So he winked and said, “Your expression at dinner was hilarious, by the way.”
Tor’s face relaxed, and he shot back, “So was yours in the stable when you tacked on that ‘Your Highness.’”
They grinned at one another, and Pel felt some of the resentment he hadn’t realized he was still harboring disappear. He could keep holding onto it, but he knew who it was really harming in the end.
“I didn’t get close to a lot of people,” he admitted, continuing the ridiculous story of how he was twenty-eight but had still never had sex. “I wasn’t going to settle for a fling with someone who was either taking pity on me or who would settle for me because at least I was royal, even if I wasn’t the royal they wanted.”
Tor made a face. “Yeah, please don’t do that.”
Pel raised an eyebrow. “You’re not pitying me, are you?”
“What is there to pity about you?” Tor demanded, his face surprisingly serious. “You’re living an admirable life, and you’ve fought against odds that I can’t even imagine. You’re not… notflashylike me, but flashy isn’t everything. You show up every day. You work so hard, you’re so wonderful to your people, and you’re the best archer I’ve ever seen. You put up with your father, and you keep managing every day even though you aren’t getting along with your siblings right now.”
Smiling softly, he added, “You let me into your life even though I was an ass when we first met. You’re willing to wade right into the middle of an embankment bursting because you can’t do anything with your magic, but you’re perfectly willing to use your hands. You were miserable today, but you still acted like everything was all right so your people would be happy. And you were gracious enough to come find me to demand answers when you could have let it go and written me off as totally useless.”
Pel was pretty sure he was gaping at the other man.
“I’m so grateful that I came here,” Tor continued, “because if I hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t ever have taken the time to get to know you. And then I’d have missed out on one of the most amazing people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.”
Pel’s breath caught. No one hadeversaid something like this to him before. No one had everseen himlike this. His exhale was shaky.
He managed to smile as he blinked back tears. “I’m so glad you showed up here, too. And if I’d realized you were going to be this awesome, I would probably have given you directions to the castle from the beginning.”
Tor grinned, his expression delighted. “You were so rude. I don’t think I’ve ever been spoken to quite like that. I mean, except for when my brother is annoyed, but that’s a different sort of scorn.”
Pel cleared his throat and announced, like this was news, “I may be slightly oversensitive to differences in rank and magic strength.”
“I may also be a little used to my whims being gratified,” Tor conceded easily, still grinning. “Though it was a little different coming here. I was pretending to be one of my knights.”
Pel blinked at him. “What? Is that why you were on your own?”
Tor nodded and explained how he’d sneaked away, while Tor’s best friend, Sir Rinil, dyed brunet, had stayed and pretended to be Tor to give him time to get away.
Pel goggled at him. “You really did run away.”
He’d not expected anything nearly as elaborate as that.
“I sure did,” Tor agreed cheerfully, not seeming at all embarrassed by his behavior.
“Isn’t anyone going to worry?” Pel asked.
It had been a couple of months, but Pel had kind of pushed that thought out of his mind the more he’d wanted to spend time with Tor. In fact, he’d started to hope the other man wasn’t ever going to leave, even if he knew that was impossible.
Tor’s eyes got a little distant, and then he shrugged. “Eventually, my brother will want me back to dance to his tune. He’s unlikely to be surprised that I didn’t simply fall in with his schemes and instead made my own choices. If we’re talking about the overall feelings at the castle, then I would guess that it’s one of relief that I’m not there to bother them anymore.”
Although he’d managed to scour his voice of most of its inflection, there was still a trace of bitterness there, and Pel was surprised again by how familiar the sentiment was. A little bit of Pel felt like Tor was squandering his chances, but he checked himself. Thatwas still taking the magic over the person, wasn’t it? Tor had been trapped in a situation just like Pel had, both of them left feeling that those around them would be happier if they were gone.
Softly, Pel said, “I can’t imagine anyone not wanting you to bother them.”
Tor eyed him, and when Pel realized exactly what he’d said, he laughed. Tor joined in a moment later, and then they were both clutching at one another and gasping with mirth.
“That didn’t come out quite right,” Pel spluttered.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Tor said with a grin. “It feels a lot like the beginning of our relationship.”
It really did.
“I felt like you were dogging my every step,” Pel admitted with a groan. “If you weren’t actually there, everyone was asking about you. It wasinfuriating.”
