Page 39 of Songs and Spun Gold
Tobias leaned his head back so he could meet Axel’s eyes. “Why don’t you find her? Talk to her again?”
“There’s no point,” Axel mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and letting his shoulders hunch over. “Father would never let me marry her.”
“Why not?”
He lowered himself to sit on the cold stones of the path and propped his chin on his hand. “He’s willing to accept someone who isn’t a member of the nobility, but only if her family makes the connection worth it. And hers…” He let out a deep sigh.
“Doesn’t?”
“You could say that.”
They sat in silence for several minutes. Axel resumed staring into the distance, wishing he could make sense of it in his mind. How could mere hours in her company persuade him that he knew her intimately? After such a short acquaintance, how could knowing that his father would refuse the match make him—
Make him what?
Because he couldn’t be heartbroken. Only fools in love could have broken hearts. He could perhaps be labeled a fool, but even with his flair for the dramatic, he couldn’t be in love. Not with someone he’d only met once.
“Perhaps why she was interested in your title, then.”
At Tobias’s offhand comment, Axel realized that he had let himself slip out of character. Sharing his true self was only safe with Michael – his friend and the crown prince of Daraigh – and—and—
She slipped out of his grasp as an ache formed in his temples, but he glimpsed her challenging grin before the memory faded back into the fog. It had been safe with her, whoever she was.
Shoving himself to his feet, he grabbed a handful of his cloak in his right hand before bringing his fist to his chest, elbow out to the side. “I have enjoyed our time of deep reminisces; however, it would be prudent for me to attend the end of the festivities lest my parents become aware of my absence and rebuke me for it. Therefore, I must repair to the castle. Will you join me, or shall I leave you here to bask in the winter beauty alone?”
“I’m not sitting in the cold alone,” Tobias muttered as he dragged himself off the bench. Gesturing with the glass in his right hand, he tossed his cloak around his shoulders and said, “Lead on.”
~
A light knock sounded on the closed door of Axel’s study. “Your Highness, you have a visitor.”
Axel lunged for his waistcoat where it was draped over a nearby armchair, taking care to bend his knees and step lightly so the sound did not carry through the door. “One moment,”he called in a calm voice.
As he pulled on and buttoned his waistcoat, he surveyed his study, looking for anything that he needed to fix. His chair was still angled to the side for window-gazing; he quickly and quietly set it straight to the desk again. The papers that he had beennotperusing had fallen to the floor when he grabbed his waistcoat, so he picked those up and set them neatly on his desk.
A final glance around the room at the orderly books lining the walls and the perfectly arranged chairs in front of his desk satisfied him that his study was ready for guests. Strolling to the door, he casually opened it and gave the guard outside an easy smile. “Hello, Bertram.”
Bertram had passed fifty years of age, and the gray at his temples clearly showed it. Personally, Axel was surprised there wasn’t more, given the trial he had been to his guard over the years. The older man merely nodded to him in acknowledgement, then gestured to the nervous-looking, middle-aged man standing a few feet away. His shoulders were hunched, and he twisted his hands together at his waist.
Why was the operations director of the Himmelsburg Theater visiting him at the castle?
“Good afternoon, Director,” Axel said, stepping forward with a wide smile and outstretched hand. The director bobbed a quick bow. Glancing nervously at the offered hand, he gave it a shake so quick that Axel barely felt the contact before it was gone again.
“I’m terribly sorry to bother you, Your Highness,” the director squeaked. Axel always found it amusing that a man with such an unpleasant voice ran a theater with such marvelous productions. “Could I speak with you?”
Axel took a step back and to the side, gesturing toward the open door of his study with a wide sweep of his left arm. “Naturally, my good sir. I endeavor to be always accessible to theneeds of my people in any way that I am able, humble though my abilities may be. If it is within my power to solve your troubles, you may be certain that I will do so.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you. Thank you very kindly, Your Highness,” the director stammered as he entered the study ahead of his prince. Axel gave Bertram a lopsided smile and a joking salute as he followed the director. Just before the door cut him off from view, Axel saw the guard lift his eyes to the ceiling and give a slight shake of his head before resuming his professional posture.
“Please have a seat,” Axel said, waving a careless hand in the direction of the chairs in front of his desk. Despite the offer, the director remained standing until Axel had settled himself in his own obnoxiously large chair on the other side. “How may I help you, Director? Is there something which our most excellent theater lacks which I might be able to reasonably provide?”
The director folded his hands in his lap, then unfolded them and spread his hands over the armrests of his chair. He opened his mouth, closed it, and ran a finger over his upper lip. “I am hesitant to bring the matter to your attention,” he began obsequiously, transitioning to twisting his hands in his lap. “However, matters have reached a point where—that is to say, the situation is such that—”
Axel relaxed back in his chair, lacing his fingers together behind his head. Letting the left corner of his mouth twitch upward, he said, “Allow me to produce my pardon upfront and to assure you that if what you ask is beyond what I am able to approve, I promise I will not have you thrown from the castle, but will simply tell you no.”
The director cleared his throat. “Yes. Well. Thank you, Your Highness. We have had a series of unfortunate accidents at the theater, as I’m sure you know, beginning with the curtain that broke Georg’s leg.”
Straightening in his chair, Axel interrupted, “There have been more? Why haven’t I heard about this?”
