Page 12 of Songs and Spun Gold
When he sauntered through the door to his father’s study a short time later, he was suitably attired in black trousers, a sparkling white shirt, and a dark blue waistcoat. Normally, he would enter with a careless smile; given the circumstances, he had arranged his features in a repentant expression: eyes sad, corners of his lips turned slightly down, eyebrows mostly low but raised in the middle from being drawn together. Hands clasped behind his back.
The stormy expression in his father’s hazel eyes as he glanced up confirmed the wisdom of Axel’s choice.
“Where have you been, boy?” he boomed in his bass voice. Axel winced; Father only called him “boy” when he wasreallymad. “Do you realize what damage you have done by leaving the guild masters waiting?”
“I’m sorry, Father,” Axel replied in his humblest tone. It wasn’t entirely an act. “The beauty of the morning drove the meeting from my mind.”
“Beauty?” his father thundered. “You would let your kingdom suffer because you are entranced bybeauty?”
“I—”
“You are too old for this, boy!” Father pounded a fist on his oak desk, his square jaw clenched. “It is past time for you to pull your head out of the clouds. Daydreaming is for youths, not men.”
Axel ducked his head. He knew he’d made a mistake this morning, but he remembered a time when it wouldn’t have made his fatherthisangry.
Helena’s death had hit Father hard.
“I’m sorry, Father,” Axel said, his hoarse voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t mean to disappoint you.”
“Then learn some responsibility,” Father growled. “How can our people trust you to lead them someday when you can’t even make an important meeting?”
“I’m sorry.”
Father glared at him for a few more moments, then suddenly dropped his head to his hands, burying his fingers in his short, strawberry-blonde hair. “I don’t know what to do with you, Axel,” he sighed wearily. “Always chasing a dream, never—” He sighed again.
Squeezing his hands tightly together, Axel waited silently. He had no defense. The truth would do more harm than good,and no lie would fix this situation.
“The meeting has been rescheduled for an hour past noon,” Father finally said, scrubbing his face with his hands. “Can I trust you to make it this time?”
“Of course, Father,” Axel replied eagerly.
“There is no ‘of course’ about it,” Father said sternly. “Not when I’ve already had to reschedule it.”
Axel winced. “I’m—”
“Yes, I know, I know.” Father waved him off. “You’re always sorry, Axel. I don’t need you to be sorry; I need you to be dependable.”
“I know, Father.”
The king dropped his eyes back to the papers on his desk. After a minute, he looked back up. “What are you still doing here? I know you have someplace else you should be.” He tilted his head toward Axel and shot him a meaningful look.
“Yes, Father.” Axel gave his father a slight bow and left the study as he checked his mental schedule for his current commitment.
On second thought, he should check with Father’s steward. With the guild negotiation rescheduled, the rest of the day was bound to be different. Even if it wasn’t, his mental schedule had already failed him once today.
He wanted to be the crown prince that his father wanted and his kingdom needed him to be. He really did.
Maybe his father was right.
Maybe it was time to stop dreaming.
CHAPTER 4
Axel
He couldn’t stop dreaming.
Determined not to disappoint his father again, Axel buried himself in his responsibilities. He rose at a decent hour, attended all his meetings, and went to bed when everyone else did. Thoughts of the theater drew him, but he firmly resisted.
