“I will never love you,” I said bitterly, and he winced.
“I’m only telling you what the King thought,” Loki said carefully. “So he told me to get you to willingly come back with me, and I said I would. Because I didn’t have a choice.
“But Wendy, I swear to you, I never would’ve brought you back to him. Otherwise I never would have tried to talk you out of going there tonight. If that were my plan, I would have encouraged you to place yourself in his hands.”
“I understand that you had to appease Oren to survive,” I said. “I really do. And I can even forgive that. But why didn’t you tell me when you broke down my door begging for amnesty?”
He stared at the ground solemnly, then looked up and met my eyes. “Because I was ashamed that I’d ever agreed to it, even in pretense. And I didn’t want to change the way you thought of me. I didn’t want you to question all the real moments we’d shared together.” He smiled sadly. “Like you do now.”
“Why did you go back in the first place?” I asked thickly. “Why didn’t you refuse to go back with Sara and stay in Förening?”
“Because if I stayed, it would break the truce, or the King could argue it did,” Loki said. “He would come and take you. I didn’t want to risk that.”
“What about what you said in the garden?” I asked, looking down at my feet. For some reason, it was suddenly difficult to meet his gaze. “When you asked me to run away with you, you wouldn’t have taken me back to him?”
“No,” Loki said vehemently. “I never would have. Not to save my own life. Not for the fate of the entire kingdom. When I kissed you and asked you to marry me, I meant it. I wanted you to be with me.”
I sniffled and stared out at the bleak whiteness around us, and the heaviness in my chest began to subside. I could see a car coming, far off down the road, but Loki put his hand on my chin, tilting it so I met his eyes.
“I made a choice between you and the King, and I chose you,” Loki said. “In the garden, we were alone. I could’ve knocked you out and thrown you over my shoulder, then taken you back to the King. He would’ve spared me if I had.
“But I didn’t.” He stepped closer to me, and I could feel the heat radiating from his body. “He told me what he’d do to me if I didn’t return you to him, but I couldn’t do it.”
He lifted his other hand, so he held my face in his hands. His skin was warm against mine, and even if he wasn’t holding me, I wouldn’t have looked away. There was something in his eyes, a longing and warmth, that took my breath away.
“Do you understand now?” Loki asked, his voice husky. “I would do it again for you, Wendy. I would go through hell and back for you. Even knowing how much you hate me right now.”
I was so caught up in the moment I didn’t even notice how close the passing SUV had gotten until it squealed to a stop next to us, nearly hitting our Cadillac. Loki moved toward me, and Tove jumped out of the driver’s seat. Finn ran around the car and charged at Loki.
FOURTEEN
confrontation
Finn punched Loki in the face, and Loki raised his fist like he meant to strike back. That wouldn’t have been so bad, except Loki was about fifty times stronger than Finn and would bust his face in.
“Loki!” I yelled. “Don’t you dare hit him!”
“You are so lucky.” Loki glared at Finn and wiped the blood from his nose.
“What the hell were you doing?” Finn shouted at him. “What’s wrong with you? You had no right to take her anywhere!”
“Finn,” Tove said. “Stop. Calm down. She’s fine.”
Duncan and Willa climbed out of the backseat of the SUV, and my heart sank. Loki had been right. They had been part of the rescue mission too, and if we’d left Ondarike an hour later, Duncan, Willa, Tove, and Finn would all be dead.
“Like this was my idea!” Loki yelled back at Finn. “She’s the Princess. She commanded, and I obeyed!”
“You don’t obey a suicide mission!” Finn shouted.
“It wasn’t a suicide mission,” I said, loud enough to be heard over their yelling.
They stood in front of the Cadillac, staring at each other, and, strangely, I was grateful that Loki was so much stronger than Finn. If they were equally matched, Loki probably wouldn’t hold back, and there would be a hell of a fistfight.
“Are you okay?” Willa asked, walking over to me.
“Why are you on the side of the road?” Duncan asked.
“I needed fresh air,” I said. “Everything’s fine. I got the Vittra to back off until I’m Queen. They won’t attack any of us, no matter where we are.”
“What the hell did you agree to?” Finn asked, breaking his icy stare-down with Loki to look at me.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “We’ll stop them before it comes to that.”
“Wendy.” Finn sighed and shook his head, then turned back to Loki. “And you, Markis, I lost any respect I had for you.”
“She was going to go whether I went with her or not,” Loki said. “I thought it would be better if she didn’t go alone.”
“She shouldn’t have gone at all!” Finn yelled.
“Yes, I should have!” I shouted at him. “If I hadn’t, the Vittra would still be killing our people. I bought us more time, and I saved lives. That is my job, Finn. I did what I had to do, and I would do it again.”
“You didn’t have to do it like this,” Finn said.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “It’s done. Now I’ve had a very long day, and I would just like to go home.”
“Come on, Wendy.” Willa put her arm around me.
“Duncan, would you mind riding with Loki?” Tove asked. “I’d like to talk to my wife.”
Duncan nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
Willa led me around the SUV, and I glanced back over my shoulder at Loki. He was still standing in the road, watching me walk away. Something in his eyes broke my heart, and I looked away from him.
I climbed into the SUV, and Willa got in the seat behind me. Finn stayed outside, and it looked like he wanted to say something to Loki, but Tove sent him to the car. When he climbed in back next to Willa, Finn was still seething and glared out the window.
Tove stayed outside a bit longer, talking to Loki, and I wished I could read lips.
“What were you thinking, Wendy?” Finn asked, barely restraining the anger in his voice.
“I did what was best for the kingdom,” I said simply. “Isn’t that what you always told me to do?”
“Not at your own peril,” Finn said.
I looked in the rearview mirror so I could meet his eyes. “You’ve told me over and over again that I shouldn’t make decisions because of you. That I should think of the greater good of the kingdom. You were right, but this isn’t about me either.”
“I’m glad you’re safe,” Willa said, breaking the tension. “And I know that you’re badass and all that, but you don’t have to do this alone. You could’ve asked for help.”
“I had help,” I said, watching Loki out the car window. “Loki was with me.”
Finn scoffed at that, but at least he didn’t say anything.
Outside, I saw Loki nod and get in the driver’s side of the car. Tove walked back to the SUV and got in. Loki’s Cadillac sped off down the road, and Tove made a U-turn and drove behind him.
“You didn’t tell me,” Tove said at length.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I did what—”
“Don’t,” Tove cut me off. “This isn’t about what you did or why you did it or if it was the right thing to do.”
“What is this about, then?” I asked.
“We’re married, Wendy.” Tove glanced over at me. “Do you know why I asked you to marry me?”
“No,” I said, and I could feel Finn and Willa watching us from the backseat.
“So we could be a team,” Tove said. “I thought you needed someone to support you and stand by your side, and I know I needed the same thing.”
&
nbsp; “We are a team,” I said meekly.
“Then why did you go behind my back?” Tove asked.
“I didn’t think you would understand,” I said.
“When have I not understood?” Tove asked. “When have I not trusted you? When have I even tried to stop you from doing something?”
“You haven’t,” I admitted quietly. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Tove said. “Just don’t do it again. I want us to work. But to do that, you have to tell me what’s going on. You can’t risk your life or make major decisions about the kingdom without at least letting me know.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated and stared down at my lap.
“Loki told me what you did,” Tove said, and I lifted my head.
“What?”
“What you exchanged for the peace now,” Tove said. “He told me the plan, and it’s a good one. But we have our work cut out for us.”
“What?” Willa leaned forward between the seats. “What’s the plan?”
I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want to talk anymore. I was exhausted, and I knew how much work we had ahead of us if we were going to stand a chance against the Vittra. But right now, all I wanted to do was sleep.
Thankfully, Loki had told Tove enough that he could explain it to Willa and Finn. I rested my head against the cold glass of the car window and listened to them talk about what we needed to do.
Some of the trackers had already made it back to Förening, and the rest would be there in the next few days. Thomas had already begun a boot camp for them.
Trackers had some combat training to help protect the changelings and other Trylle, but they weren’t soldiers. Thomas was charged with turning them into an army, but they were going up against a powerful enemy they didn’t know how to defeat.
Thanks to the extended peace agreement, we were now free to go to Oslinna. When we got back to Förening, we could set up another team and head out the next day. This time, Willa volunteered to go. I would go, whether anyone liked it or not, but I didn’t say that during the car ride. I didn’t have the strength to argue.
The hardest part would be convincing other Markis and Marksinna to join the fight. Loki thought the only thing stronger than the hobgoblins were Trylle abilities, so the ones best equipped to a fight them were the higher-ranking Trylle.
Willa said that we shouldn’t tell the other Trylle what I had exchanged to get our new peace agreement. They would revolt if they thought I’d risked the kingdom. I would tell them that I had seen Oren and extended the agreement by offering to go with him voluntarily in six months.
The Trylle still wouldn’t like that, but they would feel much better if they only lost me. In the meantime, we would rally them for a fight against the Vittra and hope that it worked when it came time for war.
We all had a mission when we got back to Förening. Willa was to start working on the Markis and Marksinna. They all seemed to like her, and she might be able to convince some of them to fight with us. She’d also been working on her own abilities, and she could train those who had let their abilities atrophy.
Finn would work with his father and the trackers to build up the army. He even grudgingly agreed to enlist Loki to help him. Loki was physically as strong as a hobgoblin, so at the very least, the trackers could practice fighting him to get an idea of what that kind of strength could do.
Tove had to figure out who to appoint as temporary Chancellor until an election could be held. He’d volunteered to fill the Chancellor position because he felt responsible for sending our old Chancellor to die. I assured him that it wasn’t his fault, but he said he already had Markis Bain in mind for the role.
And I had what sounded like the easiest job but felt like the most impossible. I had to find a way to kill the King.
When we got back to the palace, there was a flurry of defense meetings going on. Tove had purposely not told anyone that I had left with Loki, out of fear of starting a panic, but I called a meeting as soon as we were back to let them all know. Loki planned to head off to his room, but I asked him to go with us. I needed the Trylle to trust him. He had the most knowledge of the Vittra, so he would be the best-equipped to help us fight.
The meeting went about as well as I’d expected. Lots of yelling and disagreeing, although the Marksinna Laris was quiet since Tove had threatened to banish her. Once I got them calmed down and explained what I was going to do and what had to be done, they took it a bit better. A clear plan helped ease their fears.
I ended the meeting by telling them that we were going on a recovery and fact-finding mission to Oslinna. Without even asking them, I volunteered myself, Willa, Tove, Loki, and Aurora to go. I was trying to ease the Trylle population into the idea that Markis and Marksinna could do actual work, and hopefully they would when I called upon them.
Afterward, we all dispersed to complete our tasks. As desperately as I wanted to sleep, I didn’t have time. I had to go to the library and find every book on the Vittra I could. There had to have been other immortals before Oren, and there had to be ways of killing them.
Of course, all the old texts were written in Tryllic in an attempt to disguise them from the Vittra. That was where the most useful information would be kept on how to stop them. My Tryllic had gotten better, but it wasn’t fantastic. It took me ages to read a single page.
“Wendy,” Tove said, and I looked up to see him standing in the doorway of the library. My vision was blurry, as I’d spent too long staring down at old texts.
I was sitting on the floor among a pile of books near the far wall. I’d started out carrying books over to the desk before deciding that was a waste of time, and I had no time to waste. We were leaving for Oslinna in the morning, and we would be gone for a few days, so I wouldn’t be able to research then.
“Did you need something?” I asked.
“It’s late,” Tove said. “Very late.”
“I have a few more documents to go through.”
“When was the last time you slept?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t have time to sleep. There’s so much to do, and I don’t know how we can possibly do it. I don’t know how we can be ready, unless I’m working every minute.”
“You need sleep.” He came into the room and walked over to me. “We need you to be strong, and that means you need to rest sometimes. It is a necessary evil.”
“But what if I can’t do this?” I asked, staring up at him with tears in my eyes. “What if I can’t find a way to stop Oren?”
“You will,” he assured me. “You’re the Princess.”
“Tove.” I sighed.
“Come on.” He held out his hand to me. “Sleep now. We can look more in the morning.”
I let him take my hand and pull me to my feet. He was already in his pajamas, and his hair was even more disheveled than normal. I guessed he’d tried to sleep without me, but he’d gone looking for me when I hadn’t come to bed.
My mind was racing, thinking of all the things I had to do. I didn’t think I’d ever really be able to sleep, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.
FIFTEEN
oslinna
It looked like a bomb had gone off. Oslinna was a small town, even smaller than Förening. It was settled in a valley at the base of several low mountains. I’d never seen it before the attack, but by the looks of what was left of some of the buildings, it had been quite beautiful.
All of the trackers’ homes were smashed. Trackers lived in small cottages, most of them nestled in trees or the mountains, and the floors were usually just dirt. They were very easily destroyed. But the nicer homes of the Markis and Marksinna were decimated too, with large sections of the roofs missing and entire walls collapsed.
The palace in the center was the only thing still standing. It was like a version of my own palace, except on a smaller scale and with fewer windows. While the back of my palace overlooked the river, this one was
built into the mountain behind it.
Half of the palace had crumbled, and it was blackened, as if burned. The other half looked okay, at least from the outside. There had been some obvious damage, like broken windows and a destroyed fountain, but it looked much better than the rest of the town.
We’d driven slowly through the town, in awe of the carnage, and Tove had to swerve a few times to miss debris in the road. He stopped in front of the palace, parking next to an uprooted oak tree.
“This is too much for us to handle,” Aurora said from the backseat. She’d been complaining about helping the entire way here, but we’d left her without a choice. She was the strongest healer, and the people of Oslinna had been hurt.
“We’ll do all that we can,” I said. “And if we can’t do any more, then so be it.”
I got out of the car before she could voice any more complaints, and Duncan pulled up in another Cadillac behind us. He had Willa, Matt, and Loki with him. Finn had wanted to come too, but he was still healing and Thomas needed him to help with the trackers. Matt had insisted on coming along, and at first I’d been against it, but we really could use all the hands we could get.
“This is even worse than I thought it would be,” Willa said. She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head.
“This is who you’re fighting?” Matt asked, looking around. “The people who did this?”
“We’re not fighting anyone right now,” I said, cutting off his train of thought. “We’re cleaning this up, helping the survivors, taking back refugees, and that’s the only thing we need to worry about.”
Loki lifted up a heavy branch and moved it off the path to the palace. The path had been cobblestone, but many of the stones were missing, tossed about on the lawn.
Tove and I approached the palace, trying to look both dignified and empathetic. The empathy part wasn’t hard. Seeing that much damage was devastating.
Before we got to the palace, the door was thrown open. A girl not much older than me came out, her dark hair pulled up in a tangled mess, and smudges of dirt and ash covering her face and clothes. She was small, even shorter than I was, and she looked as though she might cry.
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