“But that Loki guy, he’s one of them?” Matt asked.
“Not exactly,” I said carefully. I stood off to the side of the room, and I leaned back against the wall.
“He was though,” Matt said. “He kidnapped you before. So why are you always hanging out with him?”
“I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are,” Matt insisted. “And the way you danced with him at your wedding? That’s not the way a married woman acts, Wendy.”
“I danced with a hundred guys that night.” I shifted my weight and stared down at the floor.
“Leave her alone, Matt,” Willa said. “She was having some fun at her wedding. You can’t blame her for that.”
“I’m not blaming her for anything. I’m trying to understand.” He scratched at the back of his head. “Where is your husband, by the way?”
“He’s down talking to the team before they leave,” I said. “Giving them instructions and words of encouragement.”
“You didn’t want to see them off yourself?” Willa asked, turning a bit to look at me.
“No.” I thought back to my conversation with Finn and shook my head. “No. Tove’s got it covered. He’s the Prince now. He can share some of the responsibility.”
“When do you think the refugees will get here?” Willa asked. She set the straightener down on the nearby dresser, and I could see burn marks on it from her doing the same thing many times before. She must pretty much live here now.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “Maybe in a day or two or six. But we should have the rooms ready, just to be safe.”
“Well, we can definitely help you with that.” Willa leaned forward, inspecting her hair to make sure it was perfect, and then she turned around. “Where are the extra blankets and cleaning supplies?”
Most of the second floor of the South Wing were servants’ quarters, along with the Queen’s chambers, which was now my room. I’m not sure exactly why the Queen resided with the servants, except that the South Wing was where the more formal business took place.
Since we had almost no live-in servants anymore, other than two maids, a chef, and a couple trackers, most of the bedrooms were empty. They hadn’t been used in ages, so they were musty and needed freshening, but they weren’t exactly dirty.
Each room had extra bedding in it, so we just needed to dust and vacuum. We raided the supply closet at the top of the stairs, and Duncan came up to meet us. He’d been with Tove sending the team off.
Tove stayed with Thomas to work on calling all the trackers in. It was a long and arduous task, and I thought about helping them, but I felt better doing physical work. It felt more like I was accomplishing something.
Duncan helped carry supplies down to the rooms, and I decided to enlist Loki to help us. I wanted to keep him out of sight, but nobody would be checking the servants’ quarters. And if he was staying here, he might as well be of some use.
While we cleaned the first room, I asked Loki again if he knew anything about the Vittra plans. He insisted that he didn’t know anything about it, other than that Oren wanted me all for himself. His only advice was to stay the hell out of Oren’s way when he was pissed off.
Matt and Willa 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 still didn’t sound convinced. “I’m going to go throw this down. I’ll 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 really,” 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 follow 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 roll around in it.” Loki wagged his eyebrows. “What do you say?”
Rolling my eyes, I went over and turned on the vacuum cleaner to drown out the conversation.