Page 3 of The Prince's Sacrifice

Tor’s expression shadowed. “I shouldn’t have said anything, should I?”

“What?” Pel said, surprised, and then alarmed. “No! Please don’t think you have to censor for me. I might not be altogether comfortable all the time, but I would so much rather you tell me the truth than that you lie to me. I swear, Tor. I will figure out how I feel about all of this, but I don’t want you to have to hide from me, all right?”

Tor stared at him for a long moment, as though gauging his sincerity, and then he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Pel’s mouth.

“All right,” he said. “And just to clarify, these were people I was perfectly happy to leave after one night. It was something to do to pass the time. It was fun, but it didn’t have significant meaning. I’ve cherished the time I’ve spent with you, and I don’t have any interest in moving on and finding the next amusement. I know I’m not explaining it very well, but this isdifferent.”

Pel swallowed. There had been something raw and earnest about Tor’s voice, his gaze intent as he looked down at Pel, who might not have anything to compare it to, but this certainly didn’t seem to be something to simply pass the time. This was one of the most enjoyable things he’d ever experienced, and Tor seemed to be telling him that the same was true of him. Pel couldn’t compete with five other people in Tor’s bed, but Tor seemed to be saying… there wasn’t a competition?

Pel liked the sound of that.

“We’re not going to pay off the people you slept with,” Pel declared.

“No?” Tor asked, like it was still a perfectly reasonable offer.

“No,” Pel said firmly. “I’ll get used to the idea.”

Somehow.

“Think of it this way,” Tor suggested. “They might have had one night with me, but you’re the one who gets to keep me. If anyone’s going to be jealous, it’s them.”

Pel… had definitely not considered that way of looking at things. Did other people want more, andPelwas the only one who was getting it? He’d seen how Tor had acted with the stable hand he’d slept with, keeping things light and easy.

Somehow, it was hard to imagine Tor curled up with anyone else patiently addressing their insecurities in quite this way. Pel had pushed him away for weeks, and Tor was still here. Tor had thought Pel didn’t want anything beyond friendship with him, and he’d still taken what he could get. They’d established now that they both very much wanted, but it still seemed more… jumbled and difficult than Pel had been hoping.

Maybe that always happened at the beginning of a relationship.

“Did your brother happen to mention if he and his wife got to a point where everything was just… settled?”

Tor made a face. “We don’t talk about that sort of thing. My brother and I aren’t close—not anymore, at least.” His voice was carefully scoured of emotion. “And I can’t imagine talking about that sort of thing with Fernila. We talk as seldom as possible.”

“Why don’t you like her?” Pel asked curiously.

Tor sighed and climbed off Pel, shifting so that they were lying side by side, facing one another.

“She doesn’t like me.” His voice was still careful.

Pel was inclined to think that wasn’t an answer, but then he thought of Princess Terila. If he’d had any nascent feelings for her, they’d died an ignominious death when she’d made her disdain of him so plain.

Tor blew out a breath. “Everything changed when our mother died. I expected some of it. Obviously, there was a lot of upheaval. We lost our motherandthe High Queen, and Varex becameHigh King of the United Realms. Of course it wasn’t going to stay the same. He took everything seriously. He wanted to be the best ruler possible.”

Tor’s nostrils flared. “I tried to help in the beginning, but his advisor seemed to think I was interfering. Varex was being so serious, and I couldn’t really relate anymore. And then when he started courting and finally married Fernila… They were together all the time. Everything he did revolved around her or the United Realms. And she didn’t want to have anything to do with me. She thought I was a waste of space, I thought she was a needy shrew, and we just… didn’t get along.”

Pel was silent for a moment and then said, “Do you want to know what I think?”

Tor blew out a breath, but his lips quirked up slightly. “Probably not, but tell me anyway.”

Pel half smiled. “It sounds like you’re jealous of her.”

Tor let out something that was half laugh, half bitterness, flopping onto his back so he was staring up at the canopy of the bed instead of meeting Pel’s eyes. “Of course I’m jealous of her. Varex and I are brothers.Twins. We used to do everything together. I didn’t expect everything to stay the same forever, but I didn’t think I’d lose everything, not like that. Shealwayspulled him away from me. And I know it’s not a competition, but why could Ineverjust talk to my brother?” He swallowed heavily. “So, then, I behaved badly—not that she was muchbetter!—until Varex evidently decided that getting me out of the castle was a priority.”

Pel suspected that was only one side of the story, but he could also hear how much that had hurt Tor.

“That must have been hard.”

Pel knew, after all, how difficult it was to lose your family, even if you were still in the same castle with them. Maybe he had more in common with Tor than he thought.

“We used to do everything together,” Tor admitted softly. “Our interests varied a little as we got older, but we still spent so much time together. We cared about one another. We had fun together. Varex was always going to rule, but Mother should have lived for decades more. We thought there was so much time.”