Chapter Twenty-Two #2
This was definitely a much more pleasant trip than the one to Filon.
Tor’s mind spun a little as he remembered that he hadn’t actually been sure anything was going on in Filon.
He’d stopped there only because it had seemed to make sense on the way to Lotar.
He shivered as he imagined what might have happened if he’d decided that pushing on to get to his sister was more important.
Maybe the others could have managed without him, but he was glad they hadn’t needed to test that chance.
Now, there was nowhere they needed to get to urgently. There was lots that needed to be done, especially once they returned to their own realms, but it didn’t have that life-or-death desperation that they’d faced so recently.
They stopped periodically so that those in the carriage could stretch their legs. Ada, Fernila, and Var all looked better the farther away they got from Fila. Tor imagined he was probably the same, like a looming shadow was finally receding and tension was bleeding out of him.
They needed to spend one night in Filon before they reached Lotar, but they were miles away from Fila and the castle when they finally stopped.
There were still hours of sunlight left, but they were all beginning to fade, even though it was only early evening.
Tor wasn’t sure he could count how many hours he’d been up in a row.
Whatever energy had carried him through everything they’d encountered was well and truly gone now.
Well. Almost gone.
Because after a very pleasant dinner together—where Fernila and Var finally relaxed enough to let Tor have a bit of baby time!
—they all retired to their nice, private rooms. Ada and Larexa chose to share, which Tor was pretty sure was Pel’s sister making sure Tor’s sister wasn’t uncomfortable alone.
(He loved Larexa. She was the best.) Ada not sharing with anyone else was probably the best option at the moment.
(If anyone deserved to be happy, it was Ada, and Tor would support her in whatever that was. But he might have some questions.)
Everyone else paired up as couples or got their own room, and Tor made a sound of happy contentment as he closed the door on everyone else, leaving him and Pel in their very own room together.
They looked at one another, and a second later, they were in one another’s arms, holding one another close.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” Tor breathed into Pel’s hair.
“Same,” Pel muttered against Tor’s shoulder.
There was something about being safely away from Fila and the castle that made this moment feel satisfying and more profound than even finding one another again after Nostex’s death.
Or maybe Tor’s attention had been too divided then, torn between Pel and Ada and Var and Cala.
They were all incredibly important to him—and now they were all totally safe, so Tor could concentrate on the man in his arms.
The realization hit him at odd times, the fact that every single person he cared most about could have been killed last night… but instead, they’d all survived. It was emotional extremes at their best, and if Tor still drank, he would probably have tried to dull all of these feelings.
Instead, he was experiencing them in all their great heights and plunging lows.
And he was doing his best to let those lows go, because none of them had come to pass.
Pel’s warm, vibrant body was wrapped up in Tor’s arms right now.
The rest of Tor’s family was close—but not too close—and there were guards in the corridor to make sure they stayed safe.
The guards who had escorted Ada and Var to Filon had indeed been imprisoned the day that Nostex had enacted the final step of his plot against Var.
Thankfully, they’d been unharmed. They both wanted the chance to prove themselves, despite reassurances that no one blamed them for being taken in just like the rest of them.
Tor had no doubt they would be extremely vigilant.
He was also certain that Beluna, Cavun, or Denil—or maybe all three—would be out in the corridor at some point, too, despite the fact that Tor had assured them they could rest for the night, since they had to be exhausted.
Feeling safe and not worrying about his family still felt a bit foreign, and Tor hoped he would once again become accustomed to it as the expected state soon—but never to the point of being so unaware of the danger that lurked by their side, of course.
Tor had been proved right in his dislike of Yomil, but he’d gotten it all wrong with Fernila, so it looked like he still had some work to do to vet those around him.
(He was also clearly not going to be able to convince Rin to come live with the exiles with them. Terila would murder him, and he really didn’t want to die. He had much more important things to do.)
He smirked at Pel. “I’m pretty sure I owe you about a thousand nights together.”
Pel pulled back to look at him, amusement dancing in his gaze, along with a growing hunger. “Looking to reduce that number?”