Chapter Four
Tor
Tor bit back an urge to keep arguing. It wasn’t like he hadn’t said it before. And unless he actually intended to kill Thurnil, there wasn’t anything more he could do.
No, he’d be sensible and keep visiting Ada—and continue to make clear that if Thurnil ever did anything seriously distressing to her, he wouldn’t live long enough to regret it.
Tor certainly wasn’t going to be like Varex, safe in the castle in Nexa and ignoring what was actually going on.
He would be active, and he would be present, and he would protect his sister as best he could.
And right now, that meant continuing to play with the children—never a hardship.
It was easier than ever to run after them and pretend to be a monster who was hunting them down and could be slain by Extraordinary magic.
And it was far less bothersome to be woken in the wee hours of the morning by a small child jumping in your bed when the bed wasn’t filled with people you maybe didn’t want the small child to see, and it didn’t feel as though a small army of busy blacksmiths had taken up residence in your head.
It turned out there were some benefits to being more frequently sober.
The other good thing about Ada being in on the entire thing was that she was able to procure the dye that Rin needed to help prolong their charade.
Tor didn’t expect any of it to hold up to a lasting inspection, but he was reasonably certain they could get away with it until Rin arrived in Glomar and actually had to see Terila.
That would give Tor more than enough time.
Then people could guess where he’d gone, but they wouldn’t be certain.
He thought most people would probably think of Marwila first, which meant by the time they finally eliminated all other options and showed up in Tond, the courting would be well established.
He had a reputation for being able to seduce people for a reason.
It couldn’t be that much different to court someone than to get them to fall into bed with him, could it?
He knew Ada was worried about Pelun’s feelings getting involved, but Tor had always been good at making his intentions clear.
Courting was different than bedding, yes, but surely Pelun wouldn’t imagine Tor could be instantly smitten.
And Tor was handsome and good in bed—but like he’d told the others, that wasn’t a sound foundation for a marriage.
Plus, Pelun had to be in his late twenties; if he was anything like Tor, he wouldn’t be interested in marriage yet.
They’d get to know one another better while Tor was there, and the courtship had to seem real, but it didn’t have to be more than that.
By the time Varex acknowledged the foolishness of his plan, no doubt they’d both be happy to be let off the hook.
Tor didn’t intend to wind up married to anyone due to outside pressures of any sort, be they his brother or a lover who made assumptions. Ada seemed to be making the best of her situation, but it wasn’t one that he would wish on anyone.
He had a plan to execute, which he was going to do with the help of a reluctant Ada and a rather amused Rin, who really was a good sport.
They spent a couple more days with the children, Tor making sure that he seemed very reluctant to leave, and even inciting Par and Hena to ask their father if Tor could stay forever and ever.
This gave several people the chance to remind him that he was meant to be heading towards Vayrin and for Tor to show what he hoped was an appropriate amount of reluctance to finally resume his journey towards that particular realm.
Ada hugged and kissed him, and the children clung to him and asked him to take them with him.
“That would be great, but I bet you’d miss your father, wouldn’t you?”
Little Hena nodded her head even as Par said, “It would be fine to visit for a little while. People travel all the time.”
“So they do,” Tor agreed gravely, because Par looked altogether serious. “But I’ve actually been sent on a mission, and it’s one I need to do on my own.”
Par shot him a look of deep suspicion. “Then why are all these people with you?”
Ada snorted a laugh and tried to cover it up unconvincingly with a cough. Rin didn’t even try to look serious.
“That’s a very good point,” Tor agreed, struggling with his own smile. “These are, uh, people who are assisting me.”
“We could assist you!” Par said staunchly.
“I’m sure you could,” Tor agreed, “if I were traveling for fun. But the fact of the matter is that I’m supposed to be courting someone. It would be a little awkward to bring children with me, even children as lovely and engaging as you are. Do you understand?”
The two of them exchanged looks. Hena didn’t look like she understood at all, and her bottom lip trembled. But Par nodded after a long moment.
“I suppose. But if you’re going to send everyone else away once you get there, you could send us away then, too.”
“But where would you go?” Tor asked. “It wouldn’t be much fun to be on your own, would it?”
Hena shook her head immediately, dark eyes wide as she fumbled for Par’s hand, but Par looked genuinely as though he was considering what he could do on his own. He took his sister’s hand, though, and let her cuddle up next to him.
“Tell you what,” Tor said, blurting the offer out.
“When I come back, I could stop by, and we could see if your father would be all right if you came to visit. It would be more polite for me to bring you to Alossa, you know, than to invite you along to someone else’s realm. That’s just good manners, right?”
Now happy again, Hena released her brother and skipped over to her father and tugged on his tunic. It was dark green and threaded with gold. To give the man his due, he didn’t look even slightly perturbed by the grasping fingers, just smiled down at his daughter.
“We can visit with Uncle Tor, can’t we?” Hena asked.
Now King Stronex looked as though he’d been trapped between a rock and a hard place, and as Ada shot Tor a glare, it occurred to him that this was probably the sort of thing you talked to the parents about before you proposed it to the children.
Par said gravely, “I would like to visit Nexa.” He turned to Stronex and said very seriously, “May we, Father?”
Tor tried to undo the damage he’d caused. “We’ll have to check in when I get back. I’m not sure how long I’ll be, and it’s possible that you, your father, or I will be busy.”
Now everyone was looking at him like he was an ass.
“But I’d be really happy to try to make it work!” he finished awkwardly.
Rin raised an eyebrow. Tor suppressed a sigh. Father material, he was not.
King Stronex said, “We will discuss it at a later time. Prince Torex needs to be on his way. Make your bows to him, children.”
They did so, and Tor bowed back. He was glad they weren’t so formal all the time. He wondered if Terila liked children bowing to her. It seemed like she would.
A voice in his head remarkably like Ada’s pointed out that he was making a lot of assumptions about Terila. He just… couldn’t get that Tendrilling out of his mind, nor her behavior before and after it. He was sure they wouldn’t be a good fit.
No matter what choices Ada had made, Tor wouldn’t allow himself to be bonded to someone he had no compatibility with.
He would go through with this plan, and no one would trap him into anything.
Tor had never left Ada’s in a traveling carriage before, but to maintain the ruse, he’d duly declared that it seemed only appropriate to do so given his destination.
Off he went, feeling like a fool, especially given that he had to stick his head out to wave at Par and Hena.
His troop was riding around the carriage like he was someone who couldn’t defend himself, and he didn’t like anything about it.
He knew that he could still defend all of them if it came down to it, but he didn’t like how it looked or felt. What if someone got the jump on them because Tor was in here hidden away from everything?
Nawila was riding Monster, because everyone knew how the stallion would react to being led by someone. Tor stared longingly out at his horse and wished Varex wasn’t so stubborn.
He had a lot of time to think when he was shut up in a carriage all day, though thankfully Rin began to join him as Tor complained about being bored to tears.
This way, they got everyone used to the idea that the two of them were traveling together and they shouldn’t expect to see Tor much since he was determined to arrive to court Princess Terila in all pomp and circumstance—or something like that.
He knew that everyone was gossiping about what he was doing, but he just told Rin to keep an ear out. Tor didn’t want to know.
It wasn’t every day, after all, that the High King of the entire United Realms ordered someone not to drink or have orgies.
Tor liked to think word hadn’t spread, but he wasn’t fooling himself.
“You wouldn’t want to drink ale on these roads anyway,” Rin pointed out.
The roads weren’t terrible, but it was true that there were probably more bumps than was altogether conducive to drinking.
Tor was willing to swear that the jarring motion was much worse in the carriage than on horseback.
“And you’d feel bad if you gave me a black eye,” Rin continued. “It mars my good looks—which are soon to be your good looks.”
“That was one time,” Tor pointed out.
Rin grinned at him, and Tor rolled his eyes. (There might have been a brawl in a bar, and Tor’s opponent had ducked at exactly the wrong moment.)
“That really only leaves you with one option, you know,” Rin drawled.
It took Tor a minute to track the conversation and realize what Rin was suggesting.
The man grinned at him. “Can you have an orgy if there’s only one other person involved?”
Slowly, a grin spread across Tor’s face. He was pretty sure that by the very definition, it couldn’t be done.