Page 31 of The Prince's Fealty

They were there to serve him.

Tor’s expression was contemplative now. “We always say that rulers protect their people. We thank the goddess for good lives and safe births… I just always took that protection to be literal. I mean ‘in a war’ literal, not day-to-day.”

“Poor rulers have always misused that protection,” Pel’s mother said. “Used the Fealty for their own ends instead of for the good of the people. It’s why we chose exile.”

Bav suddenly reappeared at the entrance to the cave. Pel startled, but Cavun hadn’t even budged, so he must have seen him coming. Tama appeared a few steps behind even as Bav stalked back to the fire looking like a drowned rat but with a glower on his face that confirmed it had not gone well. Rather than retaking his seat next to their mother, Bav crowded Tor’s free side.

Tama, also looking distinctly water-logged and with an exceptionally neutral expression on her face, sat as close to Pel’s mother as she could, leaving a very visible gap between her and Bav.

“What did I miss?” Bav asked, voice biting. “Have we been told how we can suddenly be of use?”

Oh, dear. Whatever Tama had tried to accomplish going after him had clearly not succeeded. At all.

“It turns out that it’s me who can help,” Tor told him mildly. “But I haven’t heard how yet.”

Pel explained, “We’re discussing the possibility that it’s the Fealty that protects land as well as people.”

Pel and Tor caught Bav up on the theory.

He looked… contemplative rather than angry, and Pel was glad to see his focus shifting. Pel was sure the emotions were still there, but this was way bigger than they were.

“I never thought about it like that, but it makes a certain amount of sense,” Bav admitted slowly, pointing in the direction of the other side of the mountain. “I don’t think clouds are actually meant to behave like that. I always wondered why they rarely came down from the mountains.”

It did seem indicative that the weather had gotten exponentially worse on only one side of the mountain. Not that it was perfect on their side, but it didn’t sound as dire as it was on the exile’s side—nor as good as it was in Alossa, where the High King ruled fairly and well.

“Let’s say that you’re right,” Tor proposed. “What does that have to do with me?”

Pel’s mother didn’t immediately answer Tor’s question. “I knew from bitter experience that Forex would never listen to us or treat us fairly. The situation was already precarious, and the violent raid was like a match to tinder. We tried to send our most vulnerable to safety. Not everyone agreed with the decision, but the majority decided it was better to risk what would happen in Filon with Nostex’s offer of amnesty than stay and slowly die out. Instead, we were attacked and nearly slaughtered before the mountain fell down on top of us. It’s almost enough to make you think that we’re being judged, isn’t it?”

Pel grimaced. It was a very unpleasant series of events, that was for sure.

She looked at Tor. “And then there was you. You saved Tondian and exile alike, even when it nearly killed you. You saved everyone, even when it would have been easier to let us die. You intervened again after the landslide, even once the danger to you was over, even when you were challenged and could have backed down. You chose to protect a group of people that mean nothing to you.”

“You’re still people,” Tor said, frowning fiercely. “It was the right thing to do. I’d do it again.”

“We believe you,” Pel’s mother said, leaning towards Tor, expression intent. “And that’s why we’re here.”

A sudden look of understanding flashed over Tor’s face, his whole body going rigid.

His voice wasn’t quite steady. “That’s actual treason, you know.”

Chapter Seven

Varex

Several days later

After just over a week in Fila, Var was paradoxically more relaxed and more stressed. He expected to hear from Captain Darmila any day now, and what she had to say could change everything. But there had been no hint of anything amiss here, and as the days passed with no indication that they were in further danger, Var grew more hopeful that his impetuous flight had accomplished its goal and protected his family.

But he was no further ahead in figuring out either the reason for the attack nor the culprits behind it. Were they working simply to destabilize the realms? The attack on Cala while blaming Tor suggested Var’s family was being targeted specifically. Did someone think they could take the Fealty that way? It had happened several times in the war, when whole ruling families were wiped out and the Fealty had Manifested elsewhere.

But no one could predict where the Fealty would go. Taking the risk of wiping out Var and his entire family when they weren’t at war seemed incredibly foolish. Would the other royal families stand for it? Unless it was one or more of those royal families thatwere doing this. Was he right to be concerned about Vayrin and Bessar and their alliance by marriage?

He frowned as he thought about it. Hadn’t it been Yomil who had first raised that concern? Var had never doubted the intelligence or advice he’d received from the man—until now. Perhaps most of what he’d been saying was accurate, or maybe he’d been spinning a web of lies, and Var was even now in the middle of it.

It was so hard to know. Vayrin and Bessar could be consolidating power, but then, the same accusation could be made of Alossa and Filon, or Alossa and Lotar. Perhaps someone was concerned by the multiple marriages that Alossa had with other realms, and trying to marry Tor off was the exact wrong thing to have done. (But then, Var already knew that. If he’d just left Tor alone, this all might have ended very differently.)

But that was taking the very thing that was supposed to strengthen the alliances between the realms and turning it into a weapon. Why assume that any of the rulers had nefarious plans when Var himself had simply been trying to fulfill his mother’s legacy and unite the realms as firmly as possible?