Page 62 of The Prince's Fealty

Bavil snorted. “Duly noted.”

Pel’s ears went red, but he didn’t actually object, which told Tor everything he needed to know.

“Good night, everyone!”

There was a chorus of good nights, and then he and Pel were ducking into the tent together. Without thought, Tor flung up a few lights, which stuck to the fabric of the tent walls just as they normally did, until the space was lit with a soft white glow—no hint of pink in sight, because Tor’s magic wasn’t bound anymore, because he’d been healed and filled with Fealty magic, andeverything was fine.

He blew out a shuddering breath.

Pel pulled him into his arms, and Tor clung to him for a long moment, just breathing him in.

And then he cleared his throat and said hopefully, “Alone at last.”

“And conscious,” Pel said with some asperity, even as he pulled back to gaze quizzically at Tor, like he was trying to gauge his mood. “You seem to have trouble with that part.”

“I will definitely work on it,” Tor promised.

If he drained himself so badly againwiththe Fealty of the exiles, then they would probably have bigger problems, and Tor was unwilling to think about that right now.

Pel slipped his arms around Tor’s neck. “It’s nice to see you like this.”

“Like what?” Tor asked.

“Filled with energy. With purpose. And not looking like you’re about to fall over. Did you know that you recently had wounds in your leg and side?”

Tor blinked at Pel, letting those words roll over him. He’d… definitely had multiple wounds, ones that had made it hard to walk and ride and sometimes stay upright… and they’d just ridden for the entire day without Tor noticing.

“Huh.”

“Let’s take a look.”

Tor leered. “You just had to say that you wanted me out of my hose, you know.”

Pel rolled his eyes, but a smile was peeking out at the corner of his mouth.

The bandages were still there, but when they removed them, it was to find that the wound on his leg had closed completely. The skin was still extra pink, but it looked mostly healed.

They stared at it, then at one another.

“Huh,” Tor said again.

“I will never, ever complain about this,” Pel said emphatically. “But I didn’t know it worked like that. There were stitches!”

“Me, either,” Tor agreed. “But maybe it’s actually a bit like how healing works. A healer loans you magic that accelerates your own natural healing. They’re normally the only ones who can loan magic. But I actually received lots of tiny bits of magic from thousands of people today. So maybe that worked a bit like healing.”

Pel considered this. “Yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense.”

Tor winked. “I can be full of sense occasionally.”

Pel looked exasperated—but also really fond. “Let’s check your side.” He winked at Tor. “And yes, I definitely want to get you completely naked.”

Tor happily tugged off his tunic, confirming that he had full range of motion again. He hadn’t been dizzy or tired or in pain since he’d accepted all that Fealty.

And sure enough, the side wound was as healed as the one on his leg. Pel ran his hand over the skin, and Tor shuddered. Pel raised an eyebrow.

“Little bit sensitive,” Tor gasped.

Pel promptly did it again, and Tor tugged him closer so that he could retaliate and get his hands up the back of Pel’s tunic.