“I can’t say yet for sure, but we lost a few.” Tove grimaced. “But we could’ve avoided that completely if the Markis and Marksinna would learn to fight. They leave all of their protection in the hands of the trackers, but if the royalty would just get their hands dirty, they could’ve . . .” He shook his head. “Nobody needed to die today.”
Finn pressed his lips together grimly, then looked at me. “What happened? Are you hurt?” His hand went to my side, where I bled all over my dress. I winced under his touch but shook my head.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“Have my mother look at it. She’ll patch you both up,” Tove said. When I gave him a confused look, he went on, “Aurora’s a healer. She can touch you and fix you. That’s her ability.”
“Come on.” Finn gave me a shaky smile and slowly sat up.
He tried to act like he was perfectly fine, but he had taken quite a beating and there was hesitation in his movements. Tove helped him to his feet, then took my hand and pulled me up.
I wrapped my arm around Finn’s waist, and Finn put his arm around my shoulders, reluctantly putting some of his weight on me. We walked carefully through the broken glass back into the house, and Tove gave more details about the attack.
Other than the trackers who had been guarding, most of the Trylle had played defenseless, myself included. The Vittra might not have as many abilities, but they had mastered physical combat much better than the Trylle.
Thankfully, a few of the Trylle like Tove and Elora were strong enough and smart enough to fight back. What they lacked in physical prowess, they made up for in overwhelming abilities.
But Tove was quick to point out that if all the Trylle had stood up and used what abilities they had—no matter how weak—or simply fought back with their fists, the Vittra would have hardly stood a chance. We should’ve won this without any deaths and hardly any injuries.
The Trylle royals had grown too complacent, to the point where they believed that defending themselves was beneath them. They’d become too focused on social class to realize that they needed to handle some things themselves, instead of leaving the trackers and m?nks to do all the dirty work.
The ballroom looked even worse than it had when we’d left it. Someone had lit lanterns around the edges of the room, so we could at least see better than before.
Willa ran over when she saw me and threw her arms around me. I hugged her back, feeling tremendous relief that she was alive. Despite a few scrapes and bruises, she looked okay.
She then launched into an excited tale about how she had blown a few Vittra out of the ceiling, and I told her I was proud. I wanted to listen to her talk, but the destruction was too overwhelming.
When Elora saw us, she pulled Aurora from where she was helping a bleeding man. I noted with dark satisfaction that the Chancellor had a nasty cut on his forehead, and I hoped that Aurora couldn’t make time to fix him.
Elora didn’t look any worse for wear. If I hadn’t known, I never would’ve thought she’d been here when the fight was going on. Aurora, on the other hand, though she still looked beautiful and regal, did show signs of the battle. Her dress was torn, her hair was a mess, and there was blood all over her hands and arms, though I doubted most of it was hers.
“Princess.” Elora looked genuinely relieved when she walked over to us, delicately stepping over broken tables and a Vittra corpse. “I’m glad to see you’re all right. I was very worried about you.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
She reached out and touched my cheek, but there was nothing affectionate about it. It was the way I would touch a strange animal that I’d been assured was safe though I didn’t really believe it.
“I don’t know what I would’ve done if something happened to you.” She smiled wanly at me, then dropped her hand and looked at Finn. “I’m sure a thank-you is in order for saving my daughter.”
“No need,” Finn replied rather curtly, and Elora gazed at him intently for a moment, saying something in his mind. Then she turned and walked away, apparently to deal with something far more pressing than her daughter.
Aurora squeezed Tove’s arms and looked at him warmly, making me feel a horrible pang at my own mother’s reaction. Aurora had seemed like an ice Queen too, but she could at least show signs of genuine happiness that her son hadn’t died.
The moment passed quickly, and she moved on to me. She tore the hole in my dress wider so she could put her hand on my wound, and I gritted my teeth at the pain. Finn tightened his arm around my shoulders, a warm tingling sensation passed over my side, and moments later the pain stopped.
“Good as new.” Aurora smiled tiredly at me.
She seemed to have aged since before she’d touched me, and I wondered how much all that healing took out of her. She started to step away, going back to help other people, and Finn leaned on me, clearly in pain.
“What about Finn?” I asked, and she looked back at me, startled. Apparently I had asked something wrong, and she didn’t know how to react.