Of course I remembered. Loki had snuck in over the wal and asked me to run away with him. I had declined, but he’d stolen a kiss before he left, a rather nice kiss. My cheeks reddened slightly at the memory, and that made Loki smile wider.

“I see you do,” he grinned.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

“That doesn’t,” Loki said, referring to the kiss. “I meant when I told you that the King hates me. He realy does, Princess.” His eyes went dark for a minute.

“The Vittra King did this to you?” I asked, and my stomach tightened. “You mean Oren? My father?”

“Don’t worry about it now,” he said, trying to calm the anger inside me. “I’l be fine.”

“Why?” I asked. “Why does the King hate you? Why did he do this to you?”

“Princess, please.” He closed his eyes. “I’m exhausted. I barely made it here. Can we have this conversation when I’m feeling a bit better? Say, in a month or two?”

“Loki,” I sighed, but he had a point. “Rest. But we wil talk tomorrow. Alright?”

“As you wish, Princess,” he conceded, and he was already drifting back to sleep again.

I sat beside him for a few minutes longer, my hand stil on his chest so I could feel his heartbeat pounding underneath. When I was certain he was asleep, I slid my hand out from under his, and I stood up.

In the hal, I wrapped my arms around myself. I 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 brutaly beaten?

I wasn’t in the hal 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 ilicit 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 hel,” I said, rubbing my arms as if I had a chil. “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 tel Elora. Not right now,” I said.