Jens shook his head. “No, Loos. That’s not how it works. It’s not lightning at random. It’s lightning on tap. Unless I haul off and attack you, I can put my hands all over you, and I’ll be just fine.”
“Thanks for that image,” Linus complained.
Jens grasped onto a second fact to calm me. “Even Tucker, when he accidentally did hurt you when he tapped into your power? Nearly gave you a stroke or something, but nothing happened to him. It’s because he wasn’t trying to hurt you. It’s the intention plus the act itself.” Jens threw his head back. “Tucker put the Tomten soldiers’ fire out after he tapped into your power. Imagine if he hadn’t been able to port you out! I mean, I probably could’ve just left you standing in the field for them to attack you, and nothing would’ve touched you. Just standing there, I’m guessing you could’ve leveled the whole army! I’m not totally sure on all the details, but that’s the basic rule, anyway.”
“How do you know so much about this if it’s so rare?” Linus asked, leaning against the door.
“How do you know so much about the Holy Grail? It’s taught to us as legend or these amazing grand gifts that were given way before our time. Most elves today aren’t nearly as powerful as Havard, and people aren’t going around trying to kill them and expecting to be blessed because of it. You can’t steal Havard’s blessing from him. He has to give it to you before he dies. He has to want to give it to you, and it costs him half his spirit.”
I examined my hands to see if they looked any different. “All this talk about curses. I guess it never dawned on me that blessings were real, too.”
Jens softened. “Oh, babe. An arv is a blessing. Meant to be one, anyway.” He motioned me forward, and I could tell he needed me every bit as much as I needed him. “Please come here. I promise you won’t hurt me.” When I hesitated, Jens held his hand out in offering. “Please, Mox.”
Linus took in the temperature of our relationship and moved to my side, his hand on my back. “It’s cool, Loos. Jens is the one part of your life you don’t have to worry about.” He pushed me forward.
It was the push I needed. I fell into his arms, wasting the one chance I had to kiss my boyfriend by sobbing like a baby in his arms. So much had happened without my knowledge or consent. I was tired, and Jens was good for me. I needed something or someone to be good for me, not sucking the life from me, attacking me or shaming me.
Jens gripped me, needing me every bit as much as I needed him. He breathed me into his body, filling his lungs with my essence. He clutched me like I needed him to, hard and tight. “I’m so scared,” I admitted.
“I know, baby. I know.” His lips were rough on my face, too urgent to be romantic, but just what I wanted. “I’ll take care of it. We’ll stay the night tonight, but we’ll be gone in the morning. I promise. Foss and his men can finish his house. I’ll take you back home, Loos.”
Too many emotions swirled up in me, choking me around the throat. “I love you! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I kissed him, and it was stupid.”
“I know. We’ll go home and have Perfect Fifties Sitcom Family Night once a week. I’ll even get a pipe and wear a cardigan, and you can be June Cleaver. I’ll take you to London, if you still want that. Tuck can probably port us there, no problem. It can be his wedding gift to us, saving us a million hours on a plane.”
That stopped my heart for a second. “What?”
I froze and slipped out his arms, but Jens was persistent. He closed the gap between us, his hands cuffing my wrists so I couldn’t escape. “Marry me. When we get back, let’s get married. The real kind, not the fake kind.”
24
Marry Me
Claustrophobia threatened my sanity, but I muscled through the gag reflex for Jens. “I… we can talk about it once things settle down. I don’t want you proposing something in the heat of the moment that you’ll regret later.”
“I’ll never regret it,” he breathed, kissing me in the way he had of melting my knees and turning my resolve into mush. “Linus was right. We can’t take shortcuts. Marry me, Mox.”
Linus groaned. “Oh, man! I did this?”
I was turned around and overly emotional, which was the worst time to make decisions that had life-changing weight to them. “Jens, I don’t want a wedding.”
Jens beamed at me like he’d won the jackpot. “Is that a yes?”
I shook my head, my tears still falling. “I don’t want to move around. If we put down roots somewhere, I want you to promise me that we’ll stay there.”
Jens grew serious at this. “Okay. It’ll take some thinking, but I’m sure we can find a place that’s off the radar. Johannes might get reckless and send someone after Jamie, but I’ll figure that out.” He kissed me like he was drinking a hot beverage he’d gone his whole life without. He filled his body with me, and I loved every second of it. “I’ll get you that white picket fence. I’ll give you a home. I don’t care if I have to build it brick by brick with my own two hands.” He kissed me again, and I was a puddle of overcooked noodles in his arms. “Marry me.”
“Don’t boss me,” I argued, kissing him back like I was meant to. “Ask like a gentleman.”
Jens pulled back and slipped down onto one knee. “Lucinda Stella Kincaid,” he began.
“Not right this second!” I fretted, worried that he’d make me decide right then and there.
Linus’s hand was over his mouth, muffling his noises of alternating distress and glee, his eyes bugged.
Jens was not deterred. “When you’re ready, I want to marry you. Today, tomorrow, or in a year. The sooner the better. I’ll love you every day until we both die when we’re four thousand years old and start to think about settling down. I’ll build you a house, a white picket fence, and any kind of life you want to have. We’ll have adventures. We’ll be boring. I don’t care, so long as you’re my wife while we do it.” His eyes zeroed in on mine, aiming for the money shot. “Will you marry me, Moxie Kincaid?”
There was no end to my tears, my fear, or… or my happiness. Beneath the terror that I’d mess up the one thing I craved above all else, a small flower bloomed inside of me. It wasn’t the bouquet of calla lilies all brides carried on their wedding day, but a small, fragile daisy I knew Jens would never step on and crush. He would care for my daisy, water it and help it grow with his mad garden gnome skills. He could grow things and protect them.
For all his flaws, Jens was the perfect man for me.
I don’t know what I was thinking, except that for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t. I didn’t stop to weigh the pros and cons. I didn’t let my fear do the talking and walk all over me. I decided, after all the wrong that I’d done and that had been done to me, I would do something good for myself. I listened to the daisy, meek as it was, and answered with the rhythm my heart beat out like a quiet but steady drum.
I couldn’t find the words, so I nodded.
Instead of looking elated, Jens was thunderstruck. “Wait, what?” he asked like an idiot.
“Don’t make me say it!”
Jens held my hands in his, pleading with his eyes for me to take just one small leap further. “Lucy Kincaid, will you marry me?”
Linus let out an excited and scared bray into his hand.
It was as good a blessing as I was going to get.
My war cry was a whisper, but in the end, it was enough. “Yes. Yes, Jens the Brave. I’ll marry you.”
Jens drew me to him, his face radiant with joy and passion only I brought out in him. He buried his face in my abdomen, kissing the daisy growing there with a gentleness I knew he wanted to cast aside so he could tackle me.
That’s the thing about the man you’re supposed to be with. He knows when to pounce and when to be tender.
“Thank you,” he breathed into the fabric of my red dress. “Thank you.” He wiped his few tears on my dress. “Thank you. I’ve wanted this for so long.” Jens stood slowly, took my face in his hands and kissed me, his lips soft, and mi
ne malleable beneath the shock that this was actually happening.
I was engaged, and somehow I was happy about it. We were in new territory here.
When I pulled away to take a breath and collect my bearings, Jens was caught up in a bear hug from my twin. Linus squeezed Jens with love that was tinged with a hint of a threat to behave himself. I loved, loved, loved having a brother again.
“Line, you’re squeezing too hard,” Jens eked out.
“Then I’m winning,” Linus replied, not loosening his restrictive grip. “Now we can be brothers!”
Jens laughed, squeezing Linus with too much force in return. “Oh, Linus. We’ve always been brothers.” The squeezing competition devolved quickly into a wrestling match that had the two rolling around until they got a hold on their emotions. Jens pretended to do one of the flashier WWE moves, slapping his elbow twice before plunging it down toward Linus’s sternum. Linus did a believable faked death, twitching on the floor until Jens counted to three and raised his hands in victory.
“I let you win that one, by the way,” Linus said as he took Jens’s hand to stand. “My engagement gift to you. Congratulations, man.”
“Thanks, brother.” Jens put his hand to his chest, the moment swelling too much for him to joke about. “We’re engaged, Loos.”
When he put it so bluntly, I felt nervous in a way I couldn’t ignore.
As usual, Jens was afraid of nothing. “Let’s leave in the morning, and I’ll buy you the biggest rock your hand can hold first thing when we get back.”
I hadn’t even thought about a ring. Foss’s was around my neck, and suddenly the beautiful moment was tinged with a filthy slime feeling. “How… How is this going to work? I’m married, Jens.” I held up Foss’s ring that now felt like a weight at the end of a noose.
Reality crashed down on us, burdening us with its undeniable truths that wouldn’t go away just because I allowed myself to feel happy for a second.
Jens sobered. “I know you have to come back. Foss told me about your deal that they’d let you leave to rule your kingdom if you came back one month a year to keep up appearances.” He held my gaze, his brave face affixed firmly in place. “I can handle it.”
I shook my head. “Well, I can’t.” I examined the fat gold ring with the giant ruby. “I won’t put you through it anymore. I’ll see what I can do about this.”
Jens waved his hand to dismiss his unhappiness. “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine. Really. So long as I know you’re really mine, I can be cool for one month out of the year.”
I dropped the ring, and felt the full weight of it around my neck. “I can’t be cool anymore. We’re leaving in the morning, and I’m not coming back.”
Jens’s eyebrows raised. “I smell a Kincaid takedown. Should I just stand back and let you work?”
“That’s how I roll,” I joked.
Jens kissed me. “I love you, you know.”
“If only you’d tell me every once in a while,” I teased.
I heard a commotion outside the door that gave me pause.
Jens immediately put four feet of distance between us, and Linus stood nearer to me to erase any hint of, you know, my life going awesome for once.
When the fist pounded on the door, Jens answered, opening it to let the caller in. “What is it?”
Viggo’s eyes were wide. “Please tell the queen that her elfin guard is here and requires her aid.”
“My aid?” I asked, pushing past them all and running down toward the commotion. “Tucker?” I called, turning the corner and finding a bloody mess on the floor of the long dining room. A few servants were moving him onto the low-set wood tables, and I gasped. “Tucker!”
I threw myself over him, my hands ghosting over each fissure and lesion that tore apart his skin. He had so many open wounds, I worried about blood loss. The most troubling was a stab through his bicep that was soaked in blood that just kept on coming.
I gripped Tucker’s hand, drenching my fingers in his warm blood. His voice was shaky, and I could tell each breath caused him pain. “Jamie. It’s Jamie. He lied.”
25
Whatever it Takes
Jens, Viggo and Foss made quick work of breaking out every medical herb and supply the chief owned, applying the remedies to the various regions that needed the most healing.
The chief barked, and the servants scattered, leaving us in the dining room with him and Viggo.
“He doesn’t need that,” I protested when Viggo shoved herbs into one of the wounds, causing Tucker to howl. “He needs a hospital!”
Tucker paid us no mind. His hand shot out and gripped a handful of Jens’s shirt. “Find Jamie! Jens, you have to get him!” He cried out in distress when Foss moved his leg too much. “It’s broken! It’s broken. Don’t touch it. I still have a little extra juice in me from Lucy. Jens, I have to port you to Elvage. Tell Kristoffer and Hallamar that Jamie needs help! See if they’ll come.”
Jens gripped Tucker’s working arm. “What happened? Where’s Jamie?”
“Tonttu. Jamie sent me to check on Lucy so he could sneak back into Tonttu. He’s gone after his father! I tried to get him out, but I couldn’t! I barely escaped to get him help. We have to go, Jens!”
Tucker’s eyes were wild and he had wounds that were still seeping. I gnawed at the seam of my sleeve until I could tear a chunk free. My fingers trembled as I set about wrapping a gash on his shoulder with the scrap of fabric. “Where exactly is Jamie in Tonttu?” I asked quietly, feeling green around the gills at the thought of my big brother being in worse shape than Tucker.
Tucker had tears in his eyes. “They captured him and took him down to the dungeon. He can’t be there, Lucy! They won’t keep him alive for long! They’re making arrangements for a public hanging! Then Johannes is coming for Britta and the baby! They’re with the Huldras, but who knows how long that’ll hold! We have to go now!”
I could tell Jens’s mind was working in overload. “Okay. Wrap him up best you can, guys. Get him at least to stop bleeding, and then he can port me over. The elves can take care of him, and I can get someone else to port me the rest of the way.”
I lifted Tucker’s shirt to investigate a large pool of blood on his side. I stifled my gasp, but Linus did not. I put on my best calm smile and touched Tucker’s face to focus him as I held onto his hand. He could barely see me, his eyes focusing and unfocusing as if I was a blurry movie he couldn’t quite get a grasp on. He was scared, and that wouldn’t make for a useful vakt. “Honey, look at my face. Do I look worried? Not at all. I’m just going to wrap this so it’s not so annoying to you, okay? It might sting a little.” I bandaged up his side as quickly as I could, doing my best not to panic and make mistakes as Tucker screamed through the pain of being touched near his sore spot.
“No more!” Tucker begged.
I palmed his cheeks with my bloody hands, my calm expression firmly in place. “Sweet darling, you have to port Jens now, if you can. Can you do that for me?”
Tucker was sweaty and pale, his teeth grinding against the agony I could only imagine. “I… I… Yes. But now, before I p-pass out.”
Jens turned to Foss and the chief. “I need a signet ring! One of you, hand it over if you want to save Prince Jamie. Hallamar won’t go to war on the word of a Tom.” He held out his hand expectantly.
The chief hesitated, and I wanted to stab him for it. I whipped Foss’s ring from around my neck and plopped the leather cord into Jens’s palm. “Do it to it. Whatever it takes.” I took a breath and changed my tone so my voice was light as a feather. “Jens, when you get there, Tucker needs a doctor right away, or this is going to be a problem. Before you rally the troops, you have to get him help, or we’ll lose him.”
Jens gave a nod and scooped Tucker’s upper half up in his strong embrace, causing Tucker to wail at the ceiling. “Okay, buddy. One more adventure, and then we’re doing something fun with your powers. Let’s rob a bank or light a landfill on fire or something.”
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Tucker coughed out half a laugh as he gripped Jens’s shirt with his hand that looked fresh from a slasher movie. He closed his eyes and breathed into Jens’s neck. Then Tucker let out an agonized scream that ripped me in two before they vanished.
26
The Alliance
The chief demanded answers, but there weren’t enough to piece together to feed him. “Look, Johannes ran his land into the ground,” I explained, trying not to feel yuppie guilt as a servant washed my hands for me in a water basin. “We saw it when we first crossed over. We barely escaped with our lives the first time.”
The chief snapped his fingers at the servants to clean up the dining room, and then led us into a cozier room filled with bearskin rugs and mutilated animal heads mounted on the wall. The darker wood gave the room a quieter feel, though I was sure my shaking was audible by this point.
The chief took pity on me and wrapped a fur blanket around my shoulders, rubbing warmth into them as he lowered me down into an overstuffed chair with feet that looked like they’d been carved into vicious claws. Foss shut the door behind us, dismissing Linus and Viggo from the adult conversation.
The chief sat back in his grander chair that had razor teeth carved into the feet. “I’ve heard talk of the decline of the Tomten. I don’t bother myself with the affairs of gnomes too often, but when a few of them asked permission to flee to our land, I knew they had to be desperate. I heard that Jokull married the Nisse woman in Prince Jamie’s stead, but then heard something about Jokull murdering Freya and taking her father’s land.” He ironed out a crease on his forehead. “We’ve had to do more trading with them since Foss’s land burned, destroying a large portion of our food. Highest prices I’ve ever seen, and on produce that isn’t the quality it used to be.”
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