Аманда Хокинг - Ascend

“So you finally brought her?” Oren asked, giving him a discerning glare.

“I didn’t bring her, Sire,” Loki said. “She brought me.”

“Oh?” Oren looked surprised but he nodded approvingly at me.

“You found the trash, and decided to return it, like I asked.”

“No,” I said. “He’s coming with me when I leave.”

“When you leave?” Oren asked, and his laugh echoed off the walls. “Oh, my dear sweet Princess, you’re not leaving.”

“You haven’t heard what I have to offer you,” I said.

“I already have everything I want in this room.” Oren had begun slowly walking around us in a large circle. Loki turned with him, to keep his eyes on him, but I didn’t.

“You don’t have Förening or any of the Trylle kingdom,” I said.

“You don’t even have the remains of Oslinna. You may have devastated it, but it’s still ours.”

“I will get your kingdom,” Oren said, his voice right behind me.

“Perhaps,” I said. “But how long will it take you? Simply possessing the Princess doesn’t ensure a victory over them. In fact, they will only fight you harder.”

“What are you proposing?” Oren asked, and he walked around so he was in front of me.

“Time,” I said. “Give me time to get the people behind the idea so you can avoid the uprising that happened when you married my mother.”

“I quashed that uprising.” Oren smiled slyly at that, probably remembering fondly all the women and children he’d killed.

“But you lost the kingdom, didn’t you?” I asked, and his smile faltered.

“What could you possibly do to guarantee me the kingdom?”

Oren asked.

“I will be Queen soon,” I said. “You saw Elora. You know it won’t be much longer.”

“And our embargo will end,” Oren said, his words threatening.

“If you let me have the time from now until I’m Queen to get the people in order and prepared for the transition, we could do it,” I said. “I could get them on your side. If I convinced them I was ruling with you, not under you, they would go along with me.”

“You would not rule with me,” he growled.

“I know,” I said hastily. “I just need to get them on my side. Get them behind you. Once everything is in place, and you are the King over all of the Vittra and Trylle, they would bow before you without complaint. They would serve you as you desire.”

“Why?” Oren raised a skeptical eyebrow and stepped back.

“Why would you do this?”

“Because I know that you’re going to keep fighting, and eventually, you will win, but at the cost of thousands and thousands of my people’s lives,” I said. “I would rather work with you to ensure a bloodless takeover now than a brutal one later.”

“Hmm.” Oren seemed to think it over and nodded. “Smart.

Very smart. What do you want in return?”

“No more attacks on any of our towns,” I said. “Stop all fighting against us. If you keep slaughtering them, it will be hard to convince my people to trust you. And besides that, if it’s all going to be your kingdom, you’re destroying your own property.”

“Those are valid points,” Oren said. He’d taken to walking again, and he had his back to me. “How does Loki play into all of this?”

“He’s Vittra,” I said. “By being kind to the Trylle, he will help convince them that you’re not bad. That this has been a misunderstanding. He’ll help gain the trust of the people on your behalf.”

“Are you sure you want him though?” Oren turned back to face us. “I could send Sara in his place.”

“They already know Loki,” I said. “They’re beginning to trust him.”

“You mean you trust him.” Oren smiled wider at that. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”

“That’s too vague,” I said. “I can’t possibly know what you’re referring to.”

“Marvelous!” Oren laughed. “You don’t know!”

I licked my lips. “Know what?” I asked.

“It’s a lie,” Oren laughed again.

“It’s not all a lie,” Loki said quickly. From the corner of my eye, I saw the way his skin paled, and I heard the tremor in his voice.

“The scars on my back are not a lie.”

“Yes, well, you earned those.” Oren stopped laughing and gave him a hard look. “You failed me one too many times.”

“I didn’t fail you,” Loki said carefully. “I refused you.”

“No, you failed.” Oren stepped closer to him, and Loki struggled to keep eye contact with him. “She didn’t run away with you. She chose someone else over you. So you failed.”

“What?” I asked, and a sick feeling grew inside my stomach.

“I wouldn’t have brought her back here,” Loki said, and he wouldn’t look at me.

“You say that now,” Oren said and stepped away from him.

“But that’s not what you said when you got back.”

“I was in the dungeon, and you were beating me!” Loki shouted. “I would’ve agreed to anything.”

“You did agree to anything,” Oren said. “You agreed to seduce the Princess, to trick her into falling in love with you so you could bring her back here to me. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s right, but -” Loki started, but Oren cut him off.

“You went to her palace and got caught on purpose so you could stay with her, spend time with her, manipulate her,” Oren said.

“That’s not exactly how -” Loki said.

“And when Sara brought you back, you told me you almost had her,” Oren smiled, as if telling a funny anecdote. “You told me how she’d nearly kissed you, and the way she blushed when you suggested that she marry you instead of that idiot she’s with now.”

Loki said nothing. He stared at the floor and bit his lip. A horrible pain grew inside my chest, because I knew it was true.

“Didn’t you?” Oren yelled, and Loki jumped, but he kept looking down.

“I had no choice,” Loki said quietly. “I was following orders.”

“That’s okay then, isn’t it?” Oren smiled when he looked at me.

“Everything that has ever transpired between the two of you is a lie.

But he did it because I asked him to, so that makes it okay. Doesn’t it? It’s okay knowing every word he ever said is a lie?”

“That’s not true,” Loki said and lifted his head. “I didn’t lie. I never lied.”

“How can you trust anything he says?” Oren shrugged.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, surprised by how even my voice sounded.

“Because I was hoping you would reconsider,” Oren said. “You can go back to your palace, go back to your husband and your kingdom, but leave Loki here with me. You don’t want or need him.

He’s useless. He’s trash.”

“No,” I said, meeting Oren’s eyes. “He goes with me. If you want the deal, if you want me and my kingdom as soon as I become Queen, then he goes with me now. Or the deal is off.”

“He means that much to you?” Oren asked. He walked up to me, stopping in front of me so close I could feel his breath on my face. “Even knowing how he’s betrayed you, you still want him back?”

“I promised I would take him back with me, and I will,” I answered deliberately.

“You keep your promises,” Oren said. “Good. Because if you don’t keep this one, if you don’t give me your kingdom as soon as you are Queen, Loki will be the first one I kill. I will do it right in front of you. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Good,” he smiled. “Then we have a deal. All of Trylle will be mine.”

“And until then, you won’t lay a hand on any of the Trylle people or towns,” I said. “You will leave us all in peace.”

“Agreed,” Oren said and held out his hand.