“What are you making in here?” Finn came into the kitchen, sounding vaguely disgusted. His hair was damp from a recent shower, and he smelled like the grass after a rain, only sweeter. He walked past me without even a glance in my direction and went over to where Rhys had thrown everything into a wok on the stove.

“Stir fry!” Rhys proclaimed.

“Really?” Finn leaned over his shoulder and peered down at the ingredients in the pan. Rhys moved to the side a little so Finn could reach in and grab something out of it. He sniffed it, then popped it into his mouth.

“Well, it’s not terrible.”

“Stop my beating heart!” Rhys put his hand over his heart and feigned astonishment. “Has my food passed the test of the hardest food critic in the land?”

“No. I just said it wasn’t terrible.” Finn shook his head at Rhys’s dramatics and went to the fridge to get a bottle of water. “And I’m certain that Elora is a much harsher food critic than I’ll ever be.”

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“That’s probably true, but she’s never let me cook for her,” Rhys admitted, shaking the wok to stir up the vegetables more.

“You really shouldn’t let him cook for you,” Finn advised, looking at me for the first time. “He gave me food poisoning once.”

“You cannot get food poisoning from an orange!” Rhys protested and looked back at him. “It’s just not possible! And even if you can, I just handed you the orange. I didn’t even have a chance to contaminate it!”

“I don’t know.” Finn shrugged. A smile was creeping up, and I could tell he was amused by how much Rhys was getting worked up.

“You don’t even eat the part I touched! You peeled it and threw the skin away!” Rhys sounded exasperated. He wasn’t paying attention to the wok as he struggled to convince us of his innocence, and a flame licked up from the food.

“Food’s on fire,” Finn nodded to the stove.

“Dammit!” Rhys got a glass of water and splashed it in the stir fry, and I was starting to question how good this was going to taste when he was done with it.

“See?” Finn looked at me, and I smiled. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Yeah, I slept great,” I nodded.

“Good.” He was standing next to me, looking as if he wanted to say something but thought better of it. He just nodded and walked out of the kitchen.

When Rhys finished cooking, his food was only moderately edible, but I picked at it anyway. He pulled stools up to the island, explaining that he only ate in the dining room when it was absolutely required. He soaked his food in some kind of sauce, but it didn’t smell at all appetizing. He downed his Mountain Dew with fervor, but I just sipped at my water.

“So what do you think?” Rhys nodded at the plate of food I was trying to eat.

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“It’s pretty good,” I lied. He had obviously worked hard on it, and his blue eyes showed how proud he was of it, so I couldn’t let him down. To prove my point, I took a bite and smiled.

“Good. You guys are hard to cook for,” Rhys admitted sourly and took a mouthful of his own food. “I don’t know how you can eat this plain, though.”

“I don’t know how you can eat it with sauce.” I wrinkled my nose at the smell of it.

“To each his own, I guess,” Rhys laughed lightly. When he looked down at his plate, his sandy hair fell into his eyes, and he brushed it away.

“So… you know Finn pretty well?” I asked carefully, stabbing my fork into a mushroom.

Their banter earlier had left me curious. Finn seemed to genuinely enjoy Rhys, even if he didn’t approve of his cooking, and I had never seen Finn enjoy anybody. Patrick, he had kind of liked, but I think that had been more of a means of getting closer to me. He openly looked down on Matt, and while he respected and obeyed Elora, I didn’t think he really liked her.

“I guess.” Rhys shrugged like he hadn’t really thought about it. “He’s just around a lot.”

“Like how often?” I pressed as casually as I could.

“I don’t know.” He took a bite and thought for a minute. “It’s hard to say. Storks move around a lot.”

“Storks?”

“Yeah, trackers,” Rhys smiled sheepishly. “You know how you tell little kids that a stork brings the babies? Well, trackers bring the babies here. So we call them storks. Not to their faces, though. They don’t like it that much.”

“I see.” I wondered what kind of nickname they had for people like me, but I didn’t think that now was the best time to ask. “So they move around a lot?”

“Well, yeah. They’re gone tracking a lot, and Finn is in pretty high demand because he’s so good at it,” Rhys explained. “His parents were some of the best, I guess. And then when they come back, a lot of them stay with some 131

of the more prestigious families. Finn’s been here off and on for like the past five years or so. But when he’s not here, somebody else usually is.”

“So he’s like a bodyguard?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Rhys nodded.

“But what do they need bodyguards for?” I thought back to the rod iron gate and security guards that had allowed our entrance into Förening in the first place. When I had looked around the entryway, I remembered seeing a fancy alarm system by the front door. This all seemed like an awful lot of trouble to go to for a small community hidden in the bluffs.

“She’s the Queen. It’s just standard procedure,” Rhys answered evasively, and he purposely stared down at his plate. He tried to erase his anxiety before I noticed and forced a smile at me. “So how does it feel being a Princess?”

“Honestly? Not as awesome as I thought it would be,” I replied, and he laughed heartily at that.

Rhys kind of straightened up the kitchen after we finished eating, but he explained the maid would be in tomorrow at ten to take care of the rest of it.

He gave me a brief tour of the house, showing me all the ridiculous antiquities that had been passed down from generation to generation. There was room that only had pictures of previous Kings and Queens. When I asked where a picture of my father was, Rhys just shook his head and said he didn’t know anything about it.

Eventually, we parted ways. He cited some homework he had to get done, and he had to get to bed because he had school in the morning. I wandered around the house a bit more, but I never saw either Finn or Elora. I played around with the stuff in my room, but I quickly tired of it. Feeling restless and bored, I tried to get some sleep, but I had slept too late in the afternoon.

On top of all that, I felt incredibly homesick. I longed for the familiar comfort of my regular sized house with all my ordinary things. For Maggie’s suppers that she worked so hard on, and the way she always sang when she did 132

the dishes. If I were at home, Matt would be sitting in the living room, reading a book under the glow of the lamp light. He’d be telling me to get to bed, and I’d be trying to convince him that we should stay up all night and watch The Gladiator again. I didn’t really like the movie that much, but Matt loved the architecture, so he would sometimes cave.

Right now, he was probably sitting in the kitchen, staring at the phone.

Or driving around. He had probably tracked down Patrick and threatened injury on him. Maggie was probably crying her eyes out, and I know Matt blamed himself for it. If he hadn’t let me go see Mom, I’d still be there. Or at least that’s what he thought, and it really wasn’t that far from the truth. But he hadn’t actually let me go see her. I’d made it so he didn’t have a choice.

My actual mother was somewhere in this house, or I assumed she was, anyway. She had abandoned me with a family that she knew nothing about except that they were loaded, and she knew there was a risk that my mother could kill me. It happens sometimes. That’s what she said. When I came back, after all these years away from me, she hadn’t hugged me, or even been that happy to see me.

I didn’t want to be here anymore. I threw off my covers and changed out of their chintzy pajamas into my regular old clothes I had packed in my bag.

Leaving behind everything they had given me, I crept quietly down the stairs. In a way, I felt bad for leaving them like that. Well, I felt bad for leaving Finn and Rhys without saying good-bye, but Rhys would understand. Finn might not, but maybe I didn’t care what he thought anymore. Hopefully, he stopped tracking me and had tuned into Elora so he wouldn’t notice I was leaving. That would be a damper in my plans.

Once I got outside, I realized I had no way to get home and no idea how to get there. The cold night air rested heavily on me, and I knew I had to figure something out. I looked around, but I didn’t have to look far. Rhys had left his motorcycle sitting out in the driveway. Thanks to my grand theft auto a couple years back, I knew how to drive one. I looped my arms through my backpack, and popped the bike in neutral so I could coast it to end of the 133

driveway. Just as I suspected, Rhys was the kind of guy who left his keys in the ignition. Luck was on my side tonight.

The bike sped easily through the winding streets of Förening, and I barely even noticed the houses sleeping in the trees. There was the iron gate at the end of the road to contend with, but when I got to it, it was just as I thought. They opened up as soon as they saw me approaching. They didn’t care who left; they only checked when you came in.

Once I was out of town, I topped out the bike and almost lost control a few times, but it felt worth it. I stopped at the first gas station I saw and bought a map. It was actually fairly easy to get back. It was mostly highway, and once I got to town, I’d be able to figure it out from there. I drove as fast as I could the whole way there, afraid that Finn or somebody would notice I was missing and chase after me. Even if it meant that I never got to see Finn again, I didn’t want to go back.

I might never see Finn again. That took a painful minute to sink in, and I actually started to slow the bike down. Then I reminded myself that he had no interest in me, and he’d be leaving shortly to track someone else. And even if he didn’t, I would barely see him. Since he was no longer tracking me, he would no longer be interacting with me. Fighting back tears, I pushed the bike harder and couldn’t wait to get back.

The sky had that eerie blue glow of very early morning when I pulled up in front of my house. I hadn’t even turned off the motorcycle before Matt threw open the front door and came jogging down the porch. Last time I had come home with a stolen motorcycle, he had freaked out on me and started yelling. This time, it was different. Even in the dim light, I could see how stricken he was. He threw his arms around me and held me so tightly to him, I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t care, though. I hugged him just as hard, and over his shoulder, I saw Maggie running out of the house, crying. I buried my face in his shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent and relishing the protection of his arms.

After a whirlwind few days, I was finally home.

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12

The joy of being home lasted about ten minutes. There was hugging and crying, and that was nice. Then there was Maggie yelling at me. It was a little shocking that she was the one that went to anger first, but Matt looked too exhausted to be mad. Maggie chased me into the house, yelling shrilly about how they had thought I was dead or murdered, and I was tempted to point out that those were pretty much the same things. I sat on the couch and let her go on and on, knowing that I really deserved it. I may have left for a good reason, even though I wasn’t that sure of it anymore, I definitely hadn’t left in the right way.

Sneaking out in the middle of the night when I know that their lives revolve around me wasn’t the nicest thing I had ever done.

All the while, Maggie walked back and forth in front of me. Tissues were still wadded up in her hand, and her eyes were red from all the crying she had been doing. Matt stood off to the side, leaning against the fireplace, watching me with this drawn expression on his face. He never said a word. I only mumbled yes or no when it was appropriate, but it was mostly just Maggie talking.

“I just can’t believe you would do this!” Maggie had started winding down, and she stood in front of me, one hand on her hip and stared at me. “I mean, of all the stupid things you’ve done over the years, you’ve never done anything like this. You never ran away. What on earth possessed you to do something like this?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged.

“Were you mad at us? Did we do something wrong?” Maggie was almost pleading with me, that sad, desperate look in her eyes. I had messed up, and she was wondering what she had done wrong.

“No, of course not.” I swallowed hard and shook my head. “It wasn’t anything you did.”

“Then why?” Maggie demanded. “Where did you go?”

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“I went with Finn,” I said quietly. On the drive here, I had been trying to think of a good line to feed them, but I thought the easiest, most believable thing would be to just blame it on a boy. I actually had gone with Finn, and Matt already didn’t trust him, so that was the best way to go.

Maggie and Matt exchanged a look. That’s what he had been afraid of.

Maggie turned to look back at me, but Matt just stared out the window. She had tried a haphazard sex talk with me a few years ago, but neither of them were really prepared for me to grow up. When she looked back at me, she took a deep breath.

“Did…” She nervously played with the cross around her neck. “Did you go with him willingly? I mean… he didn’t force you or anything? Did he?”

“No, no, of course not!” I insisted.

“Did he hurt you at all?” Maggie asked carefully, and Matt tensed up.

“No! No, he didn’t do anything wrong!” The last thing I wanted was to get Finn in trouble. Things hadn’t turned out the way I wanted them to, but he had been nice to me. And I still liked him. My heart ached at the thought of him.

“Good,” Maggie sounded relieved. Matt had closed his eyes, preparing for the worst. I didn’t want to know what he would do if he found out that somebody had actually hurt me. “So then why did you go?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “Finn… Just to get away. I thought it’d be fun.”

“Where did you go?” Maggie asked.

“Um, just… a cabin. His friends’ cabin.” I looked down, afraid she could read the lie on my face.

“Where did the motorcycle come from?” Maggie pointed out the window to the bike, and I realized that I hadn’t really thought this plan through at all.

“It’s his friends.” Almost truth. Rhys was kind of his friend. I think.

“Wendy, you can’t go stealing other people’s stuff!” Maggie rubbed her temple and exhaled tiredly. “I’m gonna have to call the police and have them 136

impound the bike. Oh, and I need to call them and let them know that you came home. I’ll feel like such an idiot too. They kept insisting that you’d just run away, but I kept saying, ‘No, Wendy isn’t like that.’”

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled.

“I have to make phone calls.” She shook her head and walked into the kitchen, preparing for the arduous task of explaining to everyone that I was home safe and that she was a fool.

Maggie left us alone in the living room, and Matt continued staring out of the window for a minute. I twisted my thumb ring around my finger and waited for him to say something. From the kitchen, I could overhear Maggie making apologies to someone that kept cutting her off.

“You can’t do that, Wendy,” Matt said finally. His voice was low and quiet, but it made far more of an impact than all of Maggie’s shouting. I suddenly felt like crying and I stared down at my lap. “If you’re unhappy here, or if you want to see a boy, we can work with that. But you can’t just leave like that.” He exhaled shakily. “I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you. I can’t even…” He shook his head. “You can’t ever leave like that again.”

“I won’t. I’m sorry.” I blinked back tears and looked up at him. He was chewing the inside of his cheek, the way he did sometimes when he was trying not to let on how upset he was. “I am so sorry, Matt. I know I screwed up. I promise it won’t ever happen again.” He looked over at me, appearing more haggard than he ever had before.

“Have you slept?” Matt asked, and I shook my head. “Why don’t you get some rest? We can talk more later.”

I had to go past him on my way to the steps, and I paused next to him.

He looked at me curiously, and without thinking, I threw my arms around him and hugged him. At first, he didn’t do anything, but he was probably in shock. I could count the times I had initiated a hug in my entire life on one hand. Then he hugged me back and kissed the top of my head.

“Don’t scare me like that again,” Matt murmured into my hair.

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When I went to my room, I realized that no place had ever looked better. We hadn’t lived here long enough for this pace to really feel familiar, but my stuff was my stuff. Besides, every house we’d lived in had the same “house”

feel, which was a sharp distinction from the “don’t touch” quality of Elora’s mansion. I flopped back in my bed, burying myself in the blankets, and promising myself that I’ll never, ever leave again. I didn’t care what more was out in the world. Nothing beat the comfort and safety of home, and nobody in the world loved me as much as Matt and Maggie. Hell, nobody else in the world loved me at all.

Matt roused me a few hours later to ask if I wanted lunch, but I declined. He looked better, but he probably hadn’t slept yet. Only he could go without sleep for over a day and wouldn’t even consider a nap. I laid in bed awake for awhile after that. I was probably grounded from everything anyway, so this made sense for me to stay up here. Maggie came in a little while later to check on me, and then informed me she was heading down to the police station to take care of the motorcycle. I realized they’d probably be checking on me every hour or so from now on to make sure I hadn’t skipped out.

I had no intention of ever leaving again. When Finn had told me that I was Trylle, and things had started fitting together, I had been excited by the prospect of having somewhere to belong. But I didn’t belong there. Maybe I didn’t belong anywhere, but at least I was wanted here. No matter how much money Matt and Maggie might have, or I guess technically, I might have, there was no way I would ever give Elora any of it. She seemed to be living well enough without needing me to steal from my family. Maybe her legacy would die then, but so what? If it meant that much to her, then maybe she wouldn’t have dumped me off.

My room felt too quiet, so I went over to my iPod and started scrawling through songs to listen to. A light tapping sound startled out me from my search, and my heart skipped a beat. I set down my iPod and walked over to my window. Sure enough, when I pulled back the curtain, there was Finn, crouched on the roof outside of it. For a second, I considered closing the 138

curtain and ignoring him, but his dark brown eyes were too much. Besides, this would give me a chance to say a proper goodbye.

“What are you doing here?” Finn asked as I soon as I opened the window. He stayed out on the roof, but I hadn’t moved back so he could come in.

“What

are

you doing here?” I countered, crossing my arms on my chest.

“I came here to get you, obviously.” He glanced behind him at a man walking his dog on the sidewalk, then looked at me. “Mind if I come in so we can finish this conversation?”

“Whatever.”

I took a step back and tried to seem as indifferent as possible, but when he slid in the window past me, my heartbeat sped up. He stood right in front of me, looking down in my eyes, and he made the rest of the world disappear. I shook my head and stepped away from him, so I wouldn’t let myself get mesmerized by him anymore.

“Why did you come in the window?” I asked.

“I couldn’t very well come to the door. That guy would never let me in here to see you,” Finn reasoned, and he was definitely right. Matt would probably deck him if he saw him again.

“‘That guy’ is my brother, and his name is Matt.” I felt incredibly defensive and protective of him, especially after the way he reacted when I came home. I had never seen him like that before.

“He’s not your brother. You need to stop thinking of him like that.”

Finn cast a disparaging look around my room. “Is that what this is all about?

You came back to say goodbye to all of this?”

“I’m not saying goodbye,” I said icily and stuck my chin out defiantly. I went over and sat on my bed, trying to make a physical point of laying claim to this space. Finn only rolled his eyes at my display.

“You can’t possibly stay here, Wendy.” Finn waved away the idea like it was completely preposterous. “Get whatever you need, and then we need to get out of here before Matt notices I’m here.”

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“I am not going!” I insisted emphatically.

Finn was eyeing me up, trying to decide if I was really serious. I couldn’t tell if he disapproved or not. His expression stayed even and thoughtful. Crossing his arms over his chest, I hated how attractive he was and whatever power it was he held over me. Just the way he looked at me made my heart race and my stomach flip. It was going to be terrible never seeing him again, and I tried to push the thought from my mind.

“Do you realize what you’re giving up?” Finn asked softly. “You are a Trylle Princess. It isn’t just about money, Wendy. There is so much that life has to offer you. More than anything they can give you here. If Matt understood what was in store for you, he would send you there himself.”

“You’re right. He probably would. If he thought it was what’s best for me,” I admitted. “Because he really cares about me and always wants what’s best. Nobody there wants what’s best for me.”

“You think I don’t want what’s best for you?” Finn questioned incredulously, and there was an underlying trace of affection that shivered through me. “Do you really believe I would encourage you to do this if it would adversely effect you?”

“I don’t think you know what’s best for me,” I replied as evenly as I could. He had thrown me off my guard by hinting at caring about me, and I had to remind myself that that was part of his job. All of this was. He needed to make sure I was safe and convince me to get home. That wasn’t the same as actually caring about me.

“Elora can be… a difficult woman,” Finn said carefully. “But you are her daughter, and she loves you. You deserve to know your mother, and you deserve the life she has in store for you. You will live a life of royalty, and you will lead people! This is something that nobody else can give you!”

“Do you know much money my family has?” I asked pointedly. I wasn’t sure if Finn had any idea how valuable or invaluable I might be. “I mean, this one here, that I live with.”

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“Yes, I do.” He looked taken back my abrupt change in questions, but he straightened up and answered me directly. “I know the exact amount in fact.

Elora had me checking finances yesterday.”

“Right. Cause that’s what matters.” I sighed and shook my head, then I looked up at him. “How much do they have?”

“Do you want to know your trust and what you stand to inherit, or your guardian and brother’s total wealth?” Finn had gone expressionless. “Do you want net worth? Liquid assets? Are you including real estate, like the house they still own in the Hamptons? Dollar amount?

“I don’t really care,” I shook my head. “I was just… Elora was convinced that we really did have a lot of money, and I was just curious.”

“Yes. You really do have a lot of money,” Finn explained. “More than even Elora had originally thought.” I nodded and looked at my feet. “You live well below your means here.”

“I think Maggie thought it would be better for me, and Matt and I never really cared that much about money.” I kept staring at my feet, then finally I looked up at Finn. “They would give me anything. They would give me all of it if I asked. But I’m never taking any money from them, not for myself and certainly not for Elora. Make sure you tell her that when you go back to her. I will never give her any of their money. Never.”

I had expected him to protest in some way, but Finn surprised me. His lips curled into the edge of a smile, and if anything, he looked almost proud of me. I was condemning their way of life, so I had thought he would defend it, but he approved of it.

“You are sure this is what you want?” Finn asked gently.

“Absolutely.” But I sounded more confident than I really was.

I was turning down any chance at getting to know my real mother, my family history, a throne, and spending more time with Finn. Not mention that my abilities, like persuasion, which Finn had promised their would be more of as I got older. On my own, I’m sure I’d never be able to master or understand them. So I was losing them too.

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“I do think you’d find happiness with us,” Finn said, almost sadly. “But I won’t force you to come with me. If this is your decision, then I’ll have to respect it.”

“Thank you,” I smiled wanly at him.

We looked at each other, and I wished he wasn’t so far away from me.

I was wondering if it would be appropriate if we hugged when the door to my bedroom opened. Matt and Maggie planned on checking on me constantly to make sure I hadn’t escaped again. Unfortunately, Maggie was gone dealing with the police, meaning that it was Matt who opened the door. As soon as he saw Finn, his eyes burned with rage and his cheeks reddened. Quickly, I jumped up, moving in front of Finn to block any attempts that Matt would have at killing him.

“Matt! It’s okay!” I held up my hands.

“It is not okay!” Matt growled coming into my room. “What the hell do you think you’re doing in here? You are not allowed anywhere near her ever again!”

“Matt, please!” I put my hands on his chest, trying to push him back away from Finn, but it was like trying to push a brick wall. He reached over my shoulder, pointing at Finn as he yelled. I glanced back at Finn, and he just stared blankly at my brother.

“You have some nerve, you little bastard!” Matt shouted, and he kept pushing back on me, trying to get closer to Finn. “She is seventeen-years-old!

She’s a minor! That’s kidnapping! That’s statutory rape! I don’t know what the hell you did with her, but you’re never doing it again!”

“Matt, please, stop!” I begged. “He was just saying goodbye! Please!”

“Perhaps you should listen to her,” Finn offered calmly.

It was his composure that really pissed Matt off. He was screaming at Finn, and he wanted him to react in someway. Matt had been suffering and terrified, and he just wanted to make Finn feel an ounce of that. Unfortunately, Finn’s only reaction to things like this was to stand there, cool and collected. So, Matt’s only recourse was physically harming him.

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Matt actually knocked me out of the way, and I fell backwards onto the floor. Finn’s eyes flashed darkly at that, and when Matt pushed him, he didn’t move an inch. He just glared down at my brother, and I knew that if they fought, Matt would be the one with a serious injury.

“Matt!” I wailed and jumped to my feet.

Already, I had started chanting Leave my room. Leave my room. You need to calm down and get out my room. Please. I wasn’t sure how effective it would be if I wasn’t looking at him, so I grabbed his arm and forced him to turn to me. His blue eyes were burning, and he tried to look away instantly, but I caught him. I kept my eyes focused and just kept repeating it over and over in my head.

Finally, his expression softened and his eyes glazed.

“I’m going to leave your room now,” Matt said robotically. Much to my relief, he actually turned and walked out into the hall, closing the door behind him. I’m not sure if he walked any farther than that, or how much time I had, so I turned to Finn.

“You have to leave,” I insisted breathlessly, but his expression had changed to one of concern.

“Does he do that often?” Finn asked.

“What?” I had no idea what he was talking about and I just wanted him to go before somebody got hurt. “What are you talking about?”

“He pushed you. He clearly has an anger problem.” Finn glared at the door Matt had left through. “He’s unstable. You shouldn’t stay here with him.”

“Yeah, well, you guys should be more careful who you leave babies with,” I muttered and went to the window. “I don’t know how much time we have so you need to go.”

“He probably won’t ever be able to come into your room again,” Finn explained calmly, brushing me off. “I’m serious, Wendy. I don’t want to leave you with him.”

“You don’t have much of a choice!” I felt exasperated and ran a hand through my hair. “Matt’s not usually like that, and he would never hurt me. He just hasn’t slept, and he blames you for taking me away, and he’s not wrong.”

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The panic was wearing away, and I realized that I had just used persuasion on Matt again, and I felt nauseous. “I hate doing that to him. It’s not fair and it’s not right.”

“I am sorry,” Finn looked at me sincerely. “I know you did that to protect him, and that’s my fault. I should’ve just backed down, but when he pushed you…” He shook his head. “My instincts just kicked in.”

“He’s not going to hurt me,” I insisted.

Finn glanced back at the door, and I could tell he really didn’t want to leave. If Matt had just waited five more minutes to check on me, none of this would’ve happened. When Finn looked back at me, he sighed heavily.

“I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you. When you change your mind…” He hesitated for a moment. “I’ll find you.”

“Thanks,” I said.

He looked at me uncertainly, and he was probably fighting the urge to throw me over his shoulder and take me with him. Instead, he climbed out the window and swung back down to the ground. When he started walking to his car, I suddenly remembered something and leaned out the window.

“Hey, Finn!” I shouted, and he turned back to me. “Tell Rhys I’m sorry I took his bike! It’s in town in the impound lot!”

“I’ll collect it for him, and I’ll be sure to pass along the sentiment.”

With that, he turned around the neighbors’ hedges and I couldn’t see him anymore. I kept looking after him, wishing that this didn’t mean I had to say goodbye to him. There were still doubts about what I’d be giving up, but I couldn’t do that to Matt again. The awful truth was that I was more than a little sad to see Finn go. I was on the verge of tears, but I managed to hold them back. Eventually, I shut the window and closed my curtains.

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13

There was a very good chance that I’d never be allowed out of the house again.

After Finn left, I found Matt sitting on the steps, looking bewildered and pissed off. He wanted to yell at me about Finn, but he couldn’t seem to understand exactly what had happened. The best I could get out of it is that he vowed to kill Finn if he ever came near me, and I pretended like I thought that was a reasonable thing to do.

The next morning, Matt didn’t even want to send me to school. He was afraid that I would bolt as soon I got there, and I had to keep reminding him that I had come home of my own volition. If I really wanted to be away, I’d still be away. I neglected to point out that Finn had just recently tried to whisk me away, and I had declined. After far more arguing than the situation called for, Maggie finally convinced Matt to take me to school.

Everyone at school was staring at me like I had three-heads, except for Tegan who refused to even make eye contact. That made me feel a little better, and after spending the night feeling a tad heartbroken about everything, it was a nice pick-me-up.

Patrick bounded over to me like a golden retriever when he caught sight of me. He threw his arms around me and wrapped me an uncomfortable bear hug. From him, I got the explanation about everybody’s attitude.

Apparently, Matt had gone ballistic at the school the day I had gone missing, and blamed everyone there for letting in a “bad influence” like Finn. From the start, he had been convinced that Finn had something to do with it, and I was sometimes surprised about how accurate Matt’s intuition was.

I fed Patrick a similar story to the one I’d told Matt and Maggie. Finn and I had run off to his friend’s cabin on a whim, and then I had come home.

Patrick tried to press for details about the status of our relationship, but I kept insisting that we were just friends. It pained me knowing that we weren’t even that, but it was the easiest explanation I had.

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The day dragged on and on. It didn’t help that I found myself constantly looking around for Finn. Part of me kept insisting that the last few days had been a bad dream, and that Finn should still be here, watching me like he always did. On top of that, I kept feeling like I was being watched. My neck got that scratchy feeling it did when Finn stared at me for too long, but whenever I turned around, there wasn’t anybody there. At least not anybody worth noting.

When I walked out to Matt’s car, I was absolutely certain someone was watching me. I looked all over the parking lot for Finn’s car, but there was nothing. At home I felt distracted and ill at ease. I excused myself from supper early and went up to my room. I peered out my curtains, hoping to find Finn lurking around somewhere nearby, but no such luck. Every time I looked for him and didn’t find him, my heart hurt a little bit more.

By the time I went to bed, I had convinced myself that it must be Finn.

Before he had left, he said that when I was ready, he would find me. He was probably still tracking me, but because of everything that had happened with Matt, he had to keep at a distance. But he was out there, and I knew it. I tossed and turned all night, trying to decide what to do.

The horrible truth was that I missed Finn, a lot more than I should. I didn’t know how much longer he’d be hanging around. Even if I was some princess, there could only be so much time he could devote to tracking me.

Eventually, he’d have to move on and find someone else. I wasn’t ready for that. I didn’t like the idea of him moving on when I hadn’t.

Around five in the morning, I gave up entirely on sleep. I looked out the window again, and this time I thought I saw something. He was out there, hiding nearby. I couldn’t take it anymore. Matt and Maggie were still sound asleep, and it wasn’t like I was running away this time. I just needed to go out and talk to Finn, to make sure he was still there. I didn’t even bother changing out of my pajamas or fixing my hair. Since I was falling for Finn, and he wasn’t feeling anything for me, I probably should’ve tried harder with my appearance, but I was in a hurry.

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Hastily, I climbed out onto the roof. Once again, I tried to grab onto the branch and swing to the ground like Finn had. As soon as my fingers grabbed the branch, they slipped off and I fell to the ground, landing heavily on my back. All the wind had been knocked out of me, and I coughed painfully. I would’ve loved to lay in the lawn for ten more minutes and try to ease the pain, but I was afraid that Matt or Maggie had heard something. I scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could and rounded the hedges towards the neighbors’ house.

Nobody was there. The street was completely deserted. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself to ward off the cold that was seeping in and looked around. I know he had been out here. I had seen something. Maybe my fall had scared him away, like he thought it was Matt or something. I decided to walk a little farther down the street, investigating everyone’s lawn for a hidden tracker.

My back ached from the fal , and my knee felt a little twisted and weird. That left me hobbling down the street in my pajamas at five in the morning. I had truly lost my mind.

Then I heard something. Footsteps? Somebody was definitely following me, and based on the dark chill running down my spine, it wasn’t Finn. It was hard to explain how exactly I knew it wasn’t him, but I knew it just the same. Slowly, I turned around.

A girl was standing there, a few feet behind me. In the glow from the streetlamp, she looked ravishing. Her hair was cut in a short brown pixie cut and stood out all over. Her skirt was short and her black leather jacket went down to her calves. A wind came up, blowing back her coat a bit, and she reminded me of some kind of action star, like she should be in The Matrix. But the thing that caught my attention the most was that she was barefoot.

“Okay… um, I’m going to go home now,” I announced. She was just staring at me, so I felt like I had to say something.

“Wendy Everly, I think you should come with us,” she said with a sly smile.

“Us?” I asked, but then I felt him behind me.

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I don’t know where he had been before that, but suddenly, there was presence behind me. Cautiously, I looked over my shoulder. A tall man with dark, slick-backed hair was staring down at me. He was wearing the same jacket as the girl, and I thought it was neat that they had matching outfits, like a crime fighting duo. He smiled sinisterly at me, and that’s when I decided that I was probably in trouble.

“That’s a really nice invitation, but my house is like three houses down.” I pointed towards it, as if I didn’t think they already knew exactly where I lived. “So I think that I should probably just get home before my brother starts looking for me.”

“You should’ve thought of that before you left the house, shouldn’t you?” the guy suggested wickedly. I really wanted to take a step forward so I’d be away from him, but I thought that would only make him pounce on me. I could probably take the girl, but I wasn’t so sure about him. He was like a foot taller than me.

“I just needed a little breath of fresh air,” I explained lamely. The girl laughed lightly, and I couldn’t stop thinking of her bare feet. I suddenly thought of Elora, and the way she’d been barefoot, and the way I had no shoes in my closet. “You guys are trackers?”

“You’re a quick one, aren’t you?” the girl smiled wider at me.

“But I already told Finn I wasn’t going back!” I protested, feeling irritated. Finn had promised me that he’d respect my decision, but apparently he’d run and narced on me, so they’d sent these two clowns to bring me back.

“I want nothing to do with you guys or Elora or anything.”

“Finn?” Her smile twisted into something surprised and pleased. She licked her lips and looked past me at the tracker standing behind me. “I told you it was her.”

I might have said too much. These two were trackers, but maybe not the same kind as Finn. Maybe they were bounty hunters or kidnappers or just big fans of chopping up girls into little pieces and disposing of them in a ditch.

Fear was creeping through me, but I tried not to let on. If they were actually 148

tracking me, they would be able to sense my distress anyway, but I did not want that at all.

“Well, this has been a blast, but I have to get ready for school. Big test and all that.” I started taking a step away, but the guy’s hand clamped instantly on my arm in a very painful fashion.

“Don’t damage her!” the girl insisted, her eyes flashing wide. “She’s not to be hurt!” Not to be hurt. Okay. That’s a good thing. I can work with that, at least. Maybe I could use it to my advantage.

“Yeah, easy on the merchandise!” I tried to pull my arm from him, but he refused to let go.

I had already decided that I wasn’t going wherever these two wanted to take me. Even if it was just back to Förening with Elora, I still didn’t want that, especially if I was going to be forced. Since they were under some kind of instruction not to hurt me, I thought I might have some leeway with fighting them. I only had to get a few houses down, then I’d be at home, and Matt kept a gun under his bed. He was ridiculously protective of me.

I elbowed the guy in the stomach as hard as I could. He made a coughing sound and doubled over but didn’t let go of my arm. I kicked him in the shin and raised my arm so I could bite his hand that was gripping me. He yowled in pain, and then the girl was in front of me. He had let go of me, and she tried to grab me, so I punched her. Unfortunately, she dodged it, so my fist just connected with her shoulder. Then I was off balance, and the guy grabbed me around the waist. I started screaming and kicked at him as hard as I could.

Apparently he got tired of that, so he dropped me on the ground. I was on my feet instantly, and he grabbed my arm again and turned me so I was facing him.

He raised his hand and slapped me harder than I had ever been hit before.

Everything went white and there was a ringing in my ear. He let go of me, so I collapsed backwards on the grass behind me.

“I said not to hurt her!” the girl hissed.

My neck ached from the force of his hit, and my jaw screamed painfully. The back of my eye had a spreading pain, but I knew I couldn’t just 149

take it laying down. I tried to stagger to my feet. She kicked me, not hard enough to really hurt, but enough so I’d fall back. I laid on my back and stared up the lightening sky and realized that I didn’t stand a chance against them.

“I didn’t! I was subduing her!” the guy growled and looked down at me. “And if she doesn’t knock it off, I’ll subdue her again, but harder this time!”

“Let’s just get her to the car,” she sounded exasperated.

He bent down to try and pick me up, but I hit away his hands. I was laying on my back, and I lifted up my legs. I wasn’t really trying to kick him, but I was going to use my legs to push him back if he came near me. In response, he hit my calf hard enough to give me a Charlie horse, which I just gritted my teeth through. He put his knee on my stomach, holding me down so I couldn’t fight as much. When he tried to grab me, I pushed him back with my hands, so he grabbed my wrists, pressing them tightly together with one hand.

“Stop!” he commanded. My eyes were welling with tears because I knew I couldn’t really fight him off, and I had no idea where he was going to take me or what he would do with me. I tried to pull my hands free, but he just squeezed tighter and my bones felt like they were about to snap. “Just stop!

We’re going to take you no matter what!”

“Like hell you are!” Finn barked, his voice coming from out of nowhere.

I swiveled my head, trying to see around the guy that had me pinned to the ground. The girl stood just to the side of us, but between her and the guy I could see Finn, and I had honestly never been so happy to see anyone anymore.

Tears of relief spilled over my cheeks, but I didn’t even care. From where I was laying and the way the street light him, Finn looked glorious towering over everyone.

“Oh, dammit,” the girl sighed. “If you hadn’t spent so much time fighting with her, we’d be out of here by now.”

“She was the one fighting with me!” the guy insisted.

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“Now I’m the one fighting with you!” Finn growled, glaring at him.

“Get off her! Now! ”

“Finn, can’t we just talk about this?” She was trying to sound sultry and flirty when she took a step closer to Finn, but he didn’t even look at her, making him score even more points with me. “I know how you feel about duty, but there’s got to be some kind of arrangement we can come to.” She took another step closer to him, so he pushed her back, so hard she stumbled and fell backwards.

“I hate fighting with you, Finn,” the guy muttered, and reluctantly, he let go of my hands and took his knee off my stomach. I took the opportunity to try and kick him in the nuts, and reflexively, he whirled on me and smacked me hard again.

Before I could even curse him for hitting me again, Finn was on him. I had rolled onto my side, cradling my repeatedly injured face, so I could only see part of what was going on. My attacker had managed to get to his feet, but I could hear the sounds of Finn punching him. The girl leapt on his back to stop him, but Finn elbowed her in the face, so she collapsed to the ground, cradling her bleeding nose.

“Enough!” The guy had cowered down, putting his arms over his face to protect himself form anymore blows. “We’re done! We’ll get out of here!”

“You better fucking get out of here!” Finn shouted, sounding angrier than I had even known he was capable of. “If I see you anywhere near her again, I will kill you!”

The guy walked over to the girl and helped her to her feet, then they both turned and headed down the street to a black Porsche parked nearby. Finn stood on the sidewalk in front of me, watching them until they got in the car and sped off down the road. When he was certain they were gone, he smoothed out his black hair and turned to me.

I was still laying on the ground, and he knelt down next to me. Tears were drying on my cheeks, but I didn’t even bother trying to wipe them away.

Gently, his placed his hand on my cheek where I had been slapped, and the skin 151

was tender, so it stung a little, but I refused to show it. His hand felt too good to push away. His dark eyes were pained when he looked me over, and as terrible as everything had been up until this moment, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything because it led to this, to him touching me and looking at me like that.

“I’m sorry it took me so long.” He pursed his lips tightly, blaming himself for not getting here sooner. “I was sleeping, and I didn’t wake up until you were completely panicked.”

“You sleep in your clothes?” I asked, looking at his usual dark jeans and button-up shirt combo.

“Sometimes,” Finn admitted, and he pulled his hand from my face, much to my dismay. “I knew something was up today. I could feel it, but I couldn’t pinpoint it because I couldn’t stay as close to you as I would’ve liked. I never should’ve slept at all.”

“No, you can’t blame yourself.” I tried to sit up and Finn took my hand, helping me up. “It was my fault for coming out of my room.”

“What were you doing out here?” Finn looked at me curiously, and I looked at the ground, feeling embarrassed.

“I thought I saw you,” I admitted quietly. His face went dark again and he looked away from me.

“I should’ve been here,” he said, almost under his breath, and then he got to his feet. He held out his hand to me and pulled me to my feet. I grimaced a little, but what hurt the worst was my back from falling from the tree. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I forced a smile. “A little sore, but fine.” He touched my cheek again, just with his fingertips, sending flutters through me. He was looking at my injury very seriously, and then his eyes met mine, dark and wonderful. It was at that moment that I knew that I had officially fallen for him.

“You’re going to have a bruise,” Finn murmured dropping his hand.

“I’m sorry.”

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“It’s not your fault,” I insisted. “It’s mine. I was being an idiot. I should’ve known…” I trailed off. I had been about to say that I should’ve known it was dangerous, but how would I have possibly known that? I had no idea who those people were. “Who were they? What did they want?”

“Vittra,” Finn growled, glaring down the road as if they would appear at the sound of their name. He tensed up as he scanned the horizon, then put his hand on the small of my back so he could usher me away. “Come on. I’ll explain more in the car.”

“The car?” I stopped where I was, making him press his hand harder on my back until he realized I wasn’t going anywhere. His hand stayed there, and I had to ignore the small pleasure of it so I could argue with him. “I’m not going in the car. I have to go home before Matt realizes I’m gone.”

“You can’t go back there,” Finn was apologetic but firm. “I’m sorry. I know this is directly against your wishes, but it’s not safe for you there anymore.

The Vittra have found you. I will not leave you here.”

“I don’t even understand what this Vittra is, and Matt is…” I shifted uncomfortably and looked backed towards my house.

Matt was tough, as far as people went, but I wasn’t sure what kind of match he would be for the guy that attacked me. And even if he could take him, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to bring that element into the house. If something happened to Matt or Maggie because of me, I could never forgive myself.

“Wendy, we must hurry, before Matt awakes and in case they decide to come back,” Finn insisted urgently. Reluctantly, I nodded and let him take me away.

Apparently, he’d run to rescue me this morning, because his car was still parked at his house two blocks away. It was really starting to lighten, and I knew that Matt would be getting up any minute, so I quickened my pace. That pleased Finn who wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.

“It’s going to break his heart.” I swallowed hard and refused to cry again, not so soon after I had just cried. I hated what I was turning into. In the past five years, I had cried less often than I had in this past week.

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“He’d want you to be safe,” Finn assured me, and he was right. But Matt wouldn’t know I was safe. He wouldn’t know anything about me.

“Do you have a cell phone?” I asked hopefully, looking up at Finn.

“Why?” Finn kept glancing around as we approached his car. He pulled his keys from his pocket and used the keyless entry to unlock it.

“I need to call Matt and let him know that I’m okay,” I said. Walking in front of me, Finn held the passenger door open for me and I got inside. As soon as he got in the driver’s seat, I turned to him. “Well? Can I call him?”

“You really want to?” Finn seemed kind of surprised when he started the car.

“Yes! Of course I do!” I exclaimed.

Finn threw the car in gear and sped off down the road. The whole town was still asleep, except for us. He glanced over at me, debating. Finally, he grudgingly dug in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. When he handed it to me, I smiled gratefully.

“Thank you.” When I started dialing the phone, my hands were shaking, and I felt sick. This was going to be the hardest conversation of my life and I was not looking forward to it. I held the phone to my ear, listening to it ring, and I tried to slow my breathing.

“Hello?” Matt answered the phone groggily. He hadn’t woken up yet, and he didn’t know I was gone. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Hello?”

“Matt?” I said, afraid he would hang up if I didn’t say something soon.

“Wendy?” Matt instantly woke up, panic thick in his voice. “Where are you? What’s going on? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” My cheek still hurt, but I was fine. Even if I wasn’t, I couldn’t tell him that. “Um, I’m calling because… I’m leaving, and I wanted you to know that I was safe.”

“What do you mean you’re leaving?” Matt was up moving around. I could hear him open his door, and then the bang as he threw open my bedroom door. “Where are you, Wendy? You need to come home right now!”

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“I can’t, Matt!” I rubbed my forehead and let out shaky breath.

“Why? Does somebody have you? Did Finn take you?” Matt demanded. In the background, I could hear Maggie asking questions. He’d woken her up with his commotion of looking for me. “I’ll fucking kill that little bastard if he lays one hand on you.”

“Yeah, I’m with Finn, but it’s not like you think,” I said thickly. “I wish I could explain everything to you, but I can’t. He’s taking care of me though.

He’s making sure I’m safe.”

“Safe from what?” Matt snapped. “I take care of you! Why are you doing this?” He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “If we’re doing something wrong, we can change it, Wendy. You just need to come home, right now.” His voice was cracking, and it broke my heart. “Please, Wendy.”

“You’re not doing anything wrong.” Silent tears started sliding down my face, and I tried swallow down the lump in my throat. “You didn’t do anything. This isn’t about you or Maggie, honest. I love you guys, and I would take you with me if I could. But I can’t.”

“Why do you keep saying ‘can’t?’ Is he forcing you?” Matt growled.

“I’ll call the police! We’ll come get you!”

“No, he’s not forcing me!” I sighed and wondered if this phone call had been a bad idea. Maybe I’m just making it worse for him. “Please don’t try and find me. You won’t be able to, and I don’t want you to. I just wanted you to know that I was safe and that I love you and you never did anything wrong.

Okay? I just want you to be happy.”

“Wendy, why are you talking like that?” Matt sounded more afraid than I had ever heard him before, and I couldn’t be certain, but I think he’d started to cry. “You sound like your never coming back.” He swallowed hard. “You can’t leave forever. There’s no reason to. You… Whatever is going on, I can take care of it. I’ll do whatever I have to do. Just come back, Wendy.”

“I’m so sorry, Matt, but I can’t.” I wiped at my eyes and shook my head. “I’ll call you again if I can. But if you don’t hear from me, don’t worry.

I’m okay.”

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“Wendy! Stop talking like that!” Matt shouted. “You need to come back here! Wendy!”

“Goodbye, Matt.” I hung up to the sound of him yelling my name.

I took a deep breath and reminded myself that this was the only thing I could do. It was the only way that I could keep them safe, and it was the safest thing for me, which is exactly what Matt would want. If he knew what was going on, he would agree with this completely. It didn’t change the fact that it had absolutely killed to say goodbye to him like that. Hearing his pain and frustration so evidently over the phone….

“Hey, Wendy. You did the right thing,” Finn assured me, but I just sniffled.

He reached over and took my hand, squeezing it lightly. Ordinarily, I would’ve been delighted by that, but right now I was doing everything I could to keep from sobbing or throwing up. I had just promised Matt that I would never do anything like this again. I wiped at my tears, but I couldn’t seem to stop crying. Finn let go of my hand so he could flip back the armrest, getting it out of the way.

“Come here,” Finn said gently. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. I rested my head against his shoulder, and he held me tightly to him. Eventually, I stopped crying, but I don’t know when that it was because it wasn’t until after I had fallen asleep.

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14

We arrived at Elora’s manor in the early afternoon, and the bright sunlight gleamed off it, making it look even more majestic and imposing than it had before. Finn didn’t knock on the door this time. He just punched the key code in the alarm and let me in. I had woken up about a minute before we pulled up to the house, so my eyes were puffy from sleep and crying. He had still had his arm around me and I was nestled in close to him. When he saw that I was awake, he had taken his arm back, and I felt a familiar disappointment. When we walked into the house, he made a point of not touching me, once again reminding me that anything I thought happened between us was just my imagination.

As we made our way down the long hall towards the drawing room, I passed a mirror and stopped to investigate. I had left the house wearing light green pajama pants and a green top, and they were both stained with dirt and grass stains from falling from the tree and getting slapped around by that guy.

My face was red and swollen where I had been slapped, and my temple was turning purplish. My hair was a total and complete disaster. Twigs and grass were stuck in it. Red rimmed and bleary, my eyes looked like I had spent the night on a heavy bender, and honestly, I felt like I had. I was sore all over.

Finn had stopped to wait for me, and he prompted me when I had spent too long hating my reflection. He knocked on the heavy wooden door to the drawing room. I didn’t hear anything, but a moment later, he opened the door, as if she had summoned us in.

“Elora,” Finn stepped into the room and gave a small bow.

Elora was sitting in the corner of the room on a stool. A large canvas was set on the easel before her. It was only partially finished, but it appeared to be some kind of fire, with dark smoke filtering over broken chandeliers. She continued painting for several minutes while we stood there. I glanced over at Finn, but he just shook his head, trying to quiet me before I voiced a complaint.

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His hands were clasped behind his back, and he stood rigidly straight, reminding me of a soldier.

“I see you decided to grace us with your presence.” Elora still had her back to us, but I assumed she was talking to me. Her long hair fell down her back, shimmering when she leaned forward to paint.

“I didn’t have a choice,” I replied.

“You always have a choice.” Elora sounded irritated, then she finally turned back to look at me. Her eyes widened with surprise, but her expression lacked anything resembling concern. “What happened?”

“Vittra,” Finn answered with the same contempt he had before.

“Oh?” Elora raised an eyebrow. “Which ones?”

“Jen and Kyra,” Finn said.

“I see.” Elora stared off for a minute, then started setting aside her paint supplies carefully. She got off the stool and turned to face us, smoothing out the non-existent wrinkles in her dress. Sighing tiredly, she sat on one of the sofas in the room and gestured to the one across from her. I took a seat, but Finn remained standing. Placing her delicate fingers on her chin, she looked over at Finn. “You’re sure it was just Jen and Kyra?”

“I believe so,” Finn said, thinking hard. “I didn’t see any signs of others, and they would’ve called for back up, had there been any to call. They were quite insistent on taking Wendy. Jen got violent with her.”

“I can see that,” Elora nodded at my face. “They know who she is, then?”

“They called me by my ful name,” I interjected helpfully, but Elora had turned her attention back to Finn. She stared at him for a minute, and he nodded.

“Hmm.” Elora settled back on the sofa. “I suppose that this will be a lesson to you. Running away in the middle of the night like that.” Her eyes were heavy with disdain. “You must have better sense than that. If you truly wanted to leave, all you had to do was ask. That was childish and irresponsible.”

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “I just missed my family.”

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“They are not your family!” She rolled her eyes and waved the idea away. “No matter. You won’t be able to see them anymore. With the Vittra after you, this is the only place you’ll be safe.”

“What are the Vittra? I don’t understand who they are or what they wanted with me.” I glanced over at Finn, but he just kept staring at Elora.

“Förening is populated with Trylle.” Elora gestured widely around, referencing the whole town. “The term Trylle is a distinction similar to a tribe.

We are trolls, and over the years the troll population has been dwindling. Our numbers used to be great, but there are less than a million of us in the entire planet.

“We are one of the largest tribes left, but we are not the only one,”

Elora continued. “The Vittra are a warring faction, and they have been going down even faster. They are forever looking to pick off some of us. Either by turning them to their side, or simply by getting rid of them.”

“So the Vittra want me to live with them?” I wrinkled my nose. “Why?

What I do for them?”

“You are the Princess,” Elora explained with a condescending smile.

“You will one day be Queen, and being the leader of Trylle carries great weight.”

“But if I’m not here, won’t you just find another replacement? I mean, there’s going to be a Queen here even if I’m not,” I pointed out.

“There is more to it than that. We are not all created equal,” Elora went on, and cast an odd look at Finn. “We are far more gifted than the others.

You have already tapped into persuasion, and you have the potential for much more. Vittra are lucky to have any abilities. Adding you to their ranks would greatly change their power to influence.”

“You’re saying I’m powerful?” I raised a sardonic eyebrow. There was nothing powerful about me.

“You will be,” Elora amended. “That is why you need to live here, to learn our ways so you can take your rightful place.”

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“Okay.” I took a deep breath and ran my hand along my pajama pants.

None of this seemed real or made sense. The idea of myself as a Queen was completely absurd. I barely managed to pass for an awkward teenager.

“Finn will be staying to watch over you,” Elora nodded again to Finn.

“Since they’re looking for you, added protection would be prudent.” Her eyes were locked on Finn for a moment, then she turned back to me. “You look a mess. Why don’t you get yourself cleaned up?”

“Um, yeah, okay,” I nodded unsurely and stood up. “Thanks. I guess.”

“Thank you,” Finn did a small bow to her, and then we left the room.

After walking away from her, there was always this sudden sense of being able to breathe again. I didn’t really feel it when I was with her, but it was as if she took all the oxygen from the room. As soon as I left, I could suddenly feel the shift. Breathing deeply, I ran my hand up and down my arm to stifle the chill that ran over me. Everything she had said would’ve freaked me out if I had believed it, so I pushed it from my thoughts.

“Are you holding up alright?” Finn looked at me carefully.

“Yeah, I’m great.” I tucked some of my curls behind my ears, but mostly, I was just happy that I was still walking. “So… what’s going on with you and Elora?”

“What do you mean?” Finn looked at me from the corner of his eye.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged, afraid that I had been imagining things. “It just seems like she looks at you intently a lot, and like you understand exactly what she means.” As soon as it came out of my mouth, it dawned on me.

“That’s one of her abilities, isn’t it? Kind of like what I can do, but less manipulative. Cause she’s not controlling you, is she? She’s just telling you what to do.”

“Not even telling me what to do. She’s just talking,” Finn corrected me.

“Why doesn’t she talk to me like that?” I asked.

“She wasn’t sure if you’d be receptive. If you’re not accustomed to it, hearing another person’s voice in your head can be unsettling,” Finn explained.

“And she didn’t really need to.”

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“But she needed to with you?” I slowed down, and he slowed to match my pace. “She was talking to you private about me, wasn’t she?” Finn paused, and I could see that he was considering lying to me.

“Some of it, yes,” Finn admitted.

“Can she read minds?” I felt slightly horrified at that thought.

“No. Very few can.” When he looked over at me, he smiled crookedly.

“Your secrets are safe, Wendy.”

Finn walked me the rest of the way to my room, although I fell silent after that. My mind spun from everything that happened, and I looked forward to getting cleaned up and pulling the twigs from my hair. He paused at my door, and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to invite him in or something. Then he just smiled, nodded, and told me he’d be down the hall if I needed anything.

When I came out of my shower, wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe, I was surprised to find Rhys sitting on my bed. He had my iPod, the one that had come with the room, and he was scrolling through it. I ran a finger through my wet tangles of hair and cleared my throat loudly, since he apparently hadn’t heard me exit the bathroom.

“Oh, hey!” Rhys set aside the iPod and got to his feet, grinning at me in a way that made his eyes sparkle. Then he remembered something, and he attempted a scowl. “You stole my bike.”

“Oh, yeah I’m really sorry about that,” I admitted sheepishly. “Did Finn get it back for you? My aunt took it to the impound lot.”

“No, he told me about it, but I guess you guys didn’t have time cause you left in a hurry.” His expression got more serious as he leaned in towards me, and it took me a minute to realize he was admiring the bruise I had growing on the side of my face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I brushed off his concern and walked around to the other side of the bed. It suddenly seemed like a good idea to put some distance between us. When he looked at me like that, it made me acutely aware of the fact that I wasn’t wearing anything underneath my fluffy robe.

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“Good,” Rhys smiled. “But you know, I would’ve let you take it anyway. My motorcycle, I mean. If you had just asked, I wouldn’t have stopped you.” His eyes got uncharacteristically somber when he glanced around my room. “I know what its like to want to escape.”

“You aren’t happy here?” I blurted out before I could think about how rude that sounded. His eyes met mine, just for a second, revealing something more than that, but then he quickly dropped them.

“Why wouldn’t I be happy?” Rhys asked wryly. He was standing directly on the other side of the bed as me and he ran his fingers along my silk sheets, staring at the bedspread intently. “I have everything a kid could want.

Video games, cars, toys, money, clothes, servants…” He trailed off, but then a slow smile returned to his face and he looked up at me. “And now I have a Princess living across the hall from me. I’m ecstatic.”

“I’m not really a Princess,” I shook my head and tucked my hair behind my ears. “Not in the real sense of the word. I mean… I just got here.”

“You look like a Princess to me.” The way he smiled at me made me want to blush, so I stared down at my bedspread, unsure of what else to do.

“So what about you?” I kept my head down, but I raised my eyes up to meet his. The smile playing on my lips felt oddly flirtatious, but I didn’t mind it.

“Are you some kind of Prince?”

“Hardly,” Rhys laughed. He ran a hand through his sandy hair, looking rather sheepish. “I should probably let you finish getting dressed. The chef is on tonight, and supper is served promptly at six. So be there or… eat cold leftovers.”

Once he left, I took a deep breath and flopped back on my bed.

Everything felt way too big in this house. There was all this vast space between everything, and it felt like I was trapped on an island. I had thought that’s what I had wanted. To be my very own island, but here I was, and I felt nothing but isolated and confused.

I was pretty sure that people weren’t telling me things. Every time I asked something, there were only half-answers and vague responses before they 162

quickly changed the subject. For being set to inherit a kingdom of sorts, I was pretty low on the information rung.

I had expected supper to be some kind of grand ordeal, but it wasn’t at all. The dining room was empty, so I followed the voices into the kitchen. A man in all white was working the stove, his long graying hair pulled back in a ponytail. Rhys had a stool pulled up to the island, munching on a bread roll and laughing loudly at something. A girl looking a little bit older than me stood on the other side of the island, a Mountain Dew bottle in her hand. Her hair was a shiny red, her eyes sparkled green, and she had a nervous smile. Finn had his back to me when I came in the kitchen, but he glanced over his shoulder at the sound of my footsteps.

“I was just coming to see if you’d like to join us,” Finn turned around and greeted me.

“Yeah, we were having dinner and a show,” Rhys smirked, looking at the girl. “Rhiannon was just about to burp the alphabet!”

“Oh my gosh, Rhys, I was not!” The girl protested, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “I just drank the Mountain Dew too fast and I said excuse me!” Rhys laughed again and tossed a piece of bread in his mouth. She looked apologetically at me. “I’m sorry. Rhys can be such an idiot sometimes. I wanted to make a better first impression than this.”

“You’re doing okay so far.” I wasn’t used to the idea of anybody trying to impress me ever, and she definitely had a certain likable quality to her.

“Keep it down! I’m trying to work!” The chef grumbled at the stove.

Rhys just smirked, so Rhiannon cast a warning glare at him.

“Anyway, Wendy, this is Rhiannon, the girl next door,” Rhys gestured between the two of us. “Rhiannon, this is Wendy, future ruler of everything around you.”

“Wendy would be just fine,” I corrected him.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” She set down her pop and came over to me so she could shake my hand. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

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“Oh yeah? Like what?” I was curious to see what people were saying about me. So far, I couldn’t imagine that much of it had been good. Rhiannon floundered helplessly for a minute, looking to Rhys for help, but he just laughed. “It’s okay. I was just kidding.”

“Oh. Sorry.” She flashed an embarrassed smile, and Rhys pushed out a stool next to him, patting the seat.

“Why don’t you come have a seat, Rhiannon, and chillax for a bit?”

Rhys offered, trying to settle her discomfort. She felt awkward and embarrassed because of me, and I could not wrap my head around that concept.

“Are you hungry?” Finn asked. He had gone over to a cupboard to start getting out plates, and he looked back at me.

“Uh, yeah,” I nodded. “Famished, actually.”

Finn got plates for everyone, then got water for the two of us and pop for Rhys and Rhiannon. Rhys continued to tease Rhiannon about everything, and she kept blushing and making apologies for him. I suspected that their relationship modeled something that resembled a normal healthy sibling relationship, and I had to push that thought away before I had a chance to think of Matt. The chef complained the entire time of all the noise we were making, but that only encouraged Rhys to get louder.

Finn pulled up a stool next to mine, and he spoke very little while we ate. Rhys tended to dominate the conversation, with Rhiannon interjecting when he said things that were categorically untrue or apologizing when she thought he was being rude. He never really was, though. For the most part, he was funny and lively and kept things from ever feeling awkward.

Occasionally, Finn would look over at me and make quiet comments when Rhys and Rhiannon were otherwise engaged in some kind of debate.

Hidden underneath the lip of the island, I felt his knee brush against mine. At first, I assumed it was a simple accident because of our close proximity, but as I finished my meal, I noticed that he had actually tilted himself towards me, leaning in closer. It was a subtle move, one that Rhys and Rhiannon probably wouldn’t catch, but I definitely had.

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“You are such a pest!” Rhiannon grumbled playfully after Rhys had flicked an unwanted tomato on to her plate. She tried to put it back on his plate, but he lightly slapped at her hand and pushed her away. “Rhys! You’re like a five-year-old sometimes!”

“Dinner’s not always this exciting,” Finn assured me, his voice low. I leaned towards him so I could hear him better, and his dark eyes met mine.

“Sometimes Rhys is gone.” A small smile played on his lips. “Although, with you around, things are bound to get more exciting.”

“You think so?” I asked, trying to make my voice sound sexier somehow, but I completely failed. Finn smiled wider, and my heart nearly hammered out of my chest.

“Sorry for interrupting your play time,” Elora spoke from behind us.

Her voice wasn’t that loud, but somehow it seemed to echo through everything.

Rhys and Rhiannon immediately stopped their fighting, both of them sitting rigidly and staring down at their plates. Finn moved away from me, but he turned around to face Elora, making that look like it had been his intention all along. I glanced back over my shoulder at her, and the way she looked at me made me feel guilty, even though I was pretty sure I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“You weren’t interrupting anything,” Finn assured her, but I sensed a nervousness below his calm words. “Were you planning to join us?”

“No, that’ll be quite all right.” Elora surveyed the kitchen and the small mess we had created on the island with heavy distaste. “I needed to speak with you.”

“Would you like us to be excused?” Rhys offered, and Rhiannon already started sliding off her seat.

“That won’t be necessary.” Elora held up her hand, and Rhiannon blushed as she climbed back on the stool. “The Strom’s will be coming for dinner tomorrow.” Her eyes went back to Rhys and Rhiannon, and she seemed to cower under Elora’s gaze. “I trust that you two will find a way to make yourselves useful.”

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“When they come over here, I’ll go over there,” Rhys suggested cheerily. She nodded at him, showing that his response was sufficient enough.

“As for you, you will be joining us.” Elora smiled at me, but there was something uneasy masked behind it. “The Strom’s are very good friends of our family, and I expect you to make a good impression with them.” She gave Finn that intense look, meaning she was saying things I wasn’t meant to hear, and he nodded understanding. “Finn will be in charge of preparing you for the dinner, making sure you are on your best behavior and know everything you need for tomorrow evening.”

“Okay,” I nodded, figuring that I had better say something.

“That is all. Carry on.” Elora turned and walked out of the room, her skirt flowing behind her, but nobody said anything until she was long gone.

Finn stood up and started clearing away his dishes, and Rhiannon almost shivered with relief. She was more terrified of Elora than even I was, and I wondered what Elora had done to make her so deserving of that fear.

Only Rhys seemed to shake it off as soon as she had gone.

“I don’t know how you can stand that creepy mind speak thing she does with you, Finn.” Rhys shook his head and took another bite of his food. “I would freak out if she were in my head.”

“Why? There’s nothing in your head for her to get to,” Finn commented dryly, and Rhiannon giggled nervously.

“What did she say to you, anyway?” Rhys pressed, looking up at him.

Finn continued cleaning up the island but didn’t respond. “Finn? What’d she say?”

“It’s nothing to concern yourself with,” Finn admonished him quietly.

He finished wiping down the counter, then turned to me. “Are you ready?”

“For what?” I asked dumbly.

“We have a lot to go over before tomorrow night.” He glanced warily at the clock, then back at me. “Come on. We better get started.”

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15

As it turned out, I wasn’t completely stunted socially and had a basic understanding of manners, so there wasn’t all that much that Finn needed to tutor me on. What he had said had been common sense things, like always say please and thank you, but in the end, he encouraged me to keep my mouth shut whenever possible. I think his task had been less about preparing me for the dinner and more about keeping me in line. I suspected that the secret things Elora had been telling him had just been warning him to baby-sit me, or else.

Dinner was at eight, and company was arriving at seven. Rhys had popped in to wish me good luck and let me know he was heading over to Rhiannon’s, in case anybody cared. Finn came in shortly after I had gotten over the shower, looking even sharper than usual. He was clean shaven for the first time since he’d stopped going to school, and he wore a black button-up shirt with a narrow white tie and black pants with a black blazer over it. It should’ve been little much with so much black, but he managed to pull it off, all the while looking incredibly sexy.

“Well don’t you look dapper?” I commented.

Once again, I was wearing only my bathrobe, and I wondered why nobody thought it was inappropriate for boys to barge in when I wasn’t dressed. At least this time I was doing something semi-sexy; sitting on the edge of my bed putting lotion on my legs. It was my usual routine that I did every time I showered, but since Finn was in the room, I tried to play it off as being sensual when it really wasn’t.

Not that Finn had even noticed. He knocked once, opened my bedroom door, and only gave me a fleeting glance as he headed straight to my closet. I sighed in frustration and hurriedly rubbed the lotion in while Finn busied himself. He had flicked on the light and was apparently rummaging through my clothes.

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“I don’t think I have anything in your size!” I said and leaned farther on my bed, trying see what he was doing in there.

“Funny,” he muttered absently.

“What’s so hard about dressing me? And what’s wrong with how I dress myself?” I countered, watching him, but he didn’t even look at me. He was far too focused on the task at hand.

“You are a Princess, and you need to dress like one.” He gave a resigned sigh, and he started leafing through my dresses and pulled out a long, white sleeveless dress. It was actually a very pretty, looking much too fancy for me, and when he came out of the closet, he handed it to me. “I think this might work. Try it on.”

“Isn’t everything in my closet suitable?” I tossed the dress on the bed next to me and turned to look at him. “Wasn’t everything picked out for these occasions?”

“Yes, but different things are better for different occasions.” Finn came over to the bed to smooth out the dress, making sure it didn’t have any wrinkles or creases. “This is a very important dinner, Wendy.”

“Why? What makes this one so important?” I demanded.

“The Strom’s are very good friends of your mother’s and the Kroner’s are very important people. They affect the future,” Finn finished smoothing the dress and turned to me. “Why don’t you continue getting ready?”

“How do they affect the future? What does that mean?” I pressed.

“That’s a conversation for another day,” Finn nodded towards the bathroom. “You need to hurry if you’re going to be ready in time for dinner.”

“Fine,” I sighed, getting up off the bed.

“Wear your hair down,” Finn commanded. My hair was wet so it was lying nicely down, but I knew that as soon as it dried, it would turn into a wild thicket of curls.

“I can’t. My hair is impossible.” I ran my fingers through my dark hair.

“We all have difficult hair. It’s the curse of being Trylle,” Finn said.

“Even Elora and I. It’s something you must learn to manage.”

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“Your hair is nothing like mine,” I insisted dourly. His hair was short and obviously had some product in it, but it looked smooth, straight, and obedient.

“It most certainly is,” Finn replied shortly.

I meant to prove him wrong, so instinctively, I reached out and touched his hair, running my fingers shallowly through the hair past his temples.

Other than being stiff with product, it felt like my hair. It wasn’t until I had done it that I realized that there was something inherently intimate about running my fingers through another person’s hair. I had been looking at his hair, but then I met his dark eyes and realized exactly how close I was to him.

Since I was short, I had stood on my tiptoes a bit, leaning up to him like I was about to kiss him, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought that would be a very good course of action right about now.

“Satisfied?” Finn asked, and I retracted my hand and took a step back.

“There should be hair products in your bathroom. Experiment.”

I nodded my compliance, still feeling too flustered to really speak. Finn was unnaturally calm, and at times like that, I really hated it. I barely even remembered to breathe until I was in my bathroom. Being that near to him made me forget everything but his dark eyes, the heat from his skin, his wonderful scent, the feel of his hair beneath my fingers, the smooth curve of his lips…

That had to be the end of that. I had a dinner tonight to worry about, and somehow, I had to do something with my hair. I tried to remember what Maggie had used in my hair before I went to the dance with Patrick, but that felt like a lifetime ago. Thankfully, my dark hair had magically decided to behave itself tonight, making the whole process go easier. Finn seemed to think my hair looked better down, so I left the length of it hanging in the back and pulled the sides back with clips. The bruise was fading on my temple, and I covered it up easily with concealer. I also had a fully stocked jewelry box, and I went with a diamond necklace.

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The dress was much trickier to get on. It had one of those stupid zippers that refused to move higher than my lower back, and I couldn’t win.

Tentatively, I pushed open the bathroom door.

“I need help with the zipper,” I said meekly, gesturing to the open slit down my back.

Finn had been looking out the window, at the sun setting on the bluffs, and when he turned, his eyes rested on me for almost a minute before he nodded and walked over. One of his hands pressed warmly on my bare shoulder to steady the fabric as he zipped me up, and my skin shivered involuntarily.

“So what do you think?” I smiled at him when he had finished.

“You look like a Princess,” Finn smiled crookedly at me.

I walked over to the full length to investigate for myself. Even I had to admit that I looked lovely. With the white dress and the diamonds, I almost looked too lavish. Maybe it was too much for just a dinner.

“I look like I’m getting married,” I commented and glanced back at Finn. “Do you think I should change?”

“No, it’s perfect.” He looked pensively at me. The doorbell chimed loudly, and Finn nodded. “The guests have arrived. We should greet them.”

We walked down the hall together, but at the top of the steps, Finn purposefully fell a few steps behind me. Elora and the Kroner’s were standing in the alcove as I descended the steps, and they all turned to look up at me. It was the first grand entrance I had ever made in my life, and there was something wonderful about it.

The Kroner’s consisted of a stunningly beautiful woman in a floor-length dark green dress, an attractive man in a dark suit, and a rather foxy boy about my age. I could feel them appraising me as I walked towards them, so I was careful to keep my steps as smooth and elegant as possible.

“This is my daughter, the Princess.” Elora smiled in away that almost looked loving and held her hand out to me. Even she looked more extravagant than usual. Her dress was had more detailing and her jewelry was more 170

pronounced. I smiled politely and did a small curtsy. Immediately after, I realized that they were probably the ones that should be curtsying to me, but they all smiled pleasantly at me. “Princess, these are the Kroner’s. Aurora, Noah, and Tove.”

“It’s such a pleasure to meet you,” Aurora had a syrupy tone to her words that I wasn’t sure if I trusted or not. Her dark hair was up, with a few perfectly placed curls falling from it. Her dark eyes were large and stunning.

Her husband, Noah, did a very small bow towards me, as did her son, Tove. Both Noah and Aurora looked appropriately respectful towards Elora and me, but Tove looked vaguely bored. His mossy green eyes met mine very briefly, then looked away, as if he were uncomfortable looking at me.

Elora ushered us into the sitting parlor to wait until supper was served.

The conversation was overly polite and banal, but I suspected there were undercurrents that I wasn’t really picking up. Elora and Aurora did most of the talking, with Noah adding very little. Tove said nothing at all, preferring to look anywhere but directly at anyone. Finn was more in the background. He was very poised and polite, but I was under the impression that Aurora didn’t entirely approve of his presence.

The Strom’s were fashionably late, as Finn had predicted they would be. Finn had been a tracker for Willa, so he knew her and her father, Garrett, quite well. His wife (Willa’s mother) had died some years earlier. Finn claimed that Garrett was easy-going, but that Willa was a tad high-strung. She was twenty-one, and prior to living in Förening, she’d been privileged to the point of excess.

When the doorbell rang, interrupting the irritatingly dull conversation between Aurora and my mother, Finn immediately excused himself to answer the door and returned with Garrett and Willa in tow. Garrett was a rather handsome man his mid-forties. His hair was dark and disheveled, making me feel better about my own imperfect hair. When he shook my hand with a warm smile, he immediately put me at ease.

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Willa, on the other hand, had that snobby look that was always simultaneously bored and pissed off. She was a waif of a girl with light-brown waves that fell neatly on her back. Her outfit had come straight from the runway, right down her anklet covered in diamonds. She shook my hand, and I could tell that her smile was an attempt at sincere, making me hate her a little less.

Once they arrived, we adjourned to the dining room for supper. Finn pulled my chair out for me before I sat down, and I enjoyed it since I couldn’t remember a single time that anyone had done that for me before. Willa seemed to try and engage Tove in conversation as we walked into the other room, but he remained completely silent.

Garrett sat in the chair nearest to Elora, and Willa took a seat next to him, and I sat at the other head of the table, with Finn and Tove flanking me on either side. Finn waited until everyone was sitting to take a seat himself, and this would be the standard for the evening. As long as at least one person was standing, so would Finn. He was always the first to his feet, and even though the chef and a butler-esque fellow were on staff tonight, Finn would offer to get anyone anything they needed.

The dinner dragged on much more sorely than I had imagined it could.

I was wearing white, so I was terrified of spilling any drop of food on my dress.

Not only that, but I had never felt so judged in my entire life. It felt as if both Aurora and Elora were just waiting for me to screw up so they could pounce, but I wasn’t sure why either of them would want me to. I could tell that on several occasions Garrett tried to lighten the mood, but nobody allowed it.

Aurora and Elora dominated the conversation, and everyone else rarely said anything.

Tove stirred his soup a lot, and I became mildly hypnotized by the act.

Then something happened. He let go of his spoon, but it kept swirling around the bowl, stirring the soup without any hand to guide it. I must have started to gape because I felt Finn gently kick me under the table, and I quickly dropped my eyes back to my own food.

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“It is so nice to have you here,” Garrett said randomly, changing the entire topic of conversation. He smiled at me, and it seemed genuine. “How do you like the palace so far?”

“Oh, it is not a palace, Garrett,” Elora laughed. It wasn’t a real laugh, though. It was the kind of laugh rich people had whenever they talked about new money people. Aurora tittered right along with it, and that quieted Elora down somehow.

“You’re right. It’s better than a palace,” Garrett joked, and Elora smiled demurely.

“I like it. It’s very nice.” I tried to look happy, but I was afraid to elaborate more. I wasn’t sure if they had heard anything about my escape the first time I was here, and I didn’t want to sound like a liar.

“Are you adjusting here alright?” Garrett asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” I said quietly. “I haven’t been here that long, though.”

“It does take time,” Garrett allowed, and looked at Willa with affectionate concern. His easy smile returned quickly and he nodded at Finn.

“But you’ve got Finn there to help you. He’s an expert at helping the changelings acclimate. You really got a winner with that one.”

“I’m not an expert at anything,” Finn demurred politely. “I just do my job the best I can.”

“Have you had a designer to come over to make the dress yet?” Aurora asked conversationally, taking a polite sip of her wine. It had been a minute since she’d last spoken, so it was time for her take the conversation back over.

“That dress she has on is very lovely, but I can’t imagine that was made specifically for her.”

“No, it was not.” Elora gave her a plastic smile, and cast a very small but very distinct glare at me and my dress, which until just that second had felt like the most beautiful thing I had ever worn. “The tailor is set to come over tomorrow.”

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“That is cutting it a bit short for Saturday, isn’t it?” Aurora questioned, and I could see Elora bristling just below the surface of her perfect smile.

“Not at all,” Elora explained with any overly soothing tone, almost as if she were talking to a small child or a Pomeranian. “I am using Fredrique Von Ellsin, the same one that designed the Willa’s gown. He works very quickly, and his gowns are always immaculate.”

“Yes, my gown was divine,” Willa interjected politely.

“Ah, yes,” Aurora allowed herself to look impressed. “We have him on reserve for when our daughter comes home next spring. He’s much harder to get in then, since that is the busy season for when the children return.” There was something vaguely condescending in her voice, if we had done something tacky by me arriving here when I did. “That is one major benefit at having the Princess come home in the fall. Everything will be so much easier to book.

When Tove came home last season, it was so difficult to get everything just right. I suppose you’ll have everything you want right on hand. That should make for a stunning ball.”

Several things were setting off alarms in my head. First, they were talking about me like I wasn’t even there, and even Tove to a lesser extent, but he didn’t seem to notice or care about anything going on around him. Secondly, they were talking about something going on Saturday that I apparently needed a specially designed dress for, and yet nobody had cared to mention this to me.

Then again, this shouldn’t surprise me. Nobody told me anything.

“I haven’t had the luxury of making provisions a year in advance the way most people do, since the Princess came home most unexpectedly.” Elora’s sweet smile was dripping with venom, and Aurora smiled back at her and pretended not to notice.

“I can certainly lend you a hand. I just did Tove’s, and as I said, I’m already preparing for our daughter’s,” Aurora offered helpfully.

“That would be delightful.” Elora took a long drink of her wine.

Dinner continued along that way. Elora and Aurora making polite conversation that tried to mask how much they detested each other. Noah 174

didn’t say much, but at least he managed not to look awkward or bored. Willa and I ended up watching Tove quite a bit, because I was certain he was moving things without touching them.

Unlike the Strom’s, the Kroner’s didn’t linger around after dinner. I assumed that was because Elora actually liked Garrett and Willa. Elora, Finn, and I walked the Kroner’s to the door, with Finn being the one to actually open the door for them. When saying their goodbyes, Aurora and Noah bowed before Elora and me, making me feel quite ridiculous. There was absolutely no reason why anyone should bow to me.

To my astonishment, Tove gently took my hand in his, kissing it softly when he bowed. When he stood up, his eyes met mine, and very seriously he said, “I look forward to seeing you again, Princess.”

“And I, you.” That came right off the top of my head, and I was so pleased that I had said something that sounded completely perfect for the moment.

After they departed into the night, oxygen seemed to return to the house, and Elora let out an irritated sigh. Finn actually rested his forehead against the door for a moment before turning back around to face us. I felt much better knowing that everyone else had found the evening exhausting.

“Oh, that woman.” Elora rubbed her temples and shook her head, then pointed at me. “You. You do not bow to anyone, ever. Especially not that woman. I know you thrilled her endlessly, and she’s going to be telling everyone about the little dimwitted Princess who didn’t know enough not to bow before a Marksinna.” I looked at the floor, feeling any sense of pride at the way I made it through the night vanish. I had apparently embarrassed Elora wholly. “You don’t even bow before me, is that clear?”

“Yes,” I muttered.

“You are the Princess. Nobody is higher than you. Have you got that?”

Elora snapped, and I nodded. “Then you need to start acting like it. You sit there like a wallflower when you need to command the room! They came here to see you, to gauge your power, and you need to show them! You have got to 175

blow everyone away! They need to have confidence that you will be able to lead them all when I am gone!” I kept my eyes locked on the floor, even though I knew that probably offended her, but I was afraid that I would cry if I looked at her yelling at me. “You sit there like some beautiful, useless jewel, and that’s exactly what she wants.” She sighed disgustedly again. “Oh, and the way you gaped at that boy…”

After her small tirade, she abruptly stopped. We immediately went to the sitting parlor, where Garrett and Willa were waiting for us, but the entire atmosphere had changed to one of a more relaxed tone. Finn even loosened his tie. Elora lounged on the chair next to Garrett, and he seemed to captivate a disproportionate amount of her attention.

A whole other side of Finn emerged. He sat next to me, his leg crossed over his knee, making charming small talk with them. He was still gracious and respectful and not all that talkative, but he always seemed to add something the conversation. I bit my tongue, afraid to say the wrong thing, but Garrett and Willa were definitely entertained by him, and even Elora looked pleased.

Garrett and Elora talked some kind of politics, which I didn’t really follow, and Finn added things when appropriate. Willa looked completely bored by the conversation, and I just concentrated on not saying anything else stupid.

Elora apparently had to appoint a new Chancellor in six months, but I didn’t even know what that was, and I thought asking would only make me look foolish.

As the night progressed, Elora had to excuse herself because of a migraine. Garrett and Finn offered their condolences and help, but neither of them seemed that surprised or concerned by this occurrence. They continued on with that whole Chancellor business again, and Willa couldn’t take it anymore. She said she needed fresh air and invited me to join her.

Down at the far end of the hall, there was a small alcove of a room with nearly invisible glass doors. It led out to a lovely balcony that ran from one corner of the house to the other. The balcony was lined with a thick black 176

railing that went up to my chest. Willa went over to the corner farthest away from everyone and leaned on it.

From out here, the view was even more intimidating. The balcony was literally hanging over a hundred foot drop. Below us, there was nothing but the tree tops of maples, oaks, and evergreens. Farther down, I could see the tops of houses, and way down at the bottom of the bluff, the turbulent river pumped past us. A breeze blew over us, sending a cold chill down my bare arms, and Willa sighed.

“Oh knock it off!” Willa grumbled, and at first, I thought she was talking to me. She was more scantily clad than I was, and I didn’t understand how she wouldn’t be cold. She lifted her hand, waving her fingers lightly in the air, and almost instantly, her hair that had been blown back in the breeze settled on her shoulders. The wind had died away.

“Did you do that?” I asked, trying not to sound as awed as I felt.

“Yeah. That’s the only thing I can do. Lame, isn’t it?” Willa complained and wrinkled her nose.

“No, actually, I think it’s pretty cool,” I admitted. She controlled the wind! Wind was an unstoppable force, and she just wiggled her fingers, and it stopped. I thought it was magic.

“I kept hoping I’d get a real ability someday, but my mother only had command over the clouds, so at least I did better than that,” Willa shrugged.

“You’ll see when your abilities start coming in. Everybody hopes for telekinesis or at least some persuasion, but most of us are stuck with basic use of the elements, if we’re lucky. The abilities aren’t what they used to be, I guess.”

“Before you came here, did you know you were something?” I asked, looking back over my shoulder at her. She had her back on the railing, and she leaned back over it, letting her hair hang down towards the ground.

“Oh, yeah. I always knew I was better than everyone else.” Her eyes fluttered close and she wagged her fingers again, stirring up a light breeze to flow through her hair. “What about you?”

“Um… kind of.” Different, yes. Better, not at all.

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“You’re younger than most of us are, though,” Willa commented.

“You’re still in school, aren’t you?”

“I was.” Nobody had made any mention of school since I got here, and I had no idea what their intentions were for the remainder of my education.

“School sucks anyway.” Willa stood up straight and looked at me solemnly. “So why did they get you early, anyway? Is it because of the Vittra?”

“What do you mean?” I asked nervously.

“I’ve just heard stories that the Vittra have been prowling around lately, trying to catch Trylle changelings,” Willa said casually. “I figured you’d be a top priority cause you’re a Princess, and that’s kind of a big deal here.” She looked thoughtfully at her bare toes and mused, “I wonder if I’d be top priority. My dad’s not a King or anything like that, but we are kind of royalty. What’s lower than a Queen? Is that a Duchess or something?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. I knew nothing of monarchy and titles, which was ironic considering that I was now integral to a monarchy.

“Yeah, I think I’m like that.” Willa narrowed her eyes in concentration.

“My official title is Marksinna. We’re not the only ones, though. There’s maybe six or seven other families in Förening alone with the same title. The Kroners were next in line for the crown if you didn’t come back. They’re real powerful, and that Tove is a real catch.” While he was attractive, nothing had really impressed me about Tove other than his telekinesis, but I wouldn’t refer to him as a catch. Still, it felt weird knowing that they were for my spot, and we had just eaten dinner with them. “I don’t have to worry that much about it, though.” Willa yawned loudly. “Sorry. Boredom makes me sleepy. Maybe we should go inside.”

It was getting cold, so I was ready to head in. Willa lay on the couch as soon as we went back in and all but fell asleep, so Garrett excused himself shortly after. He went to say goodbye to Elora, and then helped Willa out to the car. Finn offered to be of assistance, but Garrett refused. The butler had gone about cleaning everything else up, so Finn suggested that we head up to our 178

respective rooms. The night had been surprisingly tiring, so I was eager to comply.

“What’s going on?” I asked after the Strom’s left. It was the first chance all evening I’d really been able to talk to him. “What is this ball or party or whatever that’s happening on Saturday?”

“It’s something like a debutante ball, except that boys go through it too,” Finn explained as we climbed the stairs.

Dully, I remembered how grand I had felt coming down the stairs a few hours earlier. For the first time, I had felt almost like a Princess, and now I felt like a child playing dress up. Aurora had seen through my fancy trappings (which she didn’t even find that fancy) and realized that I wasn’t special myself.

“I don’t even know what a debutante ball is,” I sighed. I knew nothing of high society.

“It’s a coming out party, your presentation to the world,” Finn elaborated. “Changelings aren’t raised here. The community doesn’t know them. So when they come back, they are given a small amount of time to acclimate, and then they are introduced. Every changeling has one, but most are very small. Since you are the Princess, you will be having a very large one. There will be guests from all over the Trylle community. It is quite an ordeal.”

“I am not ready for that at all,” I groaned.

“You will be,” Finn assured me.

We walked in silence the rest of the way to my bedroom as I fretted and worried about this upcoming party. It hadn’t been that long ago that I had gone to my very first dance, and now I was expected to be the center of a formal ball. There was no way that I could pull that off. Tonight had only been a semi-formal dinner, and I hadn’t performed well at that.

“I trust you’ll sleep well this evening,” Finn said when I started to open the bedroom door.

“You need to come in with me,” I reminded him, then pointed to my dress. “I can’t unzip this thing on my own.”

“Of course.”

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Finn followed me into the darkened room and flipped on the lights.

The glass wall worked as a mirror thanks to the black night. In my reflection, I still thought I looked nice, and then I realized that’s probably why I had to have other people pick out my clothes. My judgment was too flawed. I turned away from it, and waited for Finn to unzip me.

“I really botched things tonight, didn’t I?” I asked sadly.

“No, of course not,” Finn insisted. His hand pressed warm on my back and I felt the dress loosen around me as he pulled the zipper down. I wrapped my arms around me to keep it up, then turned back to look at him. Some part of me was distinctly aware that we were only a few inches from each other, my dress was barely on, and his dark eyes were fixed on me. “You did exactly what I told you. If anyone ruined things, it was me. But the night wasn’t ruined. Elora is just sensitive about them.”

“Why? Why does she let them get to her so much?” I wondered. “She’s the Queen.”

“Monarchs have been overthrown before,” Finn answered calmly. “If you seemed unfit for the position, they could contest it, and they would be next in line to take the title.” All the color drained from face. There was suddenly way too much pressure on me to perform. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.” His expression saddened again, and he added quietly, “Elora has a plan to appease them.”

“What is it?” I pressed. Instead of answering, his eyes got far away and his expression blanked. His brow furrowed, and then he nodded.

“I am sorry. You’re going to have to excuse me. Elora requires assistance in getting to her room.”

“You’re helping Elora?” I stumbled over the question, unable to hide my shock.

Somehow, it seemed it vaguely inappropriate that Finn would be helping her to her room. Maybe it was because she had just asked him inside his head, and I couldn’t get read on what exactly was the nature of their 180

relationship. I might have been feeling a little jealous of my mother, and that added a nauseous feeling on top of everything else.

“Yes. Her migraine is quite severe,” Finn explained and started taking a step away from me.

“Alright, well, have fun with that,” I muttered.

The door closed softly behind him, and I went into the bathroom to take off my jewelry and change into baggy pajamas. Sleep was very difficult for me that night. I was too anxious thinking about all the things I was expected to accomplish. I knew nothing about this world or these people, and yet I was supposed to rule over them someday. That wouldn’t have been so bad, except that I was supposed to master enough of everything in less than a week so they would believe that I could rule. If I didn’t, everything my mother worked so hard for would be taken away. Even though I wasn’t that fond of Elora most of the time, I was even less fond of Aurora, and I didn’t like the idea of my family’s legacy being ruined by me.

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16

Apparently, lazy Sundays happened even in Förening. I woke up late, and the chef was still on hand to make breakfast. I saw Finn briefly, passing him in the hall, but it was no more than a nod hello. I flopped in my bed, thinking I would spend the day bored out of my mind, then Rhys knocked on my door. He invited me over to his room to watch movies with him and Rhiannon. His room was basically a masculine version of mine, except that he had a huge overstuffed couch sitting in front of his plasma TV. We ended up watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy because Rhys insisted it was much funnier once you’d spent time with actual trolls.

I sat on one end of the couch, and Rhiannon sat on the other, so Rhys sat between us. He started directly in the middle, but somewhere around three or four hours into the marathon, I noticed him moving closer to me, not that I minded. He still talked and joked a lot with Rhiannon, and they had a way of making me feel comfortable and happy. She left right after the third movie started, saying she had to get up early in the morning.

Once Rhiannon had gone, I became aware of the fact that Rhys and I were sitting alone in his darkened bedroom. I thought about moving away or something, but I didn’t really have any reason to. The movie was fun, he was foxy, and I enjoyed being with him. It wasn’t too long before his arm “casually”

went around my shoulders. I almost laughed at how he did it, reminding me of boys on sitcoms, but I liked the way it felt and I didn’t want to scare him away.

He never made any moves farther than that, and eventually I leaned into him and rested my head on his shoulder.

What most people may not realize is that watching all three extended edition versions of Lord of the Rings in one sitting ends up being over eleven hours of movie viewing. If we had skipped extended, we could’ve cut two hours out of the time, but Rhys claimed it wouldn’t be the same experience. At one in the afternoon on a boring Sunday, that might sound like a genius idea, but by 182

the time midnight rolls around, it’s a different story. The films are still good, but keeping my eyes open became a battle that I eventually lost.

In the morning, there was a commotion going on that I was completely unaware of. Maybe if I hadn’t tried running away once previous, everyone wouldn’t have been so paranoid. But I had, and they were, and when someone checked on my room that morning, they found it empty. This was because I was across the hall, on the couch with Rhys, sound asleep. Finn threw open the door in a panic, and that’s what jolted me awake.

“Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed, jumping up off the couch. I was mid-heart attack from having Finn slam the bedroom door open. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

Instead of answering, Finn just stood there, staring at me. Behind me, Rhys was coming awake much slower than I was. I glanced back at him, dressed in a tee shirt and sweats that somehow managed to look good on him, and it dawned on me how this looked to Finn. I was still clothed in my only lazy day comfy clothes, but we had been curled up together. My mind scrambled to think of some kind of excuse, but suddenly, even the innocent truth escaped me.

“She’s in here!” Finn said flatly.

I groaned, realizing it was going to be even worse than if he’d just found me.

Elora appeared in the door, her emerald robe flaring out from behind in her a dramatic billow. She was standing behind Finn, but she somehow managed to eclipse everything else. There were times I had thought she looked unhappy before, but they had nothing on the severe expression she had now. Her scowl was so deep, it looked painful. She’d obviously been roused from her sleep to hunt for me, and her hair was still in a thick braid hanging down her back.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Elora barked. Her voice echoed painfully inside my head, and I had a feeling that she had added some of her psychic voice to make it more intense. Rhys was completely alert now, and he stood sheepishly next to me.

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“Sorry. We were just watching movies and fell asleep,” I stumbled through an apology.

“It was my fault. I put the-” Rhys attempted to come to my aid, but Elora cut him off.

“I don’t care what you were doing! Do you have any idea how inappropriate this behavior is?” Her eyes narrowed on Rhys, and he shrunk back even more. “Rhys, you knew this was completely unacceptable. I can’t even begin to imagine what you were thinking, and frankly, I don’t even care!”

She rubbed her temples as if this were giving her a headache, and Finn gave her a concerned look. “I don’t even want to deal you. Get ready for school, and get out of my sight!”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rhys nodded. “Sorry.”

“As for you-” Elora pointed a finger at me but couldn’t find the words to finish. She just looked so disappointed and disgusted with me. “I don’t care how you were raised before you came here, you still know what kind of behavior is ladylike and what isn’t.”

“I wasn’t-” I started, but she held up her hand to silence me.

“But to be honest, Finn, you disappoint me the most.” She had stopped yelling, and when she looked at Finn, she just sounded tired. He dropped his head in shame, and she shook her head. “I can’t believe you allowed this to happen. You are supposed to be educating her in the ways of Trylle and watching her. You know you need to keep your eyes on her at all times.”

“I know. I won’t let it happen again.” Finn bowed apologetically to her.

“I do not want to see any of you for the rest of the day.” She held her hands up, like she was done with the lot of us, and then shook her head and turned out of her room.

“I am so sorry,” Rhys apologized emphatically, his cheeks red with shame, and somehow, that only made him look cuter.

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Not that I was really paying attention to how he looked just then. My stomach had twisted in knots, and I was thankful that I hadn’t started to cry. I turned to Rhys to apologize as well, but Finn cut me off.

“You need to get ready for school,” Finn snapped, and he was almost glaring at Rhys. Then he pointed to the hall and turned to me. “You. Out.

Now.”

“Jeez,” I grumbled but did as I was told.

I had to sneak past him on my way out the door, and normally, I loved that but not today. My heart pounded erratically, but none of it was happy. Finn tried to keep his face expressionless, but tension and anger radiated from his body. I slunk across the hall to my room, and Finn barked something at Rhys about behaving himself.

“Where are you going?” Finn demanded when I opened my bedroom door. He had just emerged from Rhys’s room and slammed the door behind him, making me jump.

“To my room?” I pointed at my room and looked confused.

“No. You need to come to my room with me,” Finn said.

“What? Why?” I asked.

A very small part of me felt excited about the prospect of going to his room with him. That sounded like the start of a fantasy I might have, but the way he was looking at me now, I was afraid he might kill me once we were inside the privacy of his room.

“I need to get ready for the day, and I can’t very well let you out of my sight, can I?” Finn had a heavy irritated undercurrent to his words. I just noticed that he was wearing pajama pants and a tee shirt, and his dark hair wasn’t as sleek as it normally was. He had just woken up, too.

“Yeah, sorry.” I nodded meekly and walked with him to his room. He was walking fast and pissed off, and I fell about a step or two behind. “I really am sorry, you know. I didn’t mean to fall asleep there. We were just watching movies, and it got late. If I had known it would be like this, I would’ve made sure to be in my room.”

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“You should’ve known, Wendy!” Finn exclaimed, exasperated. “You should know that your actions have consequences and the things you do matter!”

“I am sorry!” I repeated, feeling tears sting the back of my eyes.

“Yesterday was so boring and I just wanted to do something.”

“Wendy!” Finn whirled on me suddenly, startling me so I took a step backwards. My back hit the wall behind me, but he stepped closer to me.

Putting one arm on the side of me, his face was only a few inches from mine, and his dark eyes blazed. Somehow, his voice was calm and even. “You know how it looks when a girl spends the night alone with a boy. I know you understand that. But it is so much worse when a Princess spends the night alone with a mänsklig. It could put everything in jeopardy.”

“I-I don’t know that means,” I fumbled.

Finn stayed there, glaring at me for another painful minute, then sighed and took a step back. He rubbed his eyes and stood in the middle of the hallway. I swallowed back tears and caught my breath. When he looked back at me, his eyes had softened a bit, but he didn’t say anything. He just walked to his room, and uncertainly, I followed after him.

His room was smaller than mine, but a much more comfortable size.

One of his walls was entirely glass, but he had the blinds covering it. His bed was covered in dark blankets, and he had several bookshelves overflowing with books. In one corner, he had a small desk with a laptop on it. Like me, had an adjoined bathroom. When he went into the bathroom, he left the door open, and I heard the sound of him brushing his teeth. Tentatively, I sat on the edge of his bed and looked around.

“You must stay here a lot,” I commented. I knew that he stayed here on and off, but to have a room this full of his stuff implied a more permanent living situation.

“I live here when I’m not tracking,” Finn replied.

“My mother is quite fond of you,” I mumbled dimly.

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“Not right now she’s not.” Finn turned off the water and came out, leaning on the doorframe to his bathroom.

“I am so sorry about that,” I apologized sincerely, but Finn just ran a hand through his hair and looked away from me. “I didn’t…” I trailed off, knowing that my apologies weren’t really good enough this time. “How did you even know I wasn’t in my room?”

“I checked on you,” Finn gave me a look like I was an idiot. “I check on you every morning.”

“You check on me when I’m sleeping?” I gaped at him. “Every morning?” He nodded. “I didn’t know that.”

“Why would you know that? You’re sleeping,” Finn pointed out.

“Well… it just feels weird. Like some kind of invasion of privacy,” I shook my head. I was used to Matt and Maggie checking on me, but it felt strange knowing that Finn would come in and watch me sleep, even if it was only for a second.

“I have to make sure you’re safe and sound. Its part of my job,” Finn said.

“You sound like a broken record sometimes,” I muttered wearily.

“You’re always just doing your job.”

“What else do you want me to say?” Finn countered, looking at me evenly.

I knew exactly what I wanted him to say, but I couldn’t tell him.

Instead I just shook my head and looked away from him. My sweats pants suddenly became very fascinating, and I picked lint off them. Finn kept looking at me, and I expected him to move on to finish getting ready. When he didn’t, I decided that I had to fill the silence with talking.

“What is a mänsklig?” I looked over at Finn, and he exhaled.

“The literal translation for mänsklig is ‘human.’” He tilted his head, resting it against the doorframe, and watched me. “Rhys is human.”

“I don’t understand. Why is he around?” I shook my head.

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“Because of you,” Finn said, and that only confused me more. “You’re a changeling, Wendy. You were switched at birth. Meaning that when you took the place of another baby, that baby had to go somewhere else.”

“You mean…” It was incredibly obvious once Finn said it. Rhys had blond hair and blue eyes in a colony of brunettes, and what other purpose would he have here? “Rhys is Michael!” Suddenly, my crush on him felt very dirty. He wasn’t my brother, but he was my brother’s brother, even though Matt wasn’t really my brother. It still felt… not right, somehow.

“Michael?” Finn looked perplexed.

“Yeah, that’s what my mom – Kim, my fake mom – named him. She knew she had a son, and that’s Rhys!” My mind swirled. “But how… how did they do that?”

“We normally do same-sex exchange, a girl for a girl, a boy for a boy,”

Finn explained. “Rhiannon is Willa’s mänsklig, for example. Elora had her mind set on the Everly’s. After he was born, she induced labor with you, and using persuasion on the family and hospital staff, she switched you out for him. It takes harder when you do a boy to girl switch, like that. Mothers are more likely to pick up on something being wrong, as was the case with you mother.”

“Wait, wait!” I held up my hands and looked at him. “She knew it was more dangerous? She knew that Kim was more likely to snap because Rhys was a boy? But she did it anyway?”

“Elora believed that the Everly’s would be the best for you,” Finn maintained. “And she wasn’t completely wrong. Even you freely admit that the aunt and the brother were good to you.”

I thought about my mother and how I had always kind of hated her. I thought she had been terrible and cruel, as had everyone else, but she had known that I wasn’t Michael. Kim had just been insanely good mother. She had remembered him, even when she shouldn’t have been able to, and she refused to give up on him. It was really tragic, when I thought about it.

“So that’s why they don’t want me with the mänsklig? Cause its like incest?” I wrinkled my nose at the thought.

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“No. He’s not your brother,” Finn emphasized. “Trylle and mänsklig have absolutely no relation. The problem is that they’re human.”

“Are we like… physically incompatible?” I asked careful y.

“No. In fact, many Trylle have left the compound to live with humans, for various reasons, and have normal offspring,” Finn answered. “That’s part of the reason our populations are going down.”

“What happens to Rhys now that I’m back?” I questioned.

“Nothing. He’ll live here for as long as he wants. Leave if he decides to.

Whatever he chooses,” Finn shrugged. “Mänsklig aren’t treated badly here.

They aren’t exactly raised as their children, but they are given everything to keep them happy and content. They have an education at our schools. They even have a small trust set up for them. When they are eighteen, they are free to do as they please.”

“But they’re not equals,” I realized. Elora tended to talk down to everyone, but she was worse with Rhys and Rhiannon. I couldn’t imagine that Willa was much nicer either.

“This is a monarchy. There are no equals.” For an instant, Finn looked almost sad, then he walked over and sat on the bed next to me. “That’s part of what Elora is angry with me for not explaining sooner. There is a distinct hierarchy in how we live.

“In the Trylle community, there are classes. There is royalty, of which you are on the top,” Finn gestured to me. “After Elora, of course. Below that there are the Markis and Marksinna, but they can become Kings and Queens through marriage. Then there is your average Trylle, the common folk if you will. Below that, there are trackers. And at the very bottom, there is mänsklig.”

“What? Why are trackers so low?” I asked incredulously.

“We are Trylle, but we only track. My parents were trackers, and their parents before them, and so on,” Finn explained. “We have no changeling population. Ever. That means that we have no income. We bring nothing into the community. We provide a service for other Trylle, and in return, we are provided a home and food.”

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“You’re like an indentured servant?” I gasped.

“Not exactly,” Finn tried to smile, but it looked forced. “Until we retire from tracking, we don’t need to do anything else. Many trackers, such as myself, will work as a guard for some of the families in town. You’ll also notice that all of the service jobs, like the nannies, the teachers, the chefs, the maids, they are almost entirely retired trackers themselves, and they make an hourly wage.

Some are also mänsklig, but they stick around less and less.”

“That’s why you always bow to Elora,” I mused thoughtfully.

“She is the Queen, Wendy. Everyone bows to her,” Finn corrected me.

“Except for you and Rhys, but you’re both rather impossible.” I smirked at that. “You’re actually very fortunate. Elora may seem cold and aloof, but she is a very powerful woman. You will be a very powerful woman. You will be given every opportunity the world has to offer you. I know you can’t see it now, but you will have a very charmed life.”

“You’re right. I cannot see it,” I admitted. “It probably didn’t help that I just got in trouble this morning, and I don’t feel very powerful.” Finn’s lip had a trace of a smile, and I turned to him. “I didn’t do anything with Rhys. You know that, right? Nothing happened.”

Finn stared thoughtfully at the ground. I studied him, trying to catch a glimpse of something, but his face was a mask. Eventually, he nodded. “Yes. I know that.”

“You didn’t this morning, though, did you?” I asked pointedly.

This time, Finn chose not answer. He stood up and said it was getting late and he needed to shower. He gathered his clothes and went into the bathroom. I thought this might be a good time to explore his room, but I suddenly felt very tired. I had been woken up early and had little sleep, and this morning had been draining. Lying back down, I rolled over and curled up in his blankets. They were soft and smelled just like him, and I easily fell asleep.

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17

I would’ve thought I’d been living here long to have seen all the rooms in the house, but I was wrong. There was a whole wing that I had seen nothing of, and Finn still refused to show it to me. When I woke up, Finn directed me to sitting room on the second floor, down the hall from my room. The ceilings were still vaulted and had some kind of mural painted on them, but the furniture looked more like normal people furniture. Finn explained that this had once been Rhys’s playroom, but when he’d outgrown it, they had tried to turn into it an appropriate sitting room for him. Apparently, he rarely used it.

Lying on my back on the couch, I stared up at the ceiling. Finn sat on an overstuffed chair across from me with a book splayed open on his lap. There were stack of texts on the floor next to him, and he was trying to give me a crash course on Trylle history. Unfortunately, despite the fact that we were some type of mythical creatures, Trylle history wasn’t anymore exciting than human history had been.

“What are the roles of the Markis and Marksinna?” Finn quizzed me.

“I don’t know. Nothing,” I replied glibly.

“Wendy, you need to learn this,” Finn sighed. “There will be conversations this weekend, and you need to appear knowledgeable. You can’t just sit back without saying anything anymore.”

“I’m a Princess. I should be able to do whatever I want,” I grumbled.

My legs were hanging over the arm of the couch, and I swung my feet back in forth.

“What are the roles of the Markis and Marksinna?” Finn repeated.

“In other provinces, where the King and Queen don’t live, the Markis and Marksinna are the leaders. They’re like governors or something,” I shrugged. “In times when the King or Queen can’t fulfill their job duties, for whatever reason, a Markis can step up and take their place. In places like 191

Förening, they’re mostly just a way of saying that they’re better than everyone else, but they don’t really have any power.”

“That is true, but you can’t say that last part,” Finn said, then flipped a page in the book. “What is the role of the Chancellor?”

“The Chancellor is an elected official, much like the prime minister in England,” I answered tiredly. “The monarchy has the final word and weald the most power, but the Chancellor serves as their advisors and helps give the Trylle a voice in the way the government is run.” I turned my head and looked over at him. “But I don’t get it. We live in America, and this isn’t a separate country. Don’t we have to follow their laws?”

“Theoretically yes, and for the most part, Trylle laws coincide with American laws, except that we have more of them,” Finn explained. “However, we live in separate pockets unto ourselves. Using our resources – namely cash and persuasion – we can get government officials to look the other way, and we conduct our business in private. If we were to do something drastic, like blow up something, they would be forced to interfere, but we don’t do things like that.”

“Hmm.” I twirled a hair on my finger and thought over what he was saying. “Do you know everything about Trylle society? I mean, you certainly seem to. When you were talking with Garrett and Elora, it was like there was nothing you didn’t know.”

When the Strom’s had been over, Finn had obviously charmed them.

I’m sure he would’ve easily won the Kroner’s over if he had tried. He had assumed it was his role to hide in the background with them, so he’d kept his mouth shut. But everything about him was more refined than me. Cool, collected, intelligent, charming, and handsome, he looked much more like a leader than I did.

“A foolish man thinks he knows everything. A wise man knows he doesn’t,” Finn replied absently, still looking down at the book.

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“That’s such a fortune cookie answer!” I laughed, and even he smirked at me. “But seriously, Finn. This doesn’t make any sense. You should be the Prince, not me. I don’t know anything, but you’re all set to go.”

“I’m not a Prince,” Finn shook his head. “And you are right for the job. You just haven’t had the training that I’ve had. You’re new to all of this.”

‘That’s stupid,” I grumbled. “It should be based on your abilities, not lineage.”

“It

is based on abilities,” Finn insisted. “They just happen to come with lineage.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, and he shut the book on his lap.

“Your persuasion? That comes from your mother,” Finn elaborated.

“The reason the Markis and Marksinna are what they are is because of the abilities they have, and they are passed down through their children. Regular Trylle have some abilities, but they’ve faded with time. To be honest, so have everyone’s. Your mother is one of the most powerful queens we’ve had in a very long time, and the hope is that you will help restore some of that power.”

“But I can barely do anything!” I complained, sitting up. “I have mild persuasion, and you said it wouldn’t even work on you!”

“Not yet, no, but it will,” Finn corrected me. “I’m sure you’ll have much more than that, as well. Once you start your training, it will make more sense to you.”

“Training? What training?” I wrinkled my nose.

“After the ball this weekend. Then you will begin working on your abilities. Most Trylle come here with even less than you have now, but with proper tutelage, they can harness them,” Finn said. “Right now, your only priority is preparing for the ball. So…” He flipped open the book again, but I wasn’t ready to go back to studying.

“But

you have abilities,” I countered. “And Elora prefers you to me. I’m sure she’d like it better if you were Prince.” I realized sadly that that was true, and I laid back down on the couch, finding I felt better when staring at the mural of the sky.

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“I’m sure that isn’t true.”

“It is too,” I grumbled. “What is the deal with you and Elora? She definitely likes you better than me, and she seems to confide in you. And from the way that Aurora regarded you, I’m assuming that isn’t the usual way of things.”

“Elora doesn’t really confide in anyone.” Finn fell silent for a moment, and then exhaled. “If I explain this to you, do you promise to get back to studying?”