Page 78 of The Prince's Fealty

“Rin gave me lessons,” Terila said. “I’m not an expert, and I can’t match those of you who are Extraordinary, but I know how to defend myself.”

“Everyone should know how to defend themselves,” Rin said a bit defensively.

Tor grinned. “Agreed. I gave Princess Larexa lessons.”

“They wereextremelyeducational,” Terila said primly, but with mischief in her eyes.

Tor blanched and hurriedly added, “I mean, I gave Larexa actualdefenselessons! Pel and Bavil were there most of the time. I don’t want to know what the two of you were up to.”

Rin grinned cheerily at him. “She definitely learned defense.”

Pel eyed him, and then he looked at Terila. “Did these lessons involve stripping off his tunic or otherwise being unreasonably attractive when he was demonstrating defense moves?”

She arched an eyebrow at Rin and then smirked at Pel. “Yours does it, too, I take it?”

Pel made a face. “It’s so irritating.”

They laughed, and Tor suspected he was staring at Pel with the same foolishly besotted look that Rin was directing at Terila.

And then Terila leaned forward so that she could see Pel better. “Prince Pelun.”

Pel stiffened, Tor stiffened, and Rin frowned a little, looking braced for the worst.

“Yes?” Pel said cautiously.

Terila’s eyes looked dark purple in the firelight, and her expression was one Tor couldn’t decipher. “I wanted to apologize for the last time we met.” She sighed and confessed a bit too fast, “I was even younger and more immature than I am now. I was jealous of my sister and what seemed to be her great triumph over me with her marriage to Gornexi. I didn’t yet understand that the value of a person doesn’t have anything to do with their title or their magical ability. I was needlessly cruel to you, and I apologize. I hope that you can forgive me.”

Tor and Pel gaped at her. Rin had a half-smile on his face, and in a sudden flash of understanding, Tor realized that whatever was going on with the two of them, it was the real thing. They weren’t the same people they’d been before they met, just like him and Pel.

Finding someone that you actually belonged with, someone who wanted you as much as you wanted them, could be a life-changing experience.

Pel cleared his throat and managed to recover from his surprise. He still looked a little cautious, but no longer as wary as he had before. “Thank you, Princess Terila. That means a lot to me. It, uh, hasn’t always been easy being an Unremarkable prince. It’s hard not to take it personally when someone acts as though you’re worthless.”

She winced, but nodded. “Or when people think you’re nothing but a pretty shell.”

“It’s like you’re not actually a person at all.”

They nodded at one another, and Rin and Tor exchanged glances and then smiled at one another like absolute fools. Somehow, Pel and Terila seemed to be connecting over a shared experience brought on by opposite circumstances.

Tor grimaced as he realized he was as guilty as anyone else. He’d thought of Terila as beautiful and toxic and never tried to get to know her better, much like he’d dismissed Pel as Unremarkable and thus perfect for his original plan.

He felt a sudden surge of gratitude that his terrible idea had led to such positive results. He was quite sure thathedidn’t deserve that much goodness, but Pel and Rin definitely did. Maybe Terila, too, or perhaps she’d benefited by good luck like he had.

Plus, if he were being perfectly selfish, the fact that Terila was bonded to someone else made it doubly unlikely Var would try to match Tor to her. With so much potentially stacked against them, Tor would definitely take any positive news he could get.

It was almost comforting to think about making it all the way through this to have Var be angry at Tor for something as trivial as who he was bonded to. Plus, look what hadhappened when they’d been allowed to find their own matches. They’d united half the realm and were here to fight for peace and Tor’s family!

He blew out a breath. As long as they weren’t too late. As long as Nostex hadn’t somehow anticipated this, too. Tor had neverlikedNostex, but he’d never imagined the man capable of something like this.

He thought Stronex was right, and even if it started with just the High Family, Nostex would be coming for all of them.

They had to end this here.

To his relief, Beluna and the others reported back that the secret entrance appeared to be unguarded, and there was no suspicious activity in that area. They tried to rest for a couple of hours, but that mostly meant tossing and turning until it was finally time to go.

Stronex had brought extra weapons, so they could all have some spares, just in case.

The third time that Tor told Denil to be careful, he clapped Tor on the shoulder and grinned.