Epilogue #2
He was trying to question a lot of the things they’d always taken for granted. He wanted to experiment with the Fealty, but they’d agreed to wait at least a few more years, because no one wanted to risk the stability of the land if a transfer didn’t go as intended.
(Pel had been the one to point out that thus far, Fealty was only transferred on people’s deaths. What if removing Fealty en masse like that caused death? Tor was almost one hundred percent certain it was the other way around, but he agreed it was smart to be cautious.)
Tor had also been thinking more about what Pel had said about Extraordinary not actually being that useful when they weren’t fighting.
The United Realms was more at peace than it had ever been, and every ruler was intent on keeping it that way—citizens, too, because they’d never been more prosperous.
Of course, they had to keep training and be ready in case a threat arose.
(No one had seen Nostex coming, after all.) But was that all they could do?
He’d started to wonder if Healers were really the only ones who could share magic readily, or if they perhaps just had a facility to do so.
What if Tor could push the magic back to his citizens instead of just receiving magic from them?
What if everyone could light crystal lights?
Again, he had to be careful; the Torpelians had accepted his leadership because he helped heal the land.
If anything he did jeopardized that, it would defeat the purpose of his being here.
But at the same time, the possibilities seemed endless.
He had lots of ideas, and he didn’t want possibilities to be discounted simply because things had always been done a certain way.
Tor was going to figure out how to test things safely. He was convinced that together, there was nothing they couldn’t do.
Pel
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!”
Pel couldn’t help but giggle at the absurdity of two grown men in their thirties ducking into a linen closet to get their hands all over one another. But if there was one thing that parenthood had taught them, it was to seize the moment.
Tor threw up enough lights that they could see, then let out an explosive gasp as Pel wrapped his hand around his husband’s hard length.
Long, leisurely encounters were restricted to when Grandma Istila or one of their siblings could babysit overnight.
The rest of the time, they had to get creative.
And right now, they had about ten minutes before the naming ceremony started, and Shara was with Tor’s brother, no doubt getting up to all sorts of mischief—but not about to walk in on them.
Pel made a humming sound of appreciation. “Feels like someone is happy.”
Tor seized his mouth in a bruising kiss. “I’m always happy with you. You’re the best. And you have great hands.”
Pel snorted with laughter as he demonstrated just what he could do with his hands, until Tor was gasping and spilling into his palm.
That was one advantage to doing this in a linen closet, Pel supposed. It made cleanup a lot easier.
As Pel wiped his hand clean, Tor sank to his knees.
“You’ll ruin your hose,” Pel pointed out.
Tor winked at him. “I don’t really think anyone would be surprised, do you?”
Pel snorted, and then his head thunked back against a shelf as Tor sucked him down. He wasn’t sure how it was possible, but he was nevertheless certain that Tor actually got better at this as time went on—and he’d been fantastic the very first time!
Pel closed his eyes and just let the feelings overwhelm him, clutching at Tor’s shoulders so that he wouldn’t grab his hair and make it even more obvious what they’d been doing.
It was all heat and suction and that warm glow that came with knowing that Tor had chosen him—and continued to choose him every day. There’d been more than one lure cast at Tor over the years. He’d foiled a treason plot, after all, and he had a bit of a reputation.
But he looked at Pel like he hung the moon, and his steadfast devotion had convinced even Pel and his insecurities that Tor was exactly where he wanted to be.
Especially when that was on his knees coaxing Pel to make embarrassingly needy sounds.
Pel looked down again, and the sight of Tor’s mouth wrapped around Pel’s cock, his bright blue eyes blazing, was enough to tip Pel over the edge.
Tor continued to suck until Pel squirmed with sensitivity, and then he released his mouthful with a soft “pop.”
“Mmm.” He sounded very satisfied. He leaned in to press a kiss to Pel’s stomach before he carefully rearranged his clothing.
As if people weren’t going to take one look at them and know exactly what they’d been doing.
He rose to his feet, and Pel made a half-hearted effort to brush off his hose.
Tor held out his hand, his eyes bright like a summer’s day. “Let’s go see how many people we can scandalize.”
Laughing, Pel could do nothing but follow.
The ceremony itself was simple. It really just consisted of Bav showing off his baby boy and announcing that his name was Win.
Tama cradled the little bundle in her arms, and Bav stared at them like they were the most amazing things he’d ever seen.
Pel was familiar with that feeling.
Also, he marveled at just how small the baby was and how quickly he’d grow. Pel could barely believe Shara’s size and speed, and he was confronted with it every day.
He smoothed a hand over his abdomen and reflected that he’d be experiencing a newborn again soon enough. This time, he and Tor had talked about it and deliberately decided they wanted to increase their family, so at least they were coming into it more prepared.
He gazed fondly at Tor, who was trying to get Shara to sit still and pay attention—or at least not do something else loudly—and his heart was filled with so much love it felt like it might burst.
He’d never imagined he could get so lucky.
They all applauded Bav and Tama and little baby Win. Then Tor strode to the front of the assembly room, and all his attempts to get Shara to sit down and behave were for naught, because she scrambled after him and loudly said hi to many of the people she passed.
There was lots of laughter, and honestly, this was pretty typical for them.
Tor turned to face everyone, and his lips twitched as Shara did the same in front of him, mimicking his posture.
“Thank you so much for coming, everyone. Congratulations again to King Bavex, Queen Tama, and their beautiful baby, Prince Win!”
There was another round of applause.
“As some of you may be aware, in Torpel, we do things a little bit differently.”
From the back of the crowd, someone yelled out, “Go, Torpel!”
Laughter rippled around the room, and Tor grinned wide.
“One day, I’m going to get you with the name change when you least expect it!”
There was a chorus of negations from around the room and another flurry of laughter. Pel grinned fondly. His husband was so very good at that, putting people at ease and uniting them via humor.
Tor continued, “Here in Torpel, we like to give every parent the opportunity to introduce their children to the world.” He winked. “Honestly, we just like a party.” More laughter. “So anyone who’d like to introduce their children, now’s the time! Don’t be shy. I’ll start.”
He snatched Shara up into his arms, making her shriek with laughter.
“This is our baby, Shara.”
“Not a baby!” she announced loudly.
“This is our very big girl, Shara,” he corrected.
She beamed.
He held her up so that she was horizontal to the ground.
“Does she go this way?” he asked with mock confusion.
“No, Daddy!”
He twisted her so that she was horizontal the other way.
“This way?”
Many of the children in the crowd were laughing wildly and yelling, “No!” along with Shara.
Tor frowned and twisted her this way and that as the children shrieked out suggestions. Then his face lit up.
“I’ve got it!”
He moved her firmly so that she was upside down. She was giggling uproariously.
“Like this!” he shouted triumphantly, to be drowned out by a chorus of negation from the children.
Finally, Cala marched up to the front of the room.
“Uncle Tor, you’re doing it all wrong!”
“Am I?” he asked her. “Are you sure?”
Very seriously, she pointed to the top of Shara’s head. “This is the top.” Then she went up on her tiptoes and pointed at Shara’s feet. “This is the bottom.”
“Oooh,” he let out an exaggerated sound of understanding. “Like this?”
And he finally turned a red-faced, giddy-looking Shara the right way up.
All the children cheered and applauded, the rest of the gathering roared their approval, and Tor slipped out of the way as a small queue of Torpelians formed to present their children to the crowd of onlookers.
In Tond, under Pel’s father’s rule, naming ceremonies had been for royal babies, and they had been more about showing off the succession than genuine happiness.
What he and Tor had built was exactly the sort of community Pel had always wanted. When Tor got back to his side, Pel leaned in and kissed him.
“I love you.”
Tor grinned the smile he had just for Pel. “I love you, too.”
Once everyone who wanted to do so had shown off their children, it was time for the party to start. Everyone started to mix and mingle, and the children promptly ran off to cause mischief, as per normal.
Tor nudged Pel urgently in the side, and it took him a moment to follow his frantic eyerolls to realize that he was pointing out where Parex and Hern were staring at one another—and then carefully not staring at one another.
Tor and Pel grinned at one another and then tried not to stare so much they attracted attention.
(Parex had Manifested only a few months ago—Tor and Pel had gone to Lotar for the Presentation—while Terila’s brother hadn’t developed his magic yet.)