Matt and Wila took a room of their own to clean, while Duncan, Loki, and I cleaned a different one.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t have gone with them?” Duncan asked. He’d gathered up the dirty bedding to throw down the laundry chute, while Loki helped me smooth out the fresh blankets on the bed.

“Yes, Duncan, I need you here,” I told him for the hundredth time. He felt guilty about not going with the others to Oslinna, but I refused to let him go.

“Alright,” Duncan sighed, but he stil didn’t sound convinced.

“I’m going to go throw this down. I’l meet you in the next room.”

“Okay, thank you,” I said, and he left.

“What do you need him for?” Loki asked quietly.

“Shh!” I fixed the corner of the sheet and glared at Loki.

“You just don’t want him to go,” Loki smirked. “You’re protecting him.”

“I’m not,” I lied.

“Don’t you trust him in battle?”

“No, not realy,” I admitted and picked up a dust rag and glass cleaner. “Grab the vacuum.”

“But he’s your bodyguard.” Loki grabbed the vacuum and started to folow me out of the room. “He’s supposed to be protecting you, not the other way around.”

“I don’t care how it’s supposed to be. It is how it is.”

“How wise,” he quipped as he walked into the next room.

He set down the vacuum and plugged it in while I went over to the bed to start stripping it.

“You know, Princess, instead of making that bed, we could close the door and have a rol around in it.” Loki wagged his eyebrows. “What do you say?”

Roling my eyes, I went over and turned on the vacuum cleaner to drown out the conversation.

“I’l take that as a maybe later!” Loki shouted over it, and I went back to making the bed.

We worked al afternoon, and by the end we were al tired and cranky. Somehow, that felt good. It meant we’d done something today, and while it hadn’t helped anybody in Oslinna yet, it would.

When supper time came around, I wasn’t hungry, so I retired to my room. I was exhausted, and I should’ve slept, but I couldn’t.

Tove came in shortly after I got in bed, and we didn’t say much. He just crawled in bed, and both of us lay awake for a long time.

I wasn’t even sure I’d even falen asleep when Duncan burst through door. He didn’t knock, and I was about to yel at him when I saw how he looked. He wore pajamas and his hair was mussed from sleep, but he was positively panicked.

“What is it, Duncan?” I asked, already throwing my legs over the side of the bed so I could get up.