“It’s been a very busy first year,” I commented.

“At first, I think I was only playing at Queen, and if I’m being honest, Mikko was only playing at King.” She turned back to face me, her eyes moist. “We’d never really been challenged, so we were only going through the motions and having parties and putting on these silly costumes.”

She lifted up the length of her gown and let it fall back down. “And now we must be the things that we were pretending to be. People are dying, and we must be the ones that protect them.”

A solitary tear slid down her porcelain skin. “I feel like I’ve already failed.”

“No, you haven’t failed.” I shook my head. “Despite how everything turned out tonight, the ball was a good idea. You need to create unity and order and a sense of happiness within Storvatten. While others are out fighting, you need to hold things down here, and when they come back, you take care of them. That’s your job as the Queen.”

“You really think I did the right thing tonight?” Linnea wiped away her tear.

“Yes, you did everything exactly right,” I told her. “But you need to be strong. A Queen must never be seen crying.”

She straightened up, pulling her shoulders back and raising her chin higher, and took a deep breath. “You’re right. I need to be a leader.”

I smiled at her. “You’ll be a fine leader.”

“I would hug you, but you’re covered in blood.” She motioned to the bright red splotches that covered the bodice of my dress, staining the lace and satin, from when I’d been attempting to comfort Konstantin.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t even thinking about it.”

“Bryn.” She gave me a hard look. “There are far greater things to worry about than my silly gown. I couldn’t care a fig about what happened to that dress while in service to this kingdom.”

I thanked her again, and she excused herself to sit with Konstantin. She didn’t want him to be alone, at least not until she was absolutely certain he was better. I looked in on her before I left, sitting at the bedside of an injured outcast without a kingdom, and I wondered how many other Queens would do that.

With Konstantin in her hands, I felt safe heading down to the meeting room. The palace had settled down while I’d been in with Konstantin, now that the imminent threat of attack had been called off. Guards were still stationed around more than normal, but people weren’t running around like madmen.

When I walked downstairs, I could even hear the orchestra from the ballroom playing. The ball was under way again, probably under the advisement of Lisbet. If we had been attacked, I imagined her still dancing to the music, like the orchestra that had played on as the Titanic sank.

I stopped only to wash the blood from my hands, and then I headed into the meeting room. Finn and Ludlow were seated at the long table, while Baltsar paced alongside it. Mikko stood at the head, his expression grave, and Ridley stared at the dark water outside, his back to the door. He glanced over at me when I came in the room but didn’t turn around.

“It all depends on how many Omte they have with them,” Finn was saying as I closed the door behind me.

“We’re strong,” Ludlow added. “But the Omte already outnumber the Vittra, and if they bring their whole army, I’m not sure how well we can hold against them.”

“They’ll break down the walls,” Baltsar grumbled as he paced. “You get those ogres charging, and the walls will shatter underneath their fists. They’ll destroy the palace.”

“We have to stop them before they get to the palace,” Finn said. “The battle needs to happen on land, far from the shore.”

“And what if they beat us down and charge past us?” Baltsar argued. “You get the Kanin army and the Omte army and who knows how many others Viktor Dålig’s collected, and they come charging at us? They’ll trample our army.”

“Once they get to the palace, it’s all over,” Finn said. “They’ll break the walls, take the sapphires, and kill anyone who is left.”

“I know!” Baltsar shouted. “That’s my point. How do we stop them from taking the palace?”

“We go to them,” Finn replied with a heavy sigh.

“We can’t do that,” I said, speaking for the first time since I’d entered the room, and everyone turned to look at me. “The people in Doldastam are innocent. They don’t need to end up casualties of our war against their Queen. They shouldn’t be punished for her sins.”

“My family is there too,” Finn reminded me, his eyes pained. “I know how great the risk is. But it’s our only chance to stop the Queen and her armies before she destroys another kingdom. And once she’s done with the Skojare, there’s no telling who she’ll go after next.”

“We go to them,” Baltsar agreed, sounding resigned to the idea. “We take the fight to Doldastam. We still might not win. They still outnumber us, and they’re still much stronger. But if we lose, we give everyone in Storvatten a chance to escape. It’s our best plan to avoid innocent casualties.”

“You’re suggesting we abandon the palace?” Mikko asked in his low rumble.

“I am suggesting that if we lose, yes, everyone behind in Storvatten fills their pockets with sapphires and disappears into the lake,” Baltsar said. “It’s the only advantage we have, that the other tribes can’t follow us into the water.”

“Konstantin and I know Doldastam and the palace inside out,” Ridley said, referring to the fact that as a member of the Högdragen and Överste respectively they had been privy to all the plans and designs of the city. They knew it better than even Tilda and me.

He turned around to face the room. “Do we really have a chance of beating them? I don’t know. But if we do, Finn is right. Our best shot is taking Doldastam before they come for Storvatten.”

Mikko surveyed the room, waiting for dissenting opinions, but even I just lowered my eyes. It wasn’t a perfect plan, and I wasn’t sure that we wouldn’t all end up dead anyway.

But it was still our best chance at defeating Mina, even if it meant risking the lives of the people I cared about most. The greater good of peace within the five kingdoms outweighed my own personal feelings.

“That settles it, then,” Mikko said. “Since they’ll be coming for us soon, we don’t have time to waste. We leave at dawn for Doldastam.”

FIFTY-FOUR

älskade

With my bag slung over my shoulder, I closed the door to my guestroom in the Storvatten palace for the last time. It had a strange finality to it. I didn’t know if I’d ever come here again or if the palace would even be standing in a couple weeks.

I started walking down the hall and paused when I reached Tilda’s room. She sat on her bed, her legs crossed underneath her, and stared down at her belly as she rubbed it. Her wavy chestnut hair hung around her like a curtain.

I knocked on the open door, and she looked up at me with a sad smile.

“You’re leaving already?”

I nodded. “It’s time. Ridley’s already upstairs.”

Her smile became more pained, her full lips pressing into thin lines. I sat my bag on the floor and went over to sit on the bed beside her.

“I wish I was going with you,” she said, almost desperately.

“I know. But the battlefield is no place for a pregnant woman, even one as badass as you.”

“I know it’s the right thing. I know that for the baby, this is where I need to be.” She nodded, as if to convince herself. “But this is my war too. I should be with you, fighting alongside you.”

“You’ve already helped so much. Everything you’ve done with the Skojare army, they’re better because of you.”

“It’s just hard.” She rubbed her stomach. “I think the baby wants to go too. He’s been kicking a lot.” Then she looked over at me. “Wanna feel?”

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to, but I let Tilda take my hand and place it on her stomach. At first I didn’t feel anything, then there was a sudden, soft pushing sensation on the palm of my hand.

“Did you feel that?” Tilda asked, sounding excited.

“Yeah, that’s crazy.” I let my hand linger for a moment, feeling another, stronger kick, and then I took my hand back.

“Did I tell you that I found out that it’s a boy?” she asked, smiling wider now.

“No, you didn’t. A boy?” I smiled. “That’ll be great.”

“I didn’t find out the gender until after Kasper . . .” Her smile remained but her eyes were misty. “I mean, we could’ve. But we were waiting until after we were married. It’s silly, but we wanted it to be like a wedding gift to ourselves.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. It seemed like a fun idea at the time, but since we didn’t know if it would be a boy or a girl, we didn’t really talk about names yet. Not in earnest.”