Vhalla shoved the bow back into Za’s hand in frustration. The woman grinned and took a few steps backward before starting for the palace. This was a bigger game than Vhalla and Aldrik. They all knew it. But her love for the prince was being made into an easy pawn.
She stilled.
Her love for the prince.
For the first time in months, Vhalla had admitted it to herself. She gripped her watch tightly. There it was, the truth. Now, what to do with it?
Vhalla found herself looking for Aldrik’s light on her way up the Tower. She looked for the tiny, flickering mote that stood against the darkness. And didn’t find it.
HE RAN THROUGH the halls with a blond-haired toddler on his heels. His excitement for the small bundle he held in his hands was palpable. Aldrik couldn’t be more than seven or eight. He had a goofy smile, and his hair was cut straight across the middle of his neck.
“Do you think she’ll like it?” Aldrik asked the boy. Vhalla looked at the little Baldair struggling to keep up with his brother’s longer strides.
“Yes!” he said with all the black and white certainty of a child. Baldair carried a little parcel himself.
They ended up at the top of a grand staircase with a large pair of doors that formed a blazing sun between them. There were two guards stationed outside who both gave small nods to the princes. Baldair stood regally tall for his small stature.
“I am here to see mommy!” he announced. Aldrik actually laughed at his brother’s antics.
A guard chuckled and opened the door. “After you, little prince.”
The room was massive. The main area was just a sitting room. On the ceiling, there was a large dome with a sun, and on the floor was a mosaic map of the continent made in painstaking detail. More rooms indicated that the Imperial quarters extended beyond, but Aldrik and Baldair ran to a woman sitting on the wide balcony.
“Happy birthday!” Baldair proclaimed.
“Happy birthday.” Aldrik stood a step back, fussing with the wrapping on his gift.
“My little Baldair.” The even younger Empress was pure radiance. Long golden hair flowed to her mid-back in waves. Her skin was aglow with youth, a soft pink on her cheeks. There was not a single sign of exhaustion or stress upon her face. She picked up the younger boy and placed him in her lap. “Did you remember my birthday?”
“We did,” Baldair announced proudly. “Look! Look!” He held out the present, far too close to her face, and she accepted it with a laugh.
“All right, all right, let us see here.” The woman wrapped her arms around the boy in her lap, opening the gift.
Aldrik shifted his hands again around his gift, looking up at the woman, his heart beating in anticipation.
“Oh, my little noble prince, this is simply perfect.” The woman held a small wreath, haphazardly put together with twigs and sticks. There was some twine in some places; in others, it seemed to have come undone and a stick popped open awkwardly.
“It’s a crown!” Baldair explained. “A birthday crown!”
“A birthday crown indeed.” The woman put it on her head nicely and gave a kiss on the boy’s forehead. Aldrik looked on with longing and sadness.
“I-I brought a present also.” Aldrik took a step forward.
“So I see.” The woman turned to the elder child staring up at her as she stroked Baldair’s hair lovingly.
“I hope you like it.” Aldrik presented it with both hands.
The woman took in a deep breath and held in a sigh. She took Aldrik’s present with one hand and unwrapped it quickly. It was a little mass of molten silver, like a sun, with a loop around the top.
“I’ve been study—”
“I have, Aldrik; speak properly,” the woman interrupted.
“I have been studying my sorcery,” Aldrik began again. “I-it’s a, it’s-“
“It is, and don’t stutter,” the Empress corrected for a second time.
Nervousness radiated off the boy. How could this woman not see the same?
“It is a pendant,” the boy Aldrik finally managed. “I thought you would—”
“Yes, thank you, Aldrik.” The Empress looked away and adjusted the twig crown on her head. “Did you see the gift Baldair made?”
“I did.” Aldrik looked at his feet.
“He helped me, mother!” Baldair grinned, completely oblivious to any tension.
“I am sure you picked up quickly and did it even better, my smart son.” The woman kissed his golden forehead again.
Baldair nodded. “I did try!”
“It shows.” The Empress gave her child a hug.
Aldrik was left standing alone, staring at his feet, a few steps away.
A rapid set of knocks jolted her from sleep.
Vhalla sat with a start, clutching her watch, the memory of the child Aldrik fresh. Her heart ached for the elder prince. Aldrik being called the black sheep and him taking it to heart suddenly made a lot more sense.
More knocks on the door jarred her from her thoughts. Vhalla flopped back on the bed, rolling over and burying herself under the covers. The mornings were frigid now, nearly cold enough to form frost on the glass of her window. The chill combined with her latest dream made her utterly uninterested in company.
The knocking persisted, the person clearly not getting the point.
“What?” she said with a groan.
The door opened a crack, and a pair of Western eyes looked in at her. Vhalla peered at Jax through thin slits. The man chuckled and let himself into her room.
“Lucky you, sleeping past dawn.” He wiggled onto the small bed next to her.
Vhalla rolled her eyes and pressed against the wall. The tall man was comically large atop the small mattress, his side flush against hers. But Vhalla had come to an understanding with the strange man known as Jax Wendyll. After their short time in the Crossroads, there was something base, gritty, yet simple about their relationship; it was ugly beautiful.
“I’d like to keep sleeping, you know,” she mumbled and buried her face into her pillow. It was cramped with two, but having someone next to her again was relaxing. Larel and Aldrik had both been Firebearers, and Jax was equally warm.
“But I need you.”
Vhalla cracked open one eye. “How?”
“Oh, in all the worst ways.” Jax waggled his eyebrows.
“Mother, you’re awful.” Vhalla’s dry remark earned a laugh. “Jax, really, why are you crawling into my bed?”
“Really, we could use your help on the grounds today.” Serious notes had finally worked their way into his words.
“I’ve been helping you for weeks. Why are you suddenly bothering with asking?” He had her attention now.
“We’re short-handed.”
“Have Baldair and Raylynn finally run off together?” Vhalla couldn’t stop herself. The more she’d come to know the guard, the more she’d learned who and what the easy targets were for jokes.
“One of those said parties is missing, though not who you’d expect. Ray is actually pulling her weight.” Even Jax sounded impressed. “But Baldair is still gone, and Craig woke feeling unwell.”
“Still gone?” The word had Vhalla wondering when was the last time she’d actually seen the golden-haired royal.