Pel punched him in the arm hard enough to rock him back.
“Hey!” Tor protested.
“I thought Ishotyou!” Pel exclaimed. “What did you think you were doing?”
“Have you ever been hit in the gut with an arrow?” Tor grumbled. “Yes, my magic can stop it from piercing me, but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t stillbeing hit with a flying projectile. Forgive me for getting the wind knockedout of me.”
But honestly, Pel looked so relieved when he realized that he hadn’t pierced Tor in the gut, that were it not for the fact that they were surrounded by a crowd who had grown increasingly jubilant, Tor would almost definitely have kissed the man.
He blinked and pulled back as he realized he’d been leaning subtly towards Pel. He’d given his word. His libido would have to behave.
He moved to stand, and Pel rose to his feet and then held out his hand. With a smile, Tor allowed Pel to help tug him up. They turned back to the crowd who roared with approval. Tor didn’t mind in the slightest that he’d lost. (If he were being perfectly honest, there’d been a part of him that had considered the merits of throwing the match, but he should have known that Pel would be too talented to need that. Also, the man would have murdered him, so he probably wouldn’t have done it.) Seeing Pel’s smile, the light shining in his eyes, was worth losing a hundred times over.
The exultation of the crowd was amazing to hear. Children were scampering around collecting the scattered arrows. Tor had broken some of them, but others would be fine to use again. Behind them, servants were setting up the targets for the second part of today’s challenge. Tor couldn’t remember if it was Bavil or Forex who’d suggested this part, but they’d all agreed that if everyone was coming to watch, they wanted to give them more to see than just one bout between Pel and Tor.
Apparently, it was just Tor who could stare at Pel for hours no matter what he was doing, even if he was seventy yards away and tiny to look at. Tor was very enamored of pretty much every part of the man, which made it extra unfortunate that he wasn’t interested in Tor.
Still, they’d made a lot of progress from when Pel had thought he was just a rude, arrogant ass. You couldn’t always get everything you wanted from life, and Tor was delighted by the friendship they’d developed.
A friendship with a little bit of discreet ogling was still a solid friendship, right? Tor would just have to make sure he didn’t cross over the line of what the man noticed and found unacceptable. He could keep the inappropriate thoughts in his head and try not to think them too often.
And there’d surely be more moments like this, too, where it was all right to ogle—that’s what everyone was doing! (Though perhaps not in quite the same way as Tor.) Maybe he’d just have to organize periodic spectacles so that he would be free to look his fill.
The other archers all looked good, too, Tor supposed, but he didn’t pay them much mind. Pel was always dedicated and focused no matter what he was doing, but there was something about the hyper-focus with archery…
It made Tor want to kiss him all over and see if he could distract him, but that was neither here nor there. Tor cleared his throat and looked out at the targets instead. They were only twenty yards away to start. Each contestant was disqualified if they didn’t hit the bull’s-eye marked in the target. If they succeeded, the target was moved back, and they made it to the next round.
Finally, they were down to five contestants from the original three dozen or so who’d come out to compete. Pel had wanted prizes for the top three placers, and he’d offered to fund them himself—and then the King had declared that of course he would fund the prize, and it was clear he didn’t want to appear ungenerous.
Tor had no doubt that Pel was going to be one of the winners, but that still meant there were two positions for which there was fierce competition.
As he watched the last five line up, Tor had a brilliant idea. He went to whisper to the King and Larexa. The King liked the showiness of it, of course, and Larexa had been working hard on her defense, so this would be a great opportunity for her to practice.
With a grin, he held up his hands and the crowd quieted.
“To make the finals a little more challenging, we’ve decided to add a little bit of magic to the occasion.” Larexa took her cue, and shields went up over each target. “Contestants need to shoot through the shield with Mantled arrows.” He grinned at everyone. “I’ll be helping out with that.”
He grinned at Pel. “What do you say?”
Pel offered him a grin that looked a little forced. “Well, I certainly can’t do it on my own.”
Tor hoped he wasn’t feeling too much pressure. This was definitely a huge spectacle.
Tor Mantled Pel’s arrows carefully, making sure each one was fully covered in the soft white glow of his magic. Then he moved to the other four contestants. Two of them were Illustrious, but even if they’d Mantled their own arrows, the magic would have collapsed once they were released, before the arrows could find their targets.
He was scrupulously careful to power each of the arrows with the same amount of magic, because he knew Pel would punch him in the face if he cheated.
“This first round will be for practice,” Tor announced. “To give our archers the chance to get the feel for a Mantled arrow.”
The arrows flew with a streak of magic this time, and gasps went up as they punched through Larexa’s shields and hit the targets. No one had landed dead center—but then, none of them had used Mantled arrows before. Magic didn’t behave exactly like a normal object—coating an arrow in paint or oil would be different—but the arrow wasn’t quite like a non-Mantled arrow, either.
Tor looked to Larexa to make sure that she was all right, and she gave him a nod.
“Got the feel for it?” Tor asked.
“Yes,” Pel said, already pulling out another arrow, running his fingers over the magic-coated fletching.
Tor suppressed a shiver, because that would be ridiculous. He wasn’tthatconnected to his magic.
