Page 44 of The Prince's Fealty

“Now?”

She and Tama both seemed somewhat shocked.

Tor nodded firmly. “Yes. I’m going to get my sister. Too much time may have passed already, but I can’t help that now.” He shook the thought away. He couldn’t dwell on it. “Icanmove as fast as possible now. I’m not willing to waste any time.”

They both straightened their shoulders and stood tall like they were about to be inspected by the captain of the guard. Tor supposed it was one thing to propose this solution and another to see it actually begin to unfold.

This brought them one step closer.

They packed everything up, since Tor wanted to be ready to leave as soon as he could. It didn’t take very long, since they’d basically been fleeing from Alossa with the bare minimum of possessions.

Tor rode even though most of them were walking. His injured gait was not conducive to heading farther up the mountain as quickly as they could. Even riding was painful, to be honest, but not as much as being entirely under his own power. It was raining—no surprise there—but not too heavily.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to go too far. Tama and Istila really had brought everyone as close as possible. Denil joined them as they approached the clearing where Istila said everyone was waiting.

If he was surprised by what was happening, he didn’t say so, just smiled a little and said he was glad Tor was looking better.

His guards clustered around him and Pel, hands not on their weapons but close, and Tor supposed he couldn’t blame them. This still had the potential to go catastrophically wrong, after all.

The clearing was full of people. Tor had known that, but it was different to actually see them all, to know that this huge group of people were willing to pledge their Fealty tohim.

In a loud, ringing voice, Istila announced that Tor had agreed to accept their Fealty, and there was a swell of sound as the news spread through the gathered mass of people.

Then Tor stepped forward and reached out a hand so that Pel would come with him. He noticed that Beluna and Cavun shadowed them. Denil was nowhere in sight, but Tor assumed he was around.

“Hello, everyone,” he said, projecting as loudly as he could and trusting that those in front would explain to those in the back. “I wish that I had time to do this better, but I’m scared for my family. I need to go find them and stop a plot to kill them, and that means I can’t dedicate as much time as I should right now to you.”

He drew a deep breath and let it out, looking at all the people standing here in the rain, who’d trekked all the way here in the hope that Tor would do this. They were on Tondian land, and this could once again be considered a breaking of the peace accords, but they’d all come anyway.

They allhoped, and Tor felt that responsibility settle into his bones, a heavy weight but also, somehow, a source of comfort and strength.

These people needed him.

“I’ll be honest with you,” he continued. “What I’m about to do is treason within the United Realms. My brother may sentence me to death for it. But I promise that I’ll do everything in my power to convince him that this is actually best not just for you but for the United Realms—of which you are a part, even if we haven’t treated you like you are.

“I won’t demand that anyone pledge their Fealty to me, so if you’d rather not, you don’t have to do so. If you’re uncertain, you can wait. My goal is that we can all figure out how to live together.” He swallowed. “I imagine for those of you who lived through the war, it can’t be easy to consider pledging yourself to someone once again. I can’t promise that I’ll always get everything right, but I can promise that I’m only doing this because I want to protect you and the people I care about. To be honest, I neither need nor want more power.”

There was a murmur of sound at this.

Tor cleared his throat. “I know that’s hard for me to demonstrate right now—especially given that I’m injured, and Idoactually need your help so that I can be well enough to protect my family. But I hope that I can show over time that I don’t want subjects or land or any of that sort of power. I’d like to work with you. If all goes to plan, then when I come back from making sure my family is safe, we’ll be able to experiment and see how much Fealty is needed to make the land and weather settle.”

Tor squeezed Pel’s hand. He’d been standing rather stoically at Tor’s side, but he returned the pressure firmly.

“My bonded, Prince Pel, will be by my side, and I promise that he is always willing to tell me when I’m being a conceited prince or a fool.” There was a ripple of laughter, and Pel made a sound that was half choking and half laughing. Tor grinned. “And Prince Bavil has agreed that Tond will help you with supplies until the land can better support you. So that’s a lot of things for us to be working on together. I know that you probably have some concerns. Like I said, I’m not compelling anyone to do anything right now, but for those of you who are ready, I would very much appreciate it. I want to help you with the weather and the land, and I want to be well enough to try to help my family. I think we can do amazing things if we work together. Thank you.”

As far as motivational speeches went, it could have been better, but Tor had tried. Maybe he’d improve with practice. (Maybe it was easier to be motivational when you weren’t worried that your entire family was in imminent danger.)

There was silence for a moment, and then a ragged cheer went up, which Tor appreciated. It definitely wasn’t the whole group, but he couldn’t blame them for being unsure in the face of the monumental changes that were about to occur.

There wasn’t time to make more of a connection with these people, but he’d have to hope that his presence and what he’d done up the mountain was enough for now.

Tor blew out a breath, and Pel’s mother took over, directing the first of the exiles to come up. He looked like he couldn’t be more than eighteen, and his expression said he was kind of horrified to be first, but he came obediently anyway, and the rest started to form into lines. Tor wondered about the choice, but he supposed this man had likely been born after the war. His feelings about this might not be the same as those who’d deliberately forsaken the Fealty in the past.

There was the collective murmur of voices in quiet conversation, but Tor tuned it out. There was only so much he could concentrate on right now, and he needed to focus on the person in front of him.

Tor knew how this was done—from the other side of it, at least. He’d pledged his Fealty to his mother when he’d Manifested, and he’d witnessed it often enough when his mother or brother was receiving the Fealty of those citizens who had newly Manifested. That was the point at which children no longer fell under the Fealty of their parents and instead had to pledge their own.

Acceptingthe Fealty could be something entirely different, but Tor wouldn’t know that unless he tried. It wouldn’t help to seem uncertain.