Air Awakens: Water's Wrath - Air Awakens: Water's Wrath Part 23
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Air Awakens: Water's Wrath Part 23

The door to the outer room slammed open and shut again. Hasty footsteps made their way to the bedroom door, and a man with graying hair and bushy eyebrows darted into the room. He fearlessly set his clerical box down upon the table, sending the carcivi pieces scattering. Vhalla stood, giving him room to access Baldair.

"Excuse me, Lady Vhalla." The man stepped around her. "Prince Aldrik, I will need you to fetch the full team."

"With haste." Aldrik's voice was level, but his eyes betrayed his panic for his younger brother, who began coughing again.

Vhalla followed him out of Baldair's room, dripping a trail of blood onto the pristine carpet. She took two steps for every one of Aldrik's long strides and still fell behind.

"Wait for me here," he whispered, ushering her into his room.

"Go help him," Vhalla encouraged bravely.

"Wash, get the blood off you before it can infect you. Help yourself to whatever you may need." Aldrik looked fearfully at the crimson stains on her lap and sides.

"I will. Now go."

Aldrik needed no further prompting. He stepped back into the hallway, locking the door behind him.

Vhalla stepped back into the room and took a deep breath. Her inhale was weak. Her exhale quivered. She turned and sprinted for the bathroom. She had to wash it away.

She leaned over the side of the large, golden tub in Aldrik's bathing room, turning on only the faucet for hot water. It came out steaming, and Vhalla nearly burned her hands in it. The blood fell in large droplets down onto the floor of the tub. Vhalla rung her hands even after they were clean.

Putting in the stopper, she stripped off her soiled clothing and tossed it into a corner of the marble-tiled room with a cry. The night air was icy on her bare skin as Vhalla plunged herself into the water, still shivering.

Her mother had been thinner, she had been weaker. They didn't have the food or the medicine available to Baldair. He would be all right.

Not once, in all her racing thoughts, did she give note to the fact that she was naked in the crown prince's chambers. All her contemplations circled around how hot Baldair's forehead had felt, how much blood had come up. Vhalla began to scrub, going over her skin until it was raw, as if she could wash away the memories.

Aldrik still wasn't back by the time her bathwater began to cool, and Vhalla emerged numb to the dull gray world. She pulled a drying cloth over her shoulders before she raided his dressing chambers. Many women would've been satisfied with just one of his oversized shirts as a dress, but Vhalla never felt comfortable without wearing some kind of trouser or legging.

Awkwardly dressed, she wandered listlessly to his bedroom. His bed was large enough for three people, and it was extraordinarily comfortable. In that moment, it could've been made of rocks and felt the same. Vhalla bundled herself beneath the blankets, shivering against the cold until she fell into a restless sleep.

Long fingers buried themselves in her hair, the bed shifting to accommodate a weight at her side. The scent of the blankets, the heat of the man next to her, the familiar tingle under his fingertips, it reminded her where she was and who was gently pulling her from sleep.

"Aldrik." Vhalla sat, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms. The sound of coughing filled her ears and the smell of smoke, sweat, leather, and Aldrik on the sheets was replaced with the tangy metallic aroma of blood that still lingered in her nose. "How is Baldair?"

"The clerics say my annoying little brother is presently stable."

There wasn't any bite to Aldrik's words. "They'll be staying with him around the clock now. About time."

Vhalla saw Aldrik's mannerisms for what they were: a retreat. He was withdrawing into the temperamental indifferent front he'd always used to keep out the world, to hide his emotions. A deep sorrow settled into her chest for her fearful prince.

"I swear, Baldair just wants to make a show of this." Aldrik shook his head. "Always, always the showman, that Baldair. He wants all the attention, as if he hasn't had it. He just-he loves when-he loves when people are fawning over him."

Aldrik's words became weaker as he rambled on. Vhalla looked on in torment. It was a pain she knew so well, and yet she couldn't do anything to lessen it. Saying nothing, she took both of Aldrik's hands in hers.

"The clerics say he can still make it," Aldrik finally added, after a short silence. "Elecia should be here soon, too."

"Elecia?" Vhalla asked, surprised. Last she'd heard, Aldrik's cousin wasn't coming until spring.

"I called for her when Baldair fell ill. If she could heal me after the North, she'll make quick work of Baldair and then complain to me for years for bringing her to the South during the winter. Between her and the clerics, he has to make it." Aldrik allowed himself a tired, fragile smile.

"They don't want me going in anymore. They say it's too much of a risk now that it has progressed this far."

"I'm sorry."

"Well, it's not as if I wanted to be there in the first place," he said begrudgingly. "Why would I want to spend more time with my loud, annoying little brother? I was only there because my father insists on having morons in his staff. No one else was watching him, so I had to, right? They should have been there from the start. Complete, utter incompetence . . ."

Vhalla squeezed his hands lightly, and let him hide behind the security of his jabs. She knew just as well as he did the real reason why he had been in his brother's room. She knew from the moment she had seen a pillow and blanket on Baldair's couch.

"Speaking of incompetent nitwits, I should bring you back to the fools who run my Tower." He stood and swayed from exhaustion.

"Will you be all right without me?" Vhalla braved the question. Leaving was the appropriate thing to do, but worry changed the rules.

He sighed, running a hand over his hair, trying to tame the stray pieces that escaped over the events of the evening into place. "I'm always all right."

"No." She stood as well to bring a palm to his cheek. His mask broke under her touch. "Don't hide from me, my prince."

"Vhalla, please," he pleaded, his voice thin and strained. "Come back tomorrow?" He closed his eyes and tilted his head toward her hand. "I need you."

"All you ever need to do is ask," she whispered in thankful awe that he relented so quickly to accept whatever comfort she could offer.

"I'll fetch you when I can," Aldrik affirmed.

"I may be with the minister."

He paused, searching her face. "You're still working on crystals with him, aren't you?"

"I am." Vhalla didn't even try to lie. "I've meant to speak with you further about it but . . ."

"I know, with my brother being how he is," Aldrik agreed with a sigh. "Later, but soon. When Baldair is better, we need to speak on it."

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."

"Enough!" Vhalla cut her arm through the air. The breeze sent the papers on his desk fluttering to the floor, but Victor smiled in the face of the warning shot.

"A man who can hurt you." He started for her. Vhalla's heart was racing in the limbo of fight or flight. "A man who can break you, drive you to madness, only to have you running to his side at a word."

"You know nothing about us," she seethed. "Don't come one step closer."

Victor took that step, and Vhalla raised her hand. His arm was as fast as a viper, and his fingers closed around her wrist, crunching the tendons together. His grip was like ice.

"Vhalla," he said in a dangerously soft voice, "you may be incredibly special to me, but never lash out at me again."

A shiver coursed through her as his magic reached its icy tendrils into her veins. His magic was numbing, dulling. It was the antithesis to the life Aldrik's exuded, and Vhalla loathed it instantly.

A knock prevented the moment from escalating further. The minister released her at the sound, and Vhalla rubbed her wrist with a shiver. He walked back to his desk, quickly scooping up the majority of the papers, stashing the axe, and smiling as though nothing had happened. "Enter."

The door opened. Vhalla had never been happier to see the pair of dark eyes.

"My prince," the minister spoke first. "To what do we owe the honor?"

"Forgive my intrusion." Aldrik spoke but didn't take his eyes off her. Vhalla could see him working through the silent messages she was sending him.

"Never an intrusion by the crown prince. Tea?"

Vhalla didn't even recognize the man casually talking to the prince as the same man who had just stashed a legendary crystal weapon and threatened her outright.

"Not today," Aldrik thankfully refused. "I need to steal the Lady Yarl for Imperial business."

"Imperial business?" The minister smiled, glancing between them. "Sounds important."

"My brother has requested her presence," Aldrik explained. "You know Baldair and pretty girls." Aldrik gave a smirk.

Vhalla kept her mouth from falling agape at how lightly he was mentioning his brother, given Baldair's state.

"I certainly do." The minister nodded, his body language clearly conveying that he knew there was much more beneath the surface. "We'll speak again soon, Vhalla."