Page 95 of The Prince's Fealty

Tor was totally familiar with that feeling. If he and Pel could be tied together and spend the rest of their life only going places that were really, really safe, he would probably be much happier as a person.

The healer reached out and laid her hands on the side of Pamuna’s head just as she had done with Ada. Her eyes fluttered closed, but a second later, they snapped open again, and she snatched her hands back.

She was staring at Pamuna like she was the scariest thing that she’d ever seen, and that was… deeply disturbing.

“What’s wrong?” Nawila demanded anxiously.

Looking like she was steeling herself, the healer pressed her hands against the sides of Pamuna’s face once again, closing her eyes a second time.

Long moments passed in silence with Nawila looking increasingly worried, until Tekilona released Pamuna and opened her eyes once more.

“I think she’s simply exhausted,” Tekilona said carefully. “She’ll need some time to recover.”

“But why is she exhausted?” Nawila wanted to know. “She was just waiting at the trapdoor.” She glared at Terila. “She was just waiting, right?”

“Yes, we were just waiting,” Terila said, not even looking annoyed at the accusation.

Maybe whenever your loved ones were injured, the people around you recognized you might not behave in a fully rational manner?

“So what happened?” Nawila asked more forcefully. “No one gets exhausted for no reason!”

It had beena really long day—night?—and Pamuna had been under a lot of pressure to sneak them into the castle… that she was strangely familiar with because her parents worked for King Nostex in an unspecified manner.

And now the healer looked as though she was struggling with how to tell them something…

A radical thought suddenly popped into Tor’s head, and he turned to look at his brother’s wife.

“Fernila, are you feeling any different?”

She looked at him in confusion. “Different from what?”

Her voice was hoarse, probably from all the crying, but it was devoid of the anger and upset that he was used to hearing directed at him.

Tor eyed the healer, who was looking at him like maybe Tor was going to save her from explaining something totally ridiculous. He looked down at the unconscious woman and then over at Fernila again.

It was a wild idea, but he thought… just maybe he could see a resemblance between the two of them.

“Uh, I realize I’m usually an ass when I’m talking to you, but this is actually a moment where I don’t mean to be,” he began.

She let out something that was almost a laugh. Her hair was a chaotic red tangle around her head. She lookedterrible—but also way more human than he’d ever seen her, especially when they were talking to one another. “I’m willing to start over if you are.”

He nodded. “I’d like that. So I just want to observe that you seem totally normal, and, uh, not like you just inherited the Fealty from your father. Do you feel any different?”

She blinked, looking totally stunned, and then slowly shook her head. “I don’t feel different at all. I mean, I don’t think so.” She looked uncertainly at Var.

It was Var who assured her, “It’s immediately noticeable. It’s a huge rush of magic that was nearly enough to—”

His eyes flew to Tor’s as realization set in, and then they dropped to Pamuna.

“Really?”

Tor shrugged. “A little bit in the shape of the mouth and nose, don’t you think? Although she doesn’t have the hair.”

Fernila’s eyes widened comically large. “Are you saying you think Pama is myhalf-sister?”

Everyone’s eyes seemed to be darting between Pamuna and Fernila and then back up to Tor. He shrugged.

“I don’t know anything for certain, of course. I’m just saying the situation is suggestive. She didn’t specify how her parents worked for Nostex—and I’m not going to say anything more about that—but she knew about what seems to be a very secret entrance. Mostly, honestly, it just occurred to me that there’s only one of us who’s exhibiting any unusual symptoms.”