Another hush fell over the crowd, and Vhalla was stilled by the man and girl standing, hand in hand, in the back doorway to the large hall. Vhalla tried to look at anything else. She tried to look at the vaulted ceiling with carved archways. She tried to look at the patterns the stained glass printed on the alabaster floor. She tried to look back at the lord and strike a conversation.
But she was trapped, her eyes focused on the hand wrapped in Aldrik’s.
She had seen the princess before. She’d stood on the Sunlit Stage upon Vhalla’s return. But she might as well have been half a world away from Aldrik then. Now she stood poised and tense at his side, and in them Vhalla saw the future Emperor and Empress.
She wanted to leave. She didn’t want to see anymore. She didn’t want to confront the mess his perfect fa?ade created in her heart.
Aldrik scanned the crowd and his lips parted to speak, freezing halfway open the second his attention found her. She saw his confusion at her presence, a similar feeling to the panic she was already drowning in.
The nobles missed nothing and hastily pointed out the awkward exchange between the prince and the newest lady.
“Prince Aldrik, so good of you to join us today! The Lady Yarl was presented by the Lord Taffl earlier,” came a voice that broke the silence with malicious excitement, the same Western man whom she’d been speaking to a moment before.
“Lady Yarl,” the prince’s lips formed her name with such precision that it sent a shiver up Vhalla’s spine. “It is an honor to have you as a member of this Court.”
The words were stiff and formal, but his eyes were alive.
“Thank you, my—” Her voice wavered as she caught herself before she could use her former term of endearment. Aldrik’s eyes widened a fraction, and she could hear him hold his breath. “Prince Aldrik.”
Disappointment attempted to pull his shoulders down. What did he want from her? What did he think would happen?
“I believe this is the first time the Lady Yarl has met the future Empress,” a woman tittered. “She wasn’t there for the presentation of our dear prince’s betrothed during the Festival of the Sun.”
Vhalla’s hand went to her neck. Baldair had been right; these people were awful. She sought him out, and the younger prince looked on helplessly.
“Lady Yarl, Hero of the North, why don’t you introduce yourself to your future ruler?” the woman suggested.
Vhalla was tempted to show them all exactly how she’d gotten the title of the Hero of the North. She’d reaped destruction and rained hellfire upon her enemies. Vhalla straightened, holding herself taller. But she’d also earned her title and freedom by playing this noble game. If they wanted her to play, then she would show them how to play to win.
All eyes were fixed on the Windwalker as she crossed the room to the prince and princess. Her feet echoed across the floor, the only thing breaking the silence. Vhalla swallowed her frantically fluttering heart. She would do not only what she had to do, but what was right, what she wanted to do.
“Princess—” Vhalla didn’t even know the girl’s name and was forced to leave it as such. The young royal pursed her lips slightly, but didn’t betray any other emotions. In that way, perhaps she was a fitting match for Aldrik. Vhalla was honestly loathe to think it. “You truly grace us with your presence.”
No one moved a muscle.
“Your poise in the face of those who have committed such transgressions against your home is beyond your years.” Murmurs swept through the room. “Your poise in the face of the people who no doubt gossip over the massacre of your innocent people, as though it were sport, is a grace that I clearly cannot command!”
“Treason!”
“Truth!” The word was as fast as a whip from her lips, and it silenced the noble who had interrupted her. Vhalla turned back to the girl, her expressionless mask cracking with shock. Vhalla pressed her eyes closed with a sigh. “If this is the grace by which you will rule, then the Mother has smiled upon the Solaris Empire with your union.”
Vhalla braved a look at Aldrik. The prince wavered between the look he got when he was about to tell her off, and when he wanted to sweep her into his arms and kiss her until she saw stars. Vhalla took a cautionary step away.
“My presence is likely uncomfortable for you, so I will excuse myself and set the example for any who seek to foster rifts in our Empire, an Empire for peace now, by leaving.”
Vhalla turned and didn’t look back. She strode out the Court’s meeting hall and into the sunlight. She walked, hands clenched, until she was out of eyeshot and then broke out into a run. Her lungs burned from the sudden sprint, and her eyes stung. Aldrik, Aldrik, Aldrik, her heart screamed. What had she done?
Vhalla slowed to a stop, sighing. She’d heard the footsteps not long after she’d left the Court and turned, expecting to tell Daniel not to worry so much. Vhalla froze, face to face with an emerald-eyed Northern woman.
“Gwaeru.” It was fitting that the first word she spoke to Vhalla was the same word that had confirmed that this woman had tried to shoot her down in the North.
“Za,” Vhalla replied tensely.
“You know my name?”
“I do.”