“Help me with what?” I asked.
“What?” He’d taken to chewing on his thumbnail. He glanced up at me, still biting it.
“What are you here to help me with?” I spoke slowly and carefully, my tone bordering on condescending, but I don’t think he noticed.
“Oh. ” He dropped his hand and stared off, as if he’d forgotten why he’d come. “I’m psychic. ”
“What? You can read minds?” I tensed up, trying to block him from reading any of my thoughts.
“No, no, of course not. ” He brushed me off and walked away, admiring the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. “I can sense things. And I can move things with my mind. But I can’t read your thoughts. I can see auras, though. Yours is a bit brown today. ”
“What does that mean?” I crossed my arms over my chest, as if I could hide my aura that way. I didn’t even really know what an aura was.
“You’re unhappy. ” Tove sounded distracted, and he glanced back at me. “Normally it’s orange. ”
“I don’t know what that means either. ” I shook my head. “I don’t know how any of this is supposed to help me. ”
“It’s not really. ” He stopped moving and looked up at me. “Has Finn talked to you about training?”
“You mean the Princess training I’m doing now?”
“No. ” He shook his head, chewing the inside of his cheek. “For your abilities. It won’t start until after the christening. They think if you had any handle on them before you were indoctrinated, you’d run wild. ” He sighed. “They want you calm and docile. ”
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“This is you calm?” I raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“No. ” Tove stared off at nothing again, then turned back to me, his green eyes meeting mine. “You intimidate me. ”
“I intimidate you?” I laughed, unable to stop myself, but he wasn’t offended. “I’m the least intimidating person ever. ”
“Mmm. ” His face hardened in concentration. “Maybe to some people. But they don’t see what I see or know what I know. ”
“What do you know?” I asked gently, startled by his confession.
“Have they told you?” Tove eyed me again.
“Told me what?”
“Well, if they haven’t told you, I’m certainly not going to. ” He scratched at his arm and turned his back to me, walking away and looking around the room again.
“Whatever it is you’re doing, it’s not helping,” I said, growing frazzled. “You’re only confusing me more. ”
“My apologies, Princess. ” Tove stopped moving and bowed at me. “Finn wanted me to talk to you about your abilities. He knows you can’t start your real training until after the ball, but he wants you to be prepared. ”
“Finn asked you to come over?” My heart thumped in my chest.
“Yes. ” His brow creased with confusion. “Does this upset you?”
“No, not at all,” I lied. Finn had probably asked Tove over so he wouldn’t have to deal with me. He was avoiding me.
“Do you have questions?” Tove stepped closer, and I was once again struck by the subtle green tinge to his skin. On a less attractive guy it might’ve been creepy. But on him it managed to look strangely exotic.
“Tons,” I said with a sigh. He cocked his head at me. “You’ll have to be more specific. ”
“You have nothing to be afraid of, you know. ” Tove watched me closely, and I think I might’ve preferred it when he was scared to look at me.
“I’m not afraid. ” It took effort not to squirm under his gaze.
“I can tell when you lie,” he said, still watching me. “Not because I’m psychic, but because you’re so obvious about it. You should probably work on that. Elora is very good at lying. ”
“I’ll practice,” I muttered.
“That’s probably for the best. ” Tove spoke with an intense sincerity that I found disarming. His disjointed insanity even had its own charm. He looked down at the floor, his expression turning sad. “I rather like you this way. Honest and flustered. But it’d never work for a Queen. ”
“No, I don’t suppose it would,” I agreed, feeling a bit melancholy myself.
“I’m a bit scattered too, if you hadn’t noticed. ” He gave me a small, crooked smile, but his green eyes stayed sad. With that, he crouched down, picking up a small oval stone off the floor. He flipped it around in his hand, staring down. “I find it hard to stay focused, but I’m working on it. ”
“So . . . not to sound mean or anything, but why did Finn want you to help?” I rubbed my arms, hoping I didn’t upset him by asking.
“Because I’m strong. ” Tove tossed the stone aside, apparently tiring of it. “And he trusts me. ” He looked back at me. “So let’s see what you can do. ”
“With what?” I asked, confused by the abrupt change of subject.
“Anything. ” He spread his arms wide. “Can you move stuff?”
“With my hands, yeah. ”
“Obviously. ” He rolled his eyes. “You’re not a paraplegic, so I assumed you were physically capable. ”
“I can’t do much. Just persuasion, and I haven’t used it since I’ve been here. ”
“Try. ” Tove pointed to the chandelier dangling above us. “Move that. ”
“I don’t want to move that,” I said, alarmed.
An image flashed in my mind. The painting I had seen in Elora’s room, all dark smoke and red fires around broken chandeliers. Except the image in my mind seemed much more vivid, as if I could smell the smoke and see the fire raging, casting new shadows in the painting. The sound of glass shattering echoed in my ear.
I swallowed hard and shook my head, taking several steps back from the chandelier. I hadn’t been underneath it exactly, but I wanted to get farther away.
“What was that?” Tove asked, cocking his head at me.
“What?”
“Something happened. ” He studied me, trying to decipher my reaction, but I just shook my head. It felt like too much to explain, and I wasn’t sure that I hadn’t imagined it. “Interesting. ”
“Thanks,” I mumbled.
“I hate to do this, since you look so frightened, but I need to get you out of my head. ” He looked up at the chandelier, and my eyes followed his.
My heart raced in my chest, and my throat felt dry. The crystal shards twinkled and chimed and started to shimmer. I took several steps back, wanting to yell at him to stop, but I didn’t even know if he’d listen. Then the whole chandelier started to sway, and I couldn’t hold back.
“Stop!” I shouted, my voice echoing through the front hall. “Why are you doing that?”
“I am sorry. ” He exhaled deeply, and looked back down at me. I kept my eyes locked on the chandelier until I was certain it’d stopped moving. “I had to do something, and there was nothing else in the room I could move, except for you yourself, and I didn’t think you’d like that either. ”
“Why did you have to move anything?” I snapped. My panic had started to fade, replaced by a pulsating anger, and I clenched my fists at my sides.
“When you get frightened like that, you project it so intensely. ” He held up his hands, pushing them out to demonstrate. “Most people can’t hear it or feel it anymore, but I’m particularly sensitive to emotion. And when I move things, it helps focus me. It kinda shuts off the noise for a while. You were too strong. I had to silence it. ” He shrugged. “I’m sorry. ”
“You didn’t need to freak me out like that. ” I calmed a bit, but my words still came out hard. “Just don’t do that again, please. ”
“It’s such a shame. ” Tove watched me, looking both bemused and rueful. “They won’t even be able to see what you really are. They’ve all gotten so weak that they won’t be able to tell how powerful you are. ”
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“What are you talking about?” I momentarily forgot my anger.
“Your mother is so powerful. ” Tove sounded almost awed by it. “Probably not as much as you, and maybe not as much as me, but it’s in her blood, crackling like electricity. I feel her walking through a room, and she’s almost magnetized. But the rest of them . . . ” He shook his head.
“You mean the other Trylle?” I clarified, since Tove insisted on being so cryptic.
“We used to move the earth. ” He sounded wistful, and his whole demeanor had changed. He was no longer pacing or looking around, and I realized that moving the chandelier really had done something to him.
“Are you speaking literally or metaphorically?” I asked.
“Literally. We could make mountains, stop rivers. ” He moved his arms dramatically, as if he could do those things now. “We created everything around us! We were magic!”
“Aren’t we still magic?” I asked, surprised by the passion in his voice.
“Not the way we were before. Once the humans created their own magic with technology, the dependence switched. They had all the power and the money, and we started to depend on them to raise our children,” he scoffed. “Changelings stopped coming back, when they realized we didn’t have that much to offer them anymore. ”
“We came back,” I pointed out emptily.
“Your gardener, who makes the flowers bloom, she’s a Marksinna!” Tove pointed to the back of the house where the garden lay. “A gardener! I’m not one for class, but when one of the most powerful members of your population is the gardener, you know it’s a problem. ”
“Well . . . why is she a gardener, then?” I asked.
“Because. Nobody else can do it. ” He looked at me, his green eyes burning with something. “Nobody can do anything anymore. ”
“You can. I can,” I said, hoping to alleviate whatever distressed him.
“I know. ” He sighed and lowered his eyes. “Everyone’s just gotten too fixated on the human system of monarchy. With designer dresses and expensive jewels. ” His lip curled with disgust. “Our obsession with riches has always been our downfall. ”
“Yeah. ” I nodded. “But your mother seems to be the worst with it. ”
“I know. ” Tove raised his eyebrows with weary acceptance. Something softened, and he looked almost apologetically at me. “I’m not against humans. It sounds like I am, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t know. It sounds like you’re passionate,” I said.
When I’d first met him, I’d mistaken his inattention as boredom and arrogance. But I was starting to think his abilities had something to do with it, giving him a kind of power-related ADD. Behind that, he had a fearless honesty that few Trylle seemed to possess.
“Maybe. ” He smiled and lowered his eyes, looking slightly embarrassed.
“How old are you?” I asked.
“Nineteen. Why?”
“How do you know so much about the past? You talked about the way things were like you were there, like you saw it happen. Or like you’re a major history buff or something. ”
“My mother is keen on me studying, in case I ever get a chance for the throne,” Tove said, but the idea seemed to tire him. I doubted he was any more excited about the prospect of ruling than I was. Aurora’s scheming for the crown must be entirely her idea.
“What’d you see when you looked at the chandelier?” Tove asked, bringing me back to his reason for being here.
“I don’t know. ” I shook my head. I wanted to answer honestly, but I didn’t know how to. “I saw . . . a painting. ”
“Some people see the future. ” He stared up at the chandelier, the light twinkling above us. “And some people see the past. ” He paused, thinking. “In the end, they’re not all that different. You can’t prevent either of them. ”
“How profound,” I said, and he laughed.
“I haven’t helped you at all, have I?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“You’re too much for one afternoon, I’m afraid,” Tove said.
“How do you mean?” I asked, but he just shook his head.
“I know you have a lot to go over, and you don’t need me wasting your time. I don’t know that I can help you much right now. ” He walked toward the door.
“Hey, wait,” I said, and he stopped. “You said that normally they don’t want us tapping into our abilities until after the christening. But Finn wanted you to help prepare me now. What for? Is something going on?”
“Finn’s a protector. It’s his job to worry,” Tove explained, and my heart twisted. I hated it when people pointed out that I was just part of Finn’s job. “He needs to know that in any event, you’ll be taken care of. Whether he’s there or not. ”
“Why wouldn’t he be there?” I asked, feeling fear ripple through me.
“I don’t know. ” Tove shrugged. “But when something really matters to you, you make sure it’s safe. ”
With that, Tove turned and walked out of the house. I was grateful for his help, though I wasn’t even sure what he’d done. Other than confuse me more. And now I felt a new sense of dread settling over me.
I had no idea what was going on with Finn, and my thoughts insisted on going back to the painting I’d seen in Elora’s secret room. I had been reaching off the balcony, looking horrified. Tove’s words echoed through my mind, sending a chill down my spine.
You can’t prevent the future.
I looked up at the chandelier. I’d been too terrified to even try to move it, thinking it would collapse and I’d bring Elora’s painting into life. But I hadn’t, and nothing terrible had come to pass.
Had I changed the future? Or was the worst still to come?
NINETEEN
christening
On Friday, with the party only twenty-four hours away, Elora felt the need to check on my progress, not that I blamed her. Her plan was a dress rehearsal for dinner, testing my ability to converse and eat, apparently.
She didn’t want a massive audience to witness my possible failure, so she just invited Garrett, Willa, and Rhiannon over to join her, Finn, Rhys, and me. It was the biggest group she could assemble without risk of embarrassment. Since I had already met these people, I didn’t feel all that nervous, even though Elora informed me beforehand that I needed to act the same way I would tomorrow night.
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Everyone had been instructed similarly, and they all appeared far more regal than normal. Even Rhys had dressed in a blazer, and he looked rather handsome. As usual, Finn was unnecessarily attractive.
Thanks to Finn’s random confession of jealousy, I wasn’t entirely sure how to act around him. He had come into my room before dinner to make sure that I was getting ready, and I couldn’t help but feel that he was purposely avoiding looking at me.
When I reached the dining hall, Elora instructed us where to sit, with her at one end of the table and me at the other. Rhys and Finn flanked me, and Rhiannon, Garrett, and Willa took their places in between.
“Who will I be sitting by tomorrow?” I asked between careful sips of wine.
“Between Tove Kroner and I. ” Elora narrowed her eyes at the drink in my hand. “Hold the glass by the stem. ”
“Sorry. ” I thought I had been, but I moved my fingers, hoping I was holding it more correctly now.
“A Princess never apologizes,” Elora corrected me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, then realized what I had just done and shook my head. “That was an accident. It won’t happen again. ”
“Don’t shake your head; it’s not ladylike,” Elora chastised me. “A Princess doesn’t make promises either. She might not be able to keep them, and she doesn’t want them held against her. ”
“I wasn’t really making a promise,” I pointed out, and Elora narrowed her eyes more severely.
“A Princess is never contrary,” she said coolly.
“I’ve only been a Princess for like a week. Can’t you give me a little
break?” I asked as kindly as I could.
I’d grown frustrated by all the Princess talk. Nearly every sentence she’d said to me in the past two days had started with “A Princess” and was followed by things that a Princess never or always did.
“You’ve been a Princess your entire life. It’s in your blood. ” Elora sat up even straighter in her chair, as if she were trying to loom over me. “You should know how to behave. ”
“I am working on it,” I grumbled.
“Speak up. Use a clear strong voice no matter what it is you’re saying,” Elora snapped. “And you don’t have time to work on it. Your party is tomorrow. You must be ready now. ”
I wanted to snap back at her, but both Rhys and Finn were giving me warning stares to keep my mouth shut. Rhiannon stared nervously at her plate, and Garrett just went about munching his food politely.
“I understand. ” I exhaled deeply and took another drink of my wine. I’m not sure if I held the glass right this time, but Elora didn’t say anything.
“So, I got your picture of the dress. ” Willa smiled at me. “It was really stunning. I’m a little jealous, actually. You only get to be the belle of the ball once, and you definitely will be tomorrow. You’re going to look amazing. ”
She was coming to my aid, changing the subject from things I was doing wrong to something I was doing right. Even if she was a bitch to Finn and Rhiannon, I just couldn’t bring myself to hate her.
“Thank you. ” I smiled back at her gratefully.
My final fitting had been earlier in the day, and since Willa had asked me to the other night, I sent her a picture. Finn took it on his camera phone.
I felt very awkward posing for the photo, and it didn’t help that he never reassured me that I looked good in the dress. It felt like too much for me to pull off, and I would’ve liked a little boost just then. But Finn had simply snapped the picture, and that had been the end of that.
“Have you seen the dress?” Willa turned to Elora, who nibbled primly at a piece of broccoli.
“No. I trust Frederique’s designs, and Finn has final approval,” she answered absently.
“I’m going to insist on being involved in the process when my daughter gets her gown,” Willa offered thoughtfully. Elora bristled almost imperceptibly at that, but Willa didn’t notice. “But I’ve always loved dresses and fashion. I could spend my whole life at a ball. ” She looked wistful for a moment, then smiled at me again. “That’s why it’s so great that you’re here. You’re going to have such a monumental ball. ”
“Thank you,” I repeated, unsure how else to respond.
“You had a lovely party yourself,” Garrett interjected, slightly defensive about the party he had thrown for his daughter. “Your gown was fantastic. ”
“I know. ” Willa beamed immodestly. “It was pretty great. ” Finn made a noise in his throat, and both Elora and Willa glared at him, but neither of them said anything.
“My apologies. Something caught in my throat,” Finn explained, taking a sip of his wine.
“Hmm,” Elora murmured disapprovingly, then cast a look back at me. “Oh, that reminds me. I have been too busy this week to ask you. What were your plans for your name?”