“What do you mean?” I asked.

But before she could answer, King Evert threw open the doors to the meeting room with Queen Mina following right behind. His black hair was disheveled from sleep, and he wore a silver satin robe lined with fur, while his wife wore a matching feminine version. Her hair hung down her back in a thick braid, and though both of them appeared to have just been roused from sleep, Mina had managed to put on her crown and a necklace before coming down here.

I walked over to the end of the table with Ridley to greet them, while Kasper took his post next to the fireplace, presumably leaving Elliot to guard the front gate by himself.

“What’s this I hear about the Skojare Queen?” Evert asked and put his hands on his hips, managing to sound both concerned and irritated.

Mina had already spotted Linnea, gasping when she did. “It’s true.”

While the King demanded to know what was going on, his wife strode over to Linnea. Mina put her hands on Linnea’s shoulders in a gesture of reassurance, and when she spoke in her faux-British accent the way she did whenever she was around royalty, her words were filled with soft comfort.

“How are you doing?” Mina asked her. “I can’t imagine the ordeal you’ve been through.”

“I’m all right,” Linnea said, but her voice cracked a little.

Mina put her hand on Linnea’s cheek and bent down to look her right in the eyes. “You’re safe now. And that’s what matters.”

Linnea smiled gratefully at her and wiped at her eyes before a tear spilled over.

Ridley had been filling the King in on our adventures in finding Linnea, but I’d only been half-listening since I wanted to keep an eye on her. Mina looped her arm around Linnea’s waist, and they turned their attention to Ridley and King Evert, so I did the same.

“Once we found Queen Linnea, we drove back here,” Ridley said, finishing up the story.

Evert sat in his high-backed chair, and he scratched his head for a moment, taking in everything Ridley had said. Ridley and I stood across the table from him, waiting for his response.

“This is all well and good, and I am glad the Skojare Queen is safe”—he paused to look over at her—“I truly am. But Ridley, if I recall correctly, you asked to be relieved from your post for a few days to help the scouts track Viktor Dålig. You made no mention of the Skojare Queen.”

Ridley cleared his throat and shifted his weight. I’d wondered what exactly he’d told the King so that both Ridley and I had been able to get out of our duty here in Doldastam. Since we were on lockdown, I knew it couldn’t have been easy.

“I believed that Queen Linnea may have had some information on the whereabouts of Viktor Dålig,” Ridley explained.

Evert arched an eyebrow at Linnea. “Do you?”

“I don’t—don’t know who Viktor Dålig is.” Linnea shook her head. “Should I?”

“No, you haven’t had a reason to before.” Evert held up his hand to her and turned his hardened gaze back to Ridley.

“It is unfortunate that she doesn’t know anything, but it was a risk I thought was worth taking.” Ridley stood firm. “Besides, she is the Skojare Queen. Her whereabouts are important to our people as a whole.”

“My King, he’s right,” Mina chimed in. “Ridley and Bryn found Queen Linnea safe and sound. They did a commendable thing. You should not be yelling at them for it.”

He let out a sigh, then nodded. “I’m sorry. My sleep-deprived brain is not functioning properly. This should be a time for celebration.” Evert straightened up and smiled. “We’ll call the Skojare King to retrieve his young bride, and when he does, we’ll have a party in Queen Linnea’s honor.”

“Must I go back?” Linnea blurted out suddenly, and everyone turned to look at her.

“Don’t you want to go home?” King Evert asked her.

“I miss my husband terribly, and my grandmother,” Linnea hurried to explain. “But there is something going on in Storvatten. I don’t feel safe there.”

Evert shifted uneasily in his chair, unsure of how to deal with a frightened teenage queen. “You have guards, and you have your husband. Talk to them, and I’m sure you’ll sort it out.”

“I don’t trust the guards there.” Linnea shook her head.

“Speaking from experience, I would say the guards in Storvatten are rather inept,” I added. When we’d been at the palace right after Linnea had gone missing, I’d found the guards to be lazy, incompetent, and entirely unfit.

“That may be.” Evert cleared his throat. “But this is something you must talk about with King Mikko. We have no control over the happenings in your kingdom.”

Linnea lowered her head and nodded once. The last thing I wanted to do was send Linnea someplace where she was unsafe, but I couldn’t think of a way to disagree with the King. He couldn’t control the guards in another kingdom. That was up to Linnea and her husband.

“What if we send a couple guards with her, to help keep her safe?” Mina suggested. “At least until she and her husband get the situation sorted out in Storvatten.”

Evert shook his head. “My Queen, you know we can’t spare anyone right now.”

“Surely we can spare one or two,” Mina insisted, and I was aware that this was the exact opposite position she had held the last time I went to Storvatten. Then, she’d been fighting the King who wanted to send aid to the Skojare, saying we couldn’t spare anyone.