Chapter Twenty-Five #2
Var nodded, face solemn. “That will be my burden to bear. As I’ve done so many times over the last seven years, I went about everything all wrong, and I can’t apologize enough for the harm I caused. I’m so sorry, and I’m so, so glad that you’re alive and that you’re here.”
His brother’s eyes went glassy, and it was Tor’s turn to pull him in for a hug. He’d missed this. So much.
Var was sniffing when he drew back. “I never thought you committed deliberate treason. I thought the situation had gotten out of hand. Fernila and Yomil were so worried about the harm it could have done to me when you tapped into the Fealty, and it really seemed like the peace of the United Realms was being threatened.” Tor opened his mouth, and Var raised a hand.
“I didn’t think it was treason even then, and I had no intention of charging you with it.
But it looked bad, Forex was screaming for blood—and accusing you of making up the story about the children and civilians to excuse your actions—and I thought if I could just buy some time, I could straighten everything out.
It never occurred to me that you could be in real danger.
I knew I could unbind your magic again once everyone calmed down.
It was a political stunt,” Var spat out, “and it nearly cost your life. I’m so sorry! ”
Tor yanked Var into his arms again, blinking back tears, and they clung to one another.
Voice thick, Tor said, “Well, as someone who went to Tond to stage his own political stunt, I can’t claim not to understand how those work.
I wish you’d listened to me, but if you were getting contrary reports from Forex and Yomil, I can see why you wanted time to work everything out.
No one expected the attack on the castle. ”
When they pulled away this time, they were both wiping tears from their eyes.
Tor was amazed anew at how brazen Nostex, Yomil, and Forex had been, but then, the trap had finally been closing after so many years of careful planning.
But to actually claim that Tor had been lying about the civilian exiles?
There had been hundreds of Tondians up that mountain, and surely not all of them would lie for Forex.
But then, they’d already had a plan in place with the mercenaries. They’d just needed the ruse to work long enough for Tor to be condemned. The distance between Alossa and Tond meant it would have taken time for any facts to be verified.
“Thank you for keeping Cala safe,” Var muttered, voice hoarse.
“Of course,” Tor said simply. Then he grinned. “I was never letting anything happen to the best baby in the world. Or even the most foolish brother in the world.”
Var scoffed a wet-sounding laugh. “Thank you. And I promise I’ll listen in the future. Really listen.”
“Good. Because we both know I’m going to do more foolish things that you’ll need to forgive me for.”
Var was grinning now, though his eyes were red. “I can’t wait.”
Pel
Finally, it was time to leave. Though the impulse to stay in Lotar forever was strong, they all had responsibilities.
Pel could see how restless Tor was getting.
He’d promised the exiles that he’d try to help them, and he couldn’t do that here.
It wasn’t easy, though. Tor’s entire family had nearly died, and not being in close contact with one another wasn’t going to be easy.
But everyone swore to write letters and visit and never let any huge miscommunications happen ever again.
Pel could only hope.
Tears abounded, but then they were finally on their way.
They stopped by Fila just as they’d promised.
Bav and Lara had decided to head straight back to Tond and make sure that everything was all right there, so they split up near Filon’s capital, with Pel’s siblings continuing on to the bridge that would lead them over the river into Bessar and the Great Road up to Tond.
Tor and Pel had agreed to stop by and check in with them before they headed over the mountain, and Bav had promised that he would have more supplies for the exiles ready to go with them.
It was a place to start, and Pel and Tor were very grateful for it.
Tor wanted to explain the last few months to Prince Rinil. They shared most of it with Princess Terila, Lady Nawila, and Queen Pamexa as well, but there were some things that Tor just wanted to talk about with his best friend.
Pel might have been jealous except that, weirdly, he wasn’t that insecure anymore.
(It also helped a little that it was clear Terila would straight-up murder Tor if he tried to take her man.) Pel and Tor had been through so much, and they’d proved how much they cared about one another, no matter how it had all started.
Pel was honestly glad that Tor had such a good friend in his life.
It also helped that Rin—he’d immediately insisted—had given Pel a big hug and said, “I can’t wait to get to know the man who swept my best friend off his feet. Oh, and if you want embarrassing stories, I know all of them.”
The pure affection there was impossible to miss. Rin and Tor had months to catch up on, and so much had happened to both of them in that time, including each of them falling in love with an unlikely person.
It meant that while Tor and Rin were thick as thieves, Terila and Pel sort of ended up together by default.
Pel remained a little wary, but the more time he spent with her, the more he realized how much of her past behavior had been a mask.
It didn’t make it right, but it showed how unhappy she’d been.
She was making a real effort to behave differently now.
Without the nasty expression, Pel could acknowledge how very beautiful she was, all blond hair and violet eyes and curves.
Really, Pel should probably be grateful for her previous bad temper, because otherwise, he was pretty sure Tor would have wound up sleeping with her at a bare minimum—and probably bonded to her as well.
And if there was one thing that was obvious, it was that all of them were happier now than they’d ever been before, with the exact partner they’d wound up with.
At this point, it felt like a waste of energy to hold onto the hurt and resentment that had shaped three years of his life.
“I thought the High Prince was everything that I deserved,” Terila confessed one day as they walked through the gardens.
Fall was approaching, and Pel was enjoying the slightly cooler weather and the sunshine.
She sighed. “I told myself he was the perfect match. But I didn’t know him at all, and I simply ignored the fact that our magic repelled one another.
As if everything would work out if I didn’t pay attention to the parts I didn’t like.
” She scoffed. “I very nearly lost Rin because I couldn’t admit that magic and status were less important than people and feelings.
” She blew out a breath. “I pushed him away because I couldn’t admit how much I wanted him and how scared I was that he was going to find me repulsive. ”
“Incompatible,” Pel corrected, no longer feeling any of the triumph that he had when he’d first learned that that was how Tor felt about her.
She nodded, but he could see the shadow in her eyes, the scar that didn’t go away merely because someone had corrected a term that had once been used to wound.
“Thurnil found Adexa incompatible,” Pel told her. “You wouldn’t say that she was repulsive, would you?”
An arrested expression crossed her face, and then she smiled faintly at him.
“No, I wouldn’t.” She made a face. “And if Tor hadn’t found me incompatible, I would probably have figured out a way to end up bonded with him, and just think how horrible that would have been.”
They both burst into laughter, and Pel reflected that people were always complicated. They had layers, and it was usually worth making the effort to get past the surface.
It was weirdly peaceful, given that Pel and Tor had been avoiding Terila for ages and the castle was the scene of the attempt to wipe out Tor’s whole family.
Pamexa and Nawila had already begun to make changes. They’d been holding open court sessions, with Terila and Solil consulting, and it seemed like a lot of people came out of curiosity and maybe to see if Pamexa was going to be like her father.
Because Tor had no shame, he asked for details.
It turned out that Pamexa’s mother had been one of Fernila’s mother’s attendants.
After the Queen’s death, Pamexa’s mother had sometimes warmed Nostex’s bed.
She’d managed to convince him that Pamexa was her husband’s child—she’d been born a month early—and Nostex had always thought them loyal to him.
Pamexa hadn’t actually known Nostex all that well, though he’d been responsible for her getting the position in the castle that had eventually led to Fernila taking her to Alossa and then appointing her as Cala’s nurse.
Her mother had passed away the year before Fernila’s marriage, and Pamexa had been happy to leave Filon.
“I’m going to be completely different than Nostex,” Pamexa told them. “I think it will just take time to convince everyone of that.”
Nawila and Terila had been interviewing the staff. It turned out that Terila had a real talent for upsetting people and getting them to show their true colors. They were letting go anyone who was sympathetic to what Nostex had been doing.
Rin and Nawila were doing the same with the guards and working out a whole new training regime. They wanted it to be completely different out from under Nostex’s shadow.
Solil was looking at the records with Pamexa to ensure she understood the state of her realm’s finances.
They’d also sent a team into the mountains to work with the Tondians to clear the pass so that trade and travel was possible again in the west, instead of solely by road or river to the east.
They’d even decided to brick up the secret entrance.
Tor pouted.
Nawila laughed. “Given that we have no idea who knows about it or what it’s usually used for, it’s a security nightmare.”