Alfred stood behind Henry and asked quietly, “Son, are you ready?”

“Yes, we can start now.” Henry replied, his eyes locked on the doors in front of him.

With a nod from Alfred the doors were opened and the knight in charge of announcing the guests stood next to them.

“Presenting His Royal Majesty King William the Third accompanied by Her Royal Majesty Queen Adela and their Royal Highnesses prince Alexei and prince Rufus.”

All the people in the room knelt down and awaited the king’s next words. The only thing you could hear were the Royal Family's footsteps on the red carpet.

King William looked at the people present, there were mixed feelings as he saw his old friends kneeling before him like he was some stranger. They were following protocols he knew they disliked and ignoring the rights he gave them the moment he ascended to the throne. Seeing this happen, William felt great pain, but at the same time understood the reason he was not seen as a friend and a brother in this household anymore. Not wanting to look at the scene before him, the king gave them his short order. “Raise your heads, please. Henry Sigurdson, we have arrived here to celebrate this joyous day with you.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I hope this celebration will be to your liking.” Henry answered with a strong and confident voice.

The king smiled at the boy and was then, with the rest of the royals, shown to their table. Behind them stood two knights who would serve as guards.

Seeing that the royal guests had taken their seats, Alfred turned to one of the butlers.“ Now, go outside and open the doors so the rest of the people can enter.”

The line of people was as impressive as ever. All of them were eager to enter, but kept their cool as the king was nearby and everyone wanted to look good before him.

The greetings were quick and simple, Henry was grateful for this while the nobles were mostly impressed with his manners. After the initial greetings and the opening speech which was given by both Henry and his parents, the true celebration started.

First person to approach Henry was Sophia, “Lord Henry, it is splendid to see you in person after so much time.”

“It is great to see you too, lady Sophia.” Henry responded with a smile, happy that he could see her once more after a long time.

“Will you be staying in the capital for a while after the party?” Sophia asked nervously.

“We will stay for some time. Father has some business to attend to in the palace.” Henry answered in a casual manner as it was not related to him. He was jubilant that he did not have to attend and could spend his time enjoying the gardens.

Just as the two had broken the ice and started talking more informally, they were interrupted by two newcomers.

“My lord Henry, I see you are having fun while talking to my sister, mind if we join?” Sophie's brother came over to meet the famous Henry his sister talked so much about over the last months.

Henry quickly put on his good host smile and gave one of the answers Anna had him memorize for such occasions. “Of course I do not mind, the two of you can only make the conversation that much more enjoyable.”

Prince Rufus approached Henry and patted his back, “Well said lord Henry, well said.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Henry was quick to answer the prince’s praise and was very happy that his body did not flinch and take a defensive stance, given their history.

The talks shifted from heartfelt to business-like instantly and all that Henry wanted was for someone to drag these two away. They were full of praise, Rufus for himself and Louis, Sophie’s brother, for Rufus.

Finally, Henry lost his patience, as no one came to rescue him, and excused himself. “Your highness, my lady, my lord, I must leave you now. There are many people I must greet before the celebration ends.”

“Of course, off you go lord Henry.” Rufus waved him off and continued to bask in the compliments he was receiving.

Sophia stared at Henry with a fierce glare one would direct towards a traitor or a kinslayer. He was escaping while she was condemned to stay and listen to the two.

Henry knew he would receive a few slightly colder letters, but it had to be done. For the sake of his own mental health, he had to escape. While he was walking to a group of children a familiar voice called out to him.

“Lord Henry, it has been a while.” Nicolas approached Henry with Alexei in tow.

“Your highness Alexei, my lord Nicolas. It is a pleasure to see you.” The young Sigurdson was happy that he ran into them. The two were kind and he could be a bit more relaxed around them.

“You sure have grown. We just talked to your parents, it would appear lord Mathew is anxious to see you.” Nicolas said with a smile on his face.

Alexei looked over at the table where Mathew sat and spoke in a warm tone, “Yes, he kept talking about his splendid friend all the time. He is truly a wonderful child.”

“Indeed, Mathew is a good friend. Is the party to your liking?” Henry was happy that his friend had impressed the future king but at the same time wanted to end this conversation fast, as he spotted several nobles that were inching closer by the second.

“A splendid event, as expected. Your parents did not cheap out on anything for this one.” Nicolas said as he swiped a glass of wine from a valet that was passing by with a tray. He took a sip of wine and exhaled with a bright smile covering his face.

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“You must excuse my uncle, he meant it in a good way.” Alexei quickly tried to cover up for his uncle's words.

“Of course your highness. I know lord Nicolas is good friends with my parents. No words of his can be misunderstood.” Henry was swift to reassure Alexei, he knew quite well that his father saw the archduke as a big brother. Alfred often gave high praise when talking about Nicolas and thought of him as one of the few trustworthy men in the capital.

“That is a relief. We will be taking our leave now, we must return to our table.” Alexei took Nicolas and the two quickly disappeared in the crowd.

Capital was quite different from the outside world. A prince and an archduke could hardly be seen without at least ten people running around them and giving them various compliments, but here, they were surrounded with people who had an image to protect and did not want to be seen running after anyone, other than the king. This meant that with a few quick steps they could lose any pursuers.

Henry was a bit surprised by this but quickly recovered and went to join his parents at their table.

“Oh my boy Henry, do join us!” Benjamin was the first to notice Henry and greeted him affectionately.

“Ben, please don’t yell inside, you will attract attention.” Gisela said with a stern expression.

Unfortunately for her, Mathew did not differ from his father and jumped from his chair the moment he spotted his friend. “Henry!”

“Like father, like son…” Gisela said while the two women who sat next to her patted her shoulders.

Henry was glad to see genuine feelings tonight, “Mathew, do you like the party so far?”

“It is great, the cakes are great and the juice is quite tasty.” The boy answered ecstatically.

“Will you join me for a bit?” Henry asked and looked at Gisela for approval. She nodded and so the two boys went off to greet various people.

“Henry is so nice to my Mathew, just like a big brother.” Seeing them leave Gisela said with tears welling up in her eyes.

Eleonora placed her hand on her friend's shoulder, “He is a great boy. Gisela, are you sure he can run around like that?”

“He is getting a bit better lately, he should enjoy his time...” Lady Elinstar said with a tint of sadness in her voice.

“Good, then for the first of many celebrations.” Eleonora took her wine glass and proposed a toast which all accepted without delay.

The two boys made rounds of various social groups and greeted children and lesser nobles while chatting with them for a bit. After the initial rounds they returned to their parents and had lunch. What followed was the ball where everyone did their best to show off their dancing skills in order to impress the people watching.

Henry watched the glamorous dresses swirl around and the people dance as if they were one body. The only question in his mind was ‘HOW?’. Even after hundreds of hours he was still, at best, horrible. Anna was giving her all to teach him, she praised his progress and devotion but Henry knew that even she was losing all hope.

“Shall we dance?” A faint voice crushed Henry's hopes of staying away from the dance floor. He wanted to reject that request, but as Sophia was the one asking all he could do was accept. He had already abandoned her once and did not want to add insult to injury.

The two went to the smaller side podium erected for children and joined the dancing couples.

‘Ok, left, right, right…’ Henry’s mind was racing, he could hardly hear the music from the sound of his own heart beating and his mind yelling at him to stop.

Sophia was surprised by what she perceived as absent mindedness coming from her friend, “Henry, are you maybe troubled by something? Were you saving this dance for someone else, perhaps?”

Sophia's sad face caused Henry to come back to his senses. 'The least I can do is to be honest' , “Lady, sorry Sophia, when it comes to dancing, I am a failure.”

“I am sure you are exaggerating.” Sophia answered with a wide smile, “Shall we start over?”

“Please.” Henry returned her smile but unfortunately the results were the same. The only difference was that this time he, at least, heard the music. Once the song was over the two quickly went away from the podium, as if being chased by a pack of hungry wolves.

“You were not joking when you said that.” Sophia said with an anxious look on her face. “Forgive me for forcing you to dance.”

“No, please, it was my decision. You did not know how lacking I was, so you are not at fault. I do apologize for your feet.” Henry was truly sorry as he stepped on her several times. The only reason he got away with it was her surprisingly high pain tolerance and the ability to keep her mouth shut.

“Don’t worry about it. In the future, practice more and avoid the dance podium as much as possible.” Sophia said the second part while giggling.

This time they were not interrupted for a while so they enjoyed a pleasant talk which ended when Sophia’s brother came to pick her up, as they were leaving.

***

The Royal Family was the first to arrive at the party, and also the first to leave. It was unacceptable to leave before the king. His stay was a short one, but it was only on the surface. In reality he took a turn in the corridor and joined Nicolas in Alfred's study where they waited for a bit until Alfred arrived.

After closing the door of his study Alfred turned towards the two people who were inside. “Your Majesty, forgive me for not arriving sooner.”

“No need to be so formal, we are all friends here. Take a seat.” William said while sitting in Alfred’s chair.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Alfred bowed to express his gratitude and took his seat. After a moment he looked straight into the king’s eyes, “Why did you want to talk to me?”

The atmosphere caused by this straightforward question was not something Nicolas found acceptable. The men present were old friends so the archduke tried to ease the mood a bit by giving Alfred a compliment. “Straight to the point, as always. I miss that whenever I return here.”

Unfortunately for Nicolas the two men present were not in the mood to socialize. “We have a possible attack coming our way.” The king rose up from the chair and the two men followed suit. He approached a map of the kingdom and started explaining. “The principality to the north-east is preparing to side with Albion openly. For years they have been their faithful servants but it would appear they are allowing them to stage a large-scale invasion of our northern territory or their western neighbor who is, as you know, our long-time ally.”

“Either way, war is coming sooner rather than later.” Nicolas said while approaching the map. “We have another problem, in the south, there have been increased losses of troops due to raids.”

Alfred raised a question he found much more important than the possible invasion coming from Alba. “That makes no sense, the marquess has always been on good terms with the kingdom to the south of us.”

“Things change, they have been having bad harvests for the last few years and are starting to look up north.” Nicolas handed Alfred and the king a parchment containing information he gathered while preparing for this meeting.

The duke looked over the papers and gave his idea to resolve the situation. “Well, simply give them some food or sell it to them if they can buy it. Call it a friendly hand in time of need or something.”

“We tried, they claim to have enough and are not in need of charity.” William quickly shot down Alfred’s idea as it was something they tried as soon as the raids began.

“That is strange, it would not be the first time we help each other out. We had some bad periods and wars, but for the most part they are peaceful.” Once again, ignoring the invasion coming from the north, Alfred wanted to keep the focus on the happenings in the south, as he did not know whether the kingdom could sustain a war on two fronts.

“I do not know what is going on, but there is a chance they will move to strike once those rats start their operations in the north.” Nicolas was in agreement with Alfred but could only share his concerns as he did not have a solution.

“Our army is strong, but fighting on two fronts and with such a huge distance between them would be nearly impossible.” William said, his face dark with worry.

“Then, should we strike first? If we destroy Alba’s forces before they fully form up we can send a message to anyone who might want to fight us.” Alfred proposed the solution he saw as obvious.

William quickly shot down such an idea. “There is strong opposition to that in the council and as king I agree with them. I do not wish to start a war just because there is a possibility the enemy might strike.”

Alfred was irritated by this response, even more as the council full of politicians was the one who stood behind it. “Those rats are always attacking us anyway, there should be no point in looking for a just reason, we don’t like the idea of them amassing troops near our borders so we just disperse them with a few swift attacks.”

“Lord Alfred!” The king raised his voice for the first time, “Such tactics might work in the East, but I lead an army which holds honor in great regard, I will not stoop to such lowly methods.”

“Of course Your Majesty, forgive me for my words.” Alfred’s words seemed to be servile to William but to Nicolas they were a red flag.

‘Do not abandon us Alfred, if you turn your back on him, those cowards and glory hounds in the council will serve the kingdom to the enemy on a silver platter.’