“What are you talking about?” I asked, tensing up.
“I heard you’re engaged to that stodgy Markis.” Loki waved his hand vaguely and stood up. “Which I think is ridiculous. He’s boring and bland and you don’t love him at all.”
“How do you know about that?” I stood up straighter, preparing to defend myself.
“The guards around here are horrible gossips, and I hear everything.” He grinned and sauntered toward me. “And I have two eyes. I’ve seen that little melodrama play out between you and that other tracker. Fish? Flounder? What’s his name?”
“Finn,” I said pointedly.
“Yes, him.” Loki rested his shoulder against the door. “Can I give you a piece of advice?”
“By all means. I’d love to hear advice from a prisoner.”
“Excellent.” Loki leaned forward, as close to me as he could before he’d be racked with pain from attempting to leave the room. “Don’t marry someone you don’t love.”
“What do you know of love or marriage?” I asked. “You were all set to marry a woman ten years older than you before the King stole her away.”
“I wouldn’t have married her anyway.” Loki shrugged. “Not if I didn’t love her.”
“Now you’ve got integrity?” I scoffed. “You kidnapped me, and your father was a traitor.”
“I’ve never said a nice word about my father,” Loki said quickly. “And I’ve never done anything bad to you.”
“You still kidnapped me!” I said dubiously.
“Did I?” Loki cocked his head. “Because I remember Kyra kidnapping you, and me preventing her from pummeling you to death. Then, when you were coughing up blood, I sent for the Queen to help you. When you escaped, I didn’t stop you. And since I came here, I’ve done nothing to you. I’ve even been good because you told me to be. So what terrible crimes have I committed against you, Princess?”
“I—I—” I stammered. “I never said you did anything terrible.”
“Then why don’t you trust me, Wendy?”
He’d never called me by my name before, and the underlying affection underneath it startled me. Even his eyes, which still held their usual veil of playfulness, had something deeper brewing underneath. When he wasn’t trying so hard to be devilishly handsome, he actually was.
The growing connection I felt with him unnerved me, but I didn’t want him to see that. More than that, it didn’t matter what feelings I might be having for him. He was leaving today, and I would probably never see him again.
“I do trust you,” I admitted. “I do trust you. I just don’t know why I do, and I don’t know why you’ve been helping me.”
“You want the truth?” He smiled at me, and there was something sincere and sweet underlying. “You piqued my curiosity.”
“You risked your life for me because you were curious?” I asked doubtfully.
“As soon as you came to, your only concern was for helping your friends, and you never stopped,” Loki said. “You were kind. And I haven’t seen that much kindness in my life.”
He looked away from me then, staring at an empty spot down the hall. I think he was trying to hide the sadness in his eyes, but I saw it just the same—a strange loneliness that looked out of place on his strong features.
Loki shook his head, trying to shake off whatever he’d been feeling, and gave me a crooked smile that looked surprisingly dismal. “I thought for once that acting decent ought to be rewarded. That’s why I let you go, and that’s why I didn’t bring you back to the King.”
“If it’s so horrible there, why don’t you stay with us?” I asked without thinking.
“No.” He shook his head and lowered his eyes. “Tempting though the offer may be, your people wouldn’t allow it, and my people … well, let’s just say they wouldn’t react well if I didn’t come home. And whether I like it or not, it is my home.”
“I know that feeling all too well.” I sighed. Though F?rening was starting to feel more like home, I wasn’t sure that it ever would completely.
“See? I told you, Princess.” Loki’s smile returned more easily. “You and I aren’t all that different.”
“You say that like it means something.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“No, not really. You’re leaving today, going home to my enemies.” I let out a deep breath, feeling an ache inside my chest. “If I’m lucky, I’ll never see you again. Because if I do, that means we’re at war, and I’d have to hurt you.”
“Oh, Wendy, that’s perhaps the saddest thing I’ve ever heard,” Loki said, and he looked like he meant it. “But life doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. Don’t you ever see the silver lining?”
“Not today.” I shook my head. I heard Garrett summon me from down the hall, which meant that lunch was over and the meetings were about to start up. “I have to get back. I’ll see you when we make the exchange with the Vittra Queen.”
“Good luck.” Loki nodded.