She was relieved he relented. Whatever the conversation would reveal, Vhalla already suspected it would be exhausting for the prince. Perhaps, if she played her cards right, she could have already closed the caverns for good by the time they had it.

Aldrik led her through the secret passageway behind his mirror. Vhalla returned to the Tower without a word. They’d moved past the point of words long ago. A look was all it took for them to communicate.

Into the night, he weighed on her thoughts. Vhalla tossed and turned in her small bed, a bed that suddenly was cold and uncomfortable and far too small. Exhausted, Vhalla finally relented and closed her eyes, slipping out of her body with ease.

Her Projected form was unhindered by doors and darkness. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t find him in his bed as she’d hoped. He was hunched over in front of his hearth, scribbling frantically on the papers that he’d hidden from her.

You need to sleep. Vhalla nearly startled the prince out of his skin.

“What are you doing?” He blinked at her ghost-like presence.

Making you take care of yourself.

“You’re so annoying, you know that?” he said after a long pause, the tiniest of smirks curling the corner of his lips.

Pot meet kettle. Go to bed, Aldrik. Vhalla was glad she returned. He was going to exhaust himself, which only increased the odds of him falling ill also.

Vhalla stayed with him until he crawled into bed, watching as his body relaxed, his brow softened. She waited until she saw her prince’s breathing deepen, telling her he was asleep. She lingered long after in the darkness, a silent sentry to the crown prince, until her body was too exhausted to maintain the Projection. She finally withdrew into a deep and dreamless sleep.

“ARE YOU FEELING all right?” Victor asked, glancing up from his workstation in the far corner of the room.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled.

The minister laughed. “Dear Vhalla, you don’t think I believe that for a moment, do you?” He crossed over to stand before her, blocking her view of the axe. The minister summoned her attention with a tap on the chin. “Tell me.”

Where should she start? The ailing Prince Baldair? The gray area she’d walked back into with the crown prince? Keeping crystal magic a secret?

“It’s nothing.” It was too much to tell.

“Vhalla, trust me. I cannot protect you if you shut me out.”

“I don’t need your protection,” she snapped. She was too tired and too weathered to be treated like a child.

“No?” the minister asked slowly. “If I were to dismiss you from the Tower, where would you go? Where could your safety be assured? Where could you remain out of the hands of the Knights of Jadar?”

“I handled myself when it came to the Knights.” Vhalla ignored the magic and still mysterious fire that was the catalyst for her escape.

“And Egmun?”

“Were you absent at the Sunlit Stage?” Her ability to manage the Senate should’ve been apparent.

“What about the Emperor?” Victor folded his arms over his chest. “When he demands you become a weapon in his war, what will you do to refuse him?”

Vhalla’s tongue was stilled. That required some thought. But she wasn’t exactly a novice at defending herself to the Emperor either.

“Perhaps you will use Aldrik for that?”

She was on her feet. “Are you threatening me?”

“By the Mother, no!” Victor held up his hands with a chuckle. “I simply want you to understand how this relationship works.”

“Which is?”

“That I have put all bets on you and your skill.” Victor placed a palm on her shoulder, squeezing it encouragingly. “That I know you will do what must be done in the caverns.”

“Thank you.” She pulled her shoulder away, not wanting to be touched by the minister.

“I think we’re both ready to put all this behind us,” Victor remarked thoughtfully. “How close are you to finishing the axe?”

“I just finished, actually,” she announced confidently.

“You did?” The minister paused in awe. “You’re certain?”

“I am.”

“Then we could set for the caverns tomorrow.” The minister turned, going back to his workstation where he was diligently tempering crystals he’d said would be necessary to access the heart of the caverns.

“Tomorrow.” All Vhalla thought of was the ailing Baldair, of leaving Aldrik alone when his brother was in such a fragile state. “Can it wait?”

The world seemed to hold its breath as the minister assessed her. “I thought you wanted this done as much as I do.”

“I do, but . . .”

“So why do you stall?” He scrutinized her once more.

“I have my reasons.” And she didn’t owe him any of them.

“You have one.” Victor held up a single finger, slowly pointing at the watch that rested under her tunic. “A man to whom you remain foolishly devoted, despite his hand being promised to another.”

“If you speak about Aldrik again—” Vhalla didn’t even think twice about the fact that she had just acknowledged the prince and her being devoted.

“A man who can throw you off a roof, build you up only to cast you aside.”