Pel hesitated for a moment, recognizing that he wasn’t a child and that he might not have the same leeway as they did. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. He wasn’t compelling the man to answer.
“Does anyone else know that you’re here?” he asked finally.
Torex regarded him for a long moment, and then one corner of his lips tipped up in a crooked grin. “Or have I run away?”
“I didn’t say that,” Pel said carefully.
The other man didn’t seem angry, though, just… a little contemplative. He was far more thoughtful than Pel had expected. He wondered who the wrong person was for Torex. Or did he simply not want to bond with anyone? And maybe the High King wouldn’t allow that?
Even Pel had been sent out on that useless mission to try to attract Princess Terila’s interest, yet another way that he’d failed his father. Pel wasn’t convinced that even Bavil would have been enough for her, but it had been made abundantly plain to him that being Unremarkable made his attentions an insult.
Torex sighed. “Let’s just say that the King issued an order that was more open to interpretation than he realized.”
Pel suppressed a laugh with an effort, but Torex raised an eyebrow.
“I’ve done that before. I mean ‘drink more’ doesn’t actually specify what liquid you’re supposed to drink, right?”
And Torex’s face suddenly relaxed, and he grinned wide. “Exactly.”
Pel felt his stomach flip, and he chided himself. That was just how Torex smiled. It absolutely wasnotpersonal.
Torex was spending a lot of time with him, probablybecausePel was the safest of the royal siblings. He was hiding out here, getting away from his brother and his orders, and no one would bat an eye at him spending time with Pel. They probably wouldn’t even notice.
“I needed to get away for a while,” Torex admitted.
Pel nodded. He’d certainly felt the urge to flee from the castle, but he didn’t have anywhere else to go, not since Bavil had enraged Sovereign Gornexi so thoroughly. Pel didn’t want to test if that ire extended to him.
It didn’t help that King Forex was as heavy-handed as ever, sending Bavil off to “fix it” and then being enraged when Bavil had come back and confessed that Gornexihadn’t softened towards them. Pel thought they were lucky that Gornexi hadn’t run Bavil through with their sword.
The rants about Bessar being to blame for everything and the realmowingTond had gone on for weeks after that.
“I hope that someone else knows that you’re here,” Pel pursued after a moment. “I mean, what if something were to happen?”
“Planning to bump me off?” Torex asked.
Pel rolled his eyes. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
Torex just grinned at him, unrepentant. “I trust that you would send news if anything happened to me.”
“What if something happened to your family?”
Torex scoffed. “What could happen to the High King and his family? They’re the best-guarded people in the entirety of the United Realms.”
“Just in case,” Pel pursued doggedly.
He liked to plan for the worst.
Sighing, Torex admitted, “There are two people who know where I am.”
“But not your brother.” It wasn’t really a question.
Torex said mildly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m obeying the High King’s orders.”
And then he winked, so unsubtly that Pel had to suppress another laugh.
“Your secret’s safe with me.”
It felt like a weird thing to say as soon as the words left his mouth, but it was… true. Not that he was a correspondent of the High King’s.
