Page 5 of The Prince's Fealty

It had been almost a month since they’d set out from Tond for Alossa.

Bavil sucked in a breath and then blurted out, “I think he’s dead.”

Chapter Two

Tor

Pel went utterly still at Tor’s side. Tor reached for his hand and twined their fingers together. He squeezed gently, and after a long, frozen moment, the other man squeezed back.

“What do you mean, dead?”

It was an inane question, but Tor couldn’t blame Pel for asking it. Tor had felt the same way when he’d learned of his mother’s death. She’d been the foundation of his entire life, she’d been so powerful… and then she was simplygone.

The head healer had said it was something in her brain that had happened while she slept. By the time anyone had checked on her in the morning, it had been far too late.

Even years later, trying to recall the immediate aftermath of her death was impossible. It was like Tor had been present but not processing. So yes, Tor understood that Pel was reeling now. Forex had definitely not been Tor’s favorite person, not least for the way he treated Pel, but he was still Pel’s father, and a figure who loomed large in his life.

Thanks to Tor, Pel had run away and gone to Alossa without even telling his father what he was doing.

And that would now always be their last act.

“Why aren’t you sure?” Pel asked suddenly, looking at his brother.

Bavil made a face, swallowed again. “We still haven’t found him.”

Tor narrowed his eyes. “But something happened, or you wouldn’t assume he was dead.”

It was a long and unusual absence, sure, but King Forex was the sort to do whatever he wanted and not worry about what other people might think.

Bavil sighed and admitted, “It’s the Fealty.”

Pel’s eyes flickered closed for a moment, then opened again. His fingers tightened on Tor’s. “You inherited the Tondian Fealty.”

Bavil half-nodded, half-shrugged. “I can’t think what else it would be. But I haven’t spoken of it to anyone yet. I don’t want to risk causing a panic. I still have no idea where Father went. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it was something else.”

At each citizen’s Presentation once they’d Manifested in their teens, they pledged their Fealty to their ruler. The ruler got a small piece of their magic and pledged to protect them in exchange.

It was why every ruling sovereign had an Exceptional magic status, even if that wasn’t the one they’d originally Manifested. He didn’t quite understand the details, but even when they weren’t tapping into the Fealty actively, their baseline magic was increased, and they gained the ability to create free-standing magic and Mantle objects they weren’t touching. Their actual magical strength if they tapped into the Fealty was greater than a normal Extraordinary, but since the war had ended twenty-five years ago, it was an academic point.

The rulers had been working to keep the peace rather than attacking one another with large avatars of pure magic.

Varex had inherited the Fealty from their mother, as expected. (Fealty almost always went along common inheritance lines, but it became unpredictable if there was no immediate family or occasionally at the goddess’s whim.) Varex had described it as an overwhelming rush of magic like he’d never experienced before.

When Tor had tapped into Varex’s magic to shield everyone during the landslide up the mountain, he assumed he’d felt a small echo of that—and justthathad flooded his body.

Tor couldn’t imagine that Bavil had mistaken anything else for Fealty. But he could also see why the man wasn’t ready to state anything unequivocally. Doing so would mean confirming his father’s death. It had been hard enough for Tor to believe when he’d been able to see his mother’s body. They didn’t even know where to start looking for Forex’s.

“I’m sorry,” Tor told Pel and Bavil belatedly, realizing that hearing news of the death of a parent should be recognized as more than a political nightmare.

Pel blinked at him, looking a little dazed.

“Pel, I’m so sorry,” he repeated.

Pel swallowed visibly, and then he leaned his head against Tor’s, like it wasn’t just Tor who needed all the support right now.

“He wasn’t much of a father,” he mumbled against Tor’s skin, his breath a warm gust.

Tor agreed with this assessment probably even more vehemently than Pel did, but he knew that wasn’t the point.