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leave it all behind. But you can stay here. I will grant you
amnesty.”
    “ Mmm , I knew it.” He smiled. “You’d
miss me too much if I left.”
    “Hardly,” I laughed.
    “Hardly?” Loki smirked.
    He’d lowered his arm around me, so his hand was on my waist.
Loki was right next to me, his muscles pressed against me. I knew that I should
move away, that I had no justifiable reason to be this close to him, but I
didn’t move.
    “Would you?” Loki asked, his voice
low.
    “Would I what?”
    “Would you run away with me, if you didn’t have all the
responsibilities and the palace and all that?”
    “I don’t know,” I said.
    “I think you would.”
    “Of course you do.” I looked away from him, but I didn’t
move away. “Where did you get the pajamas, by the way? You didn’t bring
anything with you when you came.”
    “I don’t want to tell you.”
    “Why not?” I looked sharply at him.
    “Because. I’ll tell you, and it
will ruin this whole mood,” Loki said. “Can’t we just sit here and look
longingly into each other’s eyes until you let me kiss you?”
    “No,” I said, and finally started to pull away from him.
“Not if you don’t tell me-”
    “Tove,” Loki said quickly, trying to hang onto me. He was
much stronger than me, but he let me push him off.
    “Of course.” I stood up. “That’s
exactly the kind of thing my fiancé would do. He’s always thinking of other
people.”
    “It’s just pajamas!’ Loki insisted, like that would mean
something. “Sure, he’s a terrifically nice guy, but that doesn’t matter.”
    “How does that not matter?” I asked
    “Because you don’t love him.”
    “I care about him,” I said, and he shrugged. “And it’s not
like I love you.”
    “Maybe not,” he allowed. “But you will.”
    “You think so?” I asked.
    “Mark my words, Princess,” Loki said. “One day, you’ll be
madly in love with me.”
    “Okay,” I laughed, because I didn’t know how else to
respond. “But I should go. If I’ve given you amnesty, that means I have to go
about enacting it, and getting everyone to agree that it’s not a suicidal
decision.”
    “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome,” I said and opened the door to go.
    “It was worth it,” Loki said suddenly.
    “What was?” I turned back to him.
    “Everything I went through,” he said. “For
you. It was worth it.”

4. Fiancé
    My relaxing birthday turned into a meeting frenzy because
I’d granted Loki amnesty. Most people thought I was insane, and Loki had to be
brought in for questioning. They had a big meeting where Thomas asked him lots
of questions, and Loki answered them the same way he did for me.
    But truthfully, he didn’t have to explain much after he
lifted his shirt and showed them his scars. After that, they let him go lie
down.
    I did have a nice, quiet dinner with Willa and Matt, and
that was something. My aunt Maggie called, and I talked to her for a while. She
wanted to come see me, but I’d been stalling the best I could. I hadn’t
explained to her what I am yet, but she knows I’m safe with Matt.
    I’d wanted her to come out for Christmas, and I planned on
telling her about everything then. But then the Vittra started going after the
changelings, and I thought they might go after her to get to me, so I postponed
seeing her again.
    She’s been traveling a lot, which is good, but she doesn’t
understand what I’m doing at all. I can’t wait until this all calms down so I
can finally have her in my life again. I miss her so much.
    After dinner, I went back to my room and watched bad
eighties movies with Duncan. He had to stay with me sixteen hours a day, then
the night watchman took over. I’d wanted to study, since Tove was teaching me
Tryllic, but Duncan wouldn’t let me. He insisted I needed to shut off my mind
and relax.
    Duncan fell asleep in my room, which wasn’t unusual. Nobody
said anything, since he was my guard, and it was
better that he was with