“Juni. Juni Sköld.” She smiled, making a dimple on her smooth skin. “I went to tracker school years ago with Bryn and Tilda, but I flunked out, so it’s no surprise that they’ve forgotten me.”

“I’m sure Bryn didn’t forget you,” Ridley said, casting a look at me that I deftly avoided meeting. “She’s just had a busy week.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you both,” Finn said, breaking the growing tension.

“Likewise,” Ridley said. “So what were we talking about when I so rudely interrupted?”

“Finn doesn’t understand the point of the Högdragen,” Tilda said, filling him in with a hint of bitterness to her words. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she turned to look at him as Ridley spoke, as if waiting for Ridley to tell him.

Ridley didn’t seem that fazed by it, though. “The Trylle use trackers to guard the King and Queen, right?”

Finn nodded. “Correct.”

“Wow, you guys don’t have a guard?” Juni asked, sounding genuinely shocked. Her caramel eyes widened, and she put her hand to her chest, making her bracelets jingle. “That is so weird and kinda scary.”

“How so?” Finn asked.

“The tracker program is hard, and I’m sure you understand that,” Juni went on. “That’s why I left. It’s not for everyone. But the Högdragen is so much more than trackers are. They’re the best of the best, trained to protect us from any number of dangers. I can’t imagine feeling safe in Doldastam without them.”

“You have the biggest tribe, though you are spread out quite a bit more than we are,” Ridley said, elaborating on his date’s position. “Förening is less than half the size of Doldastam. But you have the most money. You must have jewels and gems up the ass.”

Finn scowled at Ridley’s crassness. “I don’t think I would use those exact words, but our wealth is well known.”

“So why aren’t you guarding it?” Ridley asked.

“We are,” Finn persisted. “We just don’t have a fancy name or a special program for it.”

“I don’t understand what your issue is with the Högdragen,” Tilda said, unwilling to let his disdain for the guard go. She knew what the guard meant to both her boyfriend and me, and Tilda was fiercely protective when she felt people she cared about were being slighted. “Ember’s talked about you. I know how important your sense of duty is to your people.”

“It is,” Finn agreed. “I’m not against the work you all do, but it seems to me that the Högdragen is just another form of elitism, just another class in the system that separates everyone.”

Ridley’s expression hardened. “We may not have fought wars recently, but we’ve prevented our share of violence. Viktor Dålig led an attack against the King fifteen years ago that resulted in four men dead.” His words were solemn, the same way they were every time he mentioned Viktor Dålig’s assault. “If it hadn’t been for those men—the members of the classist system you don’t understand—Viktor would’ve been successful, and he could’ve overthrown the entire kingdom.”

Juni reached over, putting her hand on Ridley’s arm and leaning into him. I bit my lip and looked away from them.

“You think trackers couldn’t have stopped them just as well as members of the Högdragen?” Finn asked pointedly.

“I think that you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ridley snapped, making Juni flinch next to him. “You’ve never served on the Högdragen, and you’ve never seen them in action. You grew up in a world where you were taught to honor and serve and never think for yourself, so you question anything that isn’t exactly the same as you or the Trylle.”

“That’s not what—” Finn began, but Ridley cut him off.

“This conversation is taking a turn, and you seem like a very respectable gentleman. So, before I say something you’ll regret, I’m going to go say hello to the birthday girl.” He nodded curtly. “Excuse me.” Then Ridley turned and walked away.

“It was very nice meeting you.” Juni offered him a polite smile, then turned and went after Ridley, her long, dark brown locks bouncing as she hurried over to him.

“What did I say?” Finn asked, baffled by the hard edge in Ridley’s voice. “I wasn’t trying to be offensive or hurtful.”

“Ridley’s dad was on the Högdragen. He was one of the four men that Viktor Dålig killed,” Tilda explained. “He died saving the kingdom.”

ELEVEN

unrequited

Finn apologized for saying anything that might’ve offended anyone, and I stayed and talked with him and Tilda a bit more, though both of them were careful not to bring up the guard anymore. Mostly Finn just talked about his home, since Tilda seemed strangely interested in what it was like raising a family while working as a tracker.

But how Finn managed to juggle taking care of two kids and his workload wasn’t all that interesting to me, and I let my attention wander. Usually—and rather unfortunately—I kept finding my gaze landing on where Ridley and Juni seemed to be enjoying themselves.

No matter when I looked over, she always seemed to be laughing at something. She had to be one of the most cheerful people I’d ever met, which was part of the reason she hadn’t been suited for the tracker program. It wasn’t that she wasn’t tough enough, exactly—she’d just been too friendly, too kind for a job that required a lack of emotion.