“Fine! Whatever!”

He ripped the sheets off the bed and muttered to himself. He’d done too much today and overloaded his brain. My head was still buzzing, and I was stronger than him. I couldn’t imagine how he felt.

I gathered up the duffle bag I’d packed from Förening and went down to take a shower. Leaving him alone to rest would probably be the best thing I could do for him. I wanted to take a long hot shower, but by the time I got to it, the water was cold, so I showered quickly.

Even before I made it to the room, I could hear Tove. His mutterings had gotten louder.

“Tove?” I said quietly and pushed open the bedroom door.

“Where have you been?” Tove shouted, his eyes wide and frantic. All the cleaning I had done in the room had been undone. Everything was strewn about, and he was pacing.

“I was in the shower,” I said. “I told you.”

“Did you hear that?” He froze and looked around.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re not even listening!” Tove yelled.

“Tove, you’re tired.” I walked into the room. “You need to sleep.”

“No, I can’t sleep.” He shook his head and looked away from me. “No. Wendy.” He ran his hands through his hair. “You don’t understand.”

“What don’t I understand?” I asked.

“I can hear it all.” He put both his hands to the side of his head. “I can hear it all!” He kept repeating it, and he held his head tighter. His nose started to bleed, and he groaned.

“Tove!” I rushed over to him and I reached out, just to comfort him, but when I did, he slapped me hard in the face.

“Don’t you dare!” Tove turned on me and threw me back on the bed. I was too startled to do anything. “I can’t trust you! I can’t trust any of you!”

“Tove, please calm down,” I begged him. “This isn’t you. You’re just tired.”

“Don’t tell me who I am! You don’t know who I am!”

“Tove.” I slid to the edge of the bed, so that I was sitting, and he stood in front of me, glowering down at me. “Tove, please listen to me.”

“I can’t.” He bit his lip. “I can’t hear you!”

“You can hear me,” I said. “I’m right here.”

“You’re lying!” Tove grabbed me by my shoulders and started shaking me.

“Hey!” Loki shouted, and Tove let go of me.

I’d left the bedroom door open when I came in, and Loki had been on his way back to his room from his own shower. He was still shirtless, and his light hair was dripping water onto his shoulders.

“Go away!” Tove yelled at him. “I can’t have you here!”

“What the hell are you doing?” Loki asked.

“Loki, it’s not him,” I said. “He’s used his abilities too much, and it’s done something to him. He needs to sleep.”

“Stop telling me what I need to do!” Tove growled. He raised his hand like he meant to slap me again, and I flinched.

“Tove!” Loki shouted and ran over to him.

“Loki!” I yelled, afraid that he would hit him, but he didn’t.

Loki grabbed Tove by the shoulders, making him look at him. Tove tried to squirm away, but within seconds, he was unconscious. His body slacked, and Loki caught him. I moved out of the way so Loki could lay him back down on the bed.

“Sorry,” I said, unsure of what else to say.

“Don’t be sorry. He was the one hitting you.”

“No, he wasn’t.” I shook my head. “I mean, he was. But that’s not Tove. That’s not who he is. He would never hurt anybody. He just…”

I trailed off. I wanted to cry. My face stung from where Tove had slapped me. But that’s not even why I wanted to cry. He was sick, and he was only going to get sicker. Tomorrow he’d be better, but eventually his powers would eat away at his brain. Eventually, there wouldn’t be any Tove left.

“Hey.” Loki touched my arm. “Come on. You can’t stay here with him tonight.”

16. One Night

I’d gotten Aurora and sent her in to stay with Tove for the night. I felt guilty for leaving him, but she would be better equipped to handle him if he got out of control again.

Since she was staying with Tove, I took her room. The four-poster bed sat in the corner, draped with red curtains and sheets. One of the walls was very crooked, practically leaning on top of the bed, and it made the room feel even smaller.

My powers hadn’t drained me as much as they had Tove, but my mind felt strange. Not aching, exactly, but almost numb. My thoughts were a little scrambled and disjointed, and it didn’t help that Tove had just slapped me

“Are you going to be alright now?” Loki asked. He’d walked me over here, and he waited just inside the doorway.

“Yeah, I’m great,” I lied and sat down on the bed. “The entire kingdom is falling apart. People are dying. I have to kill my father. And my husband just went crazy.”

“Princess, none of that’s your fault.”

“Well, it feels like it’s all my fault,” I said, and a tear slid down my cheek. “I only make everything worse.”

“That’s not true at all.” Loki walked over and sat on the bed next to me. “Princess, don’t cry.”