Earth's End

Egmun stood, and Vhalla could feel a quiver of nerves from the boy. What was Aldrik nervous about? It suddenly set her on edge as Egmun went to a back cabinet. She remembered a night, that couldn’t have been far from this one, in some dark place where Egmun would force blood upon Aldrik’s young soul.

When the Minister returned, his hands were laden with a box. Vhalla inspected it. She saw Western writing on its lock, but nothing else was particularly special. Something about it was familiar enough to tickle her memory; she’d seen it somewhere before. Someone had opened it for her. Vhalla tried to get a better look as Egmun placed it on the desk. She felt Aldrik take a breath, and she stilled with apprehension. Egmun clicked open the box.

Vhalla was startled awake by the sound of clanking bowls and plates. She rolled over in bed, surprised to discover Aldrik was not with her. He was standing next to the source of the sound. A worn-looking tray with some dishes upon it.

“Good morning.” He smiled. “How is my lady this day?”

Vhalla imprinted her prince’s handsome face on her memory. The dream was already blurring in the wake of daylight. “I had a dream.”

Aldrik paused, searching her for confirmation that she meant what he thought she did.

“A memory,” Vhalla clarified delicately.

“What was it?” She could see him trying to keep his voice level, the panic away from his eyes and his heart.

“Nothing important.” Vhalla shook her head, desperate not to cast a shadow over them so early in the day, especially not after so joyous a night. “You and Victor in the Tower, working with Egmun on something.”

“What were we working on?” Aldrik’s words betrayed no emotion.

“I don’t know.” Vhalla saw the conflict written clearly on his face. “It didn’t seem that important.” She smiled encouragingly. “Is that food?”

The question broke him out of his trance. “Oh, yes. I thought breakfast in bed might be nice.” Aldrik appeared equally eager to change the topic.

“No one will question you bringing me food in bed?” Vhalla teased, scooting to the side as he carefully transitioned some of the bowls and plates onto the tired mattress.

“Let them question.” Aldrik rolled his eyes. “If they have so much free time to concern themselves with what I’m eating and with whom, then they are ignoring something important,” he proclaimed arrogantly.

Vhalla laughed lightly, happy the mood hadn’t been lost and the dream could be pushed aside. “This is the first time I’ve ever eaten breakfast in bed.” She’d heard nobles engage in such things, but people of her status had to wake and begin the day. They also didn’t have people to cook for them.

“Is it?” Aldrik hummed, chewing over a scrap of meat.

“It is.” She nodded, reaching for a bowl of rice. Vhalla keenly picked up the brief hesitation around his words. “What about you?”

The prince paused, looking up at her. Vhalla stilled as his hand reached out, caressing the silver watch against her chest. “I have. Once before you,” he said thoughtfully.

“Oh?” It was a noise more than a direct question so he had the opportunity to ignore it.

“Her name was Inad.” Vhalla blinked at a woman’s name from Aldrik’s mouth. Not from jealousy, but because he had hardly ever mentioned the people he was with previously. He’d told her he had taken three women to bed before her, and Aldrik wasn’t the type for casual encounters between the sheets, so Vhalla suspected they’d each been someone to her prince. “It was the morning after my first time. She brought it to me, and it was special.” His hand fell from her chest.

Vhalla caught his fingers before they hit the bed. “What happened to her?” Vhalla asked. It hardly seemed as though he harbored any kind of anger toward the woman.

“My father found out about us, her and me.” Aldrik sighed. “I

was supposed to meet her one day in the library.”

“The library?” Vhalla blinked.

“I wasn’t yet twenty.” He finally glanced back at her. “I don’t think you were even there yet.”

Vhalla nodded. Sometimes their gap in age felt like nothing, other times it felt like he lived an extra lifetime before her existence had mattered to anyone. But her existence hadn’t been anything notable until her magic—until him.

“But it is rather ironic,” he chuckled. “I always seem to find more important things than books in that library.” Aldrik’s eyes met hers, and Vhalla’s chest swelled to the brim with the adoration he poured upon her.

“In any case ...” Aldrik stared at the world through the slats in the shutters. “My father found out, and he was less than pleased. She was a lower member of the Court, on the fringe really, and her family had been involved in some scandal. She wasn’t considered suitable for me, by him.”

“What did he do?” Vhalla asked.

“He sent her family back to the West,” Aldrik answered. “Or that’s what I was told. I never saw or heard from her again.”

“That’s awful.” Vhalla frowned. Could his father not give Aldrik a moment’s reprieve?

“It certainly put a sour taste in my mouth about the ladies of the Court and my father’s influence in my romantic life.” Aldrik nodded thoughtfully. “I realized I was simply a means for most of them to become Empress. When they saw me, they saw the titles, the power, and the gold that came from being Empress Solaris. Those were the type of women my father wanted me with. The ones who brought their own titles and aspirations. They were the ‘smart’ matches because they could give me something in return for what I gave them.” He leaned back. “Inad was different because she was never in that pool; being Empress never crossed her mind when she was around me.”