Аманда Хокинг - Switched

“But Rhys!” I pleaded.

“He’d want you to be safe!” Finn insisted and finally managed to drag me to the ballroom doors.

I paused, looking up from Rhys to see the chaos of the room. All the chandeliers suddenly crashed to the ground, and the only light was coming from someone who controlled a fire ability and the things they had lit on fire. People were screaming and yelling, and it was echoing off of everything.

“Wendy!” Finn shouted, trying to move me into action.

He let go of my waist and took my hand, yanking me out of the room.

Using my free hand, I tried to pull up my dress to keep from tripping on it as we raced down the hallway. I could still hear the carnage from the ballroom, and I had no idea where he planned on taking me. I didn’t have time to question him, though, or even really to feel thankful that I was with him again.

My only consolation was that if they got me tonight, I had at least spent the last few minutes of my life with Finn.

We rounded the corner towards the entryway, but Finn stopped sharply. Three Vittra were coming in the front doors of the palace, but they didn’t seem to have seen us yet. Finn changed direction, darting across the hall into one of the sitting rooms, pulling me by the hand with him. The room was completely dark, and he ran to a corner between a bookcase and the glass wall.

He pulled me tightly to him, shielding me with his body. The door to the room was shut, but we could hear the Vittra outside. I held my breath, pressing my face into Finn’s chest and praying they didn’t come in the room.

When they finally walked past, Finn still didn’t loosen his grip on me, but I could hear his heartbeat slow ever so slightly. Somewhere beneath all my panic and fear, I became aware of the fact that Finn was holding me tightly in his arms. I looked up at him, barely able to make out his features in the moonlight that streamed in through the windows next to us.

“Why are we hiding?” I whispered.

“I don’t think I can protect you from all of them.” Finn swallowed hard, and very gently, pushed back stray curls from my face. His hand lingered on my cheek as he looked down at me. “They can’t get to you, and this is the best way I have for protecting you.”

“Why’d you come back?” I asked softly.

“Wendy…” The corner of his mouth turned up subtly. “I never really left. I was just down the hill, and I never stopped tracking you. I knew what was happening as soon as you did, and I raced back here.”

“Are we gonna be okay?” I asked plaintively.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Finn promised.

I looked up at him, searching his eyes in the dim light, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him. As ridiculous as it sounds after everything that had happened, I just wanted to stay in his arms forever. He licked his lips, and I was certain that he felt the exact same way.

The door creaked open, and Finn tensed up instantly. He pushed me back harder against the wall, wrapping his arms around me to hide me. I held my breath and tried to stop my heartbeat. We heard nothing for a second, and then the light flicked on.

“Well, well, if the prodigal stork hasn’t returned,” Jen said acidly.

“You won’t get her,” Finn insisted firmly.

He pulled away from me just enough so he could face Jen. I peered around him, watching Jen walk in a slow semi-circle towards us. He walked in an oddly familiar way that, like something I had seen on Animal Planet. Jen was stalking his prey.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,” Jen allowed. “But getting you out of my way would probably make it easier, if not for me than for somebody else.

Because they won’t stop coming for her.”

“We won’t stop protecting her,” Finn countered.

“You’re willing to die to protect her?” Jen asked skeptically.

“You’re willing to die to get her?” Finn challenged evenly.

I had my fingers clenched onto the back of Finn’s jacket, and I watched the two of them stare each other down. I didn’t understand what was so damn important about me that so many Vittra were willing to kill, and according to Finn, so many Trylle were willing to die. In the ballroom, Tove had kept insisting that they had to protect me, and I hadn’t thought that Tove had cared for me all that much. Was it just that I was a Princess? Had Elora endured similar things when she first came home?

“Neither one of you have to die!” I interjected. I tried to slip around Finn’s arm, but he pushed me back firmly. “I’ll go, okay? I don’t want anybody else to get hurt over this!”

“Why don’t you listen to the girl?” Jen suggested, wagging his eyebrows.

“Not this time,” Finn replied quietly.

“Suit yourself.” Jen had apparently tired of talking and dove at Finn.

Finn was wrenched from fingertips, and I screamed his name. They both went flying through the glass out onto the balcony, sending shards flying everywhere. I was barefoot, and I tried to follow carefully behind them. Jen managed to land a few good blows on Finn, but Finn was much quicker and seemed to be stronger. When Finn hit him, he staggered back several feet.

“You’ve been working out,” Jen smirked, wiping fresh blood from his chin.

“You could give up now, and I wouldn’t think any less of you,” Finn suggested.

“Nice try.” Jen lunged forward, kicking Finn in the stomach, but somehow, Finn held his own.

I knew that there was a very good chance that things wouldn’t end well, so I grabbed a giant shard of glass from off the balcony. I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it, but in this kind of scenario, I always thought it would be better to be safe than sorry.

Somehow, Jen managed to get Finn on the ground. He pounced on top of him and started hitting him in the face. This didn’t sit well with me, so I charged at him. Using all my might, I stabbed the glass into his back. I managed to slice open a finger, but I figured that it was worth if it I could save Finn and possibly kill Jen.

“Ow!” Jen shouted, but he sounded more irritated than wounded.

I stood right behind him, panting. That was not the reaction I had expected and I didn’t know what to do. Jen did, though. He turned quickly, smacking me so hard across the face that I went flying to edge of the balcony. I only had a moment to notice the dizzying drop below as my head hung over the edge, and then I was scrambling to my feet and gripping onto the railing.

Finn had already jumped up and knocked Jen back down. Kicking him as hard as he could, Finn growled through gritted teeth, “Don’t. Ever. Touch.

Her. Again.”

When Finn went to kick him again, Jen grabbed his foot and yanked him back to the ground. I heard the sound of Finn’s head cracking against the heavy concrete of the balcony, and I yelled his name. It didn’t really hurt him, but it stunned him long enough where Jen could bend over and wrapped his hand around Finn’s throat. He lifted him up off the ground by his neck, and I raced to his aid. I jumped on Jen’s back, which wasn’t as smart as it sounded because Jen had a giant shard of glass sticking out of his back. Fortunately, I just cut through my dress and my side without actually impaling myself on it. It was enough to bleed and hurt, but not enough to kill.

“Get down!” Jen growled, then jerked his arm back, elbowing me hard in the stomach and knocking me off his back. I hurried to my feet but Jen already had Finn pressed back over the railing. The top half of his body was dangling over the edge, and if Jen let go, Finn would plummet to his death hundreds of feet below.

“Stop! Stop!” I pleaded, tears streaming down my face. “I’ll go with you! Please! Just let go of him! Please!”

“I hate to break it to you, Princess, but you’re going with me anyway!”