Page 25 of The Prince's Fealty

Ferna hugged the thankfully sleeping Cala closer. “I’m never letting her out of my sight again!”

Nostex chuckled and patted his daughter’s arm, but honestly, Var didn’t disagree with her. Look at what had happened last time!

The rest of them might be all right now, but Tor had died in the nursery in Nexa.

Var didn’t even know if they’d found his brother’s body yet. Could it be recovered from the rubble? The room would have to be rebuilt, but there was no way it would ever be used as the nursery again.

That night, with Cala safely in a cradle beside their bed, Ferna said softly, “I’m so sorry. I know he was your brother, and you loved him.”

All the words welled up, cramming into Var’s throat until the lump was so big he could barely swallow around it. Vardidlove Tor, and far too late, it seemed like he hadn’t done a good enough job of showing that. He wanted to tell Ferna all the many good points his brother had had, but instead, a sob burst out.

Ferna gathered him into her arms, and he clutched at her.

“Sh, sh,” she said softly. “Let it out, Var. Let it all out.”

Finally safe for the first time in more than a week, Var sobbed into Ferna’s shoulder as she ran her fingers soothingly through his hair, until he finally dropped into an exhausted sleep.

The days as they waited for Ada to arrive were difficult ones. Oh, not because of anything they had to do. Nostex was always happy to have guests, and since Var and Ferna didn’t travel often, he was delighted that the three of them were there—apart from the tragic reason for their arrival, of course.

It was the tragic reason that had cast a pall over everything for Var. Every moment was filled with the knowledge that his brother was dead. And it was only because of Tor’s sacrifice that Cala wasn’t dead, too. Var could barely cope with the death of his twin, and he couldn’t imagine the state he’d be in if he’d lost both of them.

When his mother had died, Var had thrown himself into being king. He’d had large shoes to fill, and he’d been aware that the responsibility was enormous. He hadn’t wanted to let anyone down, and it had given him something to concentrate on.

Now, he needed to figure out who was conspiring against them, and he’d never felt more useless. Belatedly, it occurred to him to wonder what it had been like for Tor after their mother’s death, when all of Var’s focus had been on being king, and they’d suddenly spent almost no time together. Had Tor felt like he’d lost both of them?

Var grimaced. How could none of this have occurred to him before? He’d been so focused on his version of what had happened, the bad behavior he’d witnessed, that he hadn’t stopped to ask himselfwhyTor might be behaving like that—especially not with Yomil always ready to supply an unflattering reason.

How had he not realized what was going on? It seemed so easy to see in hindsight—but he supposed that was always the case.

With a few more days of somewhat better sleep—nightmares still haunted him, but at least he was in an actual bed—he acknowledged that not telling Captain Darmila where they were going probably hadn’t been the wisest decision. Without that point of connection, he had no idea what was going on in Nexa. Had they found Yomil or Tor’s body? Had other conspirators been caught?

Ferna and Cala might be safer here in Fila, but they weren’t closer to any answers.

Var was filled with a burning need todo something, only he didn’t know what that could possibly be. He couldn’t go out and catch the conspirators himself. They weren’t likely to get any answers unless Yomil was captured. So Var wrote to Darmila to ask for updates. It would be days before he heard from her, but at least this was a small action he could take. She was in charge of the investigation anyway, and any other issues that were waiting for him were just going to have to keep waiting until this was resolved. She could send him anything that was absolutely urgent, but that was it. Var had devoted his whole life to serving his realm and his people. They were going to wait while he safeguarded his family.

Cala was the only bright spot in these awful days. Another tooth had come through, so she was happier not to be dealing with that, and she loved all the time they were spending with her. Baby giggles could lift even his spirit—but it was never long before he remembered anew what had happened, remembered that he would never again find Tor with Cala in the early hours of the morning, tickling her tummy and telling her that she was the very best baby that had ever existed.

Shewasthe best baby, but Tor was the best brother, and Var wasn’t sure how he’d forgotten that.

Remembering it now was cold comfort.

And when Cala was napping, it felt like all the light had gone out of the room. Var was left in this new reality that he didn’t like at all and which he’d brought upon himself.

If Tor had had all his magic, he would probably have been able to defend himself against the mercenaries. If he’d been strong enough to protect Cala for certain, the whole ruse might not have been necessary.

Var’s mind endlessly looped over all the possibilities that didn’t matter anymore, because that wasn’t what had happened. Var had bound his brother’s magic, and as a result, he’d lost him.

And now Var was in Nostex’s castle, being protected by Nostex’s guards, and aware that he needed to come up with a plan. He hoped that Darmila was having more luck uncovering the conspirators. Part of Var felt like he needed to get rid of everyone and start over, but that was hardly fair to all those people—many, he hoped—who were and always had been loyal to him.

But how many was that? If Yomil was against him, who else? How many peopledidit take to plot treason?

It was a question that worried Var quite a bit.

“You said there was an external fighting force,” Nostex pointed out when Var raised the issue with him after lunch one afternoon, when they’d all retired to a sitting room. “That suggests there wasn’t a large enough force to perform the attack internally.”

Or it hadn’t fit Yomil’s narrative that Tor was responsible for the attack. Although perhaps that would have worked with guards as well. Yomil could have claimed they’d been turned by Tor.

Guardshadfought the mercenaries, and Nawila and Pamuna had protected Cala, and absolutely everyone wasn’t against Var.