Torex’s grin wobbled and faded, and that faint furrow appeared in his brow, the one that Pel wanted to smooth away, but he definitely wasn’t allowed to do that now.
“You were doing really well, too,” he said after a hesitant moment.
Pel scoffed and shot him a look. “Don’t you dare condescend to me!”
Torex blinked. “But I’m not. I mean it. I had no idea you were ambidextrous—or that you had that knife in your boot. It was excellent work.”
And Pel was… kind of stunned. Torex reallyhadbeen watching him through at least part of the training. It was rather flattering, but Pel couldn’t say that and risk making it weird.
Instead, he said, “You should see me with a bow and arrow. That’s where I really excel. No one wants to go up against me and my arrows.”
A slow smile lit up Torex’s face. “Challenge accepted.”
“What?” Pel said, brow furrowed.
“You think you can shoot me with an arrow?”
Pel’s stomach churned anxiously at the very idea. “Um, I’d really rather not.”
Torex’s gaze was challenging. “Iassure youyou can’t.”
Pel felt his spine stiffen, and he blurted the words out without meaning to: “I absolutely can.”
Torex just grinned at him, and Pel knew that he’d walked right into his… had it been a trap? He wasn’t sure that you could call it that when it was going to result in Pel shooting arrows at the man.
His stomach was still a little iffy about this whole thing, but there was a curl of excitement growing in Pel, too. This was, perhaps, the only thing he really excelled at, and the idea of showing off was… maybe not something Pel hated.
“You’re sure you can shield against them?” Pel confirmed, just to be certain.
“Positive,” Torex said, eyes clear and bright. “It was part of my training. If you think about it, it’s not really any different than people coming at me with swords, knives, and fists.”
Arrows were moving faster than any of those, but he supposed the principle was the same, and itdidmake Pel feel better. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to Torex because of him.
“All right, then.”
“Sometime in the next few days?” Torex suggested, eyes still bright and happy. “Once the weather’s better?”
“Certainly,” Pel agreed.
He wasn’t totally sure he knew what had just happened—but he was going to prove that at least sometimes, Torex’s self-confidence was misplaced. You didn’t have to be highly magical to shoot an arrow, after all.
That night at dinner, to Pel’s surprise, Torex announced the challenge that had been issued. He’d thought this was just something they were doing privately. Announcing it like this… well, normally that would mean putting Pel in his place, except Torex conveyed the entire thing in entirely complimentary terms. His enthusiasm was obvious, and not in a mean way. He seemed to be really looking forward to it.
Pel’s family agreed they were going to come watch, even the King, though he muttered about how it would no doubt be an embarrassingly short competition.
His lack of faith in Pel didn’t hurt nearly as much as it used to.
Larexa and Bavil were more polite. He’d noticed that they tended to be, with Torex here.
“That sounds like an irresistible challenge,” Bavil observed.
Larexa smiled. “And an excellent opportunity for people to excel!”
“Of course, only one of us is Extraordinary,” Pel muttered.
It came out sounding very snide, and Torex shot him a look before he said smoothly, “But fortunately, it doesn’t take a lot of magic to be an exceptional guard. I’m looking forward to being put through my paces.”
The King harrumphed, and it was clear he thought Torex was just being polite. Pel was pretty sure that Torex meant it, but he also knew he’d said it to smooth over Pel’s rudeness. And Pel found himself quite irrationally wanting to tell the man that if he wanted to be rude to his sister, that was his business.
