“Thank you for protecting my daughter,” Elora said without looking at him.
Finn paused at the doorway to look back at me, his dark eyes conflicted. He nodded, then turned and walked out of my room, shutting the door behind him.
“Well, you took that much better than I thought you would,” I admitted, sitting up.
“He’s not coming back.”
“What?” I stared at the door in dismay.
“He saved your life, so I gave him last night to say good-bye to you,” Elora explained. “I will be transferring him out of here as soon as possible.”
“You mean he knew?” I gaped at her.
“Yes. I made the agreement with him last night,” Elora said. He had known and hadn’t let me in on it, and hadn’t tried to steal me away.
“But . . . he saved my life!” I insisted, feeling a terrifying pain growing in my chest. It screamed that I couldn’t possibly survive without Finn. “He should be here to protect me!”
“He is emotionally compromised and unsuitable for the job,” Elora explained flatly. “Not only that, if he stayed around, you would be banished from Förening. He doesn’t want that, and neither do I.” She sighed.
“I shouldn’t have even given him last night, but . . . I don’t want to know what you did with him. Don’t tell me. Don’t tell anyone. Is that clear?”
“Nothing happened.” I shook my head. “But I want him back. He’ll protect me better than anyone!”
“Let me put it to you this way: he will do anything to keep you alive, Princess.” Elora looked at me evenly. “That means he would die to save you, without hesitation. Do you really want that? Do you really want him to die because of you?”
“No . . .” I trailed off, looking dazedly at my blankets. I knew she was right. Last night he had almost died to save me. If Tove hadn’t come out onto the balcony, he would be dead.
“Very well. It’s in his best interest that he’s not around you either,” Elora said. “Now you need to get up and get ready. We have much to go over.”
TWENTY-FOUR
good-bye
The next few days were an endless stream of defense meetings. There had never been an attack on Förening this severe. The body count was well into the double digits, including several visiting higher royal Trylle. Any loss of powerful Trylle was devastating for the kingdom.
Elora and Aurora led all the meetings, while Tove and I sat quietly in the back. He was the most powerful and should’ve had more of a say, but he didn’t seem that interested.
The twenty or so other people who always seemed to be in attendance offered advice that was completely pointless. Tove just said that our best defense was to get our abilities under control. Willa took this advice to heart and busied herself with self-defense classes and getting a better control of her wind ability. Elora barely spoke to me, and never uttered a kind word.
The one positive was that I’d been spared the christening ceremony, and Elora decided to allow me to keep my own name.
I wandered around in a fog. I didn’t care whether I lived or died. If they attacked again, I would deal with whatever happened.
“You’re gonna have to snap out of this one day,” Rhys said.
I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling, while he leaned against the doorway. He still had a nasty cut above his eyebrow, since Aurora wouldn’t resort to healing a mänks. The wound was slowly getting better, but it pained me to see it. It was just a reminder that he had gotten hurt for me.
“Maybe.” I didn’t feel like I ever would, and I hoped I wouldn’t.
“Oh, come on.” Rhys sighed and came over to sit on the bed next to me. “I know that everything that’s happened has really taken its toll on you, but it’s not the end of the world.”
“I never said it was,” I muttered. “I just hate this house. I hate my mother. I hate being a Princess. I hate everything about being here!”
“Even me?” Rhys asked.
“No, of course not you.” I shook my head. “You’re about the only thing I like anymore.”
“I feel privileged.” He smiled at me, but when I didn’t smile back, his quickly faded. “Look, I hate it here too. It’s a hard place to live in, especially this house, with Elora. But . . . what else are we gonna do? Where else can we go?”
That’s when it occurred to me. I absolutely did not want this life, and this life truly didn’t want Rhys. He had grown up surrounded by a cold indifference that made his childhood even worse than my own, and he deserved so much more. Since I had been here, Rhys had been one of the few people to show me genuine kindness, and he deserved that in return.
I didn’t particularly care whether I lived or died, so I didn’t need protection, should anyone decide to come after me again, but I wasn’t so sure they would anymore. Tove had explained that the Vittra numbers had been damaged, and another attack anytime soon would be highly unlikely.
But somewhere out there, I knew that my brother Matt was worried sick about me. He and Maggie would welcome me back with open arms, and they would be delighted to have Rhys. I didn’t know how I would explain him to them, but I’d figure something out.
I was not a Princess, and I didn’t want to be one. It would feel so good to be home again. That wouldn’t really fix the Finn thing, but Matt and Maggie would know the best way to mend a broken heart.
Rhys wasn’t convinced that leaving was the best thing for me, pointing to the cut on his eye from when he’d been unable to protect me or himself. Reluctantly, I resorted to using my persuasion, but I didn’t really have another choice. Besides, I was only convincing him that he didn’t need to worry about me.
In the middle of the night, I decided to act. I gathered Rhys and we snuck out of the palace, which was more difficult than I’d expected. Guards and other Trylle walked the grounds in case of another Vittra attack. Even though they thought another one would be unlikely, they weren’t taking any chances.
Rhys and I went through the kitchen and out the back door, to the secret garden that bloomed even in the middle of the night. Scaling the high brick walls that surrounded the palace compound would’ve been impossible if I didn’t have Rhys to give me a boost. Once I pulled him up, we both jumped down on the other side.
Without even brushing the dirt from our clothes, we ran along the wall. Rhys led the way because he knew the area better than I did. We’d nearly made it to the garage when we had to duck behind a bush to wait for a guard to pass.
Once the guard moved on, we hurried to the garage. Rhys found his new motorcycle but didn’t start it. He pushed it out of the garage, leaving the engine and lights off so as not to attract attention.
At the edge of town was the gate manned by a guard, and I doubted he’d let the Princess through. Rhys had a plan, though. He knew of a weak spot in the fence a ways down the embankment. He’d heard of other mänks getting through it when they ran away.
I had to help Rhys steady the motorcycle so it wouldn’t go tumbling down the hill as we made our way through the trees and the brush. Apparently the hole in the fence was even larger now than it had been before. That’s how some of the Vittra had broken in, and the Trylle hadn’t fixed it yet. Typical of them, to be more focused on securing the palace than making sure the town of Förening was safe.
We were able to get the motorcycle through without much trouble, and it was then, as we pushed it up the hill, that I started feeling the exhilaration and relief of escape. I ignored any pangs of sadness or longing for some of the people I’d met here, like Willa and Tove, and I just tried to focus on the fact that I was getting away. I was free.
Once we got to the road, Rhys started the motorcycle. We sped off into the darkness, and I sat on the bike behind him, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist and burying my face in his leather jacket.
The sky had that eerie blue glow of very early morning when we pulled up in front of my house. Rhys hadn’t even turned off the motorcycle before Matt threw open the front door and came
jogging down the porch steps.
Even in the dim light I could see how stricken Matt looked. I jumped off the bike, and, completely oblivious to Rhys, Matt threw his arms around me. He held me so tightly to him, it hurt. I didn’t care, though. I buried my face in his shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent and relishing the protection of his arms. I was finally home.
Turn the page for the new,
never-before-published bonus short story
The Vittra Attacks
by Amanda Hocking
The Vittra Attacks
(A Trylle Story)
ONE
Loki leaned back in the seat, his head against the headrest. It was too damn early for this kind of thing, but the only way he’d convinced Jen and Kyra to let him wait in the SUV was because he’d sold himself as the getaway driver.
If they came back, hauling that girl along as a prisoner, and Loki wasn’t alert enough to speed off, he’d be in serious trouble. Not with Jen or Kyra, since he outclassed them, but Jen wouldn’t hesitate to tell the King about any of Loki’s shortcomings.
So he waited in the car, listening to the Hugo album on his iPod. He’d been lucky he thought to bring it along. The SUV they’d stolen only had rap in it, and Loki had tossed the entire CD collection out the window as soon as he’d gotten in.
A few miles from the Vittra palace, the car the King had given him had died. That was just par for the course lately. Loki had been forced to steal the SUV to keep them on track, because the King wouldn’t allow for a missed deadline. He wanted the girl, and he wanted her now.
Loki had busted out the passengers-side window, and Kyra had tacked up his black jacket to keep the wind out. It didn’t do much to keep in sound, though, so Loki kept the music low enough so as not to wake the neighborhood.
The clock on the dashboard said it was after five in the morning, and Loki glanced over his shoulder, back toward the girl’s house. He’d parked almost a block away and across the street, so he was actually at a horrible angle to observe her.
But that was just as well, since he didn’t want to watch her. He wanted no part of this stakeout.
The sky was beginning to lighten, looking more blue than black now. Loki couldn’t see where Jen and Kyra were hiding. He didn’t know how they did it. He wouldn’t have been able to stand sitting out there all night, crouched down in the cold grass, waiting to kidnap some stupid girl.
Jen lived for that sort of thing. It was the thrill of the hunt that got him going. But Loki had never been into it. The one thing in his life he’d always been grateful for was that he’d never been a tracker.
It seemed solitary and tedious, but more than that, he hated the idea of tricking people into coming back to the Vittra palace, to being forced to live a life like his. They would be so much better off in the human world, away from the King’s iron fist and the totalitarian troll society.
Loki had fought as hard as he could to get out of participating in this abduction. The King was always looking for a reason to kill him, and if Loki refused an order like this, that would be reason enough.
Sitting in the SUV, it occurred to Loki that he could escape. He’d thought of escape almost incessantly since the day he was born. But it had never felt so possible. He was alone in the car. He could just drive off, leaving Jen and Kyra behind to deal with the mess.
But the same problems always stopped him. Where would he go? What would he do?
The King might track him down and kill him, just because he could. And even if he didn’t, Loki didn’t have anybody on the outside. He’d always believed in fighting for the things he loved, but he’d never found anything he loved enough to escape for.
For now, he didn’t really see any other options. He’d have to wait and do what the King said.
From outside the car came a noise that sounded like shouting, but he didn’t think Jen and Kyra would be stupid enough to draw attention to themselves. They knew how important this girl was to the King—to the Vittra as a whole—and they wouldn’t mess it up.
He leaned back in the seat, closing his eyes and humming along with “Hurt Makes It Beautiful.”
“Go!” Kyra shouted as she yanked open the passenger door.
“What?” Loki sat up and turned to the backseat to see Jen hopping in. Alone. “Where’s the girl?”
“Just go!” Jen snarled.
“Seriously?” Loki rolled his eyes but did as he was told.
He started the car, and when he didn’t speed up fast enough, Kyra pushed her hand on his leg, forcing his foot to press harder on the gas.
“Easy there,” Loki told her. “Just because the King is going to kill you two doesn’t mean we all need to die now.”
She let up, and Loki turned a corner just in time to see the police cars with their flashing lights approaching.
“Hey, you’re in this as much as we are,” Jen snapped.
Loki glanced in the rearview mirror at him. Jen’s eyes were black, and every time Loki looked at him, he was afraid that Jen saw into his soul and stole a bit of it.
“If anything, you’re in worse, Loki,” Kyra said. “The King put you in charge.”
“Yes, he did, but I delegated to you two.” Loki gestured between Kyra and Jen. “You both promised me you had this in the bag. It’s one girl who has no idea how to harness her powers. How could she possibly have eluded you?”
“Finn took her,” Kyra said through clenched teeth. “She’s probably on her way to the Trylle palace as we speak.”
“I’ll kill that bastard if it’s the last thing I do,” Jen muttered.
“Finn?” Loki shook his head, not understanding what they were talking about. “What is that?”
“He’s a Trylle tracker,” Kyra explained. “But he’s the best they have.”
“You know him?” Loki raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize you socialized with the Trylle.”
Kyra shot him a glare and said, “We’ve run into him before. He’s tried to stop us from getting other changelings.”
“But he’s just a tracker?” Loki asked, watching her from the corner of his eye.
“He’s not just anything,” Kyra insisted. “He’s strong and a really good fighter.”
“So? You should’ve been able to crush him like a bug,” Loki said. “That’s what the King will say, and he’s right. There’s no reason why a damn Trylle tracker should ever get the upper hand in a fight.”
“I’m sure you could’ve taken him, but you weren’t there,” Kyra pointed out.
Jen crossed his arms and grinned with smug satisfaction. “And that’s what we’ll tell the King.”
“Oh, really?” Loki looked at Jen in the rearview mirror again. “You’ll tell the King that you’re weak and useless and you need me to do your job for you?”
Jen’s smile faltered. “I don’t need anybody.”
“That’s what you just said,” Loki countered, his own smile growing. “Just admit it. Admit that I’m stronger and better than you, and I’ll take the fall for this, Jen.”
“Screw you, Loki.” Jen narrowed his dead eyes at him, and Loki couldn’t help but laugh at his displeasure. “When the King executes you—and he will—I will spit on your grave.”
“You’ve been on her for three weeks, Jen.” Loki dropped his playful tone, and his words were hard. “Three weeks, and you haven’t done anything. The King sent me in to finish the job you barely even started, and I let you take the lead out of respect for your position—”
“Oh, bullshit,” Jen interrupted him. He leaned forward in the seat, so he could yell more directly at Loki. “You were lazy and didn’t want to do any of this. You ‘let’ me do it because you don’t want to get your hands dirty.”
“Oh, I’m sorry that I don’t get my jollies by kidnapping young girls,” Loki snapped back. “You realize the King is either going to torture her the way he has the rest of us or kill her? You’re bringing her back to get slaughtered.”
“Who cares?” Jen leane
d back in the seat. “She’s not my problem. And she’s not yours either.”
“Since when do you have a conscience anyway?” Kyra asked.
“I don’t.” Loki paused, thinking of why he didn’t want to be a part of this. “I’ve just never been one to advocate murder.”
“Well, it’s her or us.” Kyra shrugged. “If I have a job to do, I’m going to do it.”
“You mean, except for this job, which you completely ruined, and now we’ll all die horrible, painful deaths?” Loki asked.
Jen kicked the back of Loki’s seat, and Loki slammed on the breaks, causing Jen to lurch forward, hitting his head on the seat.
“Dick!” Jen hit Loki in the back of the head, and Loki turned around to fight back.
“Guys!” Kyra yelled, grabbing Loki’s arm to keep him from hitting Jen. “Knock it off! We have real problems here, and you two fighting won’t help anything.”
“Nothing’s going to help,” Loki said grimly. “Nothing we can say will make the King go easy on us.”
TWO
It’s all Loki’s fault,” Jen said as soon as they’d reached the King’s chambers, and Loki rolled his eyes and sighed loudly.
“It is not all my fault,” Loki said dryly. “I had nothing to do with their failure.”
On the long ride back to the Vittra palace in Ondarike, Loki, Jen, and Kyra had gone over their stories, deciding what exactly they meant to tell the King. Even though they all agreed that no matter what they said, the King would be royally pissed, the right excuse could mean the difference between torture and execution.
They’d finally agreed on something that sounded plausible and would almost get them off the hook. They could tell the King that the Trylle had gotten a jump on them. By the time they arrived to kidnap the girl, the Trylle were already running off with her.
Switched Page 23
