Page 64 of The Prince's Fealty

He leaned down to press a kiss to Pel’s smooth back.

And then Pel pushed back, hard, sending a bolt of pleasure through Tor, and ordered, “Move!”

Tor had wanted to take his time, but he’d drastically overestimated his own endurance. Pel was hot and tight around him, plus actively demanding, and Tor could do nothing except bury himself in the man over and over. He did manage to angle his thrusts to find Pel’s sweet spot, hitting it repeatedly as Tor drove them both higher and higher until he was spilling with a cry, and Pel was spurting into the blankets beneath them.

As lassitude washed through him, Tor narrowly managed not to collapse on Pel. The baby was no doubt well protected, but squashing them would surely not be doing them any favors. Instead, he pulled carefully out, cleaned the other man up—supplies in Baless really would be welcome—and then gathered Pel into his arms. He waved out most of the lights so that there was only one dimly lighting the tent.

Pel settled against him with a satisfied-sounding sigh. “This is so much better than when you’re unconscious.”

“I certainly hope so,” Tor said, very much on his dignity, and Pel elbowed him in the ribs.

“You know what I mean.”

Tor did. He’d missed this closeness. He hadn’t been conscious during the magical coma, but he was now aware of how much time had passed, of the connection they’d been missing.

This was so much better.

“I’m sorry about all of this,” Tor murmured into Pel’s hair. “I know I didn’t plan it, but this is definitely not how I thought everything was going to go. I seem to have turned your world into complete and utter chaos.”

He’d come close to destroying it with his careless disregard, and Tor wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive himself for that.

Pel shifted around so that he could push himself up on an elbow and actually look at Tor. He looked almost painfully earnest.

“You brought me to life. You made me feel things that weren’t just anger and bitterness.”

Tor argued, “You love your people.”

His face softened. “Yes, but I was doing it from safely behind a wall, where no one could get at me. I was too scared to even let Bav and Lara close again. You helped me fix that.” He huffed a breath. “Sure, it’s not always been ideal, but it’s definitely been worth it. We found one another, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Tor sealed his mouth over Pel’s, kissing him with all the gratitude and love that he possessed. He wasn’t altogether certain that he deserved such a declaration, but he appreciated it all the same.

When he pulled back, he asked, “So things are all right with you and your brother?”

Pel had called himBav, which was an excellent sign.

Sighing, Pel admitted, “It still stings a bit that they excluded me, but I see now that it actually wasn’t about me. They didn’t think about how it would seem to me, and I didn’t behave very well. We could all have tried harder.” He shook his head, looking a bit bemused. “It turns out that Lara and Marwila are in love.”

Tor blinked, processed this, and then let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Bavil was sacrificing himself to the cause, was he? And Larexa has kept herself single with her determination to marry someone ‘appropriate’ to her magic?”

Pel nodded. “At this point, I’m not sure if they alienated me or I alienated them first. They’d already started acting that way before I got back, convinced it was the best option to keep father at bay. I was hurt, and the idea of Bav hurting Marwila hit too close to home. Then they wouldn’t risk telling me, and then, apparently, we all let it go on and on and on, which it did foryears.”

He still sounded hurt, which Tor couldn’t blame him for. He knew what it was like, after all, to feel like a sibling didn’t trust you anymore. Even if there were reasons for it, it still smarted.

But everyone could made foolish decisions that had repercussions they could never have predicted.

Tor reached out to caress Pel’s hair. “I’m sorry you couldn’t get everything resolved sooner.”

Pel grimaced. “I know it wasn’t just them. I could have reached out. The longer it went on, the more I resented it, and it was probably the same for them. I can’t imagine I would ever have ruined it for them, but I’d just come from Terila dismissing me and Sovereign Gornexi being utterly furious, and I wasn’t in the mood to hear any excuses. Who’s to saywhat might have happened?” Pel sighed. “I understand. I just feel like we wasted a lot of time.”

Tor gave a gentle tug, and Pel lay back down on Tor’s shoulder, just where he wanted him.

“I understand that,” Tor admitted quietly. “I feel like most of my adult life was wasting time and trying to convince myself and others that that was exactly what I wanted. I think that’s part of why Varex kept trying to fix things. Which, of course, I resented, which just made it worse. I made a terrible mess of everything.”

“Not everything,” Pel said softly. “You found me.”

“Thanks to the worst plan ever,” Tor made himself admit.

Pel knew that, of course, but Tor had hidden it for too long, and he didn’t want anything to come between him and Pel again.