Pel cursed his misfortune, especially as the man immediately caught his eye and grinned at him. “There you are. I thought you might like to go for a ride.”
“I’m busy,” Pel said shortly.
“With what?” the nosy man asked.
“Busy-ness,” Pel snapped.
He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. They made him sound like a child. From the raised eyebrow and amused curl of Prince Torex’s lip, he thought so, too.
Pel sucked in a sharp breath and blew it out roughly, trying to control the irritation that was racing through him. “I’m visiting the farmers in the surrounding area.”
“I’d be happy to accompany you,” Torex said promptly.
“You weren’t invited,” Pel snapped again.
Torex blinked at him. Pel realized that there was not being charmed by the man and then there was being actively, deliberately rude.
To the High Prince of the United Realms.
Pel ground his teeth together and then said stiffly, “This is something I prefer to do alone.”
The Prince considered him for another long moment, and then he flashed a grin.
“Of course. Whatever you prefer. I may go out for a ride on my own.”
“You’re sure that you can find your way back to the castle?”
Pel wished those words back as soon as he said them—what was wrong with his mouth?—but Prince Torex only laughed.
“If I can’t manage it on my own, I’ll remember to ask anyone who isn’t you, and I’m sure they’ll point me in the right direction.”
Pel was… not going to go anywhere near that one. He turned away instead, heading for Extraordinary. The stable hands had already saddled her because they knew his routine, and at least they didn’t seem to be allowing it to be interrupted by the arrival of the United Realms’ most annoying prince.
On automatic, Pel checked over the saddle and girth, and then he led his beautiful chestnut mare out of the stables, trying not to notice that Prince Torex was still standing there.
Why did he have to be so tall and dark-haired and pretty? The goddess shouldn’t bless one person with so much, surely. On the other hand, she appeared to have balanced it out with him being an ass.
Pel mounted, resisted the urge to look behind him and see if even now, Prince Torex was coming after him, and set off on his usual circuit of the farms.
Despite telling himself that there was absolutely no reason to be thinking about the man, Pel spent the entire ride doing exactly that, wondering why, of all things, the man had offered to come inspect the farms.
Pel could think of nothing that would be less inspiring for the High Prince, especially given the company he would be keeping, but he’d offered. Why?
The man didn’t make sense.
Resolutely, Pel pushed all thoughts of him out of his mind and concentrated on the farms—only to find that word of the High Prince’s arrival had already spread everywhere. Because of course it had. So instead of doing his job, Pel found himself constantly confirming that yes, the High Prince was there, no, he didn’t think that it was because of any trouble, yes, he’d met the man in person, and yes, he was as handsome as “they” said. Because when he’d tried the first few times to say that he didn’t have any opinion on the matter, it had caused so many protests and follow-up questions that it was easier to simply agree.
It was completely ludicrous, but Pel couldn’t be the man to shut the farmers down, because then they might think that he was judging them or implying it wasn’t any of their business.
Goddess help him.
He had to watch people who’d never actually seen Prince Torex sigh over how handsome he was. Little children wanted to know if he really looked exactly like the High King.More than one personwanted to know if he was as magnificent as they’d heard.
What did that even mean?
Stewing, desperately trying not to let it show, Pel could only repeat that he hadn’t seen the man perform anything that could be deemed Extraordinary, but he was sure that he was capable of it—again, because it was not worth arguing, and the man was named Torex, so clearly, hewasExtraordinary. (Not even royalty could get away with mis-naming their children. It was a punishable offense to claim that you had more magic than you really did.)
So despite the fact that Pel didn’t see Prince Torex the entire rest of the morning, he was surrounded by him constantly. Plus he was on edge with the worry that the man might “happen” to run into him.
