“Don’t care. I’m out!” I breathed deeply and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
“Haven’t you ever worked at anything?” Finn complained. He got up from the piano bench and walked over to me so he could lecture me up close. “This is important.”
“I’m aware. You tell me every second of every day.”
“I do not.” Finn crossed his arms and looked down at me.
“This is the hardest I’ve ever worked at anything,” I said, staring back up at him. “Everything else I’ve quit before this, or I never even tried. So don’t tell me I’m not putting effort into this.”
“You’ve never tried harder than this? At anything?” Finn asked incredulously, and I shook my head. “That brother you had never made you do anything?”
“Not really,” I admitted thoughtfully. “He made me go to school, I guess. But that’s about it.” Matt and Maggie encouraged me to do many things, but there was very little they actually made me do.
“They spoiled you more than I thought.” Finn looked surprised at that.
“They didn’t spoil me.” I sighed, then quickly amended, “They didn’t spoil me rotten. Not the way Willa was spoiled, and I’m sure a lot of the other changelings were. They just wanted me to be happy.”
“Happiness is something you work for,” Finn pointed out.
“Oh, stop with that fortune-cookie crap,” I scoffed. “We worked for it just like anybody else. They were just really careful with me, probably because my mom tried to kill me. It set them up to treat me more gently than they would’ve otherwise.”
“How did your mother try to kill you?” Finn asked, startling me. I hadn’t told him much about it, but he rarely wanted to talk about my past.
“It was my birthday, and I was being my usual bratty self. I was angry because she’d gotten me a chocolate cake, and I hated it,” I said. “We were in the kitchen, and she snapped. She started chasing after me with this giant knife. She called me a monster, and then she tried to stab me but she just managed to cut my stomach pretty badly. Then my brother Matt rushed in and tackled her, saving my life.”
“She cut open your stomach?” Finn furrowed his brow with concern.
“Yeah.” I pulled up my shirt, revealing the scar that stretched across it.
Immediately after I’d done that, I regretted it. Lying on the floor and flashing Finn the fattest part of my body did not seem like a good idea.
Finn crouched on the floor next to me, and tentatively his fingertips traced along the mark etched on my belly. My skin quivered underneath his touch, and nervous warmth spread through me. He continued to stare intently at the scar, then he laid his hand flat on my belly, covering it. His skin felt hot and smooth, and inside, my stomach trembled with butterflies.
He blinked and, seeming to realize what he was doing, he pulled his hand back and got to his feet. Quickly I pulled my shirt back down. I didn’t even feel that comfortable lying down anymore, so I sat up and fixed my bun.
“Matt saved your life?” Finn asked, filling that semi-awkward silence that had shrouded us. He still had a contemplative look on his face, and I wished I knew what he was thinking.
“Yeah.” I got to my feet. “Matt always protected me, ever since I could remember.”
“Hmm.” Finn looked thoughtfully at me. “You bonded so much more with your host family than the changelings normally do.”
“‘Host family’?” I grimaced. “You make me sound like a parasite.”
Then I realized that I probably was. They had dropped me off with the Everlys so I would use their resources, their money, their opportunities, and bring them back here. That’s exactly what a parasite did.
“You’re not a parasite,” Finn said. “They loved you, and you genuinely loved them in return. It is unusual, but that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a very good thing. Maybe it’s given you a compassion that Trylle leaders have been lacking for a very long time.”
“I don’t think I’m very compassionate.” I shook my head.
“I see how it bothers you the way Elora talks to people. Elora thinks the only way to command respect is to command fear, but I have a feeling that you will have an entirely different way of ruling.”
“And how will I rule?” I arched my eyebrow at him.
“That is for you to decide,” Finn said simply.
He ended our lesson after that, saying I needed to rest up for tomorrow. The day had exhausted me, and I was eager to curl up in my blankets and sleep until Sunday, straight through the ball and all the angst that accompanied it.
Sleep didn’t come easy, though. I found myself tossing and turning, thinking about the way it felt dancing with Finn, and his hand resting warmly on my stomach.