Author Note: I always forget to dedicate, so I finally decided to. This is dedicated to one of my most enthusiastic readers.:)

It took us around ten minutes to round one side of the mountain. Then Kari lead us into a section of thick undergrowth that hedged one side of the rocky slope. Trent and Louis darted forward and dragged back several large overhanging branches, revealing a dark entrance in the rock face. A cave.

So that was what they’d been talking about. That was why the elite guard hadn’t found them when they’d been combing the countryside.

Juku reigned in the horse, and  I had to brace myself to keep from falling off. He swung down first, and offered me a hand. I ignored it, very pointedly jumping down myself. He shrugged and moved to help Kari, but Trent was already handing her down. The two men exchanged a dark look.

 Interesting. Were Juku and Trent rivals for my mother’s affection?

The idea was more than a little revolting, but hey, maybe if I was lucky they’d fight over her and end up killing one another.

“Get her in the cave.” Kari waved at me. “Tie her up if you can’t handle her.”

“I can handle her.” Juku chuckled, grabbing me by the arm and propelling me forward into the darkness.

I stubbed my toe on something, stumbled and cursed Juku. “I can’t see anything.”

“Alright, cup cake. No problem.”

Light suddenly flared, throwing Juku’s hard features into sharp relief. He paused for a moment, holding the orb of light up, and I took the time to look around. The cave was narrow, but it seemed to go on for a long time. I couldn’t see the end of it, just more shadows at the back. Juku shoved me towards one of the walls. “Sit down there, put your back against the wall and don’t move.”

I glared at him, but for now I complied. My mind was racing. There had to be a way to make a break for it. I was sure Asher and the others would be out in the woods looking for me, and I was holed up in this cave with no way to let them know where I was.

Trent and Kari were at the front of the cave talking in quiet voices, and Louis had vanished back outside the cave. Maybe scouting out the area. I hope he falls into a hole.

“So,” I said, trying to keep my voice casual. “You and my mom, huh?”

Juku had been pacing back and forth up till now. He stopped, turning to stare at me. “What?”

“Oh come on,” I shifted, trying to get comfortable on the packed dirt that was the cave floor. “It’s obvious, I mean…I saw you look at her.” Not strictly true, this was all just guess work. But studying Juku’s face in the half light I was relieved to see his expression flicker, registering some other emotion for just a second. Annoyance? Embarrassment?

I was right. He had a thing for my mother. Yeah, gross.

Juku only shrugged, and I let the silence stretch for a minute before I murmured, “Too bad about Trent.”

My words had a visible effect on him. His back stiffened. At first he didn’t say anything, just stared at me. I stayed quiet, waiting. Finally he said, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Ducking my head, I ran one hand over the bottom of my pant leg, it was covered in dirt. The rest of me was probably getting just as dirty sitting on the ground. “I used to like Trent, you know.”

Juku shoved his hands in his pockets. It was hard to see his expression, his face was half in shadows. He tilted his head to one side, studying me. But he didn’t say anything so I continued. “He pretended to be all sweet and considerate when I first met everyone. He even kissed me.” My voice was flat. I didn’t have to fake the annoyance. “And then I walked in on them.”

His brows shot up and he moved closer. Now his expression was more readable. His mouth twisted into something like a snarl. “Seriously?”

Triumph made me want to grin, but I forced myself to keep a straight face. “She didn’t tell you, huh?”

Juku ran his fingers through his hair, turning away from me, going back to his pacing. I’d struck on something here. Clearly Kari had kept her fling with Trent a secret from him. I almost felt bad for him, though not completely of course. The idiot man was probably doing all this because of her. What had she promised him in exchange for his services?

“What did she say?” I asked. “What did she promise you?”

Juku shot me a dark look and my stomach sank. Maybe I’d taken it too far. Too late to back out though. “I know, you’re going to be queen and king together once she takes over, right?” I laughed quietly, darting a look at the front entrance of the cave. Kari and Trent were talking. Neither one was paying attention to us. “Please, you think you’re the only one she doesn’t lie to? She lied to me from the minute I met her, and I’m her own flesh and blood…”

“That’s enough,” Juku snapped. He turned on his heel and marched away from me, leaning against the opposite wall of the cave and crossing his arms over his chest. He refused to look at me. Obviously I’d hit a nerve.

“Hey,” a voice from the front of the cave made Juku and I both look up. Trent was heading this way. “Hey, we should get her back into the cave.”

“Who?” Juku narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“Kari obviously,” Trent snapped. “Haven’t you been paying attention? She’s still injured you know. Why don’t you heal her? You should be able to magic something up, right?”

“It doesn’t work like that.” Now it was Juku’s turn to look cross. “I’m not the good witch Glenda. I don’t have healing powers.”

“Their witch does.” Trent folded his arms over his chest. “Why don’t you?”

I could practically hear Juku grinding his teeth together from here. I bit at my knuckles to keep from laughing, concentrating on the opposite wall of the cave. Trying to look like I wasn’t listening to the argument. I stayed as still as I could so I wouldn’t attract attention, even though there was a rock digging into the backside of my thigh.

“I can’t just fix her.” Juku grunted.

“Don’t you even care?” Trent’s voice was sharp, and he took a step towards the sorcerer, fists clenched at his sides. “Did you even notice she was hurt?”

Juku shrugged, turning on his heel and walking deeper into the cave. “She doesn’t seem so bad.”

“You’re a self centered prick, aren’t you?”

They were half in shadows by now, and I heard rather than saw the dull “thunk” of Juku hitting Trent in the jaw. There was an outraged yell from Trent, and then the scuffling noise of feet sliding across the dirt packed floor and more dull thumping.

Kari came running in from the front of the cave, shooting past where I sat without even looking at me. She skidded to a halt just in front of them and started screaming for them to stop, her voice echoing off the walls of the narrow cave.

The entrance was empty.

There was no way it was going to be this easy, but I took the opportunity anyways. I had time to snatch up the pesky rock that had been poking me in the leg before I ran. My heart was in my throat, blood rushing in my ears as I went full tilt towards the cave entrance. Any minute now, Louis would appear in the entrance to block me. Any minute Kari would stop screaming at the men and start screaming at me.

I passed through the cave entrance and into the light, momentarily blinded by the orange glow of the setting sun flickering through the trees before me. I couldn’t stop now, I kept going as fast I could, feet pounding on the forest floor. Pounding out words that pulsed in my head. Someone will notice. Someone will notice. Someone will notice.

A scream from the cave sent a bolt of fear through me as I ran deeper into the trees. Kari’s voice. She’d realized I was missing now. That hadn’t taken long enough. I hadn’t covered enough distance and they had horses. My heart was beating so hard it felt like it might rip out of my ribcage any minute. They were going to catch me. I was screwed.

I pressed on, still running hard, breath ragged. My mouth was so dry. It was ridiculous to wish for water right now...

A figure stepped out of the trees in front of me, startling me so badly that I lost my footing and went down, still desperately clutching the stone in my hand. A dark blur in front of me, and then Louis was leaning over me, pinning me to the ground with one hand in the center of my chest.

“And just where are you going, princess?”

My voice came out in a wheezing gasp, “Don’t call me that.”

“It’s just a term of endearment.” He smirked.

I didn’t have time to trade witty banter back and forth, so I did the first thing that came to mind. My hand came up as if of its own accord, driving my open palm – and the rock – into the side of Louis’ head.

The rock struck his temple with a crunch, and he sagged instantly, crashing down on top of me and knocking the wind out of my lungs. I gasped, struggling, almost sobbing as I tried to get him off me. I was frantic by now. I could hear someone in the woods behind me crashing around. Getting closer. It was only a matter of seconds before they would be right here beside me, and then it would be all over. There was no way they’d drop their guard like that again.

I could hear Kari’s high, angry voice in the distance. “Find her! I swear I’ll skin you both alive…”

Finally I managed to shove Louis completely off me, stumbling to my feet. I changed direction, slanting off to the right. Maybe I could hide. Maybe I could climb a tree. Could Juku find me with magic? I wasn’t sure, so I probably shouldn’t stop running. I glanced back over my shoulder, but there was only forest behind me. Maybe they…

I ran smack into something hard. There was instant stinging pain in my cheek and one side of my mouth, and I was knocked over onto my butt. My hand flew to my face, cradling my throbbing cheek. My gaze traveled up, and then up some more.

The man in front of me was huge, even for a jotun. He was dressed in chainmail, which is what I’d run the side of my face into. His hair was thick and black, slightly curly. His face had the same hearty roughness as Surtrs’ did, but while Asher’s grandfather usually wore a cheerful expression, this man just looked…scary.

Behind the man was an army. Some were on horses, some were on foot, shifting impatiently where they stood. All of them were dressed for battle. Every single one was dark skinned and husky, save for a few tall, slender woman, though they were plenty savage looking. I was definitely looking at fire jotun.

The man stooped down and grasped my arm firmly, making me wince. He hauled me to my feet almost effortlessly, forcing me to stand. When I was on my feet he didn’t let go of my arm.

“You must be the link.”

Heat flooded my face. Apparently I was reduced to an object, not even worthy of a name anymore. “And you’re ugly, what of it?”

To my shock the man roared with laughter, and his laugh reminded me so much of Surtr that a wave of longing hit me. But he wasn’t Surtr, and when he had subsided his face was grave again. “We’ll see how cheeky you are once we get started.” He turned, still gripping my arm with fingers the size of sausages, and called to his army, “Move on, we’re almost at the caves.”

I was shoved roughly forward, stumbling. Straight back to where I had just been. Exactly where I didn’t want to go. I couldn’t help darting a panicked look over my shoulder at the army that walked behind me. It was an actual army. There had to be at least a hundred of them. All armed to the teeth.

The rebel army.

Asher and the elite guard were probably out in the woods with a search party right now, and they had no idea what they were about to walk into.