“I don’t know,” I said. “I wil have to find a way. He’s going to keep coming until he has me. I would gladly hand myself over to him if I thought that would be enough, but I’m not sure that it is anymore.”

Loki stared down at the floor, his golden eyes wide as he thought it through. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but he didn’t look happy.

“So, wil you take me?” I asked.

“No.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Princess. I can’t.”

“Fine.” I took a deep breath. “I’l find someone who can.”

“Who?” Loki asked. “Who else would possibly take you?”

“I’l find the way on my own,” I said.

Tove and a few other trackers probably knew how to get to the Vittra palace, but they didn’t know the intricacies of it like Loki did.

But if I had to, I could take a map from the War Room.

I turned to reach for the door handle, but Loki stopped me before I could. He grabbed my wrist and stood right in front of me.

“You can’t go by yourself,” he said.

“Yes, I can.” I tried to pul my wrist from his grip. “Let go of me.”

“No, Wendy, I won’t let you do this,” Loki said.

“You can’t stop me.”

“I’m much stronger than you.”

I tried to shove him out of my way, but it was like pushing on concrete. He pressed me back against his bedroom wal and put an arm on either side of me. His body didn’t touch me, but it was so close I couldn’t move away.

“You may be physicaly stronger than me, but I can have you on the floor writhing in pain in minutes. I don’t want to hurt you, but I wil if I have to.”

“You don’t have to,” Loki said emphaticaly. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do. I wil do whatever it takes to save lives,” I said. “I have to do this. If you can’t, that’s fine. But get out of my way.” He bit his lip and shook his head, but he didn’t move away from me.

“It’s the middle of the night, and you want to run away with me,” Loki said. “What wil you tel your husband?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Loki raised an eyebrow. “The Princess goes missing without any word? That would be total pandemonium.”

“I’l have Duncan tel them in the morning where I’ve gone,” I said. “That’l buy us a few hours to get there before somebody comes after us.”

“If the King doesn’t let you leave, he’l kil the rescue party that they send,” Loki pointed out. “That would be Finn, Tove, Duncan, maybe even Wila. You’re wiling to risk them on this?”