Page 104 of The Prince's Fealty

Gornexi inclined their head. “I would be happy to attend. But if there is no need for me or my guards—who are amassing in force at the border, by the way—I’d actually like to head back to Bessar. Somila is with child, and while she tells me that there’s nothing to worry about, I hate to be away.”

Var nodded. “Yes, of course. I completely understand. There were a couple of weeks near the end where I followed Fernila around everywhere, and she finally told me that she would brain me with the nearest blunt object if I didn’t stop hovering.”

They all laughed, and Tor realized there was a side to his sister-in-law that he’d never seen before. He was looking forward to getting to know her better.

Tor looked at Bavil and Larexa hopefully. “What about you? Did you need to head back right away? You’re welcome to come to Lotar with us. I need to talk to my brother about a few things, and then we’ll hopefully be able to head back with you.”

Pel’s siblings exchanged glances and correctly interpreted Tor’s pleading.

“You’re certain you wouldn’t mind more company?” Bavil asked King Stronex.

“Not at all,” the King of Lotar assured them.

Tor felt immediately better. If things went disastrously wrong, Pel would have his family with him. He knew that both of them would do everything they could to protect Pel and their baby.

“You’re not nearly as sneaky as you think you are,” Pel grumbled.

“It won’t hurt, will it?”

Pel shrugged, which Tor took to mean that he wasn’t wrong, and that was good enough for him.

Bavil penned a quick letter to Gremuna, the current captain of Tond’s guard, updating her on the situation, and Gornexi agreed to dispatch the letter as soon as they were back in Bessar and had a messenger to spare. One of Stronex’s guards had already been dispatched to Vayrin with a similar message to Terila’s parents, and another to Alossa, to update Darmila.

They set off on their separate ways once again, Tor relieved by the reasonable pace, no longer rushing to what might be utter disaster. He also found himself incredibly glad that he wasn’t the captain of Alossa’s guard right now. That would needlessly complicate things, and they had enough complications as it was. Darmila was highly competent, and she’d no doubt do a better job than he ever would have getting to the bottom of the corruption in Alossa.

He didn’t envy any of the royals trying to do that. It wasprobablymostly contained to Tond, Filon, and Alossa, but they didn’t even know that for sure. Thurnil’s involvement meant there could be others in Lotar, which probably meant it was naive to assume there was no one in Vayrin or Bessar. But spies or informants weren’t quite the same as co-conspirators, and it was difficult to say at this point just what each person might have known or been complicit in.

Tor was ready to leave that to everyone else.

(He was pretty sure the exiles were scapegoats like him. Maybe that was a piece of good news in the midst of the extremely awkward truth he still had to tell his brother.)

Within a few days, all the royal families would know that the situation had returned at least partially back to normal. They could decide if they were trying to hunt down malefactors or if they were trusting that everyone had learned the unwisdom of treason. (Except possibly Tor, but that was a discussion for another day.)

Without Yomil and anyone else like him spreading rumors, they could hopefully settle down into a more honest, more fruitful peace. Now that Tor thought about it, bringing Bavil along gave his brother the chance to assess him just like he had Pamu—Pamexa—which could only be a good thing. They needed stable realms where everyone felt safe. And hopefully where no one had the opportunity to plan bloody revenge for twenty-five years while everyone else was none the wiser.

Tor agreed with Var about trying to put better measures in place for the future, not that he could think what those would be just yet.

The important thing to focus on right now was that they’d made it.

“You’re very quiet,” Pel said.

Tor startled. He hadn’t realized how lost he’d got in his own head.

“Sorry,” he said with a wry smile. “Trying to process everything. Still sort of shocked that Nostex got away with his plotting for so long.”

“He fooled a lot of people,” Pel pointed out.

Well, that was true enough.

Pel continued. “He refused to concede defeat. He plotted and twisted and hurt people all for his own gain. I’m not sure it’s a bad thing that so many of us struggle to understand that. He betrayed the trust of a lot of people, and that is his failing, not yours.”

Tor sighed. Yes, that was part of what he was feeling. Guilt.

Reluctantly, he admitted, “I sort of feel like I helped him. Like my behavior and the way that I let things sour between me and my brother contributed to his plot.”

It left a sour taste in Tor’s mouth.

“Maybe,” Pel conceded. “But if you’d been super close this entire time, Nostex might have decided that you had to be eliminated quickly. And I might not have been there to save you. And then where would we be?”