“How do you know that going with the King wil change anything?” Loki countered.

“You didn’t see the painting. You don’t understand.”

“The only way to truly stop the painting is to kil the King,” Loki said. “And you’re the only one strong enough to do that.”

“But I don’t know how to,” I said. “And you’re strong. You can do it. I need to do something to divert the outcome of the painting until you can figure out how to stop him.”

“Wendy, if I could kil him, I would’ve done it by now,” Loki said with a lopsided smirk. “You know that.”

“It doesn’t matter.” I waved my hands and stepped away from him. “This isn’t open for discussion. I’ve decided what I’m going to do.”

“And you think I’l just let you go?” Loki asked.

“Let me?” I glared at him. “You don’t ‘let’ me do anything.”

“You know I can stop you.” His eyes met mine evenly, and he stepped toward me. “I wil do everything in my power to keep you from him.”

“Loki, he wil kil us al,” I said emphaticaly. “The King wil kil Tove and me and you. This is the only way I can protect us.”

“I don’t care,” Loki said. “I would rather die fighting him. I would rather see you die fighting, than knowing that you surrendered to him. You can’t give up.”

I lowered my eyes and swalowed. Tove stood off to the side.

I’d hoped he would jump in, say something, but he didn’t.

“What do you propose I do?” I asked quietly, stil staring at the ground.

“We’ve stil got time until he’l come for you,” Loki said. “Learn how to kil him, and when he comes, fight him.”

“What if we lose?” I asked. “What if I can’t stop him?”

“If you can’t stop him later, then you can’t stop him now,” Loki said. “Giving up now doesn’t mean you can stand up to him later. It just means you’re dead.”

I glanced over at Tove, who stil kept silent, and I thought about what Loki said. I hated that I didn’t know what the right thing was.

Al I wanted to do was keep everyone safe, and I was terrified that if I made the wrong decision I would get us al kiled.

“Okay,” I said finaly and turned back to Loki. “I’l stay for now. But you need to work twice as hard with Finn. The trackers must be prepared for whatever happens.”

“As you wish, Princess.” Loki smiled slightly, the corner of his mouth turning up. But something glowed behind the usual sparkle in his eyes, something deeper, burning. When he looked at me like that, my heart pounded so loudly I was certain he could hear it.