“Yes, I can.” I tried to pull 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 wall 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 physically 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 will if I have to.”
“You don’t have to,” Loki said emphatically. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do. I will 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 will you tell your husband?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Loki raised an eyebrow. “The Princess goes missing without any word? That would be total pandemonium.”
“I’ll have Duncan tell them in the morning where I’ve gone,” I said. “That’ll buy us a few hours to get there before somebody comes after us.”
“If the King doesn’t let you leave, he’ll kill the rescue party that they send,” Loki pointed out. “That would be Finn, Tove, Duncan, maybe even Willa. You’re willing to risk them on this?”
“This might be my only chance to save them,” I said thickly.
“I can’t talk you out of this?” he whispered, his eyes searching mine.
“No.”
He swallowed and brushed back a hair from my forehead. His hand lingered on my face, and I let it. His eyes were strangely sad, and I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but I didn’t want to speak.
“I want you to remember this,” he said, his voice low and husky.
“What?” I asked.
“You want me to kiss you.”
“I don’t,” I lied.
“You do. And I want you to remember that.”
“Why?”
“Because.” Without further explanation, he turned away from me. “If you want to do this, hurry and put some clothes on. You don’t want to see the King in your pajamas.”
12. Rendezvous
Loki liked alternative country, and the satellite radio in the Cadillac had been playing Neil Young, Ryan Adams, the Raconteurs, and Bob Dylan since we left F?rening. He sang along with it sometimes, in an off key-way that was strangely endearing.
It was still dark out, and snow was falling around us, but Loki didn’t seem to mind. The car slid in a few places, but he always corrected it. I’d put my makeup on in the car, and he’d managed to keep it steady enough so I didn’t poke myself in the eye with liner.
Loki had teased me about the makeup and my choice of clothing. It was a long, dark violet gown, covered in lace and diamonds with a black velvet cloak over it. I’d chosen it because I knew reverence would go a long way with Oren.
After they’d kidnapped me, Sara wouldn’t let me see him without wearing a gown. Respect was important to him, and making sure I looked nice when I saw him would show him that.
I’d actually been lucky that I’d been able to find something this nice to wear. Most of my clothes had been moved from my old room into the Queen’s chambers that I shared with Tove, but some had been left behind. I’d gone to my old room to get dressed because I didn’t want to see Tove and tell him what I was doing.
After I had changed, I went to Duncan’s room. He’d freaked out when I told him what my plans were, and I knew he’d run to tell Tove as soon as I’d gone, if he didn’t before I left. I’d used persuasion to get him to hold off until after eight a.m. That way we’d be almost to the Vittra before anybody found out.
Since I was the Princess, I had access to everything. I’d gone to the garage and taken the keys to a black Cadillac. We’d left F?rening 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 falling around us. “I will get us there.”
“I know, but I’m fine.” Even though I hadn’t really 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 Trylle, wasn’t he?” I asked, cutting off his singing.
“My father was born in F?rening,” Loki answered carefully. “But he was more closely related to a snake than Trylle or Vittra.”
“You’re being metaphorical, right?” I asked. “Your father wasn’t literally a reptile?”
“No,” Loki laughed a little. “He wasn’t an actual snake.”