“Like Mum did when she carried me, queasy and hungry.”
“It will pass as it did with Mum,” Willow assured her. “I so look forward to delivering my niece or nephew. If you’re like Mum when she delivered you, you’ll spit the bairn out with ease.”
“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?”
“Take your pick. To give more credence to the myth. To set a plan in action. To give Fasta time away from her duties at the keep,” Willow said with a shrug. “There are endless reasons. I recall you telling me you didn’t care for her upon first meeting her. Has she been as abrupt with you as she was the first time you were here?”
“She’s been the same and I’ve caught her in lies. She was upset when I removed her from her duties at the keep,” Snow said.
“A place where she could learn much. She could very well be the person who knows the truth behind everything that goes on here. But tell me, do you believe in this myth and the dwarfs?” Willow asked.
Snow shook her head. “No, I believe someone is out to harm my husband, and I believe whoever was responsible for his parents’ deaths intended for Tarass to die with them.”
“That sounds like revenge and revenge can be a powerful weapon, often wielded without thought or reason. Can Tarass think of anyone who holds such a deep grudge against his father?”
“We haven’t gotten a chance to discuss that and I’ve also just learned of another lie Fasta told that Tarass needs to know about,” Snow said and told her about what John had to say.
“I would say this Fasta has a lot of explaining to do, but also think about what I said earlier concerning the true meaning of the myth… jealousy and revenge often go hand in hand.”
“A moment of your time, my lord,” Nettle said, approaching Lord Tarass as he neared the keep with Slatter.
Tarass stopped as did Slatter.
Nettle looked to Slatter, then to Tarass. “There’s something I thought I should tell you.”
“You can speak in front of Slatter,” Tarass said.
Nettle did so without hesitation. “Lady Snow plans to tell you all about John’s dilemma with Fasta so I don’t wish to interfere with that. But I believe what I saw might be helpful in putting pieces of the puzzling matter together,” Nettle said and continued. “The nights I walk the village when I cannot sleep, I sometimes see Fasta. Whether she is coming or going, I cannot say, though her steps are cautious in their gait, and she disappears before I see her reach any particular destination.”