I tried to get to my feet again, even though I felt dizzy, and she kicked me down.
“Knock it off,” he snapped at her. She grimaced and took a step back.
He stood in front of me, towering above me, and then knelt down. I could scramble away from him, but I wouldn’t get far. He cocked his head, looking at me curiously.
“So you’re what all the fuss is about,” he mused.
He reached forward, taking my face in his hands. Not painfully, but he was forcing me to look at him. His caramel eyes fixed on mine. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t.
This strange fog settled over me, and as terrified as I was, I felt my body relaxing, losing its ability to fight. My eyelids were too heavy to keep open, and unable to stop it, I fell asleep.
I was dreaming of water. But anything more specific than that I couldn’t remember. My body felt cold, like it should be shivering but wasn’t. My cheeks were warm though, resting against something soft.
“You’re telling me that she is a Princess?” Matt asked, and his chest rumbled above me. My head lay against his leg, and the more I woke up, the more I realized how terrible my body felt.
“It’s not that hard to believe, really,” Rhys said. His voice came from somewhere on the other side of the room. “Once you get all the Trylle stuff, the Princess part is pretty easy to take.”
“I’m not sure what to believe anymore,” Matt admitted.
I opened my eyes with a struggle. My lids felt unnaturally heavy, and my left eye was swollen from where Kyra punched me. The room swayed, and I blinked it into focus.
When my vision finally cleared, I still didn’t really understand what I was seeing. The floor appeared to be dirt, and the walls were brown and grey stones, looking damp and old. It reminded me of an old cellar… or a dungeon.
Rhys paced the other side of the room, and he had fresh bruises on his face. I tried to sit up, but my entire body hurt and my head felt woozy.
“Hey, take it easy,” Matt said, putting his hand on my shoulder, but I didn’t listen.
I pushed myself up until I was sitting. It took a lot more effort than it normally required, and I grimaced when I leaned against the wall next to him.
“You’re awake!” Rhys grinned, and he was probably the only person in the world that could look happy in this situation.
“How are you feeling?” Matt asked. For his part, he didn’t have any visible bruises, but he was a better fighter than Rhys and me.
“Great.” I had to lie through gritted teeth because it hurt to breathe. Based on the intense shooting pain I had in my diaphragm, I guessed I had a cracked rib, but I didn’t want to worry Matt. “What’s going on? Where are we?”
“I was hoping you could shed some light on that,” Matt said.
“I already told him, but he won’t believe me,” Rhys said.
“Where are we then?” I asked Rhys, and Matt scoffed.
“I’m not sure exactly.” Rhys shook his head. “The Vittra palace. I think it might be in Colorado.”
“I figured as much,” I sighed. “I recognized the Vittra that attacked the house. Kyra went after me before.”
“What?” Matt’s eyes were wide and disbelieving. “These people went after you before?”
“Yeah, that’s why I had to leave.” I closed my eyes because it was hurting too much keep them open. The world wanted to spin out from under me.
“Told you,” Rhys said to Matt. “I’m not lying about this stuff. After what happened, you think you’d cut me a little slack.”
“Rhys isn’t lying,” I said, wincing. It was getting harder to breathe, and I had to take very shallow breaths, which only made me more lightheaded. “He knows more about all of this than I do. I wasn’t there very long.”
“Why are these Vittra people coming after you?” Matt asked. “Why do they want you?”
I shook my head, unwilling to risk the pain of speaking.
“I don’t know,” Rhys answered when I didn’t. “I’ve never seen them go after anyone this way before. Then again, she’s the first Princess I’ve been around, and they’ve foretold of her for a while.”
I wanted to know what they were foretelling. Everyone gave me vague responses, like I would be powerful someday, but I didn’t feel very powerful, especially right now. It hurt too much to speak, and I was locked up a dungeon.
Not only had I failed to save myself, I’d gotten Rhys and Matt dragged into it along with me.
“Wendy, are you okay?” Matt asked.
“Yeah,” I lied.
“You don’t look okay,” Rhys said.
“All your color is gone, and you’re barely even breathing,” Matt said, and I heard him getting to his feet next to me. “You need a doctor or something.”
“What are you doing?” Rhys asked.
I opened my eyes to see what Matt was up to. His plan was simple and obvious – he went to the locked door and pounded on it.
“Help! Somebody! Wendy needs a doctor!” Matt shouted.
“What makes you think they’d even want to help her?” Rhys asked, and those were my thoughts exactly. Kyra had gone out of her way to hurt me when she captured me.
“They haven’t killed her yet, so they probably don’t want her dead.” Matt stopped pounding long enough to answer Rhys, then went back to hitting the door and yelling for help.
The sound of it echoed through the room, and I couldn’t take it anymore. My head throbbed too much already. I was about to tell Matt to knock it off when the door opened.
This was the perfect time for Matt and Rhys to launch a counter attack, but it didn’t occur to either of them. They both just moved away.
The Vittra from the house walked into the room, the one that had rendered me unconscious, and I dimly remembered Kyra calling him Loki. His shaggy hair was surprisingly light for a Vittra, almost blond.
Walking next to him was a troll, like an actual troll. All short and gobliny. His features were humanoid, but his skin was slimy and brown. He wore a hat and tufts of grayish hair stuck out around the edge. He barely came up to Loki’s hip, but the fact that he was an actual troll made him more intimidating somehow.
Rhys and Matt both gaped at the hobgoblin, and I probably would’ve too, if I’d been capable of gaping. I could barely keep my head up.
“You say the girl is in need of a doctor?” Loki asked, his eyes resting on me. He regarded me with the same mild curiosity he had before.
“Kyra did that?” the hobgoblin asked, his voice unexpectedly deep for such a small creature. He looked to Loki for confirmation, shaking his head at the damage she’d inflicted on me. “She needs to be put on a leash.”
“I don’t think she can breathe,” Matt said.
Matt’s features hardened to with restraint. I’m sure my condition was the only thing keeping him from attacking Loki. If he hurt them, they wouldn’t be able to help me.
“Well, let me have a look.” Loki walked over to me, his strides long and purposeful.
The hobgoblin stayed by the door, guarding it from Matt and Rhys, but they were too focused on me to consider escape.
Loki crouched down in front of me, looking me over with something that resembled concern. I was in too much pain to feel real fear, but I’m not sure I would have been afraid of him. Physically he was much stronger than me, and he had some kind of ability that could knock me out, maybe even more than that. But somehow, I knew he’d help me.