You need to sleep. Vhalla nearly startled the prince out of his skin.
“What are you doing?” He blinked at her ghost-like presence.
Making you take care of yourself.
“You’re so annoying, you know that?” he said after a long pause, the tiniest of smirks curling the corner of his lips.
Pot meet kettle. Go to bed, Aldrik. Vhalla was glad she returned. He was going to exhaust himself, which only increased the odds of him falling ill also.
Vhalla stayed with him until he crawled into bed, watching as his body relaxed, his brow softened. She waited until she saw her prince’s breathing deepen, telling her he was asleep. She lingered long after in the darkness, a silent sentry to the crown prince, until her body was too exhausted to maintain the Projection. She finally withdrew into a deep and dreamless sleep.
“ARE YOU FEELINGall right?” Victor asked, glancing up from his workstation in the far corner of the room.
“I’m fine,” she mumbled.
The minister laughed. “Dear Vhalla, you don’t think I believe that for a moment, do you?” He crossed over to stand before her, blocking her view of the axe. The minister summoned her attention with a tap on the chin. “Tell me.”
Where should she start?The ailing Prince Baldair? The gray area she’d walked back into with the crown prince? Keeping crystal magic a secret?
“It’s nothing.” It was too much to tell.
“Vhalla, trust me. I cannot protect you if you shut me out.”
“I don’t need your protection,” she snapped. She was too tired and too weathered to be treated like a child.
“No?” the minister asked slowly. “If I were to dismiss you from the Tower, where would you go? Where could your safety be assured? Where could you remain out of the hands of the Knights of Jadar?”
“I handled myself when it came to the Knights.” Vhalla ignored the magic and still mysterious fire that was the catalyst for her escape.
“And Egmun?”
“Were you absent at the Sunlit Stage?” Her ability to manage the Senate should’ve been apparent.
“What about the Emperor?” Victor folded his arms over his chest. “When he demands you become a weapon in his war, what will you do to refuse him?”
Vhalla’s tongue was stilled.Thatrequired some thought. But she wasn’t exactly a novice at defending herself to the Emperor either.
“Perhaps you will use Aldrik for that?”
She was on her feet. “Are you threatening me?”
“By the Mother, no!” Victor held up his hands with a chuckle. “I simply want you to understand how this relationship works.”
“Which is?”
“That I have put all bets on you and your skill.” Victor placed a palm on her shoulder, squeezing it encouragingly. “That I know you will do what must be done in the caverns.”
“Thank you.” She pulled her shoulder away, not wanting to be touched by the minister.
“I think we’re both ready to put all this behind us,” Victor remarked thoughtfully. “How close are you to finishing the axe?”
“I just finished, actually,” she announced confidently.
“You did?” The minister paused in awe. “You’re certain?”
“I am.”
“Then we could set for the caverns tomorrow.” The minister turned, going back to his workstation where he was diligently tempering crystals he’d said would be necessary to access the heart of the caverns.
