Page 65 of The Prince's Sacrifice

To his utter embarrassment, he fell asleep at some point, which he only realized once he woke. Pel laughed at Tor’s disgruntlement and just told him that he was adorable when he snored. (Beluna was spending a lot of time trying to hide her chuckles with a complete lack of success. He was glad someone was entertained.)

Tor had missed their stop for lunch, but Pel had kept food aside for him, and so he ate as the others continued to row.

They took advantage of the long hours of daylight to go as far as they possibly could, but they didn’t make it out of Tond the first day. They pulled up on the south side of the river havingput as many miles as possible between them and Baless and the castle.

They found a copse of trees that kept them out of sight, and they had small tents to give them a little more privacy. Tor didn’tthinkKing Forex would come after them. He’d thrown Tor out, after all. But Tor had taken Pel with him, and he’d wanted to make sure he wasn’t surrounded by possibly untrustworthy guards—or that King Forex would take it into his head to try to arrest Tor or imprison him or deliver him to Varex in chains or something ridiculous.

Tor was determined that this would be a more pleasant journey, even if it so far consisted of Tor lounging in various locations looking pretty while everyone else did the work. There were three tents, and Tor and Pel were obviously sharing one. Tor hadn’t given a lot of thought to how the other two tents would be filled, but after dinner, Beluna stopped at one tent, turned back, and said, “Den, you’ll take the first watch, won’t you?”

“Certainly,” Denil agreed.

Beluna eyed Cavun up and down. “I only snore if I’m bored,” she said before she headed inside.

Cavun stared after her for a moment in what Tor was pretty sure was honest awe of his good luck, and then hurried after her.

Tor smirked. Smooth. Then his gaze caught on Denil, who was now the lone man out.

Tor’s expression was apparently obvious.

Denil laughed. “I’ve a wife and baby at home. And I’m happy to take the first watch. Good night, your—Rinil.”

“’Night,” Tor said.

He watched the man for a long moment before Pel helped pull him to his feet and guide him to the tent. Denil really must be here only to be supportive. Tor was sure he wasn’t abandoning his family.

Well, Tor was grateful for the help, because he couldn’t understand how he was this tired for having done nothing but lounge in a boat all day.

“Remind me to sort everything out with them once I’ve got everything sorted out for us,” Tor requested.

Pel nodded, and they squished into the tent together.

“This is cozy,” Tor said.

Pel laughed. “They’re little boats. Sorry.”

“No part of us needing to climb on top of one another is something that I regret,” Tor said cheerfully.

“Are you sure you’re up for it?” Pel asked.

Tor pinned the other man, listening to Pel’s bright laughter—that gave way to a gasp as particular parts of their anatomy came into rather pointed contact with one another.

Tor hummed a happy noise, filled with satisfaction, and thrust his hips a few more times for good measure, enjoying the friction.

“Do you know how long it’s been since we’ve had sex?” Tor asked.

“Too long,” Pel replied.

Tor agreed wholeheartedly. He’d actually lost track of the days, thanks to being unconscious, and that was just wrong.

Pel flipped them now so that he was the one on top of Tor, kissing him quite thoroughly. Tor sank into the warmth and heat, craving the connection. Even if his body wasn’t quite working like normal, it felt perfectly right for them to be together like this.

Or at least, it felt perfectly right tohim. When he tried to roll them again, Pel resisted, and then he pulled back from the kiss, which was the worst.

“You’re not supposed to be exerting yourself,” Pel scolded.

Tor frowned. “I’m recovering, notdead.”

Pel’s lips tipped up in a smirk. “I can come up with a plan where I do all the work.”