Page 76 of The Prince's Fealty

The secret entrance was their best chance, and he knew it. It just… meant sitting around not able to do anything right now.

The food was plain but filling, and Tor goggled at the fact thatTerilawaseating it without complaint. He didn’t understand any of this, not really, but that was quite possibly the least explicable thing about this entire adventure. Especially because she’d scarcely looked at him and definitelywasn’teyeing him like he was a piece of meat and she was starving. It was a nice change, but it didn’t makesense.

Finally, Tor couldn’t stand it any longer. “What’s Terila doing here?”

In retrospect, he probably should have asked her directly. Rin shot him a look, but Terila looked… oddly not insulted. Did Terila maybe have a twin that he didn’t know about, and this was actually the nice, reasonable one?

Rin rolled his eyes. “It turns out that while you were having the best results from the most foolish plan ever, so was I.”

It actually took Tor an embarrassingly long moment to understand what the other man was saying. He gaped.

“Are you saying that you and Terila are together?”

He was waiting for the punchline.

Terila glared at him. “PrinceRinil is saying that we’re bonded.”

If Tor hadn’t been so shocked, he would have laughed in their faces.Rinand Princess Terila? Seriously?

But while Terila was still glaring at him, Rin was looking at him with a carefully watchful look, more like the one that Tor had shot him when he’d been incredulous about him and Pel.

Oh.Oh.

Tor cleared his throat. “I assume this wasn’t just a way to prevent me from having to bond with her?”

Terila made an angry noise, and Pel made a choked sound that was either laughter or incredulity.

Maybe that hadn’t been themostdiplomatic thing he could have said. Only then Rin let out something that was definitely a snicker. Terila turned to glare at him.

“Doesn’t that seem like the sort of thing I would do, Princess?” he asked. “To save my best friend from a fate worse than death? Iwasordered to Vayrin to preserve the peace of the entirety of the United Realms. Maybe I made theultimate sacrifice.” He waggled his eyebrows.

Terila’s eyes narrowed to an expression that Tor recognized. Beside him, Pel stiffened, and Tor was belatedly reminded that Tor’s issues with Terila weren’t the only ones they needed to deal with.

“Maybe you’d like to sleep in the dressing room for the rest of your life,” Terila said with mock sweetness. “I’m sure I can find someone else to appreciate all of my assets.”

The words were pure poison, but to Tor’s surprise, Rin just pouted. “But the hair. You wouldn’t really make me live without the hair, would you?” He leaned closer and totally leered at her. Really, it was the most ridiculous expression that Tor had ever seen,and he’d actually been in bed with Rin on more than one occasion. “What would I do without your breasts?”

Terila lifted her nose. “That would be entirely your problem.”

“Are you sure there isn’t anything you’d miss if I slept in the dressing room?” Rin asked.

“I would make do,” she said loftily.

Rin’s eyes darkened. “Would you?”

Like the sun peeking out from behind a cloud, Terila was all smiles again. “So you’d better make sure that you don’t wind up in the dressing room, hadn’t you?”

Rin grinned back and said amiably, “Yes, Princess. Whatever you say.”

Tor was still more than a little stunned, but he realized that Rin apparently knew exactly how to handle Terila—and Terila was totally amenable to being… handled.

Tor didn’t understand at all, but if Rin was happy, that was the important part.

Then he frowned at them. “Hold on. Didn’t my brother say that the peace of the entirety of the United Realms was threatened because Terila was so upset that I didn’t go to Vayrin?”

Rin and Terila both made a face. Tor had never seen Terila look such a weird mixture of annoyed and embarrassed.

“I was an ass,” Rin admitted. “She kicked me out, and I went back to Alossa to receive the greatest tongue-lashing from your brother in the history of ever. By the time Terila decided that she wanted to speak to me again, she needed a way to get me back there.”