I got out of the car before she could voice any more complaints, and Duncan puled up in another Cadilac behind us. He had Wila, Matt, and Loki with him. Finn had wanted to come too, but he was stil healing and Thomas needed him to help with the trackers. Matt had insisted on coming along, and at first, I’d been against it, but we realy could use al the hands we could get.

“This is even worse than I thought it would be,” Wila said. She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “I can’t believe they did this.”

“This is who you’re fighting?” Matt asked, looking around. “The people who did this?”

“We’re not fighting anyone right now,” I said, cutting off his train of thought. “We’re cleaning this up, and that’s the only thing we need to worry about.”

Loki lifted up a heavy branch and moved it off of the path to the palace. It had been cobblestone, but many of the stones were missing, tossed about the lawn.

Tove and I approached the palace, trying to look both dignified and remorseful. The remorse part wasn’t that hard. Seeing that much damage was devastating.

Before we got to the palace, the door was thrown open. A girl not much older me than came out, her dark hair puled up in a tangled mess, and smudges of dirt and ash covered her face and clothes. She was smal, even shorter than I was, and she looked as though she might cry.

“Are you the Princess?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m the Princess from Förening,” I said, then gestured to Tove. “This is the Prince. We are here to help you.”

“Oh, thank god.” She burst into tears and actualy ran toward me and hugged me. “I didn’t think anybody would come.”

“We’re here now.” I patted her head because I wasn’t sure what else to do and exchanged a look with Tove. “We’l do everything we can for you.”

“Sorry.” She puled herself away from me and wiped at her eyes. “I didn’t mean to do that. I’ve… There is much that needs to be done.” She shook her head. “My father would be angry at me for behaving this way. I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize,” I said. “You’ve been through so much.”

“No, I’m in charge now,” she said. “So I should act like it.”

“Kenna Tomas?” I asked, hoping I remembered her name correctly.

“Yes,” she smiled at that. “I’m Kenna, and with my parents dead, I’m now the Marksinna of Oslinna.”

“Do you have any survivors here?” I asked. “Any people who need medical treatment? We brought a healer.”

“Oh, yes!” Kenna nodded. “Come with me.”