The decorators had started bringing things in, and stacked chairs and tables now leaned against one of the walls. Tablecloths, candlesticks, and all sorts of decorations were piled around them. The only other thing in the room was a white grand piano sitting in the opposite corner. Otherwise the room was empty except for Finn and me.
I hated how taken I was with the splendor. I hated even more that the room was so magnificent and I looked like I did. My hair was in a messy bun, and my skirt felt far too plain. Finn wasn’t exactly dressed to the nines either, but his standard button-down shirt and dark wash jeans looked much more fitting.
“So what’s the fun part?” I asked, and my voice echoed off the walls.
“Dancing. ” Finn’s lip twitched with a smile, and I groaned. “I’ve danced with you before, and I know that it needs some improvement. ”
“The slow circles don’t cut it?” I grimaced.
“Unfortunately, no. A proper waltz should be enough, though. If you can master that, you’ll be set for the ball on Saturday. ”
“Oh, no. ” My stomach dropped as I realized something. “I’m going to have to dance with these people, aren’t I? Like strangers and old men and weird handsy boys?” Finn laughed at that, but I wanted to curl up in a ball and die.
“I could lie to you, but to be honest, those are probably the only people who will ask you to dance,” Finn admitted with a wry smirk.
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“You’re enjoying this more than I’ve ever seen you enjoy anything,” I said, and that only deepened his smile. “Well, I’m glad you find this funny. Me being felt up by complete strangers and tripping all over them. What a great time. ”
“It won’t be so bad. ” He motioned for me to come over. “If you learn the basic steps, at least you won’t be tripping over them. ”
I sighed loudly and walked over to him. Most of my trepidation about dancing with strangers melted away the instant Finn took my hand in his. It suddenly occurred to me that before I had to dance with them, I got to dance with him.
After a few directions from him and a rough start by me, we were dancing. His arm was around me, strong and reassuring. He instructed me to keep my eyes locked on his so I wouldn’t get in the habit of watching my feet while I danced, but I wouldn’t have looked anywhere else anyway. His dark eyes always mesmerized me.
We were supposed to keep a certain distance between our bodies, but I found it impossible. His body nearly pressed against mine, and I delighted in the sensation. I was certain we weren’t going as fast as we should, but I didn’t care. This moment with him seemed entirely too perfect to be real.
“Right, okay. ” Finn suddenly stopped and took a step away from me. Disappointed, I let my hands fall to the side. “You’ve got that down pretty well, but there’s going to be music. So you should see how you do with that. ”
“Okay?” I said unsurely.
“Why don’t I play the piano, and you count out the steps yourself?” Finn had already started backing away to the piano, and I wondered what I had done wrong that made him stop so suddenly. “That might be a better way for you to learn. ”
“Um, okay. ” I shrugged uncertainly. “I thought I was doing fine before. ”
“We weren’t going fast enough. The music will help you keep time. ”
I frowned at him, wishing he would just come back and dance with me. I remembered how he once told me I was a terrible dance partner, and wondered if maybe that was the problem.
He sat down at the piano and started playing a beautiful, elaborate waltz. Of course he could play. He could do anything. I just stood there staring at him, until he directed me to start dancing.
I whirled around on the dance floor, but it definitely wasn’t as fun as it had been with him. In fact, it wasn’t really that fun at all. It might have been if I weren’t trying to figure out what I did wrong that always made Finn back away from me.
It was hard to concentrate on that, though, when Finn kept barking out corrections at me. Funny, he hadn’t noticed any of my mistakes when we had been dancing together.
“Nope, that’s it,” I panted after what felt like an eternity.
My feet and legs were getting sore, and a sheen of sweat covered my body. I had had my fill of dancing for the day. I sat down heavily on the floor, then leaned back, sprawling out on the cool marble.
“Wendy, it hasn’t even been that long,” Finn insisted.
“Don’t care. I’m out!” I breathed deeply and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
“Haven’t you ever worked at anything?” Finn complained. He got up from the piano bench and walked over to me so he could lecture me up close. “This is important. ”
“I’m aware. You tell me every second of every day. ”
“I do not. ” Finn crossed his arms and looked down at me.
“This is the hardest I’ve ever worked at anything,” I said, staring back up at him. “Everything else I’ve quit before this, or I never even tried. So don’t tell me I’m not putting effort into this. ”
“You’ve never tried harder than this? At anything?” Finn asked incredulously, and I shook my head. “That brother you had never made you do anything?”
“Not really,” I admitted thoughtfully. “He made me go to school, I guess. But that’s about it. ” Matt and Maggie encouraged me to do many things, but there was very little they actually made me do.
“They spoiled you more than I thought. ” Finn looked surprised at that.
“They didn’t spoil me. ” I sighed, then quickly amended, “They didn’t spoil me rotten. Not the way Willa was spoiled, and I’m sure a lot of the other changelings were. They just wanted me to be happy. ”
“Happiness is something you work for,” Finn pointed out.
“Oh, stop with that fortune-cookie crap,” I scoffed. “We worked for it just like anybody else. They were just really careful with me, probably because my mom tried to kill me. It set them up to treat me more gently than they would’ve otherwise. ”
“How did your mother try to kill you?” Finn asked, startling me. I hadn’t told him much about it, but he rarely wanted to talk about my past.
“It was my birthday, and I was being my usual bratty self. I was angry because she’d gotten me a chocolate cake, and I hated it,” I said. “We were in the kitchen, and she snapped. She started chasing after me with this giant knife. She called me a monster, and then she tried to stab me but she just managed to cut my stomach pretty badly. Then my brother Matt rushed in and tackled her, saving my life. ”
“She cut open your stomach?” Finn furrowed his brow with concern.
“Yeah. ” I pulled up my shirt, revealing the scar that stretched across it.
Immediately after I’d done that, I regretted it. Lying on the floor and flashing Finn the fattest part of my body did not seem like a good idea.
Finn crouched on the floor next to me, and tentatively his fingertips traced along the mark etched on my belly. My skin quivered underneath his touch, and nervous warmth spread through me. He continued to stare intently at the scar, then he laid his hand flat on my belly, covering it. His skin felt hot and smooth, and inside, my stomach trembled with butterflies.
He blinked and, seeming to realize what he was doing, he pulled his hand back and got to his feet. Quickly I pulled my shirt back down. I didn’t even feel that comfortable lying down anymore, so I sat up and fixed my bun.
“Matt saved your life?” Finn asked, filling that semi-awkward silence that had shrouded us. He still had a contemplative look on his face, and I wished I knew what he was thinking.
“Yeah. ” I got to my feet. “Matt always protected me, ever since I could remember. ”
“Hmm. ” Finn looked thoughtfully at me. “You bonded so much more with your host family than the changelings normally do. ”
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“‘Host family’?” I grimaced. “You make me sound like a parasite. ”
Then I realized that I probably was. They had dropped me off with the Everlys so I would use their resources, their money, their opportunities, and bring them back here. That’s exactly what a parasite did.
“You’re not a parasite,” Finn said. “They loved you, and you genuinely loved them in return. It is unusual, but that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a very good thing. Maybe it’s given you a compassion that Trylle leaders have been lacking for a very long time. ”
“I don’t think I’m very compassionate. ” I shook my head.
“I see how it bothers you the way Elora talks to people. Elora thinks the only way to command respect is to command fear, but I have a feeling that you will have an entirely different way of ruling. ”
“And how will I rule?” I arched my eyebrow at him.
“That is for you to decide,” Finn said simply.
He ended our lesson after that, saying I needed to rest up for tomorrow. The day had exhausted me, and I was eager to curl up in my blankets and sleep until Sunday, straight through the ball and all the angst that accompanied it.
Sleep didn’t come easy, though. I found myself tossing and turning, thinking about the way it felt dancing with Finn, and his hand resting warmly on my stomach.
But I would always end up thinking of Matt and how much I still missed him. I had expected that to lessen the longer I was here, but it only seemed to get worse. After all this, I really needed to know that someone had my back and cared about me unconditionally.
I woke up early the next morning. Actually, I’d been waking up all night long, and at six I finally just gave up. I got up with the intention of sneaking downstairs to grab a bite to eat, but when I hit the top of the stairs, Rhys came barreling up them to meet me, chomping on a bagel.
“Hey, what are you doing up?” He grinned, swallowing down his bite.
“Couldn’t sleep. ” I shrugged. “You?”
“Same. I have to get ready for school soon anyway. ” He pushed his hair out of his eyes and leaned back against the stair railing. “Are you worrying about this Saturday?”
“Kind of,” I admitted.
“It is pretty intense,” Rhys said, his eyes wide. I nodded noncommittally. “Is something else bothering you? You look pretty . . . upset, I guess. ”
“No. ” I shook my head and sighed, then sat down on the top step. I didn’t feel much like standing anymore, and I wanted to cry. “I was just thinking about my brother. ”
“Your brother?” Something flashed across Rhys’s face, and slowly he sat down next to me. He seemed almost breathless. At first I didn’t understand, but then it dawned on me.
This must be so weird for Rhys. His whole life he had known that this wasn’t his real family, and it wasn’t even the same as being adopted. His family hadn’t wanted to give him up. He had been stolen, and not even by a family that had wanted him. They had just wanted me to have his life.
“Yeah. I mean . . . your brother, actually,” I corrected myself, and it felt painful saying that. Matt would always be my brother, no matter what our genetics were.
“What’s his name?” Rhys asked quietly.
“Matt. He’s pretty much the nicest guy in the whole world. ”
“Matt?” Rhys repeated in an awed tone.
“Yeah. ” I nodded. “He’s the bravest guy ever. He would do anything to protect the people he cares about, and he’s completely selfless. He always puts everybody else first. And he’s really, really strong. He’s . . . ” I swallowed and decided that I couldn’t talk about him anymore. I shook my head and looked away.
“What about my mom and dad?” Rhys pressed, and I didn’t know how to answer that.
“Dad died when I was five,” I said carefully. “My mother took it pretty hard, and, um . . . she’s been in the hospital ever since. For psychiatric problems. Matt and my dad’s sister, Maggie, they raised me. ”
“Oh. ” His face contorted with concern.
I suddenly hated Kim even more. I knew that she had done everything because she loved Rhys, but that didn’t make her actions any less inexcusable. I didn’t have it in me to tell him what she’d done or that she’d never be able to have a life with him because she’d always be locked up.
“I’m sorry. ” I placed my hand gently on his, to comfort him. “It’s hard to explain how I know it, but your mom really loved you. She really wanted you. And I think she always hated me because she knew I wasn’t you. ”
“Really?” There was something hopeful and sad in his eyes when he looked at me.
“Yeah. It kind of sucked for me, actually. ” I smiled wanly at him, and he laughed.
“Sorry about that. ” Rhys smiled back at me. “I guess I’m too hard to forget. ”
“Yeah, I guess you are,” I agreed. Rhys moved his hand so it was actually holding mine.
“So what about this Maggie? What’s she like?” Rhys asked.
“She’s pretty cool. A little overly attentive sometimes, but cool,” I said. “She put up with a lot of crap from me. They both did, really. ” I thought about how strange this all was, that they weren’t my family anymore. “This is so weird. They’re your brother and your aunt. ”
“No, I understand. They’re your family too,” Rhys said. “They loved you and raised you. That’s what family is, right?”
I had needed someone to say that to me for so long, and I squeezed his hand gratefully. I still loved them and always would, and I just needed that to be okay.
“Wendy!” Finn came down the hall, still dressed in his pajamas. Instinctively I pulled my hand back, and Rhys stood up. “What are you doing?”
“I just woke up. We were just talking. ” I looked up at Rhys, who nodded in agreement.
Finn glared at us both, and I felt like we’d just been caught robbing a bank.
“I suggest you get ready for school,” he said icily.
“Yeah, that’s what I was doing anyway,” Rhys said, then smiled down at me. “I’ll see you later, Wendy. ”
“Yeah, okay. ” I smiled back at him.
“What are you doing?” Finn hissed, glowering down at me.
“I already told you,” I insisted and stood up. “We were just talking. ”
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“About what?” Finn asked.
“My family. ” I shrugged. “What does it matter?”
“You cannot talk to him about your host family,” Finn said. “Mänsklig cannot know where they come from. If they did, they would be tempted to track down their families, and that would completely ruin our entire society. Do you understand that?”
“I didn’t really tell him anything!” I said, but I felt stupid that that hadn’t occurred to me. “I missed Matt, and I just said stuff about how neat he was. I didn’t tell Rhys where he lived or anything like that. ”
“You have to be more careful, Wendy. ”
“Sorry. I didn’t know. ” I didn’t like the way he was glaring at me, so I turned and started walking down the hall toward my room.
“Wait. ” Finn grabbed my arm gently so I would stop and look at him.
He took a step closer to me so he was right in front of me, but I was trying to be mad at him, so I refused to look at him. I could still feel his eyes on me and the heat from his body, and it did little to help me maintain my anger.
“What?” I asked.
Finn lowered his voice. “I saw you holding his hand. ”
“So?” I said. “Is that a crime?”
“No, but . . . you can’t do that. You cannot get involved with a mänsklig. ”
“Whatever. ” I pulled my arm from his grip, irritated that the only thing he ever thought about was his job. “You’re just jealous. ”
“I am not jealous. ” Finn took a step back from me. “I am watching out for your well-being. You don’t understand how dangerous it would be to get involved with him. ”
“
Yeah, yeah,” I muttered and started walking back to my room. “I don’t understand anything. ”
“That’s not what I said. ” Finn followed me.
“But it’s true, isn’t it?” I countered. “I don’t know anything. ”
“Wendy!” Finn snapped, and grudgingly, I turned back to look at him. “If you don’t understand things, it’s because I didn’t explain them well enough. ”
He swallowed hard and looked down at the floor, his dark eyelashes falling on his cheeks. There was something more that he wanted to say to me, so I crossed my arms, waiting.
“But you were right. ” He was clearly struggling with the words, and I watched him carefully. “I was jealous. ”
“What?” My jaw fell open, and my eyes widened with surprise.
“That does not affect the job I have to do, nor does it change the fact that you absolutely cannot become involved with a mänsklig,” Finn said firmly, still looking at the floor instead of at me. “Now go get ready. We have another long day ahead of us. ” He turned around and started to walk away.
“Wait, Finn!” I called after him, and he paused, half looking back at me.
“The matter is not open for discussion,” he replied coolly. “I promised I would never lie to you, so I didn’t. ”
I stood in front of my bedroom door, reeling from his confession. For the first time, he had actually admitted that at least some of his feelings for me had nothing to do with the job at hand. Yet somehow I was supposed to forget all that and go about as if everything were normal.
EIGHTEEN
intimidation
I spent a long time getting ready, still making sense of what Finn had told me. It thrilled me that he cared enough to feel jealous, but I also realized how pointless it was. He’d never do anything that conflicted with his sense of honor and duty.
Even with me taking so much time, Finn never came to get me. Eventually, I perched at the top of the spiral staircase to wait for him. I thought about going down to his room, but I didn’t really feel comfortable with that. Besides, he’d probably send me away.
From the top of the stairs, I watched in surprise as Tove Kroner pushed open the front door. He hadn’t knocked or anything, and he raked a hand through his messy hair, looking around.
“Can I help you?” I called down. As Princess, I felt like I ought to be hospitable, even if I felt flustered and confused as hell.
“Uh, yeah. I’m looking for you. ” He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked to the bottom of the steps, but didn’t go any farther.
“What for?” I wrinkled my nose, then, realizing I’d sounded rude, shook my head. “I mean, I beg your pardon?”
“Just to help. ” Tove shrugged.
I walked slowly down the stairs, watching his eyes search the room. He never did seem comfortable looking at me.
As I approached him, I took in the soft natural highlights coursing through his dark hair. It was long and unruly, hitting just above his shoulders.
His tanned skin had a subtle mossy undertone, the green complexion that Finn had told me about. Nobody else had skin like that, except maybe his mother, but hers was fainter than Tove’s.