“The woodcutter’s cottage. My people won’t be going anywhere near your father.”

“Very well,” Hansel said. “When?”

“Tomorrow. Fur die Freiheit.”

“Fur die Wildnis,” said Hansel. “We will be.”

And then there was nothing.

I pressed a hand to my temple. What on earth had I just overheard?

Witches and woodcutters and languages I didn’t understand. None of it made any sense to me.

And none of it concerns me, I reminded myself.

I knew only one thing: I needed to get out of Europe. There was too much danger here. Too many unknowns.

I needed to get home to Daddy, and to Potomac, where I’d be safe. Where Torden and I could make everyone safe.

I reached for the radio, tweaking the dial until I found her frequency again. But when I finally whittled my way back to 3.44, Godmother Althea was gone.

Anya never came back to her room. I lay on her bed alone, running my rosary through my fingers and turning over the strange conversation I’d heard, and went alone to meet her brothers by the stables.

I found them waiting beneath a moon like a pearl and flickering lamps like a constellation of stars. Skop and Anya were nowhere to be seen, but Fredrik and Bragi were laughing as though nothing was wrong at all. Though I was glad at Fredrik’s return, their whooping and pushing and shoving sent a pang through me.

I wondered again if Torden could bear to leave them, to live with me in Potomac. Would he be whole without them?

I wanted to imagine the big brother he’d be to the little brother or sister Daddy and Alessandra had on the way. I wanted to imagine him by my side.

But watching him play with his brothers like so many overgrown little boys on the hillside, I couldn’t even bring myself to ask.

“Why so glum, sunshine?” called Bragi.

I squinted at them, pounding the last few steps down the hill. “Pardon?”

Torden grinned. “I think it fits.” He toyed with a bright streak in my hair before lifting me onto Gullfaxi. Aleksei smirked.

Fredrik winked. “It’s because you’re so bright and happy.”

“And because Torden looks at you like the rising sun,” Hermódr said, teasing.

Bragi shook his head. “He’s useless till you come out in the morning.”

Torden climbed into the saddle. I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed the back of his shoulder. “And I’ll scorch his eyes out if he looks at me too long?” His laugh rippled through the muscles of his stomach, and I grinned, absurdly delighted.

“Yes,” Aleksei drawled. “And he gets hot around you and you’ll eventually burn him.”

“Aleksei!” Hermódr’s face wrinkled in distaste.

Fredrik shook his head, frowning. Torden said nothing, but I felt him tense in my arms.