Page 90 of The Prince's Fealty

Itwasn’t a weapon that had been dropped into the water. There was a person there, moving their arms to stay even with Var’s shield, but not being aggressive at all, just looking right at him.

Var stared back, not understanding, until it suddenly burst upon his brain that herecognizedthis person.

But what wasSir Rinildoing here?

He might even have said that out loud, because while the other man wouldn’t have heard him, he smiled, pointed upwards, and nodded his head in an exaggerated motion.

He was letting Var know that it was safe to leave.

Var was quite confident there was absolutely no reason for Sir Rinil to be here right now. On the other hand, if he were imagining a rescue, it was highly unlikely he would have picked his brother’s best friend—who was in Vayrin trying to prevent a war, probably because Var had once again been led to see monsters where there weren’t any so that he wouldn’t notice the real ones in his midst.

Besides, Var had been praying for help, and it seemed like it had arrived. Did it matter how or why?

Var decided that it really didn’t. He made himself nod at Sir Rinil, took a deep breath, and concentrated on bringing down his shield—and onlyhisshield—so that he could bolster his family’s protection.

In retrospect, he should have concentrated a little more on what the removal of the shield would mean for him. He wasnotadequately prepared to be swamped in cold water as it rushed into the void left by his shield’s absence.

Var coughed, choked, and would probably have drowned—and wouldn’t that have been an absurd way to go after all of this—except that Rinil managed to hook an arm around him and swim him up.

When Var’s head broke the surface, he was still coughing and choking, but he was breathing free air once more.

More hands reached down and hoisted Var out of the water, and then someone was pounding him on the back to help him expel the water that he’d inadvertently swallowed. He just lay there for several long moments, gasping for breath and trying to marshal his thoughts.

His mind finally refocused, and he reached out frantically for his family. In the terrible moments of near-drowning, his panicked brain had forgotten about everything else. Had he maintained the other shields?

No, no, no! It didn’t feel like it took the same amount of magic that it had taken before. In fact, it felt like it took alotless, and he had a sudden, heart-stopping fear that this meant he’d missed someone, that in his moment of inattention, one of his family members had died.

“My family—”

His voice was hoarse, and his attempt to rise didn’t work. His limbs felt like jelly.

“It’s all right,” Rinil said soothingly. He was kneeling in front of Var. “Take another minute. Get your legs under you. Another group has gone after your family so that they’d be protected whether you could keep the shields up or not.”

“They were under constant attack,” Var protested. “Who can shield against something like that?”

Sir Rinil hesitated for a moment, but then he said, to Var’s complete surprise, “King Stronex is with them.”

Var blinked at him, stunned.Stronexwas with them? Oh.

“He came for Ada,” Var realized.

And slowly, the world started to reshape itself into one he understood. Peoplehadrealized that there was a problem, and they’d come to his and his family’s rescue. Because there was Lady Nawila, and was that… Prince Pelun? He had a bow in his hand with an arrow that glowed like it had been mantled. Had King Stronex done that? How clever.

Var managed to sit up properly, with Sir Rinil’s assistance. He peered around the room. There were two more people Var didn’t recognize, garbed as guards. It made sense if Stronex had brought backup.

“Nawila told you what I was doing?” Var asked as he continued to piece the puzzle together.

She’d gone directly against his orders, but he certainly wasn’t going to quibble about that, given the results.

Sir Rinil nodded. “And we guessed about the Fealty once we heard about Tor and Cala. Then it was a matter of working out who stood to benefit, and that was actually quite a short list. We went to King Stronex to see if Princess Adexa was there.”

Var had been so lamentably behind, twisted up in Yomil’s lies and not seeking the truth for himself.

“Yomil was in on it,” Var said tiredly.

Rin nodded. “We found his body.” He gestured farther into the darkness. “Also King Forex’s.”

Var’s eyes rose to the person that he was pretty sure was Prince Pelun. His face was a tight mask, but he inclined his head at Var, because he appeared to be polite no matter what was happening, even when Var was throwing his brother in the dungeon or being rescued from a traitor.