“Of course you do.” I looked away from him, but I didn’t move away. “Where did you get the pajamas, by the way? You didn’t bring anything with you when you came.”

“I don’t want to tel you.”

“Why not?” I looked sharply at him.

“Because. I’l tel you, and it wil ruin this whole mood,” Loki said. “Can’t we just sit here and look longingly into each other’s eyes until you let me kiss you?”

“No,” I said, and finaly started to pul away from him. “Not if you don’t tel me-”

“Tove,” Loki said quickly, trying to hang onto me. He was much stronger than me, but he let me push him off.

“Of course.” I stood up. “That’s exactly the kind of thing my fiancé would do. He’s always thinking of other people.”

“It’s just pajamas!’ Loki insisted, like that would mean something. “Sure, he’s a terrificaly nice guy, but that doesn’t matter.”

“How does that not matter?” I asked

“Because you don’t love him.”

“I care about him,” I said, and he shrugged. “And it’s not like I love you.”

“Maybe not,” he alowed. “But you wil.”

“You think so?” I asked.

“Mark my words, Princess,” Loki said. “One day, you’l be madly in love with me.”

“Okay,” I laughed, because I didn’t know how else to respond.

“But I should go. If I’ve given you amnesty, that means I have to go about enacting it, and getting everyone to agree that it’s not a suicidal decision.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I said and opened the door to go.

“It was worth it,” Loki said suddenly.

“What was?” I turned back to him.

“Everything I went through,” he said. “For you. It was worth it.” 4. Fiancé

My relaxing birthday turned into a meeting frenzy because I’d granted Loki amnesty. Most people thought I was insane, and Loki had to be brought in for questioning. They had a big meeting where Thomas asked him lots of questions, and Loki answered them the same way he did for me.

But truthfuly, he didn’t have to explain much after he lifted his shirt and showed them his scars. After that, they let him go lie down.

I did have a nice, quiet dinner with Wila and Matt, and that was something. My aunt Maggie caled, and I talked to her for a while.

She wanted to come see me, but I’d been staling the best I could. I hadn’t explained to her what I am yet, but she knows I’m safe with Matt.

I’d wanted her to come out for Christmas, and I planned on teling her about everything then. But then the Vittra started going after the changelings, and I thought they might go after her to get to me, so I postponed seeing her again.