“A wonderful idea, sister!” Lilo was on her feet as well. “Then we can show you your chambers, as I’m sure you’re tired from the day’s ride.”

 “Very well.” Vhalla would agree to anything if she felt it would make things go faster. Her wedding was evolving into more of a chore than she’d ever expected. Every mention of it brought back memories of the decisions she had to make about the East’s defense. Her people were dying and she was planning a party. “Father, would you like to come?”

 “Leave the men to chat,” Tina spoke before her father had a chance.

 Elecia and Ioine stood as well at the subtle command.

 Vhalla raised her chin and looked the Western woman in the eye for a long, hard moment. She had just reunited with her father after fearing for his life. Being told to dismiss him didn’t sit well with Vhalla, and the words slipped her lips before she could stop them. “Father, would you like to join me as they show me the castle?” Vhalla asked again slowly, ignoring Tina’s order.

 Aldrik tore his eyes away from the exchange, hiding his face in the process. Vhalla could’ve sworn she saw a satisfied smile escaping across his mouth.

 “My ankle still pains me,” her father refused gently. “Plus, I have had a few days to explore. You enjoy it now.”

 “Take dinner with me later.” Vhalla knelt to kiss both her father’s cheeks. “I want to catch up with you.”

 “I won’t refuse that, little bird.”

 “Good, I didn’t want to have to beg you,” she teased lightly.

 “Enjoy the home of my forefathers.” Aldrik caught her hand, holding it for a long moment before relinquishing her once more. His eyes shifted to his eldest aunt. “Do not show her the library.”

 “There’s a library?” Vhalla gasped.

 “Call me selfish.” His mouth curled into an irresistible and utterly unapologetic smirk. “Take care of her, Aunt Tina.”

 “Yes, my Emperor.” Tina revealed the most expression Vhalla had seen from her when the woman referred to Aldrik as such.

 Vhalla was led out of the room, with Elecia and her mother following. She barely contained a belated eye roll at the thought of Tina’s previous suggestion. Perhaps outlawing the notion of “words amongst men” would be her first decree as Empress. As far as Vhalla had ever experienced, men and women spoke the same words and there was no reason why men couldn’t say certain things in her presence.

 Her ire quickly faded to awe as she marveled at every wonder the castle held. In the richness of its history, the home of Mhashan’s ruling family rivaled the palace in the Southern capital. In architecture and art, they could not be more different. There were countless rooms to sit and lounge within. Steel rang out on steel from well-fitted training grounds. Hundreds of years of history were packed into every hall.

 “How did you and Aldrik meet?” Tina asked as they strolled through a large room of statues and paintings.

 “Through notes in a book,” Vhalla answered vaguely. She tried to make a show of studying the sculpture before her to avoid further questioning. It didn’t work.

 The woman arched a dark eyebrow. “Notes in a book?”

 Vhalla briefly wondered if the ability to do so was passed down in the family or if they were tutored in it. She’d seen Aldrik give her the same inquisitive look countless times. Her palm rested on her lower stomach without thought. Would their children make such a look?

 “They were notes that were ultimately of help to him.” Vhalla didn’t want to give up much more than that, as the thought of their lost Bond hurt. “He reached out to me after that.”

 “That was forward and most unlike our nephew.” Tina may as well have screamed that she suspected there was more to Vhalla’s story than she was being told.

 “Well, I didn’t know it was him for the longest time.” Vhalla smiled faintly at the memory of their first notes exchanged. “I called him a phantom then.”

 “He did have a liking for all things dark,” Lilo agreed. “Though he seems to have finally taken to the color of his station.”

 “The color doesn’t matter.” Vhalla strolled onward as she mused. “Underneath it all, he will always be Aldrik, the man who was born to lead us.”

 “And . . .” Tina stepped into Vhalla’s personal space. Her voice dropped to a hush, glancing pointedly at the guards positioned at the far ends of the room. “Do you know clearly what that is? What lies underneath the clothes he wears?”

 “What?” Vhalla spun, frowning up at the much taller woman. Elecia sniggered, and Vhalla felt a flush on her cheeks. All hope of denial was gone, and Vhalla shot her friend a frustrated glare.

 “My dear.” Tina wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pushing Vhalla along to the next painting. “Do not be shy. We have our suspicions already. Your secrets are safe with us.”

 “We would never hurt our little Aldrik.” Lilo linked her arm with Vhalla’s open one, effectively pinning her between the two sisters. “Remember, he’s all we have left of our sister.”

 They stopped at a large portrait, and Vhalla’s breath caught in her throat. The woman sat, swathed in an Imperial white robe with a golden trim. A crimson shawl about her shoulders pooled on the floor. One hand held a mote of flame, the other a golden scepter with a sun at the top. The fire that lived in her eyes existed beyond death and time. It was complemented by a familiar curl at the corners of her mouth, betraying an air of confidence that could easily border on arrogance. Angular eyes and high cheekbones were framed by long black hair that fell under her shoulders unbound.

 The woman looked like authority incarnate. She looked as though she could kill the person who stood before her—or save them for a heaven that man had never known. She was everything Vhalla would have expected Aldrik’s mother to be, and more.

 “Would she have liked me?” Vhalla murmured, the thought escaping her mind as a quiet musing.

 “For what you have done for her son, she would have loved you,” Lilo answered before Tina could.

 “She looks just like him.” Vhalla realized that Aldrik was already older than the woman in the painting. That idea carried a new weight to his mother’s death. Vhalla was nearly the age at which his mother had died.

 “The Ci’Dan blood is strong,” Tina said proudly. “I am sure your children will look much like him also.”

 Vhalla couldn’t speak. She grabbed her shirt above her stomach where a phantom pain rippled through her at the thought. Elecia looked on with silent concern as Vhalla struggled to find the right words. She’d already failed once; she had traded the future where an heir was assured. Now she carved her own path, and no one knew what that may hold.

 “Do not be nervous, dear!” Lilo sensed the right emotion but for the wrong reasons.

 “Listen to my sister,” Tina agreed. “After all, your greatest duty will be producing an heir.”

 “What?” Vhalla freed herself of the women’s grips so she could read their facial expressions. She’d always known such to be a fact of their union. But, her greatest duty?