Pamexa hadn’t actually known Nostex all that well, though he’d been responsible for her getting the position in the castle that had eventually led to Fernila taking her to Alossa and then appointing her as Cala’s nurse. Her mother had passed away the year before Fernila’s marriage, and Pamexa had been happy to leave Filon.

“I’m going to be completely different than Nostex,” Pamexa told them. “I think it will just take time to convince everyone of that.”

Nawila and Terila had been interviewing the staff. It turned out that Terila had a real talent for upsetting people and getting them to show their true colors. They were letting go anyone who was sympathetic to what Nostex had been doing.

Rin and Nawila were doing the same with the guards and working out a whole new training regime. They wanted it to be completely different out from under Nostex’s shadow.

Solil was looking at the records with Pamexa to ensure she understood the state of her realm’s finances.

They’d also sent a team into the mountains to work with the Tondians to clear the pass so that trade and travel was possible again in the west, instead of solely by road or river to the east.

They’d even decided to brick up the secret entrance.

Tor pouted.

Nawila laughed. “Given that we have no idea who knows about it or what it’s usually used for, it’s a security nightmare.”

“Secret entrance,” Tor whispered mournfully, like that was all there was to say about it.

On a more superficial level, most of the trophies were gone, the creepy pool of death had been drained, and they were redecorating the entire family wing.

“We want you to come visit sometimes,” Nawila pointed out, nudging Tor. “We’ve got lots of spare bedrooms.”

“About that,” Tor said, looking sheepish. “I’ve kind of got somewhere else to be for a while…”

Given that Pamexa was now ruling Filon, Tor and Pel wanted to fill her in on what was happening with the exiles. There was still a lot to figure out, but they didn’t want her to be alarmed by any of their growing pains.