Page 20 of The Prince's Fealty

Tor considered pointing out that he outranked her, but he was pretty sure she didn’t care. He liked that about her.

“But then everyone else would be outside and vulnerable.”

She scoffed. “They wouldn’t be having sex and paying no attention to their surroundings. I can have them sing, if you’d rather.”

“Definitely not,” Pel said.

Tor was grinning now. “It might be fun.”

Pel scowled. “Do I want my brother serenading me while I’m having sex with you? No. Do you want to ever have sex with me again? Then you don’t want that either.”

Pel sounded very definitive, and Tor laughed.

“Seems like that one’s out.”

Beluna rolled her eyes. “I think you’ve walked long enough. How would you like to go back to the nice, safe cave?”

Knowing when he was beat, Tor acquiesced.

He didn’t want to admit that he was tired from mostly standing around, but Pel clearly noticed anyway, because he slowed his steps as they made their way back to the cave. Beluna melted away again.

Tor didn’t think anyone was going to attack them—but since he hadn’t expected an attack at the castle in Alossa, he appreciated that they were keeping an eye out anyway. He felt reasonably confident that everyone with him now could be trusted, at least, because he didn’t think he’d have woken up if that wasn’t the case.

It was a weird feeling, though, not being certain who he could trust. Tor hadn’t had a lot of close friends before all of this had happened, but he hadn’t imagined that peoplewere out to get him. He was loyal to the Crown, he’d assumed they were loyal to the Crown, and he hadn’t really thought about it.

Now everyone’s motivations were suspect. Tor didn’t trust Fernila and Yomil, but who else might be involved? Were they in charge? How long had this been going on? Could they prove anything, or would Varex just assume this was all speculation?

(He wouldn’t be wrong, unfortunately.)

Whatever happened, it was going to be messy.

Back in the cave, Pel insisted that Tor sit down, which he was more grateful to do than he wanted to admit. Pel tucked himself up beside him and piled his plate with food—and now that all this sustenance was right here, Tor’s stomach was letting him know in no uncertain terms how it felt about being ignored for two weeks.

He devoured everything in front of him, and Pel just kept adding more.

Bavil and Cavun watched with bemusement. Tor might have felt self-conscious, but he was too hungry.

“Uh, are we going to run out of food?” Cavun finally asked.

Tor paused mid-mouthful. He hadn’t thought of that.

Pel glared at Cavun. “No, we are not.”

Cavun muttered an apology, and Tor raised an eyebrow at Pel. He’d never heard the man so snippy before.

Pel’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Sorry, Cavun.” To Tor, he said, “Recovering your strength means eating as much food as you need. We’ll figure out supplies.”

Tor wanted to leave as soon as Tama got back, so hopefully they wouldn’t be short for long. They could pick up supplies once they were on the move.

Tor had gotten fairly used to traveling incognito to and from Tond, but it was going to be doubly important now. They really did need to figure out the logistics of this.

Pel kept refilling Tor’s mug with the fella-root Beluna had been making earlier. It was like the liquid was soaking through his entire body, helping to revivify him.

He started yawning, and Pel had an opinion before Tor could even protest.

“A magical coma is not at all the same as actually sleeping. Do you want to recover or not?”

Of course Tor wanted to recover. He just wasn’t sure he hadtimeto recover.