Page 85 of The Prince's Fealty

But at least he and Var had had practice with separate shields and sharing magic, even if the stakes had never been so high. He was suddenly desperately glad that he’d been a very curious child and that Var had been willing to experiment with him. They’d practiced for years, but Tor couldn’t tell you the last time he’d done it until now, and he suspected the same was true of Var. In fact, it was probably worse, because there were those years when Varex had first taken the throne when Tor had been rebuffed in every attempt to stage mock fights.

Tor had still trained with his troop sometimes, but Varex had thrown himself into ruling—which was incredibly important, of course, only it meant that Tor had no idea how well he could hold up to any of this.

They’d rarely had anyone truly trying to harm them, but it wasn’t like Tor had ever had a landslide fall on him before, either. He and his magic had adapted and risen to the challenge, and he was sure Var would do the same. He had to.

Goddess, please keep everyone I love safe.

It felt like an eternity, but it couldn’t have been longer than the half hour Beluna had asked for when Pel and Beluna returned unharmed, because Rin had promised to tell him the instant Tor was allowed to go rushing off to their rescue.

The wave of relief that passed through Tor was so powerful that it nearly took him off his feet, and he couldn’t prevent himself from pulling Pel into his arms, something in him relaxing only once he felt the other man’s body against his, strong and whole and unharmed. Pel clung to him just as tightly for a long moment.

Beluna quietly told them, “They’re in the family wing of the castle. We assume King Varex was lured down here in some fashion, but it seems as though Queen Fernila was in a sitting room at the time the shield was erected. It’s mostly quiet since it’s the middle of the night, but it’s also clear that schedules have been thrown off. Nostex isn’t following his normal routine, and it’s put people on edge. We heard a few staff in the kitchens whispering about guards from Lotar that have been confined, so we believe Princess Adexa is there as well.”

Pel pulled back from Tor, and while Tor wanted to continue to clutch him desperately, he made himself let the other man go.

“There are four guards at the door. They seemed a bit anxious but also bored, like they’re not expecting anything no matter what’s going on beyond the doorway.”

Beluna added, “We both passed by once, and they paid us absolutely no mind.”

Carefully, Pel said, “We can confirm that Cala is alive.”

It took Tor a minute to parse that. “She’s crying?”

Pel and Beluna nodded.

With a grimace, Pel said, “There’s been a lot of that over the last day or so. We overheard some of the staff whispering about the King losing his temper. We can’t be one hundred percent certain, but knowing how he wants the Fealty to fall, we think it likely that he’s with Queen Fernila, Princess Cala, and Princess Adexa, trying to get through those shields so he can, uh, dispose of them before King Varex dies.”

Tor’s heart clenched in his chest, but he reminded himself this hopefully meant everyone was alive so far. Nostex was attacking because his plans hadn’t come to fruition yet.

Tor drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. He straightened his shoulders and looked at all of them in turn.

“I think we need to seize the moment. We don’t know how long Var’s shields will hold out, and the longer we delay, the better the chance that someone will get through them.”

It was basic magic theory. Hit a shield repeatedly in the same spot with too much magic—or even something non-magical—and you could pierce it. The stronger the magic wielder was, the longer the shield would hold up, but they weren’t infallible. Even someone with as much magic as Var had to be under tremendous strain when he had multiple shields up, especially if they were all under attack. Tor was hopefully helping, but he had no idea what state Var was in at this point.

(Up the mountain, Tor had had the option to combine the shields when he’d realized he couldn’t keep both going, like he was juggling and about to lose his balance. He’d had another option. Var didn’t.)

“We need to go after both groups and rescue them at the same time,” Tor said definitively. “We can’t allow one group to be used against the other—and we’ll only have the element of surprise once.”

Suddenly, Stronex smiled, dark eyes burning with a fierce light. “Speaking of the element of surprise, do you know what would no doubt shock Nostex to his core? What if the man he thought he had trapped underwater suddenly showed up to attack him?”

It took Tor a second to understand, and then he felt a wolfish smile of his own overtake his face.

It had been far too long, after all, since Tor had last pretended to be his brother.

“Yes.”

Pel added, “To make the ruse more effective, you shouldn’t bring along people Tor might bring. If he sees you with Rin or Nawila, he might figure out who you are. And since you’re fighting an Extraordinary King with Fealty, King Stronex should also go with you. His presence is easily explained by his desire to find Prince Thurnil and Princess Adexa. Nostex might assume King Stronex helped free you.”

Tor frowned. “But that would leave no Extraordinary to rescue Var.”

Pel raised an eyebrow. “And do you think only Extraordinary are capable of rescuing your brother?”

Grimacing, Tor apologized, “That came out wrong. You’re all extremely capable, and I’ve seen that for myself. But Beluna did report that four Extraordinary are trying to kill my brother. I really don’t want them to try to kill you, too.”

Pel’s expression was fierce. “They can try, but they’d have to see me coming. You heard those two earlier. They’re thinking just about magic, and that means they’re getting sloppy. Trust me to do this?”

Tor stared at the man he loved with all his heart, who was fierce and independent and probably really would break Tor’s nose if Tor tried to hold him back—and then he’d go do exactly what he wanted anyway.