“That’s what you have protecting you now?” Jen laughed. “Did we scare off Finn?”

“Let go of me!” I kicked at him and tried to pry his arm off me.

With his arm still gripping me, we both abruptly went flying backward, as if someone had pushed him. He slammed into the wall, and his arm loosened enough that I could scramble away from him on my hands and knees.

Dazed, I got to my feet and tried to figure out what had happened. Tove stood on the other side of a glass-strewn table, holding his hand palm-out at Jen.

I smiled appreciatively at him, but my smile disappeared as soon as I got a look at the room. The Vittra clearly had the upper hand. Even though the Trylle in the room outnumbered the Vittra attackers, most of them weren’t fighting back. The trackers were throwing punches and pushing back against the Vittra, but most of the royalty appeared to do little more than cower in fear.

A visiting Trylle on the other side of the room had begun using fire, and I could feel Willa’s wind whipping about. Garrett had no real powers of his own, but he was attempting hand-to-hand combat with the Vittra, even though they physically appeared to be much stronger.

Other than Tove, Willa, Elora and the Trylle using fire, none of the other Trylle really seemed to have abilities, or at least they weren’t using them. The room was total pandemonium, and it was about to get worse. Even more Vittra streamed in through the ceiling.

“This is why you need to work on your persuasion.” Tove looked at me evenly, and another Vittra charged at his back.

“Watch out!” I yelled.

Tove turned, throwing his hand back and tossing the Vittra across the room. I looked around to grab a weapon when I felt Jen’s arms around my waist again. I yelled and fought as hard as I could, but his arms felt like granite around me.

Tove turned his attention back to me, but two other Vittra chased after him, so he only had a moment to send Jen flying back into the wall again. We hit even harder this time, and it jostled me painfully, but Jen let go.

My head throbbed from the impact, and I blinked to clear it. A hand took mine, helping me to my feet. I wasn’t sure if I should accept it, but I did anyway.

“You’ve got to be more careful, Tove,” he said.

“I was just trying to get her free!” Tove snapped, and another Vittra yelled as Tove sent him flying into a table across the room. “And I’m busy here!”

I turned back to see who had helped me, and all the air went out of my lungs. Wearing a black hoodie under a black jacket, Finn surveyed the mess around me. He stood right next to me, holding my hand, and I couldn’t think or move.

“Finn!” I gasped, and he finally looked at me, his dark eyes a mixture of relief and panic.

“This is bedlam!” Tove growled.

A table had been flipped on its side, and it separated Tove from Finn and me. Using his abilities, Tove sent it sailing into a Vittra attacking the Chancellor, and then he rushed over to us. All the Vittra seemed to be busy, so he had a moment to catch his breath.

“It’s worse than I thought.” Finn pursed his lips.

“We’ve gotta protect the Princess,” Tove said.

I squeezed Finn’s hand and watched as Jen started to get up, only to be slammed back into the wall by Tove.

“I’ll get her out of here,” Finn said. “Can you handle it down here?”

“I don’t have a choice.” Tove barely had time to answer when Willa started screaming across the room. I couldn’t see her, and that scared me even more.

“Willa!” I tried to run to see what was happening, but Finn wrapped his arms around me, pulling me back.

“Get her out of here!” Tove commanded as he took a step in the direction of Willa’s screams.

Finn started dragging me out of the ballroom while I strained to see what was going on. Tove had disappeared, and I couldn’t see Elora or Willa. As Finn pulled me, my feet hit Rhys’s leg, and I remembered that he was lying unconscious, bleeding on the ground. I struggled against Finn’s arms, trying to reach Rhys.

“He’s fine! They won’t touch him!” Finn tried to reassure me. He still had one arm around my waist, and he was much stronger than me. “You’ve got to get out of here!”

“But Rhys!” I pleaded.

“He’d want you to be safe!” Finn insisted and finally managed to get me to the ballroom doors.

I looked up from Rhys and was stunned to see the chaos of the room. Then all the chandeliers suddenly crashed to the floor, and the only light came from the things that were in flames. People were screaming and yelling, and the sound was echoing off everything.

“The painting,” I murmured, and my mind flashed on the picture I’d seen in Elora’s drawing room. This was it. This was the exact scene.

And there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. I couldn’t even understand it until it was too late.

“Wendy!” Finn shouted, trying to move me into action.

He let go of my waist and took my hand, yanking me out of the room. Using my free hand, I pulled up my dress to keep from tripping on it as we raced down the hallway. I could still hear the carnage from the ballroom, and I had no idea where we were running to.

I didn’t have time to ask him where we were going or to feel thankful that I was with him again. My only consolation was that if I died tonight, I’d at least have spent the last few minutes of my life with Finn.

We rounded the corner toward the entryway, and Finn stopped sharply. Three Vittra were coming in the front doors of the palace, but they hadn’t seen us yet. Finn changed direction, darting across the hall into one of the sitting rooms, pulling me with him.