“Certainly. I’d like to see them,” Vhalla agreed with grace.
The prince offered her his elbow, which she took without hesitation.
“I remember a time when you wouldn’t be seen touching me.” He chuckled softly.
“How times have changed.” She smiled in bittersweet fondness at the unconventional start of their relationship.
“You are the only woman who ever was of such an opinion. I should’ve known then you were already practically family.”
“Jax informed me that you told the guard to protect me as if I was kin.” Vhalla glanced at the Western man, reaffirming he was actually alive.
“I heard you were to be family.” Baldair’s usually booming voice was soft and rich with sorrow.
Vhalla couldn’t stop her hand from flying to the watch at her neck, confirming his words with a single action. “How did you know?”
“When Aldrik came to his senses, finally, he went to Father and begged once more for you.”
“Begged?”
“He said that he loved you and that he had already promised his heart and future to you.”
Vhalla stopped in place with shock. “He said that, to yourfather?”
“Not one of his finer ideas, I agree. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Father’s eyes had fallen out of their sockets as they bulged with rage.” Baldair shook his head, and they continued their walk. “We all should’ve known what that token meant.”
Vhalla focused on the dusty ground, not even bothering to pretend the prince was showing her the regimen of the palace guard. “How is he?” she breathed.
“Rough, beyond rough, for a while. He snapped, broke completely in a way I’d never seen him break before.” Baldair paused, chewing over his words. “Then, one morning, like magic, he woke up and changed everything. Or, at least, he startedtrying. It was like he finally got it, what everyone had been trying to tell him all along. He worked to put a stop to all his nasty habits, he endured the shakes, the sickness. He withdrew more, but it tempered his anger.”
“Ophain said much the same,” Vhalla recalled.
“Aldrik’s uncle? You met with him?”
“In the West,” she confirmed.
“Right . . . Were you really ambushed by the Knights?”
Vhalla shook her head in exasperation. “You think I’d lie about that?”
“I suppose you wouldn’t,” the prince laughed. “The fools, like you could ever be chained. If my father couldn’t, no one could.”
She never thought she’d laugh about the Emperor trying to enslave her. The conversation reminded her of what she’d learned about Jax’s history during her brief time on the run.
Before she had a chance to ask, Daniel interrupted them. “My prince, were you still planning on heading to Court?”
“Oh, by the Mother,” Baldair groaned as he glanced at the sky. “I was, but I’ve no time to change.”
“Neither do we.” Daniel shrugged. “I thought we might present the Lady Vhalla to the Court today.”
“Present me to the Court?” Vhalla wasn’t sure if she liked the sideways look Baldair was giving her.
“I suppose you haven’t been here since the last Court day,” Baldair murmured. “If the lady wishes it, I’ll come for moral support. But, Mother, don’t make me speak more than I must.”
“What does beingpresentedentail?” Vhalla asked uneasily.
“You’re just formally announced as a new lady,” Daniel answered easily. “If Baldair doesn’t wish to speak, I’d be honored to do the announcing.”
He held out a hand, and Vhalla considered it briefly before taking it. “Couldn’t hurt, right?”
