Page 72 of The Prince's Fealty

Looking thoroughly exasperated, Pel told him, “I think you should shut up and introduce me.”

“How am I supposed to shut upandintroduce you?” Tor wanted to know.

The weird tension and awe around the clearing diminished somewhat, a few smiles peeking out, as Tor realized there were way more people present than he’d noticed at first.

He cleared his throat. “Right. Hello, everyone. Let me start by introducing Prince Pel of Tond. To make a long story extremely short, he and I are bonded, and after what happened in the nursery, his magic sustained me when I used all of my own. He got me to a healer, some other totally amazing things happened, and now I’m here, uh, checking up on what’s going on.”

That seemed like an adequate summary until he figured out whattheywere doing here.

Rin was goggling at him. “You’re bonded? ToPrince Pelun?”

Tor flashed him a grin that had enough of a warning in it that he would know that Tor was serious. “Yes, because the most asinine plan ever somehow had the most wonderful results that I could ever ask for. And Pel was way more forgiving than I deserve.”

“He comes up with terrible plans to rescue himself from bad situations, but fortunately, he has other redeeming features,” Pel said, looking both annoyed and fond at the same time, which was impressive. “Good manners aren’t one of them, either. I’m assuming you’re Sir Rinil?”

Rin nodded. Tor could have kicked himself.

“Yes, sorry, that’s me, being terrible. Everyone, this is Prince Pel. Oh, and our friends, Beluna, Cavun, and Denil, who’ve been making sure that I stay in one piece even when I’m unconscious.” He gestured at each of them. They were clustered around him, and while they didn’t have their hands on their swords, they were still on high alert, because Tor hadn’t explained anything yet. He hastened to continue the introductions. “Pel, let’s see, you’ve met Rin now. That’s Nawila, another member of my troop, if I still have a troop. Pamuna, Cala’s nurse.”

There were three people that he didn’t recognize but who looked like guards, and then two people that hedid, but it took him a minute to actually concede that they were reallythere and it wasn’t simply in his mind. “And you probably already know King Stronex and Princess Terila, but, uh, maybe you don’t, Beluna, Cavun, and Denil, and they seem to be here, too.”

What in the name of the goddess weretheydoing here?

He eyed King Stronex and felt his stomach drop. “Ada isn’t in Lotar, is she?”

The man’s face was expressionless, mouth bracketed with stress lines, whole body tight with tension. “No. She received a letter from your brother. They fled here after the attack in Nexa, and he wanted her with them. I had reservations but was overruled. Thurnil escorted her.”

Tor’s jaw clenched. “If he had anything to do with this, I’m going to kill him!”

Pel nudged him in the side, at which point Tor realized that he’d just spat that at the man’s father.

Stiffly, Stronex said, “If he has harmed Princess Adexa, you will have to get in line.”

What? Tor blinked at the man, who looked extremely serious. Tor was going to unpack that later, but now they had more pressing issues.

“It seems like we’re probably here for the same reason,” Tor theorized. “I’d like to pool our knowledge and come up with a plan.”

They all nodded agreement. They took a few minutes to take care of the horses, redeploy the guards—including Tor’s—to keep watch, and then settle around the small fire to plot.

Princess Terila and Rin were sitting next to one another. She looked epically out of place in the middle of the forest, all big violet-gray eyes, too many curves, and ethereal white blond hair. But she’d braided the latter and was dressed more plainly than Tor had ever seen, in a tunic and hose just like the rest of them. He was still incredibly confused, but he had his priorities, so he pushed those concerns aside for the moment.

“What do we know?” he demanded.

“It’s likely that the High King, the High Queen, and the baby arrived nine days ago,” Nawila reported. “We were left behind to cover their escape from Nexa. After they were safely away, Pama and I went to Vayrin to let Sir Rinil know what had happened.” Her eyes flashed to his, and Tor realized they’d gone to tell his best friend about his death. “The events seemed suspicious, so we split up. Pama and I came here, and Sir Rinil and Princess Terila went to Lotar to see if Princess Adexa was there.

“From what we could discover, the royal family arrived about four days before we did. We didn’t attempt to enter the castle. We picked up enough gossip to know that there wasan increase in the number of guards, but there was still traffic in and out, though it was monitored even more strictly than normal. There were a few complaints about slower times for deliveries or someone being questioned for what the townsfolk thought was totally unnecessary reasons, that sort of thing.”

Bitterly, Tor conceded that all of that could be explained away by proper protections for a royal family on the run. Why was the man always ten steps ahead of them?

Nawila continued. “Yesterday, the castle went into what I can only describe as a lockdown. Someone arrived by carriage, and if I had to guess, given what we’ve learned from King Stronex, I would theorize it was Princess Adexa.” She frowned. “Up until then, everyone was being pretty close-lipped, which could simply be trying to protect the royal family. Whatever happened yesterday, no word is getting in and out, and it’s clear from the behavior of the townsfolk that this isn’t normal. People are being turned away, and the demeanor of the guards is such that no one is overtly protesting.”

She made a face. “And quite frankly, there hasn’t been the scouting I would expect if it were an external threat that was being guarded against right now. So it seems a lot more like they’re trying to keep someone from getting out than that they’re worried about someone getting in.”

Tor’s jaw clenched. Was his whole family now trapped in King Nostex’s castle?

Nawila shot him an apologetic look. “We have the advantage of being here and appearing to have arrived unnoticed, but we can’t mount a full frontal assault on the castle.”

Certainly not without announcing what they were doing.