Even with his sore jaw.
Pel
Fury pulsed through Pel with every step he took through the hallway. Prince Torex was a menace! How could he think it was all right to just take what he wanted without considering anyone else’s feelings? How could he be so offhand when Pel had confronted him? He’d been so calm the entire time that Pelun had started to feel like he was the one who was reacting weirdly, and that just made the hot anger spike higher.
Unfortunately, no matter how reluctant Pel was to admit it, he hadn’t heard directly from Lashuna but from someone who’d seen Torex wrapped around her while she was crying, and there’d been something about beds and what would her partner think, and… Well, Pel hadn’t stopped to get more information, he’d just stormed off to find Torex and let him know what he thought of him.
But now his conscience was pricking at him, because while he couldn’t imagine that Torex was innocent, he should have spoken directly to Lashuna. At least he could rectify that now.
It took him nearly twenty minutes to track her down, and he finally had to ask Tramili, their steward, who directed him to where Lashuna was supervising a small group of staff who were cleaning some of the little-used rooms on the third floor.
He apologized for interrupting and asked if he could speak with her. She looked puzzled but not alarmed as she acquiesced, and he led her to one of the unoccupied rooms further down the corridor, where they wouldn’t be interrupted or overheard.
Shelookedunharmed, no visible injuries or hesitance in her manner, but Pelun knew that didn’t necessarily mean anything.
Once they were both seated, she asked, “Is everything all right, Your Highness?”
Belatedly, he considered that she might not want to be alone with him.
“Not exactly,” he said carefully. “I wanted to start by assuring you that you’re completely safe and nothing bad is going to happen to you no matter what you tell me, all right?”
She now looked rather more alarmed than less so, but Pel still thought it was important to explicitly state this.
“All right,” she agreed slowly.
“I heard there was an… issue with Prince Torex,” Pel said after a moment, not sure how best to bring up this topic in a way that wouldn’t alarm her further.
Her brow furrowed, not with fear but with something that looked like genuine confusion.
“With Prince Torex? Is he all right?”
That was… not the reaction that Pel had been expecting.
“Physically, he’s fine,” he answered, not wanting to speak to the other man’s mental state. Then, conscientiously, he amended, “Well, he’ll have a sore jaw for a few days, but otherwise, he’s physically fine.”
“Oh, no, what happened?” she exclaimed.
Pel cleared his throat. “I punched him in the face when I heard what he did to you.”
She looked astonished. “Punched him in the face? What he did tome?” Her expression morphed into one of horror. “Oh, no!”
Pel’s gut squirmed uncomfortably. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, and you hit him in the face? He was so good to me!”
“Good to you?” he parroted.
“Yes.” She nodded emphatically, her cheeks taking on a rosy hue. “You see, Takun and I were having some issues. We love each other, but something was missing, and we were both trying to hide it from one another and winding up miserable as a result. Prince Torex came across me while I was a little overwhelmed, and he offered to be a nonjudgmentalear. I laid everything out, and he suggested that perhaps what was missing was someone else.”
Pel felt irritation flare once more. It was way better than what he’d at first assumed, but still, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “He suggested getting involved with you?”
Only she shook her head. “Oh, no. He thought we might want to look for someone else together. Everything discussed and communicated. But I wasn’t sure that was even the issue, and I didn’t want to make it worse.” Her cheeks went even pinker. “I talked to Takun, and he was intrigued, but we were still worried. What if we got someone mixed up in our issues even though we didn’t mean to?” She cleared her throat. “So I, uh, actually asked if he would be willing to, uh, let us experiment. If that’s what you want to call it.”
Pel could feel a headache coming on. “And he agreed to that.”
“Yes.” Her cheeks were scarlet now. “Once he’d spoken to Takun too and ensured it wouldn’t cause any issues between us.” She cleared her throat again, and her face lit up. “We all agreed, and it was—”
“—I really don’t need details,” he hastened to interrupt her. “I’m very glad to hear that it was all consensual.”
