“Oh, shit,” I said under my breath, and my heartbeat sped up.

“Now, I haven’t met everyone in the palace, but the Skojare have always been very picky about mixing bloodlines,” Bain said, explaining something I already knew. “If you marry out of your tribe, you’re gone. So I sincerely doubt that anybody in this place has hair darker than blond.”

He was very right. There was absolutely no way my father would’ve been allowed to live here after he married my mother. In fact, he’d never been allowed to even visit. For a black hair to get on Linnea’s robe, it had to come from someone outside of the Skojare.

And although I couldn’t say for certain who it came from, I did know for sure that Konstantin’s hair was charcoal-black.

THIRTY-THREE

pursuit

The rocks stung my bare feet, but I paid them no mind as I walked with Tove Kroner along the shore of Lake Superior. I had changed into jeans and a sweater before heading out, since a dress didn’t seem appropriate for scouting the area for signs of Konstantin Black, Bent Stum, or Queen Linnea herself. The weather was warm enough to go without boots, and I always felt better with my feet touching the earth, so I’d forgone footwear.

During our meeting, we’d come to the conclusion that the only way for anyone to make off with Linnea was through the water. The pool in the lower level of the palace was freshwater, with a tunnel that led out into the lake. Someone could’ve come inside and taken her out that way. Admittedly, it would be harder for someone who didn’t have gills and couldn’t breathe underwater, but not impossible.

If Linnea had been taken that way, she would’ve come out on the nearby shore of the lake. So we’d decided to split up and search the shore. Ridley suggested that we mix the search parties, with him pairing with Bain, and me with Tove.

I couldn’t help but think he was looking for a reason to avoid me. We’d been getting along well since we’d gotten to Storvatten, but I was sure it was because there was work to be done.

Ridley and Bain had gone east, starting at the bridge and moving outward, and Tove and I went west. Thick evergreen forests lined the shore, going right down to the rocky banks of the lake.

Storvatten was more of a village, with scattered cabins and cottages hidden in the trees. There were no paved roads—only dirt and gravel paths connecting them. As Tove and I walked along the lake, I’d glance over and only occasionally get a glimpse of a house. Most of them were overgrown with moss, making them nearly invisible among the trees, but they were all within feet of the lake.

“Should we ask them if they’ve seen anything?” I asked Tove, and motioned to nearby house.

It was built very low to the ground, so I assumed it was more of a burrow, like Ridley’s house. Moss covered the thatched roof, and low-hanging branches shaded it. But in the small front window I saw a face staring out at me—the bright blue eyes locked on me and Tove.

Tove considered my suggestion, then shook his head. “If they’d seen something, they would’ve told the guards. And if Linnea was kidnapped, her captor was smart enough to get in and out of the palace without being seen, so they were probably smart enough to bring her to the shore outside of the Storvatten city limits, past the prying eyes.”

“Do you know how much farther that is?” I asked. Before we left, we’d all looked at a map of Storvatten, but it had been hand-drawn and rather vague on detail and distance.

“Not that much farther, I don’t think.” He climbed on top of a large rock nearby so he could get a better gauge of the distance, and looked back toward the palace. “Storvatten isn’t that big. We must be almost out of it by now.”

An engine revved, and it was hard to tell the distance with the sound echoing off the trees, but based on the birds taking flight and scattering in the sky, it couldn’t be that far.

“The road must be that way.” I pointed toward where the birds had fled from, and Tove slid down the rock and followed me.

We went into the woods, ducking under low branches, and the pine needles stung my feet. Through the trees, I could see a highway, and I could still hear the car. When I glimpsed the black sedan through the branches, I picked up my pace, starting to run toward it.

I broke through the trees and ran onto a worn, deserted stretch of highway. Several feet down the road from me, the car sat idling on the side of the road. The car door opened, and in the seconds before the figure stepped out from it, my heart stopped beating.

Then Bent’s lopsided head rose above the door. His left eye appeared slightly larger than the right, and his massive hand gripped the door as he scowled at me.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he shouted. “I thought Konstantin took care of you.”

“Where’s the Queen?” I asked him and ignored his question.

He laughed, a dumb, heavy sound that bounced off the trees and startled the birds that hadn’t left yet. He stepped around the door, lumbering, really, and I realized that he was much taller and larger than I’d originally thought.

“You tell me. You’re the one with all the answers.” Bent grinned as he walked toward me, his steps large so he’d reach me quickly, but I refused to step back. I never backed down from a fight.

The trees rustled behind me, and I glanced back, expecting to see Konstantin, but it was only Tove finally catching up to me. He hadn’t started running when I had.

“You better run while you can, little girl,” Bent said, and I turned back to face him. He’d nearly reached me, and I squared up, preparing to do whatever I had to do to take him down. “And this fight ain’t going like last time.”