CHAPTER 8
Axel
A xel!”
Axel cringed as his father’s voice rang out behind him. Everyone in the castle knew to avoid that tone.
His performance at lunch must not have been sufficient.
“Yes, Father?” he replied pleasantly, fixing his best “obedient son” expression on his face as he stopped walking and turned to face his father.
The king’s face was red, and his nostrils were flared wider than Axel had ever seen them. His fists were clenched at his sides as he stormed down the hall. When he drew even with him, he placed a firm hand on Axel’s upper back without stopping, dragging him along.
Suppressing his instinct to flee, Axel forced his body to stay relaxed and increased his pace to match that of his father. The best course of action would be to appear perfectly calm. Panicking would suggest a guilty conscience.
The king pulled Axel through the door to his study, slamming it closed behind them. Axel winced at the loud noise but made sure to have his face straightened back into a pleasant expression by the time his father whirled to confront him.
“I’ve heard a disturbing rumor,” the king began. He wore a grim smile.
“Oh?” Axel said, displaying polite curiosity.
His father glared at him. “Are you going to claim you don’t know what it is?”
Shrugging, Axel replied, “I’m afraid I haven’t kept up with gossip today.”
“Keeping up isn’t necessary if you’re the cause,” his father growled back at him. Axel placed one hand over his chest and assumed a shocked – but innocent – expression. “Are you really going to stand there and tell me that you did not know the lead actor in last night’s show fell ill just before the performance?”
Axel’s eyebrows pulled together. “As Georg was injured in an accident a week ago, it is unfortunate that he is ill as well. However, I fail to see why it would be the source of a rumor.”
“I don’t know the actors’ names,” the king grumbled. “All I know is that the one who was supposed to perform last night didn’t.”
Frowning, Axel replied, “But I didn’t hear anything about the performance being canceled.”
“No, apparently another young man volunteered to fill in at the last moment.” The king fixed his son with an intense stare.
“That was fortunate for the theater,” Axel said, leaning on the back of a chair with a casual air. “However, I’m afraid I still do not understand how you believe it relates to me.”
His father continued to stare him down, his nostrils still flared. “Where were you during the performance, boy?”
“I was with Heidi, as I told you before.” He gazed calmly at his father for a few moments, then abruptly stood up straight as his eyes widened. “Wait, you aren’t suggesting that—! Surely not. You don’t think—that I was the young man who performed, do you?”
His father continued to glare at him.
Axel held his hands up in an appealing gesture. “You’ve forbidden me to participate in the performances at the theater, Father. Do you truly believe that I would disregard your commands in such a way?”
“Did you?”
Axel grimaced. “Is that what the rumors say? Surely you verified with the director at the theater, Father. What did he tell you?”
Turning away at last, his father grumbled, “He said the young man’s name was Gunther. A merchant who had studied the part in his private lessons.”
“And where in that description do you find your son?”
“They say he looks like you,” the king muttered. “And you’ve been singing the part at inappropriate moments for weeks.”
“Father…” Axel lifted a hand toward him, then let it fall with a sigh. “You know I love to sing. I often learn the songs before a new show opens.” His father acknowledged this with a begrudging nod. “I am sorry you trust me so little.”
Father narrowed his eyes as he stormed around the back of his desk. “I have too much experience with your escapades.” Dragging his large chair roughly across the floor, he settled himself into it. “I know where you go in the mornings.”
Axel felt his face freeze. “In the mornings? But I—”
“I’ve had the gardens thoroughly searched during your absences. You were nowhere to be found.”
He scrambled for a response, but his mind was blank in the face of this unexpected information. Even his newest excuse was useless; whichever days his father’s men had searched the gardens, they were before he’d met her.
Could his father be bluffing? Axel felt certain he would have noticed if he’d been followed, but if he was wrong, his father must know which guard always let him through. Yet to his knowledge, no harm had come to Otto.
Was it Otto who ratted him out?
But why look in the gardens if Father knew he was at the theater? That sounded like he had only suspected that Axel wasn’t where he said he was.
“I do sometimes wander through the stables or down into the trees,” he said lightly, testing the waters. “The allure of our noble steeds and of the majesty of our glorious arboretum is not always possible for me to resist. Especially on a fine morning with the early mist wafting through the trunks as the shafts of sunlight pierce the foliage.”
“You never leave the castle grounds?” His father’s eyes were a little too sharp at the moment for his comfort. Perhaps it was time to add a spoonful of truth to his tale.
Casting his eyes down, he twisted his left hand slightly before glancing up sheepishly. “The streets surrounding the castle are also quite lovely in the morning light.”
The sigh his father released was deep and weary. “And you can’t take a guard with you?”
He replied with an embarrassed grin.
“Axel, if something were to happen to you, where would that leave Ralnor? Your cousin is half Amitian; while the people might accept her as their next ruler, it would not be a smooth transition.”
Axel ducked his head, knowing that his father was correct; Marielle had lived her entire life in Amitié, and her mother was the sister of King Antoine. Many Ralnorans would question her loyalty, despite the fact that her father was King Steffan’s younger brother.
“If you must wander the streets, at least take Bertram or one of your other guards with you.” It wasn’t a command, but it could have been. Axel noted the difference with a hint of guilt.
He didn’t want to betray the trust his father was offering with that statement. However, how could he comply and still meet with Lotti without his father knowing ?
“May I take one of the gate guards?” he asked abruptly. “I would not wish to disturb one of my regular guards so early in the morning.”
His father raised an eyebrow. “That is their job.”
“Yes, but Otto has extraordinary observational skills, and he is accustomed to being alert at that hour, as he has an early morning shift at one of the side gates,” Axel argued. He was painfully aware of how weak the argument was. But since he’d been sneaking through that gate for six years and Father still believed his excursions outside the walls were an infrequent occurrence, Otto must have kept his secret. As such, he was willing to trust Otto’s discretion with his true destination, whereas Bertram would blab.
Instead of immediately responding, the king rested his face in his right hand. “If you will actually take him with you, feel free to increase your personal guard by one.” He raised his head and pinned his son with a glare. “But I will not find that you have slipped out alone again.”
“Of course not, Father. Thank you,” Axel replied with an earnest voice and humble bow.
“Yes, yes. Now go finish the work you should be doing and let me attend to mine.” Father dropped his eyes to a stack of papers and dismissed him with a shooing motion.
With another quick bow, Axel left his father’s study and headed toward the barracks to inform the guard captain of Otto’s new responsibilities.
~
The curtains were closed today, but Axel ached to open them. Even if the closed curtains didn’t muffle his voice, he wanted the chance to scan the seats, looking for the one that might have been hers. He yearned to sing to the empty hall while pretending she was sitting there watching. Would she have sat back with a politely interested expression like many of the theater attendees? No, she would have leaned forward with her forearms resting on her knees, fully engaged, with every emotion flickering across her face as he evoked it within her.
Softly singing the “searching” aria from The Tanner’s Secret , he ran his fingers along the soft material. “When I look at you, I see a face I know, but something’s not quite—”
“You’re thinking about her again.”
He turned at Lotti’s low voice. It came from the shadows at the back of the stage as usual, but the accusatory tone was new. “What?”
The shadows shifted at about her chest height. “The girl you left with on opening night. Instead of attending to the lesson, you’re thinking about her .”
“What if I am?” he asked carelessly, strolling in Lotti’s general direction. “Why should it matter to you with whom I spend my time?”
It was times like this when he wished Lotti would come out of the shadows, even if she kept her hood over her face. Reading body language was incredibly difficult when he had to guess at what she was doing.
“It is interrupting the lesson,” she replied stiffly. “You are distracted.”
“I’ve been distracted before,” he pointed out, “but you’ve never reacted quite like this.”
“Who is she?” A slight change in the shade of darkness near her feet suggested a shifting of weight. “Why does she fascinate you?”
Rubbing the back of his neck, he replied, “I’m not sure how to explain the source of an attraction. And again, I’m not sure why it matters to you.” He wrinkled his nose.
“Who is she?” she repeated forcefully.
He paused with his hand still in the air. “Why do you want to know?”
The only response from the shadows was silence.
Slowly lowering his hand, he peered into the dim back of the stage area. “Lotti?”
“She has disturbed your focus from your music. Who is she?”
“I assume you were lingering in the shadows when I met her.” He took a step back and then turned away, rubbing the back of his neck as he paced. “You must have heard her name when she gave it to me.”
The shade parted as she stepped forward, almost reaching the lit area of the stage. The candlelight illuminated the very edge of her hood as she tipped her head forward. “What are you afraid of, Axel?”
“Afraid?” he chuckled. “Why would I be afraid of you?” But even as he formed his face into a perfect carefree smile, he could feel his heart racing. He’d known Lotti for years and had always been perfectly at ease with her. Yet this morning, her obsession with the woman he’d met on opening night sent shots of wariness down his spine. The low light of the stage suddenly seemed ominous in a way he’d never imagined it could.
“Why won’t you tell me who she is?”
He took another slight step back. “I’m never going to see her again. I really don’t see the importance.” Above him, a soft rattling sound drew his attention. It was impossible to see the ceiling with only a few candles lit, but he couldn’t help remembering Georg’s accident a week and a half earlier.
“I want to know.”
“Weren’t you the one lecturing me about being distracted?” he sidestepped. “I thought we were here to sing.” Glancing up at the ceiling again, he added, “Although perhaps we should relocate to one of the practice rooms this morning.”
For a moment, Lotti continued to loom on the edge of the darkness. Then she withdrew with the words, “You are right. And I believe your suggestion is wise. Come.”
Watching the ripples in the shadows and listening for the faint sound of her shoes on the wood floor, he followed her off the stage and down into the bowels of the theater.
~
Stepping out of the front door, Axel took a deep breath and relaxed in the glow of the winter sunshine. Normally, he wasn’t quite so pleased to leave the theater, but this morning had been…interesting. Even after Lotti dropped the subject of his opening-night lady, he’d felt uneasy. Hopefully, things would be normal the next time he came.
He raised an eyebrow when he located his guard. Instead of standing at attention and scanning his surroundings, Otto had his back pressed against one of the columns that framed the portico, his right foot propped up on the column behind him and his arms crossed under his cloak. From the tilt of his head, one might suppose that he was dozing where he stood.
As soon as Axel approached him, Otto straightened and moved to join him. Neither said anything as Axel led them down the few steps to the road and set a course for the castle.
“I know I usually make the trip on my own,” Axel said casually after a little while, “but I expected you would take the position a little more seriously.”
Otto was walking a half-step behind him, his eyes sweeping over an alley as they passed. “During the hour you were inside, twenty-seven people walked past. Three live on the other side of the castle, as I’ve seen them pass my gate many times before, two were married guards on their way in for their shifts, five were castle servants, and one was one of your father’s advisors.” Axel stared at him. Glancing over, his guard explained, “I assumed that you chose me because you want your destination to remain secret. If a royal guard was on duty outside, it would have given you away.”
Axel blinked and returned his focus to the road ahead. “Are you sure you’re not a spy that my father has cleverly maneuvered me into having at my side?”
“If I were, would I tell you?”
“Not if you were a good one,” he chuckled. “Tell me, how did you become so skilled at this?”
Offering him a small smile, the guard replied, “Through years of trying to keep my little cousin out of trouble. She has a disturbing tendency to act without first thinking things through.”
“I do hope you’re not equating me with her.”
Otto’s smile morphed into a smirk as they turned a corner. “She recently visited the capital with a friend. While here, she went walking with a complete stranger that she met at a show. But I’m sure you’d never do anything like that.”
Rather than dignifying that comment with a response, Axel glowered at his guard. Otto opened his mouth, then suddenly snapped it shut, grabbed Axel by the arm, and dragged him backward onto the street which they had just left.
“Otto, what are you—”
“Shh!” Otto hissed, raising a hand as if he planned to clap it over his prince’s mouth. Dropping it, he flattened himself against a wooden storefront, pulling Axel with him. To Axel’s astonishment, the older man was pale under his tanned skin, and a bead of sweat ran through his short, blonde hair, despite the cool late-autumn morning. The guard’s head was turned toward the corner.
Axel tried to step forward, but Otto held him back, holding a finger to his lips when Axel started to ask for an explanation. He might have ignored the motion, but the hand that still grasped his arm was shaking slightly .
After a couple of minutes, a man walked by. He wore a black cloak with the hood pulled low over his face. Otto’s eyes followed him until he’d passed out of sight. Even then, he held Axel back for a few more minutes before easing forward and slowly releasing his grip.
“Am I allowed to ask questions now?” Axel said lightly as he straightened his cloak over his shoulders. He watched his guard out of the corner of his eye.
Otto continued to peer down the street, but Axel noted that while his breathing had steadied, his hands were still shaking. “I couldn’t let that man see you.”
“Why not?” Axel asked, his brow creasing. “Who is he?”
“I don’t know.” Otto finally backed away from the corner and looked at his charge. “But he’s dangerous. There was a bit of red hair visible from the front, and he has a distinctive walk. I’d recognize him anywhere.”
“Based on your reaction, the two of you must have a history,” Axel observed as he watched his guard wipe the sweat from his forehead with the hood of his cloak. “Where do you know him from?”
“I can’t remember,” Otto admitted. He pressed a hand to his temple and winced. “It’s…strangely fuzzy. But I know it was him. I don’t know what he did, but the memory carries an overwhelming sense of danger, especially toward the royal family. I couldn’t let him see you,” he repeated urgently.
Axel considered him. Some men might pretend to avoid a dangerous situation to make themselves appear important to their prince. But even Axel, who could pretend to breathe hard or make his hands shake or any number of other things to simulate an emotion, couldn’t sweat on command. Otto had truly been terrified of that stranger and what he might do to them.
Even though Axel knew from his time at the practice yards that Otto was no slouch with his sword.
“I suppose I am fortunate, then, that you came with me today,” he finally said. “Thank you.”
Otto nodded without looking at him. “Might I suggest that we expedite our return to the castle?”
“Lead on,” he replied, sweeping his arm in the direction of home.
Then they set off, but Otto was in full guardian mode now. The light-hearted mood of before was gone. The one time Axel attempted to engage his guard in conversation, he was rebuffed with a grunt.
But after the morning he’d had so far, he couldn’t be upset by the change.