ALDRIK DID NOT turn back, he did not look back, nor did he say a single word all the way to his room. Vhalla studied his profile nervously. His strides appeared more confident after Elecia’s ministrations, but his face was still gaunter than she would’ve liked. She wondered if he’d eaten enough for lunch. She wondered if her performance had only created a new stress for him. She continued to find herself fretting over everything when it came to his wellbeing.
Opening the door to his room, Aldrik strode within, leaving Vhalla to latch it behind her. Her hand had barely left the handle when his palm pressed against the door to the right of her head. Aldrik leaned down, his fingertips at her chin.
“You. Are. Astounding,” he whispered, punctuating each word. They were slow across his tongue and flowed hotly from her ears to the pit of her stomach. The prince leaned forward, tilting his head to the side. His jaw brushed against her cheek as he spoke. “Who would have thought the slip of a girl I found tucked away in the library had such a woman within her?”
Vhalla took a breath, leaning against the door for support. His voice was a silken spell that held her in perfect thrall. Vhalla couldn’t be sure she was even breathing. Aldrik’s palm rested on her hip.
“How did it feel, to be called a lady before them?” His hand savored her side before curving around her waist.
“I-I know it’s nothing ...” Vhalla was surprised she could even make something that resembled a sentence.
He had a heavy-lidded look about him, as if he was drunk on her proximity alone. “It is not nothing, my Vhalla.” Aldrik shook his head. “I want you to become engrained in high society. We have no court or functions here for me to present you to the world. But all of those men and women will return home to the Imperial Court. They will take with them stories of you. I want to make them sing your praises.”
“Why?” she whispered.
“My father needs them. They feed his army, they supply the men and women he uses as soldiers, they own the industry of our land, and they are the figureheads that the Empire thrives upon.” Aldrik rested his forehead against hers, his eyes closing as his voice became somber. “The more people who look to you, who admire you, the more who will mourn you should something befall you. It would mean an ‘accident’ would raise too many questions.”
“Protection.” Vhalla didn’t know why they were speaking strategy for how to keep her alive beyond the war while pressed against a door, their whole bodies nearly flush against each other. But she didn’t presently have enough mental capacity or want to stop it. The heat of him was beginning to bring a flush to her chest.
“In part.” Aldrik pulled far enough away to gaze into her eyes once more. “I also want to see them bask in your brilliance as I do. I want to see them treat you as their equal, to never question your power and grace.” His mouth was nearly touching hers. Vhalla’s eyes flicked down to watch his lips form the words. “I want them to beg my father to make you a Lady of the Court.”
That stole back her attention. Vhalla stared at him, her heart racing. What was he saying?
Aldrik paused, searching her gold-flecked brown eyes with his dark irises, so dilated that she could see beyond the blackness to the fire that burned within him.
If he didn’t touch her she may go mad, but if he did ...
“If you are a lady, my love, no one will question us.” Time itself halted to hear the crown prince’s impassioned utterance.
Vhalla couldn’t handle the tension any longer. Her hands sprang to life, gripping his shoulders and half pulling herself up to him.
He met her kiss with near-painful vigor, as if he intended to devour her whole. It was the crescendo of the orchestration they had been crafting for over a year. He twisted his head, sucking and nibbling on her bottom lip in such a way that almost made her knees give out. Vhalla fought for stability in the euphoria-induced vertigo and used his body to ground her.
Aldrik spoke and sealed his words with kisses, “I will place you by my side, Vhalla. I will shower you with every trimming that the world has so woefully denied I give to you thus far.” Her head was pressed against the door as his eager tongue rubbed against hers before he pulled away again. “You will be a paragon for the world to see. The future Emperor’s guiding sun. A goddess among woman, a lady, an idol ...”