“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.”

“I understand that,” 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?”

“Because it didn’t matter,” he said. “Oren may have told me to pretend to care about you, but I cared about you for real. Why would I tell you that somebody asked me to lie when I’d only been telling the truth?”

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to believe anything you say,” I sniffled and stared out at the bleak whiteness around us. I could see a car coming, far off down the road.

“I made a choice between you and the King, and I chose you,” Loki said.

“When?” I asked. “After he’d beaten you?”

“No, I chose you knowing what he’d do,” 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. It’s not exactly what he asked for, but he would’ve spared me if I had.

“But I didn’t.” He stepped closer to me, and I looked back at him. “He told me what he’d do to me if I didn’t return you to him, but I couldn’t do it. And he tortured me, Wendy! I went through hell for you!”

“Why did you go back?” I asked thickly.

“Because if I stayed, it would break the embargo, or he could argue that it did,” Loki said. “So the King could come and take you. I didn’t want to risk that.”

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.

14. Confrontation

Finn punched Loki in the face, and Loki raised his fist like he meant to strike back. That wouldn’t be 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 down at Finn and wiped at the blood on 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 sunk. Loki had been right. They had been part of the rescue mission too, and if we’d left an hour later from the Vittra palace, 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 down 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 it would be a fist fight.

“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 with Loki to look at me.

“It doesn’t matter.” I shook my head. “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 morning, 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.”

“Yeah, sure,” Duncan nodded.

Willa led me around the SUV, and I glanced back once over my shoulder at Loki. He was still standing in the road, and he was 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.