Chapter Three #3
(Tor had discovered that when Para was feeling like Para, she let her sister help tie her hair up with ribbons, and that was part of why Hena was now collecting them, so she had the best selection for Para to choose from.
Tor absolutely did not get teary-eyed and sneak Hena a plate of biscuits that Ada confiscated before she could make herself sick eating them all.)
Tor tried to look innocent. “Me?”
She snorted with laughter. “Yeah, no, that doesn’t work with me, Tor. I grew up with you, remember. You’re filled with hope again.”
Tor hadn’t realized that it was that obvious, and he made a mental note to be sure he still appeared resigned and a little bit depressed when he was in the company of others.
“Going to tell me what you’re really going to do?” Ada asked.
“I’m not sure you’d approve,” Tor admitted.
“Probably not,” she agreed cheerfully. “Tell me anyway?”
There was a certain wisdom in someone other than Rin knowing what was actually going on in case it all went horribly wrong somehow.
He sighed. “Varex gave some very specific orders. But he gave them in his ‘I am pissed, and I’m going to use small words and short sentences because I think you’re hungover’ sort of way.”
Ada’s lips twitched.
He repeated his revelation, and she smiled at him after a moment. “You’re swinging by Vayrin on the way to your real destination.”
Tor nodded.
Her brow furrowed, and Tor suspected she was making the same assessment of options as he had.
“Marwila?” she finally guessed.
Tor shook his head.
She eyed him askance. “The rest are children!”
Tor made a face back. “I’m definitely not interested in any children. Pelun, actually.”
Ada blinked at him, seemingly taken aback. “Oh, yes, I suppose. I thought you’d pick a woman.”
“You know I don’t restrict myself based on whether or not someone has a dick.”
She snorted. “True. But far more of the stories are about women than men.”
“What stories have you been hearing?” Tor asked, genuinely curious to know what rumors had spread, especially all the way to his sister.
“Fernila’s attendants?” she proposed.
He laughed and couldn’t help but look as proud as he felt, apparently, because Ada shot him a disapproving look.
“Look,” Tor said with a huff. “They were spending day in and day out at the castle. They didn’t have that much to do, they were generally very beautiful people, and they were altogether amenable to spending time with me. I don’t ever seduce someone who’s unwilling.”
Nor someone who reported directly to him. He didn’t want to risk anyone feeling coerced.
“Everyone seems to be charmed by you.”
He smiled. “That’s the goal.”
Ada was silent for a moment and then asked, “You’re sure about Prince Pelun?”
“Of course I’m sure. There’s no one that Varex would disapprove of more unless I actually picked someone off the street.”
“Maybe that would be kinder,” Ada suggested.
Tor made a face. “But it wouldn’t work. Varex wouldn’t believe I was making a real effort.”
“But you’re going to try to convince Pelun that you’re really courting him, that you actually want a relationship with him. What’s going to happen when you leave?”
“This is a political courtship. That will surely be as clear to Pelun as it is to everyone else. It’s not like we actually know one another,” Tor reminded her.
“Then Varex will sweep in and be all angry and righteous just like he usually is, and that’s going to sort everything out. All’s well that ends well.”
“But will it end well for Pelun?”
“I certainly hope so,” Tor said with a grin and a wink. “I’m hoping we’ll have plenty of fun together until Varex decides to be officious, and that will be the end of it.”
Ada was silent for a moment. “And if Pelun would prefer it didn’t end?”
“I think it more likely that he’ll realize we don’t suit.
I can’t imagine we have much in common. So even if we’re compatible in some regards”—he waggled his eyebrows so she’d have no doubt what he was talking about—“only a fool would take that as a basis for a true marriage. If he decides he wants me just because I’m the High Prince, I won’t have any sympathy for him.
I’m not about to allow myself to be snared by anyone. ”
“But is it a snare if you’re the one setting the trap?” Ada asked.
Tor frowned. “It’s not a trap.”
“Isn’t it?” she pressed, tugging him to a stop and turning to look at him fully. “You’re going to make him think you’re courting him, but you really aren’t.”
“I will be courting him, though,” he protested, “because that’s what Varex demanded. He said I had to make a real effort.”
“Is it a real effort if your plan is for Varex to swoop in and prevent it?” she demanded.
“He said courtship,” Tor reminded her, “and those don’t always end in marriage. We’ll just be getting to know one another, and like I said, by the end of it, we’ll probably have worked out we don’t suit. You know that.”
Tor couldn’t imagine anything more unlikely than either of them suddenly deciding that they actually belonged together.
Tor couldn’t even bring an image of Pelun to mind, but they must have met at least once, if not several times, at a wedding or naming ceremony or coronation.
There obviously hadn’t been a spark. As far as Tor had been able to observe, since the war, royalty made political alliances because they had to.
Being allowed to back out of it would surely be a relief.
“Just be careful. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
Tor felt his lips tighten, and he wondered if he was looking like Yomil and Fernila again. He made an effort to relax. He looped his arm through hers and tugged them back into motion.
“I don’t either. But I didn’t start this; Varex did. There was no good reason to try to compel me to marry. It’s not like the United Realms are in jeopardy.”
There was the distant sound of shrieking, but neither Par nor Hena sounded upset.
“But the stronger our ties are, the better chance of peace we have,” Ada said earnestly.
“Is that why you married?” he asked quietly.
“I married because it was important to Varex and the United Realms,” she told him.
“But shouldn’t it have been more important to you?” Tor asked. “Shouldn’t you have been more important?”
She was silent for a moment. “We all make choices, Tor. Let this go.”