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crookedly, but it didn’t have his usual bravado. His caramel eyes
were tired and pained, and he had a fading bruise on his cheek.
    “What happened to you?” I asked. “What are you doing here?”
    “I apologize for the intrusion, Princess,” he said, his
smile already fading. “And as much as I’d like to say that I’m here for
pleasure, I…” He swallowed something back, and his hands gripped tighter onto
the doorframe.
    “Are you alright?” I asked, pushing past Duncan.
    “I…” Loki started to speak, but his knees gave out. He
pitched forward, and I rushed to catch him. He fell into my arms, and I lowered
him to the ground.
    “Loki?” I brushed the hair back from his eyes, and they
fluttered open.
    “Princess.” He smiled up at me, but
it was weak. “If I’d known that this is what it would take to get you to hold
me, I would’ve collapsed a long time ago.”
    “What is going on, Loki?” I asked gently. If he hadn’t been
so obviously distressed, I would’ve swatted him for that comment, but he
grimaced in pain when I touched his face.
    “Amnesty,” he said thickly, and his eyes closed. “I need
amnesty, Princess.”   His head tilted to
the side, and his body relaxed. He’d passed out.

     

2. Birthday
    Tove and Duncan had carried Loki up to the servants’
quarters on the second floor. Willa went back to help Matt so he wouldn’t
worry, and I sent Duncan to get Thomas because I had no idea what we should do
with Loki. He was unconscious, so I couldn’t ask him what happened.
    “Are you going to give him amnesty?” Tove asked. He stood
next to me with his arms folded over his chest, staring down at Loki.
    “I don’t know.” I shook my head. “It depends on what he
says.” I glanced over at Tove. “Why? Do you think I should?”
    “I don’t know,” he said finally. “But I will support any
decision you make.”
    “Thank you,” I said, but I hadn’t expected any different
from him. “Can you see if there’s a doctor that will look at him?”
    “You don’t want me to get my mother?” Tove asked. His mother
was a healer, meaning she could put her hands on someone and heal almost any
wound they might have.
    “No. She would never heal a Vittra. Besides, I don’t want
anyone to know that Loki is here. Not yet,” I said. “I need an actual doctor.
There is a mänks doctor in town, isn’t there?”
    “Yeah,” he nodded. “I’ll get him.” He turned to leave but
paused at the door. “You’ll be okay with him?”
    “Yes, of course,” I smiled.
    Tove nodded, then left me alone
with Loki. I took a deep breath and tried to figure out what to do. Loki lay on
his back, his light hair cascading across his forehead. Somehow he was even
more attractive asleep than he was awake.
    He hadn’t stirred at all when they’d carried him up, and
Duncan had jostled and nearly dropped him many times. Loki had always dressed
well, and while his clothes looked like they had once been nice, they were
little more than rags now.
    I sat down on the edge of the bed next to him and touched a
hole in his shirt. The skin underneath was discolored and swollen. Tentatively,
I lifted his shirt, and when Loki didn’t stir, I pushed it up more.
    I felt strange and almost perverse undressing him, but I
wanted to check and make sure there weren’t obvious contusions. If he were
seriously injured, like with broken ribs poking out of his skin, I would summon
Aurora and make her heal him, whether she wanted to or not. I wouldn’t let Loki
die because she was prejudiced.
    After I pulled his shirt over his head, I got my first good
look at him, and my breath caught in my throat. Under ordinary circumstances,
I’m sure his physique would be stunning, but that’s not what shocked me. His
torso was covered with bruises, and his sides had long, thin scars on them.
    They wrapped around, so I lifted him a bit, and his back was
covered with them. They crisscrossed all over his skin, some of them older,