“Thank you,” she said softly, taking it from him and downing it quickly. She recognized the fiery feeling of this particular potion and winced slightly. Vhalla was beginning to suspect the clerics healed everything with this one magic liquid. “Sorry to be trouble.”

“It’s fine,” Larel consoled. “This was hardly your fault.”

“What exactly happened?” Fritz asked.

Larel elbowed him in the side. “Not our business,” she scolded.

Vhalla fidgeted with her fingers.

“Fine, fine. I hope you feel better soon.” He reached out, ruffled Vhalla’s hair, and turned on his knees to crawl out of the tent.

“Wait,” Vhalla stopped him. There was a sick feeling in her stomach, but Vhalla thought it had more to do with nerves. “Wait,” she repeated again as he sat down. Vhalla passed the vial from hand to hand, unsure of her next words. But Fritz and Larel had already proven to be kind and loyal. She took a breath.

“Vhalla, you don’t have to—” Larel seemed to sense her trepidation.

“We’re Bonded,” Vhalla said directly, getting it out before she lost her resolve.

Both stared at her in shock and confusion.

“Wait, what?” Fritz had a dumb look on his face.

“You and ...” Larel whispered, her voice leaving her before she could finish the sentence.

“Aldrik.” Vhalla cursed aloud. “The prince.” She shook her head; it was too late and she was in too deep. “Aldrik and I are Bonded.” Vhalla looked away from them. She barely understood what being Bonded meant so how they would react was up in the air. They both stared at her with their mouths open, shocked into silence. “Well, say something,” she sighed.

“You’re sure?” Larel asked.

“Very,” she affirmed, recalling her Channeling lesson.

“Does he know?” Fritz asked.

Larel cuffed him on the back of the head. “Of course he does,” she chided.

“How?” Fritz asked. The Western woman shot him a sharp glance. “I know how, as in I know how Bonding works in theory. But how did you become Bonded with the prince, of all people?”

“I don’t really understand it all myself.” Vhalla thought back to a night in the library, a night that seemed forever ago. “It was when he came back.”

“From the front? In the summer?” Larel seemed to be already piecing it together.

Vhalla nodded. “I was working in the library and I—” Vhalla paused, leaving out the truth that she had thought she was saving a different prince. “I wanted to save him, I wanted to give anything to save him. He said I wrote magic, or made vessels—I’m not sure. Something about it opened a link and that was a Bonding.” She shifted, trying not to allow the conversation she’d started make her uncomfortable.

“That’s amazing,” Fritz breathed.

“So, that’s—that’s why things are different with us.” She wasn’t sure anymore why she had confided this to her friends.