“Princess!” Duncan shouted.
I pulled my gaze away from Finn to see Duncan standing a little ways down the road, waving his arms like a maniac. The palace was right around the corner, and I hadn’t realized how close we were. When I looked at Finn, he’d already taken several steps away from me, toward his house.
“He can take you the rest of the way home.” Finn gestured to Duncan and took another step back. I didn’t say anything, so he stopped. “Aren’t you going to say good-bye?”
“No.” I shook my head.
“Princess!” Duncan shouted again, and I heard him racing toward us. “Princess, Matt noticed you were missing, and he wanted to alert the guards. I have to bring you back before he does.”
“I’m coming.” I turned toward Duncan, putting my back to Finn.
I walked with Duncan to the palace, not even looking back at Finn once. I was quite proud of myself. I hadn’t yelled at him for not telling me about my father, but I did say some of the things I wanted to say.
“I’m lucky that Matt was the one who saw you were gone, and not Elora,” Duncan said as we rounded the bend to the palace. The asphalt road gave way to a cobblestone driveway that felt much better on my feet.
“Duncan, is that how you live?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Like Finn’s house.” I pointed toward it with my thumb. “Do you live in a cottage like that? I mean, when you’re not busy tracking.”
“Yeah, pretty much.” Duncan nodded. “I think mine’s a little bit nicer, but I live with my uncle, and he was a really good tracker before he retired. Now he’s a teacher at the m?nks school, and that’s still not so bad.”
“Do you live around here?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He pointed up the hill, north of the palace. “It’s pretty well hidden in the bluff, but it’s right up that way.” He looked at me. “Why? Did you wanna go visit?”
“Not right now. Thanks for the invitation, though,” I said. “I was just curious. Is that how all the trackers live?”
“Like me and Finn?” Duncan was thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. All the trackers that stay around, anyway.”
Duncan walked ahead and opened the front doors, but I stopped and stared up at the palace, where intertwined vines grew over a massive white exterior. When the sunlight hit it, it glittered beautifully, but it was almost blindingly white.
“Princess?” Duncan waited at the open doors for me. “Is everything all right?”
“Would you die to save me?” I asked him bluntly.
“What?”
“If I was in danger, would you be willing to die to protect me?” I asked. “Have other trackers done that before?”
“Yes, of course.” Duncan nodded. “Many other trackers have given their lives in the name of the kingdom, and I’d be honored to do the same.”
“Don’t.” I walked up to him. “If it ever comes down to a situation between me and you, save yourself. I’m not worth dying for.”
“Princess, I—”
“None of us are,” I said, looking at him seriously. “Not the Queen or any of the Markis or Marksinna. That’s a direct order from the Princess, and you have to follow it. Save yourself.”
“I don’t understand.” Duncan’s whole face scrunched in confusion. “But … if it’s as you wish, Princess.”
“It is. Thank you.” I smiled at him and walked into the palace.
THIRTEEN
captive
The debris had been cleared from the ballroom, much to Tove’s chagrin, but the skylights were still covered with tarps. Tove had liked having all the junk around because it gave me something to practice on, but he decided that the tarps would be easier anyway.
Duncan had stayed away today. I think his brain was getting frazzled from me playing around with it. Since he sometimes got hit with stray brain waves when I tried too hard, we all thought it’d be best if he hung around somewhere else for a while.
I’d been trying for hours to get one of the tarps to move, and all I’d managed was a ripple across it. Even that was questionable. Tove said it was probably me, but I suspected it was a strong gust of wind blowing across it.
My head was actually starting to hurt, and I felt like a jackass, holding my arms up in the air, pushing at nothing.
“Nothing’s happening.” I sighed and dropped my arms.
“Try harder,” Tove replied. He lay on the floor near me, his arms folded neatly beneath his head.
“I can’t try any harder.” I sat down on the floor with an unladylike thud, but I knew Tove wouldn’t care. I had a feeling he barely even noticed I was a girl. “I’m not trying to whine here, but are you sure I can even do this?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Well, what if I give myself an aneurysm trying to do something I can’t even do?” I asked.