Ascend Read Free Page B

couldn’t
shake the heavy guilt I felt, as if I somehow shared responsibility for what
happened to Loki. I’d only spoken to Oren once, and I had no control over what
he did. So why did I feel like it was my fault that Loki had been so brutally
beaten?
    I wasn’t in the hall for long when Duncan and Thomas
approached. I’d wanted to alert as few people as possible about Loki’s
presence, but I trusted Thomas. Not just because he was the head guard or
Finn’s father. He’d once had an illicit affair with Elora, so I thought he was
good at keeping secrets.
    “The Vittra Markis is in there?” Thomas asked, but he was
already looking past me into the room where Loki slept.
    “Yes, but he’s been through hell,” I said, rubbing my arms
as if I had a chill. “He’s going to be out for a while.”
    “Duncan said he asked for amnesty.” Thomas looked down at
me. “Are you going to give it to him?”
    “I’m not sure yet,” I said. “He hasn’t been able to talk
much. But I’m letting him stay here for now, at least until he heals and we can
have a conversation.”
    “How do you want us to handle this?” Thomas asked.
    “We can’t tell Elora. Not right now,” I said.
    The last time Loki had been here, he’d been held captive. We
don’t have a real prison, so Elora had used her telekinesis to hold him in
place, but that had weakened her so much it nearly killed her. In fact, she
hadn’t recovered from it yet, and there would be no way she could do it again.
    Besides that, I didn’t think Loki was really capable of
causing trouble. Not in this state, at least. And he’d come to us of his own
free will. We didn’t need to hold him.
    “We need a guard stationed outside his door at all times,
just to be safe,” I said. “I don’t think he’s a threat, but I won’t take any
chances with the Vittra.”
    “I can stand watch now, but somebody will have to relieve me
of my post eventually,” Thomas said.
    “I can take over later,” Duncan offered.
    “No.” Thomas shook his head. “You stay with the Princess.”
    “Do you have any other guards you can trust?” I asked.
      Most of the guards
seemed to be gossips, and when one of them heard something, they all knew it.
But there were very few guards around to tell anymore, since most of them were
out protecting changelings.
    “I know of one or two,” Thomas nodded.
    “Good,” I said. “Make sure they know they cannot tell
anybody about this. This all needs to stay quiet until I figure out what I’m
going to do. Is that clear?”
    “Yes, Your Highness,” Thomas said. It
always felt strange hearing people refer to me as Highness .
    “Thank you,” I told him.
    Tove arrived shortly after that with the mänks doctor. I
waited outside the room while he examined Loki. He woke up for it, but offered
very little explanation for his injuries. When he was done, the doctor
concluded that Loki didn’t have any serious ailments, and he gave him
medication for pain.
    “Come on,” Tove said, after the doctor had gone. “He’s
resting now. There’s nothing more you can do. Why don’t you go enjoy your
party?”
    “I’ll let you know if there’s any change with him,” Thomas
promised.
    “Thank you,” I nodded, and walked down the hall with Tove
and Duncan toward my room.
    I hadn’t felt like having a party before Loki crashed the
palace, and I felt even less like having one now. But I had to at least try to
have fun so I didn’t hurt Willa or Matt’s feelings. I know they had gone to a
lot of trouble for it, so I would play the part of the happy birthday girl for
them.
    “The doctor thinks he’ll be okay,” Duncan said, responding
to my solemn expression.
    “I know,” I said.
    “Why are you so worried about him anyway?” Duncan asked. “I
know that you two are friends or something, but I don’t understand. He’s a
Vittra, and he kidnapped you once.”
    “I’m not worried,” I cut him off and forced a smile. “I’m
excited for