“If it’s so horrible there, why don’t you stay with us?” I asked without thinking.
“No.” He shook his head and lowered his eyes. “Tempting though the offer may be, your people wouldn’t allow it, and my people . . . well, let’s just say they wouldn’t react well if I didn’t come home. And whether I like it or not, it is my home.”
“I know that feeling all too well.” I sighed. Though Förening was starting to feel more like home, I wasn’t sure that it ever would completely.
“See? I told you, Princess.” Loki’s smile returned more easily. “You and I aren’t all that different.”
“You say that like it means something.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“No, not really. You’re leaving today, going home to my enemies.” I let out a deep breath, feeling an ache inside my chest. “If I’m lucky, I’ll never see you again. Because if I do, that means we’re at war, and I’d have to hurt you.”
“Oh, Wendy, that’s perhaps the saddest thing I’ve ever heard,” Loki said, and he looked like he meant it. “But life doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. Don’t you ever see the silver lining?”
“Not today.” I shook my head. I heard Garrett summon me from down the hall, which meant that lunch was over and the meetings were about to start up. “I have to get back. I’ll see you when we make the exchange with the Vittra Queen.”
“Good luck.” Loki nodded.
I turned to walk away, and I hadn’t made it very far when I heard Loki calling after me.
“Wendy!” Loki leaned out into the hall, so far it made him grimace with pain. “If you’re right, and the next time we see each other is when our kingdoms are at war, you and I never will be. I’ll never fight you. That I can promise you.”
The meetings continued on, each one with the same grueling pace. The participants kept repeating the same information. What to do if the Vittra reneged on the deal. What to do if the Vittra attacked. What to do if the Vittra tried to kidnap me.
And it all boiled down to one answer—fight back. Tove and I would use our abilities, the trackers would use their strength and skill, and the Chancellor would cower in the corner.
Our last step before the Vittra Queen officially arrived was to sign the treaty. It’d already been sent over to the Vittra first, so Oren’s name was scribbled across the bottom in blood red. Garrett had to take it up to Elora in her room, and she added her own signature. Once he came back down with it, all we had to do was wait in the War Room for Sara to arrive.
At two-thirty, Elora released Loki, and he promised to be on his best behavior. Just the same, Thomas and Finn treated him like they thought he was a bomb about to explode.
Since we were meeting the dignitary of an enemy nation, I thought I’d better look the part of the Princess, especially since Elora was unable to join us. I dressed in a dark violet gown, and I’d enlisted Willa to help me with my hair.
“If I’d known you’d look so beautiful, I would’ve gotten dressed up,” Loki teased when Finn and Thomas brought him into the War Room. Finn shoved him into a seat unnecessarily hard, but Loki didn’t protest.
“Don’t get familiar with the Princess,” Duncan told him, giving him a stony look.
“My apologies,” Loki said. “I wouldn’t want to get familiar with anyone.”
Loki looked about the room. Duncan, Finn, Thomas, Tove, the Chancellor, and I were the ones set to meet Sara. The rest of the house was on standby, should we need them, but we didn’t want to look like we were ambushing Sara when she arrived.
“Did you change your mind and decide to execute me?” Loki asked, looking us over. “Because you all look like you’re going to a funeral.”
“Not now,” I said, fidgeting with my bracelet and watching the clock.
“Then when, Princess?” Loki asked. “Because we only have about fifteen minutes until I leave.”
I rolled my eyes and ignored him.
By the time the doorbell chimed, I’d taken to pacing the room. I nearly jumped when I heard it. The exchange was supposed to be clean and simple, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. My father had lied and betrayed the Trylle before.
“Here we go,” I said and took a deep breath.
I carried the treaty in my hands, a tube of paper rolled up and tied with a red ribbon, and I led the way down the corridor to the front hall. Duncan followed directly behind me on my left side, and Tove was at my right. Finn and Thomas each took one of Loki’s arms, in case he decided to struggle or fight, and the Chancellor brought up the rear.
Two other guards had let the Queen in, and they waited with her. She stood in the center of the rotunda, flakes of snow sticking to her crimson cloak. She’d pushed the hood down, and her cheeks were rosy from the cold. She’d arrived alone, except for Ludlow, the small hobgoblin I’d seen in the Vittra palace.
“Princess.” Sara smiled warmly when she saw me. She did a small curtsy, and I returned it, making sure to keep it equally small.
“Queen. I trust you traveled well,” I said.
“Yes, though the roads were a bit icy.” She gestured to the doors behind her with velvet-gloved hands. “I hope we didn’t keep you waiting.”
“No, you arrived on time,” I assured her.
“She’s here now,” Loki said, but I didn’t look back to see if he was pulling at Finn and Thomas. “Can you let me go?”
“Not until the agreement is finalized,” Finn said through gritted teeth.
“My Queen, can we settle this, please?” Loki called to her, sounding irritated. “This tracker is getting handsy.”
“The Markis hasn’t been too much trouble?” Sara asked, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment.
“Not too much,” I replied with a thin smile. “When we return him to you, you agree to peace until my coronation. Is that correct?”
“Yes.” Sara nodded. “The Vittra will not attack you as long as Elora is Queen. But as soon as you become Queen, the cease-fire is over.”
I handed the treaty over to her. I’d expected her to unroll it and double-check it for accuracy, but she simply nodded again, apparently deciding to trust us.
“Now they can let me go?” Loki asked.
“Yes,” I said.
I heard a skirmish behind me, and then Loki walked past me, smoothing out his shirt. Sara gave him a disapproving look, and he took his place at her side.
“It’s all settled, then?” Loki asked.
“It appears that way,” Sara said. “Princess, you know you are always welcome at our palace.”
“I do,” I admitted.
“The King wanted me to extend an invitation to you,” Sara said. “If you return to the Vittra to take your rightful place at his side, he will offer amnesty to Förening and everyone who lives here.”
I faltered for a moment, unsure how to respond. I didn’t want to go there, and I certainly didn’t trust the King, but it was hard to pass up. It would protect everybody I cared about, including Matt and Finn.
I glanced at Loki, expecting him to be grinning or teasing me to join him, but instead, his cocky smile had faltered. He swallowed, and his caramel eyes were almost frightened.
“Princess.” Tove touched my arm, just above my elbow. “We have other business to attend to this afternoon. Perhaps we should see our guests out.”
“Yes, of course.” I smiled thinly. “If you’ll forgive me, I do have things I need to do.”
“Of course.” Sara smiled. “We don’t need to take up any more of your time.”
“It’s just as well.” Loki looked relieved and smiled at me. “Ondarike is no place for a Princess.”
“Markis,” Sara said coolly.
She did another curtsy, which I reciprocated, then turned away. Ludlow the hobgoblin never said anything, but he gathered up her train so it wouldn’t drag on the ground. As they walked to the door, Loki started to say something, but Sara silenced him.
He glanced over his shoulder once, his eyes meeting mi
ne, and I was surprised to find how much my heart ached at seeing him go. We hadn’t spent that much time together, but I’d felt oddly connected almost since the moment I met him.
Then he was gone out the door, and out of my life, and I actually wanted to cry.
Once they were gone, I let out a deep breath.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I said. It wasn’t bad at all, really. The nerve-racking buildup had been the worst part.
The Chancellor was sweating like a pig, but this was nothing new. I smiled gratefully at Tove. It had been nice having him at my side. Backup and support were never a bad thing.
“Those little hobgoblins freak me out.” Duncan shuddered at the thought of Ludlow. “I don’t know how they can live with them.”
“I’m sure they think the same thing about you,” Finn muttered.
“I think we all know what we have to do,” the Chancellor said, wringing his pudgy hands together.
“What?” I asked, since I had no idea what we had to do.
“We need to attack them while the truce is still in play,” the Chancellor said. Sweat dripped down into his beady eyes, and his white suit had wet circles all over it.
“The whole point of the truce is that we have peace,” I said. “If we attack them, we negate that, and we’re back at war.”
“We need to get a drop on them when they’re not expecting it,” the Chancellor insisted, his jowls shaking. “This is our only chance to have the upper hand!”
I shook my head. “No, this is our chance to rebuild after the last attack and find ways to handle this conflict peaceably. We need to work on uniting the Trylle and being as strong as we can be. Or coming up with something we can offer the Vittra to get them off our back.”
“Well, we know what we can offer them.” The Chancellor eyed me.
“We’re not negotiating with them,” Finn interjected.
The Chancellor glared at him. “Of course, you’re not negotiating with anybody for anything.”
“We can’t cross negotiations out,” Tove said, and before Finn could protest, he went on. “Obviously, we’re not giving them the Princess, but we can’t rule out other options. Enough people have died already. And after fighting for all this time, nobody has won. I think we need to try something different.”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “We should use this time to figure out what that might be.”
“You want to find something new to barter with?” the Chancellor scoffed. “We can’t trust the Vittra King!”
“Just because he plays dirty doesn’t mean we have to,” I said.
“And the only reason we won this last fight is because it happened on our turf and they left their strongest players at home,” Tove said. “If we meet them at their house, they have the advantage. They would crush us the way they have every other time. We need to learn from our mistakes.”
“Fine!” The Chancellor threw up his hands. “Do what you want! But the blood will be on your hands, not mine.”
The Chancellor stalked off, defeated. I smiled up at Tove.
“Thanks for backing me up,” I said.
Tove shrugged. “It’s what I do.”
TWENTY-THREE
proposal
After Sara and Loki left, I went up to report to Elora how I’d done. Garrett was sitting with her in the drawing room, where Elora was lying down. Her skin color had brightened, but she was still out of it.
I kept my explanation brief, but they both seemed proud of me. It had been my first official duty as a Princess, and I’d passed. Elora actually said I did well. When I left, I felt surprisingly good.
I met Tove on my way back from the room. He came from the kitchen, and he had a handful of grapes. He offered me one, but I didn’t feel much like eating, so I shook my head.
“Do you feel like a real Princess yet?” Tove asked me as he munched on a grape.
“I don’t know.” I pulled off the heavy diamond necklace I’d worn to look the part. “But I don’t know if I ever will. I think I’ll always feel like an imposter.”
“Well, you definitely look like a real Princess.”
“Thanks.” I turned to him and smiled. “And you did really well today. You were focused and very regal.”
“Thanks.” He tossed a grape in his mouth and grinned. “I spent a lot of time rearranging my furniture before the meeting started. It seemed to help.”
“It did.”
We walked in silence for a bit, him eating his fruit and me fiddling with the necklace. The silence between us didn’t feel awkward, though, and I thought about how nice it was. Being able to be with someone without it feeling forced or weird or agonizingly restrained.
I also started to understand what Elora and Finn meant. Tove was strong and intelligent and kind, but his abilities made him too frazzled to be a leader. He did an amazing job of backing me up and supporting me, and I knew that no matter what, he’d be at my side.
“So.” Tove swallowed the last grape and stopped. He stared down at the floor and tucked his tangled hair behind his ears. “I’m sure that the Queen has told you of the arrangement that she and my mother made.” He paused. “You know, about us getting married.”
“Yeah.” I nodded, feeling strangely nervous to hear him bring it up.
“I don’t agree with them sneaking around and plotting things, like we’re pawns in a game and not people.” Tove chewed the inside of his cheek and looked down the hallway. “It’s not right, and I told Aurora that. She needs to stop treating me like a . . . I don’t know. A pawn.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, and I kept nodding.
“She thinks she can control me all the time, and I know your mother tries to do the same stuff with you.” He sighed. “It’s like they had all these ideas of who we would be before we got here, and they refuse to adjust them even when they see we’re not what they expected.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” I said.
“I know about your past.” He glanced over at me, resting his eyes on me only for a second. “Aurora told me about your father and how you’re at risk of losing the crown because of him, because of your parents’ mistakes. That’s stupid because I know how powerful you are and how much you care about people.”
“Thank you?” I said uncertainly.
“You need to be Queen. Everyone who knows anything knows that, but most people don’t know anything, and that is a problem.” He scratched at the back of his head and shifted his weight. “I would never take that away from you. No matter what happens, I’d never take the crown from you, and I’d defend you against anybody who tried.”
I didn’t say anything to that. I’d never heard Tove talk so much before, and I didn’t know what he was getting at.
“I know that you’re in love with . . . well, not me,” he said carefully. “And I’m not in love with you either. But I do respect you, and I like you.”
“I respect and like you too,” I said, and he gave me a small smile.
“But it’s a number of things, and it’s none of them.” He let out a deep breath. “That didn’t make sense. I mean, it’s because you need somebody to help you keep the throne, and somebody on your side, and I can do that. But . . . it’s just because I think . . . I want to.”
“What?” I asked, and he actually looked at me, letting his mossy eyes stare into mine.
“Will you . . . I mean, do you want to get married?” Tove asked. “To me?”
“I, um . . .” I didn’t know what to say.
“If you don’t want to, nothing has to change between us,” Tove said hurriedly. “I asked because it sounds like a good idea to me.”
“Yeah,” I said, and I didn’t know what I would say until it was coming out of my mouth. “I mean, yes. I do. I will. I would . . . I’ll marry you.”
“Yeah?” Tove smiled.
“Yes.” I swallowed hard and tried to smile back.
“Good.” He exhaled and looked back down the hall. “This is good, right?”
“Yeah,
I think so,” I said, and I meant it.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I sorta feel like throwing up now, though.”
“I think that’s normal.”
“Good.” He nodded again and looked at me. “Well, I’ll let you go . . . do whatever you need to do. And I’ll go do what I do.”
“Okay.” I nodded.
“All right.” He randomly patted me on the shoulder, then nodded again, and walked away.
I had no idea what I’d just agreed to. I wasn’t in love with Tove, and I really didn’t think he was in love with me.
Tove and I understood and respected each other, and that was something. But more important, it was what the kingdom needed. Elora was convinced that marrying Tove was the best thing for me and for the Trylle.
I had to do what was best for our people, and if that meant marrying Tove, then so be it. There were a lot worse people I could end up married to.
I changed out of my gown, then I took Duncan with me to the library. He helped me find some good history texts about the Trylle, and I began reading through them. Finn had had me skim some things before my christening ceremony, but if I planned to rule these people, I needed to understand who they were.
I spent the rest of the evening in the library, getting as much information as I could. Duncan ended up passed out and curled up in one of the chairs. It was late when I woke him up to walk me to my room. I wasn’t sure how much protection groggy Duncan really offered, but I doubted I needed it anyway.
The next morning, Tove and I went to the atrium to do some training, and I enjoyed getting back in a routine. Duncan went along, and if things seemed awkward between Tove and me, Duncan didn’t say anything. It did feel weird being newly engaged, but Tove did a good job of keeping me on task.
I was getting a better mastery of my abilities, and they were becoming stronger. I lifted the throne off the floor, with Duncan sitting in it, and it didn’t require as much concentration as it had before. Right behind my eyes pain throbbed dully, but I ignored it.
When Tove moved a chair, levitating it in a circle to demonstrate what he wanted me to do, I couldn’t help but think of Elora. How weak and frail she looked from being drained by her powers.
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