“And the war would not be with Mina, but with the actual Kanin people she’s commanding,” she went on. “The innocent people you want to protect.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but we cannot do that.”

Dark clouds began to roll in overhead, blocking out the earlier sunshine and warmth. A breeze came up, stronger and cooler than before, as the garden fell into shadows.

Loki offered me an apologetic smile. “We’ve had four years of peace after a war that cost us many innocent lives—both of the Trylle and the Vittra. So as you can imagine, we’re reluctant to jump into another conflict so soon after that one, while our people and our kingdom are still recovering and rebuilding.”

“What about the people of Kanin? She’s trapping them and exploiting them. What will become of them?” I asked in desperation.

“If she’s as cruel as you say she is, they will have to form an uprising themselves,” Wendy said. “That’s their only hope of regaining their independence.”

THIRTY-FOUR

return

This is not what the Queen meant,” Konstantin groaned. He stood beside me, the top few buttons of his dress shirt undone, glowering down at me with his arms crossed over his chest.

Unlike him, I’d changed out of my borrowed clothes the second we’d returned from lunch and put back on my ripped jeans and tank top. After I’d given Mia her dress and thanked her, I’d gone to Hanna’s room to start packing.

“I don’t understand.” Ulla sat on the bed next to my bag, with her knees folded underneath her, and looked from Konstantin to me. “What exactly did the Queen say?”

“She said that the people of Doldastam need to rise up against Mina, and I’m going to go back and get them started.” I stopped what I was doing to look around the room, which had gotten rather messy over the last day or so. “Just as soon as I find my passport.”

“You don’t need your passport because you’re not going back,” Konstantin said. “They will kill you on sight, Bryn!”

Liam toddled into the room, unfazed by the apparent tension, and crawled up onto the bed beside Ulla. He’d become just as fascinated by her unorthodox looks as he had been with mine, and when she pulled him onto her lap, he immediately began tugging on her dirty blond tangles of hair.

While Konstantin had been busy entertaining me, Ulla had been helping Mia around the house. She’d been sleeping in Liam’s room and helping take care of him and Hanna, which seemed to make both Mia’s and Finn’s lives a bit easier.

“Who will kill Bryn?” Ulla asked, trying to follow along with the conversation as I went around the room, tossing aside toys and books in search of my passport.

“The guards. The Kanin. Maybe the Queen herself.” Konstantin shrugged. “It doesn’t matter who. But somebody will kill her. Mina can’t let her live.”

“I’ll sneak in,” I said absently.

“You are being ridiculous, Bryn, and you know it.” Konstantin sounded exasperated.

“I’ll go with you, and I can help,” Ulla chimed in.

I shook my head. “No, you can’t come. I told you I won’t let you go anywhere dangerous.”

“Why not?” Ulla whined. “I saved your life. If it hadn’t been for me, that polar bear would’ve killed you.”

“I know, and thank you.” I paused long enough in my search to look at her sincerely. “But this is different. I’m not going to let you risk your life like that. You haven’t had any training, and you’re too young.”

“I could say the same thing to you,” Konstantin countered, giving me a hard look.

“What would you have me do?” I asked, nearly shouting at him. “Twiddle my thumbs and hope Mina isn’t killing and torturing everyone I care about? No one will help me, Konstantin! The Omte said no. The Trylle said no. The Skojare don’t have anybody left. If I don’t do something, who will?”

“It’s still early in the fight,” Finn interjected, and I turned back to see him standing in the doorway. “There’s still time for Wendy to change her mind.”

“And what do we do until then?” I asked. “Wait for Mina to start killing innocent citizens off?”

“You’re not the only one that has people there,” Finn reminded me darkly. “You think I’m not worried about my parents and my sister? Of course I am. But I know that getting myself killed won’t save them.”

“He’s right, Bryn,” Konstantin said. “There has to be a better way.”

Liam began to babble happily about something—I’m not sure what—and Ulla started to say that she could help me come up with a plan, while Konstantin and Finn were both staring me down, and suddenly it all felt like too much.

“Enough!” I held up my hands. “I just need everyone to go and let me think for a minute. Okay? I just need some space.”

Ulla mumbled some kind of apology as she scooped up Liam and headed out. Finn followed behind her, but Konstantin lingered a moment longer.

“Take all the time you need to sort this out,” he said softly, then he left and closed the door behind him.

I sat back on the bed and ran my fingers through my hair. I wanted to scream in frustration, but that would only frighten Liam and Hanna, not to mention Ulla and everyone else. Finn and Konstantin were right, returning to Doldastam would be a suicide mission, but I didn’t see any other option.

I couldn’t just sit here and hope that something would change for the better. It had been over two weeks since I’d left Doldastam, but it felt like a lifetime. Two grueling weeks where I had no idea if my parents or my friends were okay, and from what I’d heard, things only seemed to be getting worse for them.

How could I just stand by and let it happen?

Someone knocked gently on the door, and based on the meekness of it, I assumed it was Hanna or maybe Liam. I still wasn’t ready to talk to anyone, especially a child who probably wanted to play, but I didn’t want to yell at them.

“Just go away for a little bit,” I said as kindly as I could. “I’ll be out soon.”

The door creaked open anyway, and I was about to snap this time so they’d get the message, but then I saw who it was, poking her head around the door. Long chestnut hair, dark gray eyes, bronze skin, and her full lips in a timid smile.

It was my oldest friend, Tilda.

THIRTY-FIVE

compatriot

At first I could only gape at her, in part because I wasn’t even sure if she was real. But also because there was so much I had to say to her, so much that had happened since the last time I’d seen her that I hadn’t been able to apologize for. Not that I’d ever be able to make up for it.

And top of all that, here she was, alive and safe. I’d spent so much time worrying about her, and now here she was at my bedroom door.

“Can I come in?” she asked quietly and opened the door a bit farther.

I meant to say, sure, or hello, or anything normal, but what tumbled out of my mouth was one big hurried, desperate apology, “Ohmygod, Tilda, I’m so sorry.”

As soon as the words escaped my mouth, she began crying. In all our years of being friends, I’d only really seen her cry a handful of times, and never like this. These were big, heavy tears streaming down her cheeks, and she looked completely shattered in a way that I’d never imagined Tilda could be.

I wasn’t sure if she hated me or not—I wouldn’t blame her if she did. But at that moment, I didn’t care. I rushed over and threw my arms around her. She leaned against me, letting me hug her, and sobbed into my shoulder. The fullness of her pregnant belly pressed rather painfully against the wounds from the bear attack, but I didn’t care.

For a long time, we didn’t say anything. We just stood that way—me holding her as she sobbed. Eventually, she began to collect herself and pulled away from me, wiping at her eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” I said again.

She shook her head, sniffling a little. “You don’t need to be sorry. I know that you never would’ve hurt Kasper or let anything happen to him. Not if you could help it.”

“I never meant for things to happen the way they did,” I said.

“What did happen?” Tilda asked, looking down at me with moist eyes. “I don’t believe anything the Queen says, and nobody else was there. Nobody knows what really happened but you.”

I motioned to the bed, and Tilda and I sat down. Then I began telling her the story of how her husband had been killed. How we’d gone to tell the Queen about how Kennet Biâelse and the Skojare head guard Bayle Lundeen had been working together to hurt the Skojare royalty. And how Kasper and I had escaped from the dungeon and went to confront Kennet, and he’d gotten the best of us and killed Kasper, and how I’d fought with Kennet and he’d fallen to his death.

She didn’t say anything as I spoke. She only stared at me, listening intently as I wove together the whole story. I even added in the pieces I’d learned from Konstantin, and how I’d found out that Mina was Viktor Dålig’s daughter.