Since I was the Princess, I had access to everything. I’d gone to the garage and taken the keys to a black Cadilac. We’d left Förening without anybody else seeing us, except for the guard at the gates. I used persuasion on him to keep him from alerting anyone, and we were on the road.

“You can sleep,” Loki said as I stared out the window at the snow faling around us. “I wil get us there.”

“I know, but I’m fine.” Even though I hadn’t realy slept last night, I wasn’t tired. My nerves had me on edge.

“We can always turn back,” he reminded me, not for the first time.

“I know.”

“I thought I would offer,” he said, sounding disappointed. He sat in silence for a minute before singing along to the radio.

“Your father was Tryle, wasn’t he?” I asked, cutting off his singing.

“My father was born in Förening,” Loki answered carefuly.

“But he was more closely related to a snake than Tryle or Vittra.”

“You’re being metaphorical, right?” I asked. “Your father wasn’t literaly a reptile?”

“No,” Loki laughed a little. “He wasn’t an actual snake.”

“How did he end up with the Vittra?” I asked. “Did he leave for your mom?”

“No.” He shook his head. “He was the Chancelor in Förening, and he met your father when Oren came around courting your grandparents for Elora’s hand in marriage.”

“I didn’t realize your father was a high-ranking official,” I said.

“That he was,” Loki nodded. “In arranging the marriage, my father had to work with Oren a lot, and Oren’s lust for power appealed to him. Evil attracts evil, apparently.”

“So he left to join the Vittra?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” he said. “The plan at the time was to unite the kingdoms. Oren would rule both of them, once your mother was Queen. This was before she’d even come back to Förening, but they had already begun working on it. As Chancelor, my father was sent as an ambassador for the Tryle to the Vittra kingdom. That’s how he met my mother.”

“I thought you said he didn’t leave for her,” I said.

“He didn’t. She was a means to an end. He married her so he’d have a reason to leave, not the other way around,” Loki said.

“So he didn’t love her?” I asked.

“No, he couldn’t stand her,” he said. “She was beautiful.” He paused, thinking of her. “But I don’t think he even cared. She was a powerful Marksinna. My father wanted power, and she had it.

“For a time, he was both the Tryle Chancelor and a Vittra Prince,” he went on. “I’m not technicaly a Prince, and neither was he, but since we have the title as the highest-ranking Markis, they refer to us that way.”