The Misadventures of Annika Brisby (35 page)

the prince’s principles

Annika skipped breakfast and lay in bed feeling terrible. She wanted to cry, but she was too angry. She kept seeing breasts and arms and familiar faces in Talvi’s bed, and she kept feeling the pain that Nikola had felt when he discovered his own girlfriend had been sleeping with him behind his back. She heard Talvi’s voice whispering the same meaningless promise to all of them…
you’re the only one I want
… She slipped out of the room and walked up to the deck, looking out at the sea. They’d only been sailing for a few days, and already she was sick of the view. She saw Hilda and Finn curled up with a book, and she walked over to them.

“Hey, Finn, can I talk to you?”

“Of course. What is it?” There was an unusually bright light dancing in his brown eyes.

“I need to ask you something. In private.”

“Shall we discuss it below deck?”

“No need for that,” Hilda replied before Annika could answer. “I was just about to make some tea.” Finn watched her go down the stairs that led to the kitchen and motioned for Annika to sit down.

“You look upset. What’s troubling you?” he gently asked.

“Tell me why you gave Talvi his nickname. Is it really from that book by Machiavelli?” Finn’s warm smile faded quickly, and she didn’t like the expression in his face at all. He was silent for a long time, before letting out a heavy sigh.

“That was a long time ago. It was supposed to be a joke.”

“But it’s not a joke, is it? Why else would it have stuck so long? Because he’s a pathological liar? Because he’ll say anything just to gain another notch in his belt?”

“He’s not a pathological liar, but he does have some bad habits. Or should I say, he used to,” Finn said delicately, as though it hurt him to admit this.

“I remember something you said back when we first met. You said it was just like him to bring girls to his bedroom without ever introducing them to you.” Finn looked awful as he recalled that conversation.

“I should never have said that, especially in front of you. I was in poor form. I’m sorry, Annika. I am deeply sorry. I hoped that you had forgotten that careless remark.”

“But it’s the truth, isn’t it?” she pressed. Finn looked at her in anguish for a long time but couldn’t deny it.

“What it is, is a defense mechanism.”

“Whatever you call it, that’s still pretty fucked up,” Annika said coolly. Finn watched helplessly as she walked away, and for once in his long life, he wished he could lie as easily as his brother.

the fall of the kingdom

When Annika returned to the small kitchen, she was very quiet. She mumbled a hello to everyone as she grabbed a late breakfast of lukewarm oatmeal. She avoided looking in Talvi’s direction, where he’d been showing Dardis and Runa a sheet of parchment. He folded it up quickly and made room for her on the bench he was sitting on, but she walked past them and back to her room. She wrote angrily in her journal as she lay in bed, eating a bite here and there.

What am I doing?
she scrawled.
I obviously didn’t realize what I was getting myself into. When I saw him at the bookstore I was intrigued, but then I got to know him and he thought he was so smooth, a gift to all women. If only I had kept my distance, I never would’ve gotten so involved. Last night I was convinced that we had a serious connection, but maybe I was distracted by the awesome sex. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I need to just stop this before I make myself look like any more of a stupid idiot.

Annika heard footsteps come into the room. She looked up and saw Talvi standing over her. He had an awkward expression on his face as he sat down beside her.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” he began. He was acting bashful, something that he never did. “I’ve been working on this for a long time, and I believe I’m done. I don’t have anything else to say without being redundant.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket that was folded into a small square and put it in her hand. He waited expectantly for her to open it, but all she did was tuck it into the flap of her journal and close the little book. She didn’t want to read his pathetic apology. She turned the other way, ignoring him. He didn’t like that too much. He wasn’t used to being ignored.

“I think we both know that this game is pointless, Annika. You can ignore me, but you can’t escape me. You have nowhere to go, and I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s gotten you in such a mood.”

“You want to know? Do you really want to know?” She whirled around and rose to her feet, then played the feast of flesh over in her mind, flashing a few of the other girls faces she’d remembered from the party. She heard his lies repeated in her head, promising anything just to get what he wanted from these girls. He looked astounded as his chin fell.

“Do you even bother to change the sheets on your bed in between whores?” she asked, piercing his soul with her glare.

“How did you…how long have you…?” he tried to ask, but the words stumbled over each other, not able to form a simple question.

“Was that before or after you met me?” she asked in a hollow voice.

“Of course it was before I ever met you, Annika. But you know I’ve had many lovers, just as I know you have. It’s too good for us to be amateurs.” He tried desperately to lighten the impact, but she was more livid than ever.

“I don’t know why I thought you were different. I’ve been wondering all morning how I could’ve been so stupid, to believe that a three-hundred year old womanizer would suddenly change for that one special girl. What a load of crap! Danny didn’t exactly make fireworks go off when we were together, but he wasn’t a lying, pretentious, arrogant prick like you!”

“Now look here—I’ll admit to being pretentious on occasion and an arrogant prick more often than not, but I have never been dishonest with you.”

“Yeah you have! You told me you tore your shirt on a rosebush, but you just
happened
to leave out the part where it was because you were screwing Zenzi underneath it!”

“That’s not being dishonest; that’s being tactful. And I already told you that she’s nothing to me. We’ve already had this discussion, remember?” he argued.

“Yeah, I remember,” Annika mocked as she crossed her arms. “I remember that she was all over you at the pub and at your party and that you loved it! I’ll bet that’s why you stole her away from Nikola. That’s the reason why he can’t stand you. I also remember you dancing with all those girls who you call
friends
in front of me on your birthday. You were parading them around like trophies. ‘Look at me! Here’s the hot blonde I banged last week! And here’s my favorite brunette, she’s really something in bed. But if you’re looking for a total freak, you should try Zenzi!’” she spouted.

“You’re the one I’m with
right now
. That’s all that should matter to you, is
right now
,” he said quietly. “And I can’t change the past no matter how much I’d like to
right now
.”

“Oh, then I should be so honored that Prince Talvi wants a redhead human girl
right now
,” she snapped back caustically. “You know, it’s not that you’ve been with a lot of other girls…I couldn’t care less when it comes to numbers. I really couldn’t.”

“You certainly have a strange way of showing it,” he cut in, which only made her angrier, and that only made him look like he had a point.

“It’s true!” she insisted. “The thing I have a problem with is the fact that you keep leading on girls like Zenzi because you have this sick desire…no, more of an
addiction
to be validated by women wanting you even when you’re hooking up with me—
that’s
what I have a problem with! It’s not good enough for you to be with just one person. You’ll always need more. How am I supposed to trust you when you do shit like that in front of my face? What else are you doing behind my back?”

“Oh, Annika,” he said loftily, through piercing narrow eyes. “Perhaps you should be telling me what you’re doing behind mine.”

She hadn’t been prepared for that comment at all.

“You should learn to choose your arguments with more wisdom, little girl,” he cautioned as he stood up and put his hands on his hips. He stepped close to her and looked down his nose, doing his best to make her feel small and disadvantaged. “Do you really think you’re the first person who tried to hide their thoughts by looking away from me? You were concerned enough to tell me nothing happened out there that night with Nikola and Vaj, but I know that you wanted him. I know he wants you as well. When Vaj came after you, the moons hadn’t risen yet. There wouldn’t have been enough light for him to see you unless he was looking quite close. And, given the fact that it was your
neck
that he should have been inspecting…” Talvi shook his head in disgust. “Then I suppose neither of us is in a position to trust one another.” Annika knew he had a right to be angry, but she wasn’t about to let him win their argument.

“It wasn’t my fault,” she hissed, suddenly afraid that their friends might overhear. “I wasn’t in my right mind that night. The amulet has powers that I still don’t understand.”

“Oh, right, it was the
amulet’s
fault,” he said with an ugly look. “Perhaps the
amulet
is causing you to have double standards, then? Perhaps the
amulet
is what caused you to seek out Nikola just two hours after being with me? I know you were with him last night; I can smell him all over you. In fact, I can still smell a hint of Vaj coming from the wound on your neck. If I may be frank, you smell a bit like a whore, although for what it’s worth, I’m quite fond of them.” Annika turned her head away so that he couldn’t see her cry.

“Runa was right about you,” she said through her trembling voice, unconcerned if anyone heard what she was about to say. “She told me that I’d wish I’d never laid eyes on you, and here I am, wishing I never had!” She combated her tears with the anger and revulsion that she felt in her heart.

“Well now,
there’s
something we finally have in common, because I find myself wishing the exact same thing about you,” he spat venomously and slammed the door behind him.

Nikola’s secret

The remaining days on the boat were next to impossible for Annika to get through. The two week voyage was quickly beginning to feel like a prison sentence, although she was surprised at how little she ran into Talvi on the ship, and on the rare occasion that she did, she tried to act neutral. Talvi, on the other hand, made no secret that something had definitely changed between them, and inside of him. The light in his eyes had been extinguished. There was no more playful twinkle or mischievous spark, only a callous expression every time she was near. He didn’t crack jokes at dinner unless they were to belittle or insult someone, which wouldn’t be all that unusual if it weren’t for the fact that his humor had grown a few shades darker. He kept to himself, brooding quietly, deep in thought. This didn’t go on for more than a few days before the others started asking her why, but she only directed them to him, and he only said he was concerned about dealing with the Pazachi.

The most awkward side effect of breaking things off with Talvi was her growing friendship with Nikola. When he took the trouble to speak, it was always something fascinating about the wonders of nature. He showed her a far off spray of water and within a couple minutes a giant eye was poking out of the water. Then the massive head of a whale rose from the surface, and they leaned over the edge of the boat to stroke its firm, rubbery skin. He explained to her why the wolves were still upset that they didn’t get to crunch Vaj’s bones to dust when he died. They’d disliked him the most out of everyone and were looking forward to the time when Konstantin declared his services were no longer needed. When Annika talked about her uncle Vince and the rest of her close-knit family, Nikola told her how envious he was, since his parents had died when he was very young. He told her stories of Justinian picking on him until the time he began to develop his intense magical capabilities.

He didn’t rely on witty banter or suggestive language to charm his way into her heart. He didn’t play inappropriate mind games or let his hands wander wherever they pleased. He was just there when she needed him, which was often since Finn and Hilda spent all their spare time reading books on the deck while Runa and Zaven were obsessed with checking on the horses down in the steerage…for hours at a time. Konstantin had returned to his diurnal sleeping habits while at sea to rejuvenate his strength, and thus Yuri was nocturnal as well.

Annika sat in the kitchen one afternoon teaching Nikola, Sariel, and Justinian how to play gin rummy while the fairies were bickering over what to have for dinner. Sariel and Justinian caught on quickly, since it was very similar to another card game they knew, but Nikola had never picked up a deck in his life. He was having trouble just holding them in one hand.

“I’ve never understood why you call this a spade,” he said, frowning a little. “It looks like a rotten apple.”

“There are only four suits, Nik. It’s not that hard to remember,” Justinian said, growing a little impatient. Annika had a thought.

“Think of it as an actual spade, you know, a little shovel,” she suggested, and pointed to the spade on the card. “See, here’s the handle, and it’s black because you’ve been digging in the dirt with it.”

“Well I can remember that,” he said, and accidentally showed her the rest of his cards. She rolled her eyes and pulled them out of his hands one by one, lying them down on the table and rearranging them into two piles.

“King, Queen, and Jack of spades, and three fours. Rummy!” she announced, slapping the deck with her free hand.

“Oh, right,” he hummed, and everyone threw in their cards to reshuffle. After a few hands, it was clear that Nikola had mastered the game.

“I should teach you blackjack and then we could play for money,” Annika laughed. “Now
that
would be the game for people who can read each other’s minds.”

“You two can read each other’s minds?” Sariel asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Only a little,” Annika said nonchalantly.

“But you think you can read his mind clearly enough to play cards for money?” Sariel pointed out with a peculiar expression. Annika gave a shrug, but didn’t go into details.

“I want to see something,” Justinian said, and scribbled a string of words onto a piece of scratch paper before turning it over. He slid it across the table to Annika. “I want to see if you can truly read each other’s minds or not.” A smile crept across Annika’s face as she turned the paper over and looked down at his writing. It resembled chicken scratch, and his spelling was much less impressive than his sword, but she concentrated on the phrase:

Sariel is the most lovelie creechur to carie a sord.

“Sariel is the loveliest creature to carry a sword,” Nikola announced, correcting his brother’s grammar. Sariel blushed brighter than Annika had ever seen. It was quite nice to see some color in her usually too serious face.

“Alright you horrible card player, it’s your turn,” Justinian thundered. He grabbed the piece of paper and turned it over, writing something else. But when he showed it to his little brother, Nikola scowled at him. The last time Annika had seen him look so sour was when Talvi had broken the stalagmites in the cave.

“I’m not saying that. Write something else,” he insisted, but Justinian stubbornly shook his head.

“Come on Nikola; just tell me. It can’t be that bad,” she laughed. He looked mortified.

Annika…I…I…I can’t say it
. He crumpled the slip of paper and tossed it across the kitchen towards the fire, but missed. He turned away from her as if he were extremely embarrassed, and left the kitchen.

“Did he tell you?” Justinian asked, starting to laugh. Annika was totally confused, and shook her head. Sariel grabbed the paper from the floor and looked beyond amused when she had smoothed it out.

“That wasn’t very kind of you, Justinian,” she said, but she was grinning. She handed the paper to Annika, and it all made sense.

My brother is jelluss of yor boyfrend.

“Well, that’s not true,” she said quietly. “Talvi’s not my boyfriend.”

“Oh, is
that
what his problem is?” Sariel asked, raising a curious brow at her.

“Yes, among other things,” Annika replied, and put the deck of cards away.