“That would please me, and I will help you when you deliver,” Snow said, hoping her vision would be clear enough by then. “Have you heard anything from Sorrell? She wouldn’t want to be left out in sharing the birth of our first bairns.”

“I’ve heard nothing since I last saw her, though a couple of messages have been sent. I fear the snow has prevented any responses. However, she did tell me that nothing would keep her from coming here in the spring, not even her husband.”

Snow laughed. “Sorrell is a wee bit of a thing and Ruddock so large. I don’t know how she commands that man.”

“He lets her, until he doesn’t,” Willow said with a chuckle. “I am pleased to see how happy you are with Tarass and how much you love each other.”

“It’s that obvious?” Snow asked, glad her love for her husband was visible to all.

“It’s undeniable, but tell me more of what goes on here, Snow,” Willow said. “I feel that you haven’t told me everything.”

“I always thought that your practical nature allows you to be more perceptive than others,” Snow said and obliged her sister, telling her about how Fasta suffered a miscarriage and how it led to her confrontation with the dwarf. She debated, only briefly, whether to tell her sister about what the dwarf had said to her.

We’re coming for you.

Her sister might get upset, but she would examine it for what it was worth.

Willow remained quiet when Snow finished telling her everything and didn’t disturb her, knowing her sister was giving thought to all she had told her.

“We’re coming for you. Why you? Why didn’t this creature,”—she shook her head—“this person, since I don’t believe in the tale, mention Tarass? I would worry over you if I didn’t know Tarass would protect you with his life and with the amount of sentinels I saw when we arrived, your husband has taken precautions. What makes no sense to me is the convenience of the incident and it makes me wonder if it could have been contrived?”

“How?” Snow asked, finding her sister’s suggestion perplexing. “How would they know I would be there at that time and with only Thaw? And how could Fasta plan a miscarriage?”

“Someone could be watching your every move, lying in wait for the right moment. And the snowstorm that comes and goes provides perfect cover. Also did you consider that Fasta might not have had a miscarriage? Did your healer confirm it?”

“Why though?”