The King nodded once. He turned, as if he meant to start walking away, but instead he flew back at Loki, smacking him so hard across the face that Loki saw white for a minute and fell to the ground.
Sara gasped but said nothing. After years of this, she’d learned there was nothing she could do to prevent the King from taking out his anger on Loki.
Loki lay on the floor, rubbing his jaw. For a moment, he’d been certain the King had shattered his jaw, not that that would be the first time the King had shattered one of his bones. But even though he hadn’t, that didn’t mean it felt good.
Jen started chuckling, laughing at Loki’s pain, but the King stopped him.
“Get out!” the King roared, turning to Jen and Kyra. “Get out before I do the same to you!”
They hurried out, muttering their apologies as they did, and slammed the heavy oak door behind them.
He was still in pain, but Loki could get up, though he chose not to. Staying on the floor was safer. Getting to his feet would just give the King an excuse to knock him back down again.
“This will be the last time you fail me,” the King growled. “I’ve given you everything, and you’ve let me down far too many times. You’re just a lazy, brat Prince.”
“I’m not the Prince,” Loki corrected him quietly.
“And you never will be!” the King shouted, like it was some kind of threat.
Loki rolled onto his back and sighed. “I don’t want to be.”
“Good! Because you’re never going to be anything!” The King swore under his breath, then walked over and kicked Loki in the side.
Loki balled himself up, wrapping his arms around his stomach. For a moment he couldn’t breathe or move or do anything other than feel the searing pain running through him.
“Oren!” Sara gasped. Her hand clutched the arm of her chair, but she didn’t get to her feet.
The King shook his hands at her in exasperation, as if he didn’t know what to do anymore.
“I’m using restraint, my love,” the King said, and Sara could hear it in his voice. He repressed his urge to yell, and he kept his words even. “I want his head on a platter.” He gestured to where Loki lay writhing in pain. “But it’s not. He’s alive. Out of respect for you and for his title. But he won’t be for much longer if he keeps failing me.”
“I know.” Sara stood up and set the dog on the chair behind her. “And I thank you for that, my King.” She walked toward her husband, keeping her tone soothing. “I understand how frustrated you are and how badly you want the Princess. You know how much I want her, too.”
The King let out a deep breath and seemed to soften a bit, or as much as the King could soften.
“I know.” He nodded. “I do sometimes forget how much the Princess would mean to you, too.”
“Perhaps your anger at Loki is a tad misplaced,” Sara said. When the King opened his mouth to argue, she held up her hand. “Not at him. He has let you down. But perhaps it could be better directed at the Trylle, and not at your own people.”
“What are you proposing?” The King narrowed his eyes at her.
“Nothing that you haven’t proposed already, my love.” She put her hands on his chest and smiled up at him. “You said you would stop at nothing to get her, and all is not lost yet. She’s with the Trylle, but you’ve waged wars on them before. This will be no different.”
The King nodded, considering what his wife said.
“Loki,” the King barked without looking back at him. “Gather all the best trackers we have, all of our powerful Vittra. We’ll launch an attack on the Trylle.”
Loki got to his feet, still holding his side. He stretched his jaw, which throbbed dully, and cracked his neck.
“Even the hob goblins, Sire?” Loki asked.
“No, not yet.” The King shook his head. “We’ll hold them back until we absolutely have to use them.”
THREE
Loki stood in the back of the room while the King went over his plan for the attack on the Trylle palace in F?rening with the army he’d assembled. The King had launched attacks on the Trylle before, some of them quite successful, and there was no reason for him to think this one wouldn’t go the same way.
This wasn’t his last measure, though. Sara had convinced him to hold a few things back, namely, himself and Loki. The Queen thought sending them into that kind of danger was unnecessary. Oren and Loki were the two most powerful Vittra they had, but the army that the King had mounted should be sufficient to take down the Trylle.