Victor, Vhalla thought. This was a young Minister of Sorcery?
“My prince, you are almost a man; you need to take your station seriously,” he scolded lightly.
“I do take it seriously,” Aldrik protested indignantly.
“Oh? Is that why I’ve seen you sneak off from your lessons on multiple occasions, with a Miss Neiress?” Victor grinned at his companion.
“Larel is different.” Aldrik crossed his arms over his chest.
Vhalla thought the color on his cheeks was adorable. It settled sweetly over the grief that the mention of Larel instilled in her.
“Is she?” Victor asked
“You know she is.” Aldrik’s hands dropped to his sides.
“Fine, fine, my prince. But I would not be your mentor if I did not mentor you from time to time.” Victor kept his eyes forward, waiting, and Vhalla saw the moment he waited for arrive.
“It’s never been like that between us.” Aldrik inspected a button on his coat.
“Truly?” Victor considered the young prince curiously.
“I, we thought—” The boy prince paused uncomfortably. “But it isn’t. We’re just friends.”
Victor gave him a knowing smile but said nothing. He seemed equally as charmed as Vhalla was by the awkward nature of exploring young love.
By how Aldrik spoke of his relationship with Larel, Vhalla placed this memory before Baldair’s black sheep comment, before Aldrik’s first kill, but sometime after him and Larel kissed on the timeline of Aldrik’s life. She sadly absorbed the young Aldrik. Vhalla wondered how many happy moments there were after this time. How much of his life had been spent in darkness and loneliness? She wondered how far the man she knew today was from the boy she saw here, from where a normal man would be.
The two finally stopped before a door that Vhalla recognized, the door to the Minister of Sorcery’s chambers. Aldrik raised a hand and knocked. Vhalla thought through the history she had been shown via Aldrik. If he was a boy, about this age, if Victor was still a young man ... a chill horror crept through her.
The door opened and Egmun stood before the two.
“My prince.” Egmun gave a small bow.
“Minister,” Aldrik responded. Then, to Vhalla’s utmost horror, the boy smiled to the man she hated more than anyone in the world, and that man smiled back. “How are you?” Aldrik asked nonchalantly, letting himself into the room.
“I have little to complain about.” Egmun closed the door behind the two and Vhalla realized that she was somehow standing in the office alongside Aldrik. “Especially when I am in the presence of the most powerful sorcerer in the realm.”
“You flatter me, Egmun,” Aldrik said with a wave of his hand, sitting in one of the chairs. Though the small grin at the corner of his lips said that he did not mind the flattery much.
“How have you been feeling since our last session?” Egmun sat behind the desk, pressing his fingertips together.
“You should know by now that such trivial things cannot hurt me.” Aldrik smirked, and Vhalla saw the boyish confidence for what it was.
“Of course.” The Minister chuckled, turning to Victor. “And you?”
“I am fine,” Victor said stiffly.
“Liar,” Aldrik yawned.
Victor shot him a glare.
“Victor, you need to be honest with me.” Egmun looked at the young man expectantly.
“My Channel felt a little strange the other day.” Victor glared at Aldrik, who shrugged.
“We will observe it, but you may need to stop,” Egmun noted.
Stop with what? Vhalla wanted to ask.
“I can carry on,” Victor said definitively.
“We will see.” Egmun’s tone had a hint of finality. “Today then, my prince, it shall just be you.”
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.