Wila insisted on throwing me a smal party anyway, even though I didn’t realy want one. Considering everything that was happening in Förening, it felt like sacrilege. The Vittra had set up a peace treaty with us, saying they wouldn’t attack us until I became Queen. What we hadn’t realized at the time was the specific language they had used. They wouldn’t attack us, meaning the Tryle living in Förening. Everyone else was fair game.

The Vittra had started going after our changelings, the ones that were stil left with their host families in human society. They’d taken a few before we caught on, but as soon as we did, we sent al our best trackers in the field to bring home any changeling over the age of sixteen. Any younger than that, our trackers were supposed to stand guard and watch them. They couldn’t take them without setting off an Amber Alert, so the Vittra avoided taking them too.

That left us at a horrible disadvantage. To protect the changelings, our trackers had to be in the field, so they couldn’t be here guarding the palace. We would be more exposed to an attack if the Vittra went back on our deal, but I didn’t see what choice we had. We couldn’t let them kidnap and hurt children, so I sent every tracker I could out into the field.

Finn had been gone almost continuously for months. He was the best tracker we had, and he’d been returning the changelings to al the Tryle communities. I hadn’t seen him since before Christmas, and although I stil missed him, it was probably better this way.

I was marrying someone else, and even though I loved Finn, I had to put that behind me and move past it.

“Where is this party happening anyway?” I asked Wila, pushing thoughts of Finn from my mind.

“Upstairs,” Wila said, leading me toward the grand staircase in the front hal. “Matt’s up there putting on the finishing touches.”

“Finishing touches?” I raised an eyebrow.

Someone pounded on the front door, making the door shake.

They knocked so hard that the chandelier above us began to tremble. Normaly people rang a doorbel, but they were nearly beating down the door.

“Stay back, Princess,” Duncan said as he walked over to the door.

“Duncan, I can get it,” I said.

If somebody hit the door hard enough to make the front hal quake, I was afraid of what they would do to him. I made a move for the door, but Wila stopped me.

“Wendy, let him,” she said firmly. “You and Tove wil be here if he needs you.”

“No.” I puled myself from her grip and went after Duncan, to defend him if I needed to.