“Do you think this could really be over?” Chey asked Sander. She allowed him to settle her into a chair near the fireplace, feet up on an ottoman. He’d given the informal drawing room a once-over when they first entered, and an understanding look had crossed his features. Chey didn’t bother to explain why there were mattresses and blankets all over the floor—he already knew why.

“I don’t know. All I know is that this is the first real break we’ve seen in months. I’ve got the military trying to communicate with Somero and Imatra both so that they know we need more aid. I’m sure they know anyway, since Somero sent emergency supplies, but I don’t want to take chances.” Sander snatched up a blanket and laid it over Chey.

“I can’t sit in here while all this is going on. I can help,” Chey said, suddenly feeling like an invalid. She needed to be doing something, getting the castle staff reorganized, figuring out the supply situation now that more people had arrived.

Sander pressed a light touch to Chey’s shoulder and stared into her eyes. “You’re going to sit right here and warm up. Then Flemming is going to check you over. And once we’ve all had a little more to eat, you’re going to tell me everything that happened.”

And so it was.

Chey sat in her chair, anxiously staring toward the closed door while the heat from the fireplace warmed her to the bone. She must have drifted off to sleep, because the next thing she knew, Sander arrived with more chicken and rice—a healthy portion that she started to protest was too much. What if the storms returned? What if they needed to ration harder than ever? There were more people now, more mouths to feed.

“Months of rationing have taken their toll on everyone,” Sander said, sitting on the edge of the ottoman with his own bowl in his hands. “It may be years before we don’t think about every bite we take.”

Overcoming a weird sense of guilt and unease, Chey tucked into the meal. In between forkfuls, she began to explain in detail what had happened since Sander’s departure. Although she hesitated to talk about Urmas, she knew Sander would find out eventually. Tentatively, she mentioned the tackle on the stairs.

“He did what?” Sander demanded, fury making his eyes gleam in the firelight. He all but tossed his cup aside and shoved to his feet.

“I know. It’s bad. Maybe I should have known that he would switch allegiances the moment Helina arrived.” After a pause, Chey said, “Actually, I’m not sure I’ve ever trusted him one hundred percent. I should have been more aware.”

“Don’t make excuses for that bastard.” Sander stalked toward the door.

“Sander, wait,” Chey said. “There’s more.”

“I know there’s more. We haven’t even touched on Helina.” He stopped with his hand on the doorknob and glanced back.

Chey beseeched him with her eyes. “Don’t leave just yet. Please.”

Sander hesitated, clearly torn between seeking out Urmas for a ‘chat’ and honoring Chey’s request.

“I’d like a little more time in your company before you have to address this,” Chey said. She didn’t care if she sounded needy or greedy or desperate. Being in Sander’s presence was soothing, a balm on her frayed nerves. Just hearing his voice relaxed her in ways nothing else could. He wasn’t just her husband and lover, he was her best friend and, at this particular moment, she wanted his shoulder to lean on.

His expression shifted from hard and unforgiving to fond and adoring. Leaving the door closed, he recrossed the room, stepping between mattresses on the floor. In an unexpected show of strength and agility, he plucked her up out of the chair, blanket and all, and sat down with her on his lap. Arranging her so that she received the majority of the heat from the fire, he looped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her temple.

Chey knew what effort that must have cost him, yet he never complained or hinted at exertion. She cupped his jaw with her hand and rubbed her thumb through the thick layer of his whiskers. “Thank you.”

“Of course. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.” He met her gaze.

“I know. And I love that about you,” she said.

“Just one of many things,” he replied, feigning arrogance. Sander’s palm settled over the swell of her stomach, possessive yet tender.

“Yes.” Chey didn’t bother to deny it. After several silent minutes, she got back to the business at hand. She explained everything, from Helina’s surprise arrival to the former queen’s shocking action of sending innocent people into a blizzard with nothing to sustain them. Chey saved the details about Elias for last, because she knew without a doubt that the news would send Sander over the edge. He was fiercely protective of his children, and Helina’s mind games with Elias would undoubtedly set fire to his blood.

And they did.

Incredulity lit his eyes first, then absolute fury.

That was nothing compared to the dark look that crossed his features as she explained how she and the children came to be outside the bailey walls, and how they’d wound up in the secret tunnels of Kallaster.

“I should have sent her to live in Macor with Paavo,” Sander snarled, tension running through his body.

“You may want to send me there when you hear what I did next,” Chey said. She wasn’t sure what kind of reaction Sander would have to hearing that she’d allowed Elias to become part of the mission to free Raune.

Frowning, Sander said, “Never.”

“It was actually Elias’s idea. He didn’t think I could go as fast as he could through the halls to free Raune, so he suggested that he do it while I provided a distraction to lure the guard from Raune’s room.” Chey studied Sander’s reaction with no small amount of trepidation. Sander looked surprised first, proud second, and wry last.

“His idea, huh?” Sander said.

“It made the most sense in the end, though I admit to being terrified the whole time that I’d made the wrong choice. He was so . . . mature about it all. I’ll never forget the determination in his eyes or the way he debated his point. Now that I look back on it, I think he must have been secretly worried something would happen to me. And I agreed to the plan because it did seem like the right thing to do at the time. I’m just glad that it all worked out like we wanted it to.” Chey didn’t detect anger in Sander’s features over her actions, and for that, she was thankful.

“It was risky,” he said, proving that he felt concerned for Elias’s role in things. “But I agree that it was even riskier for you to be creeping through the hallways. If the guard had come back . . .”

“I’m glad you’re not mad,” Chey said.

“What else were you supposed to do? And believe me—I know how determined Elias can be. He’s pulled the same thing on me now and then. I guess it was good that I allowed him to step up so that when it really mattered, he knew what to do.” Sander paused. When he spoke next, the brief flare of pride in his words changed to edgy irritation. “I am angry. Just not at you.”

“I’m curious to know what you plan to do about Urmas and Helina,” Chey said.

Sander stared past her to the fire. He looked contemplative amid his obvious discontent. “The only thing I can do,” he finally said. “Put Urmas on trial for treason and send Helina to an asylum.”

Not expecting to hear the latter, Chey gasped. “An asylum? You won’t send her back to exile?”

“She doesn’t deserve to be waited on and treated like royalty, even in exile. This isn’t the first time she’s tried to hurt you, and I can’t forgive her for putting our children at risk. All of you could have died if you hadn’t thought to use the hidden passageways. She belongs in an asylum, and that’s where I’ll decree she goes when we’re out of this weather mess,” Sander said. “Besides that, she committed as much an act of treason as Urmas did. She’s lucky I don’t send her to prison.”

“I’m not sure the asylum will be much better,” Chey admitted.

“I don’t plan for it to be. She has to face the consequences of her actions. According to the story you told me, she showed no remorse at all for sending a pregnant woman and three helpless children into the cold. I’m as done with her as I was with Paavo,” he said.

“She plotted to kill us all off, and she thought you were dead—or perhaps she hoped you were—so that Mattias could take over the kingdom. It was a brazen move to decide to try a coup when she thought she had the opportunity,” Chey said.

“Maybe it wasn’t as random as we think.” Sander stared into the fire, voice distant.

“What do you mean?” Chey asked.

“Someone untethered two of our guards from the truck when we were stranded in the snow. The guards died. And someone untethered me, too, when I went to look for them. I told Mattias and Leander at the time that I thought we had a traitor among us. Maybe it was supposed to happen that way. Perhaps Helina plotted this all along when she realized we were in for an unusual winter and after she’d heard I’d left Kallaster to distribute supplies. She might have blackmailed, bribed, or promised Joska to go along with the plan.” Sander looked at Chey. “That could account for why she thought I was dead.”

Taken aback, Chey sat in silence for several minutes. The theory answered obvious questions. “Do you think she got in touch with Urmas beforehand? Could it have gone that far? Is that why it was so easy for him to turn on me?”

“Anything is possible. I’ll get to the bottom of it, you can be sure,” Sander said.

“And Urmas?” she asked.

“Prison. It’s where he belongs. It doesn’t matter if Helina didn’t compromise him beforehand. It matters that he came after you and tried to do you harm. That’s all I need to put him away for the rest of his life.”

Chey studied Sander’s face. His eyes. “Are you going to talk to Helina, or are you going to ignore her and send her away when access allows?”

“Oh no, she’s not leaving here until I give her a piece of my mind. I plan to make it the last time I ever see her, and while I know she’ll attempt to get the upper hand, make it seem like nothing I can do will ever hurt her, there’s no doubt that she’ll freak out internally when I explain her fate,” he said.

“Here we are, talking like the storms are over and we won’t be facing famine or death any longer. I hope it’s true,” Chey said in a quiet voice.

Sander kissed her straight on the mouth. “We have to believe it is.”

“No one is allowed to enter this room for the next two hours except me. No one,” Sander said to Raune. As he closed the door to the informal drawing room, leaving Chey asleep a safe distance from the fire, Sander met Raune’s eyes.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Raune bowed his head a fraction, not shying away from eye contact.

“Thank you for remaining true to Chey during the crisis here.” Sander clapped Raune unceremoniously on the shoulder. “I’m glad I could count on someone to do their job while I was gone.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Raune said with a note of sincerity.

Leaving Raune to guard the door, Sander stalked through the halls of his ancestral home. He did not head for Urmas or Helina but the stairs leading up to the master suite. The longer he remained within these walls, the more rejuvenated he felt. As if he drew strength from the familiar and the beloved. His DNA was written in every stone, every high beam. Although he recognized the wounds on his body and fought against exhaustion, he nonetheless experienced a tingle of adrenaline that kept him light on his feet.

It took him less than half an hour to hastily wash up from a pitcher and basin he found near the bathroom in the master suite. He spent time shaving by candlelight, removing the scraggly beard and mustache. Disregarding the chill in the drafty room, he changed into new clothes from his closet and pulled back the top half of his hair, securing the small ponytail with a band. Attired in camouflage pants and a black long-sleeved shirt, he donned a new pair of boots and grabbed a heavy coat that he carried back downstairs to the main floor.

Pleased to see the military personnel spread out through the ground floor and the foyer, Sander shoved his arms through the sleeves of the jacket and headed for his brothers. Mattias and Gunnar stood off to one side, heads bent together, obviously having a deep discussion.

Sander knew it was about their mother. Helina. He also knew he would find them thus, trying to figure out their next move. Probably trying to figure out his next move. It was a tough situation to be in. He loved his siblings without fail, without censure or restrictions. It didn’t matter that they came from different mothers; they were blood, family, and he intended to face the awkward situation head on.

“Can I speak to you both in the throne room?” Sander asked, interrupting their conversation.

Mattias and Gunnar lifted their heads and glanced at Sander.

“Of course,” Mattias said, recovering smoothly.

Gunnar nodded.

Sander recrossed the foyer and led his brothers away from watchful eyes and listening ears. After picking up a candle from a holder on his way, Sander entered the throne room and held the door for Mattias and Gunnar. Weak light spilled through the tall windows flanking the throne, diffused by the heavy cloud cover outside. As far as Sander could tell, it wasn’t snowing. A good sign. A hopeful sign.

Sander set the candle on a podium to the side of the room and faced his brothers. This would not be an easy conversation.

“I’m sure you both know why I brought you here,” Sander said first.

“We do,” Mattias said. He crossed his arms over his chest, taking up a casual stance next to Gunnar.

Sander glanced between Mattias and Gunnar, assessing their mood. Mattias seemed warily thoughtful; Gunnar looked wounded and disturbed.

“I’m sure by now you’ve heard what happened here in my absence,” Sander said, assuming Mattias and Gunnar had gotten the story from one of the advisors.

“Most of it, I think,” Mattias said.

“Let me give you the quick rundown.” Sander didn’t want any important detail missed. Maybe his brothers didn’t quite know the extent of Helina’s interference or how dangerous Elias’s mission to free Raune had been. So he recounted Chey’s story in a methodical, quiet voice, recognizing the moments when his brothers expressed surprise for a turn of events they hadn’t heard about yet. It mattered that Mattias and Gunnar knew everything, so that when he explained his decision about their mother, they may understand his motivations better.

“These are the reasons I plan to commit Helina to an asylum and have Urmas arrested. He’ll be formally charged with treason,” Sander concluded.

Silence descended in the throne room. Mattias turned his dark gaze away to a distant point, expression grim.

Gunnar dragged a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply.

To Sander’s surprise, Gunnar was the first to speak.

“Do what you have to. I was done with her before this anyway. I need to get back to my own holdings and check on my family as soon as possible. I haven’t spoken to Krislin in far too long,” Gunnar said.

“I agree with Gunnar. Do what you have to,” Mattias said. “We owe our mother no allegiance—she deserves none. I can hardly fathom that she intended to make Chey and the children’s deaths look like an accident. It’s bad enough that she wanted them dead to begin with, but the extent of her machinations is beyond belief.”

“What will you do about Natalia?” Gunnar asked. “She has no idea what’s going on.”

Their sister, newly married and living most of her time away from Latvala, had missed the winter storms entirely. If anyone might give Sander grief about Helina, it was her. Yet he suspected that when Natalia heard about Helina’s plans, she would take the side of her nieces and nephews and agree with his decision.

“We’ll contact her as soon as we can get communications up and running. But I won’t wait for her to come home. I want Helina and Urmas—and the advisors who took her side in all this—gone as soon as possible,” Sander said. “If either of you want a word with Helina, I’d suggest doing it soon.”

“I have nothing to say to her,” Mattias said, voice cold and hard.

“Nor I,” Gunnar said.

“You’re sure?” Sander asked.

“Very sure.” Mattias’s unflinching gaze met Sander’s.

“I’ll say enough for all three of us.” Sander turned and departed the room.