Instead, he’d actually listened. He’d turned it back to each person when he could have kept them enthralled with stories about himself. In fact, he’d answered a number of impertinent questions, to the point that evenPelhad almost reprimanded a few people, but Prince Torex had just laughed it off, and generally answered with good humor.
Pel envied that easiness. He’d been on his best behavior since he’d Manifested as Unremarkable at sixteen, when he’d realized his father’s love had extremely finite limits. He’d been so determined to prove that he still had value.
He doubted that a single thing he’d done had proved that to his father, but Pel believed hehadmade a difference in his people’s lives, at least in little ways, and he was proud of that. And he might not have his father’s admiration or respect, but the reverse of that was that, at least within set parameters, he could do what he wished when he wished. Bavil and Larexa had their father’s admiration, but that came with requirements.
Pel still wasn’t quite sure what was going on right now. Larexa had been saying for years that she wanted and deserved someone who was Extraordinary like her. The High Prince was the primest of prime candidates for this, Forex was pushing them together, and yet… nothing seemed to be happening. Bavil didn’t seem to be having any better luck.
Torex was spending time with both of them, but his behavior was, dare Pel say it, respectful? Charmingly affectionate, which seemed to be Torex’s default setting.
And it had finally occurred to Pel that Torex was, in fact, spending time withallof them. But why would anyone spend time with Pel when they could have Bavil or Larexa? Except Pel didn’t expect that Torex wanted to end up bonded to anyone, so maybe spending time with Pel was a break.
Yes, that would make sense.
Except for the fact that Torex’s entire presence here was inexplicable. He wasn’t courting Bavil or Larexa, he was just… visiting for a long time. Did he want to get away from Nexa for a while? Had he grown tired of his brother’s scolding? (Pel was of the opinion that the High King likely had some valid points, but it was clear that Torex didn’t feel that way.) Maybe that was it. It was certainly the furthest you could get from Alossa and the capital.
Despite being away from the High King, though, Torex wasn’t drinking, and he wasn’t spending his days sleeping with everything in sight. (There was no way Pel wouldn’t have heard about that. Or witnessed it.) Pel didn’t doubt some liaisons were stilloccurring, but Torex was way more careful and choosier about them than Pel had been led to believe.
Pel had even witnessed what he was sure was Prince Torex’s interaction with the stable hand that he’d mentioned taking to his bed. There’d been something almost proprietary about the stable hand’s interaction with him for a little while, but Torex had pulled him aside, and his behavior after that had been normal again. He hadn’t seemed crushed, either. Torex had been, once again, kind. Obnoxiously charming, but… for a good reason? In a good way?
After days of ignoring the man, then grudgingly spending time with him, Pel had to admit—at least to himself—that perhaps he’d been hasty in his assessment of the man he’d met on the road. The tone could have been better, but asking for directions was actually pretty common, and maybe Pel had overreacted a little bit.
It was a lot harder to dislike someone who told you about the time they’d been six and he and his brother tried to convince their mother it absolutely hadn’t been them who stole the cookies from the kitchen—all while covered in cookie crumbs. Or the time they’d sneaked out and gotten lost—and the royal guard had been dispatched to find them. They’d been forbidden from going outside for an entire week, and to hear Torex tell it, the weather had been the most glorious in their entire lives, and they’d had to miss out.
Yes, he was very good at being relatable.
And he didn’t have to be universally liked, either. There were those who remembered the times before the United Realms as fondly as King Forex did. There had been a lot of lives lost in the fighting.
So when an old farmer swore at him, “Everything was better before your family interfered!” Torex had let him have his say.
In fact, he’d gravely agreed, “Unfortunately, no compromise is without some changes, and not all of them can be positive ones. It’s very true that Tond was diminished at the end of the war.”
“I don’t see that Alossa got any smaller,” the man said, eyebrows bristling as he stuck out his chin and glared.
“That’s true,” Prince Torex acknowledged. “It was expanded, in fact, though that was partly due to the influx of people who wanted to move there. My mother tried to ensure that everyone received some benefits, but there were some sanctions to those who opposed the peace.”
It was much harder to argue with someone when they were agreeing with you.
“It’s not fair,” the man spat.
“My mother and my brother taught me that it’s not always possible to be fair to everyone. Which, fundamentally, is unfair. People have competing needs and goals, and we can’t meet all of them. We meet as many as we can. We maintained the autonomy of each realm as much as possible while ensuring peace. I have to believe that the long peace has made it worthwhile, but I know that there are many people who lost a lot in the war.”
Prince Torex had lost a father, and probably others. Almost everyone had lost someone.
The old man finally subsided, not looking mollified but not looking enraged, either. They left soon after. It was drizzling, as it so often did, but they had warm, well-oiled cloaks, and Pel had come to value far more than he expected riding side by side together.
“Thank you,” Pel said quietly.
Prince Torex looked at him in surprise, and Pel realized that he might never have thanked the man before. But he’d felt he had to acknowledge it. Torex had met anger with compassion, and Pel could attest to how rare a trait that was.
In fact, it might be responsible for the fact that Pel had the teeniest, tiniest, almost non-existent crush on the man. It had been much easier to ignore how attractive he was when Pel thought he was nothing but arrogant and mean.
Torex looked bemused. “What was I supposed to do? Rain fire down upon him for daring to say that he’d been happier before?”
Pel rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”
King Forex would have agreed with that particular sentiment, but if he’d been faced with criticism? He tended to crush it underfoot with extreme prejudice.
“It doesn’t help anyone if they aren’t allowed to express their opinions,” Torex argued. “That just makes things fester, and then we end up with terrible situations in direct opposition to the peace that we fought so hard for. I think we gained more than we lost—but then, I’m in a tremendously privileged position where that’s definitely true. That doesn’t give me the right to impose that belief on anyone else.”
