I'd learned all this because Christophe often rode by our sleigh and chatted. He also would take his lunch and dinner with his sister and me. Part of this, I thought, was that he was intrigued with me and not because I looked like his mom. Instead because I stabbed a man and hit another one with a branch and a woman doing those things in this world was intriguing, especially to a boy. But most of it was because his father took his meals with us and nearly always rode by our sleigh and Chris did what Apollo did.

And I'd learned all I'd learned about elan because she rode with me in my sleigh, was extremely talkative and got excited at every snowflake, stand of trees or bunny who hopped across our path, and she felt I needed to share in her excitement.

I didn't care if she talked my ear off.

I would listen even if doing it lasted an eternity.

Needless to say, our days in the sleigh were little s.n.a.t.c.hes of heaven for me. I loved getting to know the kids, especially since they were bright, funny, open and interesting.

The nights were the same.

Little s.n.a.t.c.hes of heaven.

This was because, without me asking him to do so, the first inn we stopped in for the night, Apollo ordered a room for each of us and kept doing this throughout the journey. This meant, if the opportunity arose, the children saw him going to his room and me to mine.

But once they were tucked away, he came and slept with me in mine.

Before he slept though, he made sure I came, repeatedly.

Suffice it to say, Apollo missed me too. The first night we were back together, he'd communicated this by holding me in his arms all night (seeing as I was still on my period). He communicated this the first night my cycle was done by not delaying in giving it to me fast and heated (though the second time that night had been slow, gentle and sweet, as had the third).

Since that night, he just gave me the slow, gentle and sweet.

And every night, in his arms, I gave him not-so-fun bedtime stories (though, he'd asked for them) of my life growing up, my mom, my dad, my (kind of) friends and school. Anything and everything he asked, I'd whisper to him as he held me, stroked me and I talked myself to sleep.

He had not yet coaxed me to talk about Pol.

But I knew that was coming.

He had also not shared much about himself.

But I'd see to that once I knew I'd given him what he needed from me.

In other words, although that long cold journey should have been tedious, it was anything but. I loved every second and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

So I was disappointed we were there.

Brunskar, Frey Drakkar's family seat.

Their annual gale was tomorrow evening.

We'd made it in time.

I looked from Apollo to elan and gave her a gentle squeeze.

"Wake up, honey bunch, it's time for bath and bed."

She snuggled closer and my heart turned over. I wanted to let her snooze the night away, holding her close, keeping her warm. But I knew I couldn't do that (as much as I wanted it) so I gave her another squeeze.

"Come on, elan, time to get clean and then get warm."

"I'm warm," she mumbled into my cloak.

"You'll be warmer in bed," her father b.u.t.ted in, entering the sleigh.

He pulled the furs off her and put his hands under her arms, lifting her up.

When he had her close, she tucked her face in his neck, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist.

He looked down to me but I was already staring up at him.

Every time I saw him with his kids, holding sleepy elan close, smiling as Chris chattered at him, I thought he'd never looked more beautiful.

Including now.

"I'll take her in. Stay close to Draven, poppy, until you get in your room," he ordered quietly.

I nodded.

He walked his daughter to the front door of the inn and I saw Christophe and Hans standing there, Chris holding the door open for Bella to precede him and keeping hold on the door so his father could do the same.

I looked away and aimed my eyes forward and up.

I'd seen it from a distance and when I did, I was glad that elan had already fallen asleep.

This was because Brunskar was not like Apollo's home or any of the finer homes we'd slid by on our way.

Brunskar was creepy as all get out and scary as h.e.l.l.

Of course, it was dark but the front of it was lit up by what seemed like hundreds of torches, even some on its face up four stories and more on the roof.

Its stone looked black against the gloomy firelight and its white backdrop of snow. Its lines were straight and aggressive with five towers spiking into the air. Many of the windows were lit, likely because they had guests for the gale, and those windows, too, seemed aggressive. Whereas the windows at Apollo's house were rounded in attractive trefoil arches, the windows of Brunskar were cut into spiked ogee ones.

And the castle (it had to be a castle, no other building had that shape) was set high into what appeared from the dark peaks that stood black against the starry midnight blue of the sky, to be a rather impressive mountain range. And in this world that didn't have motorized cranes or excavators, it was set surprisingly high into the face of those mountains in a way that it seemed to watch over the village below (also named Brunskar), and that way was not a good one.

It must be said I did not get a happy feel from the place. This was weird since I wasn't superst.i.tious and I'd never felt that way about anywhere I'd been before except, say, when I was walking into a room Pol was in. But that was learned behavior. This wasn't the same.

I just didn't like it there.

And worse, I didn't have a good feeling about how things were going to go down there.

One thing Apollo did share during pillow talk was the fact that Frey was not Head of the Drakkar House, although he should have been, even if his father still lived. He just didn't want to be and I could understand that.

He had his hands full. He commanded elves and dragons, was a raider on the high seas (in other words, kind of like a pirate...well, actually a lot like a pirate, it was just that Apollo told me Frey's kind was the "good" kind, however that would go) and was married to a princess.

Alas, Apollo also shared that after the war that reunited Lunwyn and Middleland, Eirik, Frey's father, had been relieved by Frey of his responsibilities as Head of the House. Frey had then given these to his brother, Calder.

This had not made Eirik or Frey's mother, Valeria happy.

And intelligence had come to Apollo that one, the other, both or another member of the Drakkar family were in cahoots with the evil Minerva, her malevolent witch sidekicks, Edith and Helda, and the dastardly Baldur.

Therefore, Apollo reversed his decision not to attend their gale as he had been doing, but only since Calder and his wife Melba took over the House. He packed us all up and here we were.

And I didn't have a good feeling about it.

Any of it.

Especially that castle.

What I did have was Apollo as well as Draven, Hans, Alek, Remi, Gaston and Laures, not to mention Quincy and Balthazar, and they were armed to the teeth. I'd seen what lay under the green tarps in the back of the sleigh Loretta, Meeta and Bella were in so I knew they understood the dangers and were not messing around.

Luckily, the kids didn't notice this but I was thinking even if they did, they wouldn't care. This was because Apollo had clearly created a close relationship between his men and his children and it was obvious the trust the kids shared with Apollo's boys was absolute.

They were a family, a familiar, caring, teasing, loving family.

This was another thing that made the journey good. I'd never had anything like it, never experienced anything so beautiful, not even on the long trip up from Fleuridia, though that was close. But the addition of the kids and my friends made it even better.

And I loved every second of it.

"Maddie." I heard Draven call and I looked his way.

He was standing by my sleigh, offering his hand.

I threw the furs off me, got up, reached out and took it.

Draven helped me out of the sleigh and tucked me close with my hand curved around his elbow as he walked me to the door of the inn.

"Are you all right?" he asked as we moved through the packed snow. "You seem preoccupied."

"That castle is freaking me out," I admitted.

"Good instincts," he murmured, reaching out to open the door for us.

But I stopped and looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked, and he looked down at me.

"The Drakkars"-he shook his head-"except for Frey, Calder and their other brother Garik, den of vipers. Every last one."

Fabulous.

He drew me inside, saying, "You have no worries, my sweet. They're vipers but they're far from stupid."

Well, that was good, I guess.

But with the feel of that place, I had to know for sure.

So I asked, "Okay, what does that mean?"

He stopped at the foot of the wooden stairs and looked down at me.

"That means tomorrow you walk into their gale on the arm of Apollo Ulfr and nothing but that matters. Lo is not a man to cross and they know it. And if anything is done or said to upset you, he would not hesitate to let his displeasure be known in ways they would not like."

Oh boy.

"Okay, now what does that mean?" I mostly repeated.

"It means, Maddie," he started quietly and bent close, "you look like Ilsa."

Oh s.h.i.t.

I forgot.

How could I forget?

"Right," I whispered.

"This will be your first event amongst the Houses, love. It has been spread far that the resemblance between you and her is uncanny. I still don't think that will prepare many for what they'll see. Most will be well-mannered. The Drakkars, however, don't often concern themselves with manners."

Great. Just great.

"It isn't like you haven't been confronted with this very thing, repeatedly," he reminded me gently.

I turned us back to the stairs. "You're right. I have."

He stopped us again and I looked up at him.

"There are people who it matters what they think. And then there are those who it does not. I can tell you now, in the case of the Drakkars and anyone who might say or do something that would upset you, they do not matter."

"I see you feel in the mood to be a soldier philosopher," I remarked and he grinned.

"I'm always at your service to impart wisdom," he offered.

"I know and sometimes it's annoying," I teasingly returned. "But this time, it's just plain scary."

He burst out laughing and moved us up the stairs.

I smiled and leaned into him as we made our ascent.

But inside I was thinking about that creepy castle, the not-so-nice family who claimed it and the fact that my first gale was probably going to suck.

No, I didn't like it here.

Not at all.

"I do not think good thoughts about this place," Loretta declared.