“It would seem, mother, that you too are uncomprehending of what is transpiring in this room,” Frey noted.

“We have been informed of what occurred this night and really.” She shook her head in mild rebuke. “My dear son, you know my husband, nor I, would conspire with malevolent forces to bring down the powers that be on two continents. Not with a son who is The Frey and The Drakkar. A son married to the Winter Princess and a grandson who inherits the crown to this realm, a realm that is vast in size now that it’s rightfully reunified.”

“Too true,” Frey allowed and his eyes dropped to his mother’s throat. “Though I must take this moment to compliment you on the ice diamond you wear.”

Apollo watched Valeria pale as her hand started to snake up to her throat but she wisely thought better of bringing more attention to the stone at her throat, an extortionately costly one.

“But I must admit confusion,” Frey continued. “Seeing as in his last message to me, Calder explained he had to curtail your allowance, along with father’s, as your spending was unduly extravagant and it was threatening the livelihood of every member of the House of Drakkar. Can I take it that jewel is an indication of what my brother was referring to?”

Valeria lifted her chin but her face briefly exposed a crack in her bravado that Apollo knew Frey would detect. “Your father purchased this stone for me before Calder assumed Head of the House.”

“How odd, considering the condition of the Drakkar House’s finances were in disarray prior to Calder assuming Head,” Frey shot back instantly. “So, although Calder’s revitalization of Drakkar family funds has been dramatic, my father would have had less resources when he was Head to provide you such a gift. Or perhaps gifts such as these were the reason the Drakkar assets were in such disarray.”

Eirik had turned to his wife and Apollo saw his eyes narrowed on the diamond at her throat.

“That is not a gift from me,” he told her. Then he looked to Frey and repeated, “That is not a gift from me. She got that elsewhere. She’s addicted to her fripperies and finds her ways to get them. But it is most definitely not a gift from me.”

Frey didn’t take his eyes from his mother. “Perhaps you’d like some time to formulate another lie. You’ve five seconds.” Only then did he move his eyes to his father. “Even as she stands there, lying when treason is in question, it warms the heart how swiftly my sire so staunchly champions the woman who birthed me.”

“As you say, treason is in question,” Eirik returned, puffing out his chest.

“Yes, indeed,” Frey replied. “And on behalf of my wife, this realm’s princess, I thank you for your swift incrimination, no matter if only implied, of your own wife for our country of ice.”

Eirik’s face suffused red just as there was movement at the door and everyone turned to see Draven and Thad bringing Franka in.

Her eyes instantly scanned the room and stopped on Frey.

“We must stop meeting like this,” she remarked cattily, a derisive smile on her face.

“Yes, Franka,” Frey said low, his voice ominous. “We must.”

It was almost imperceptible but Apollo caught it.

She swallowed.

Missing this, Eirik demanded of his wife, “Who bought you that jewel?”

“It was you,” she returned, her voice cold, her eyes level, but she couldn’t completely mask her fear.

“I believe I would remember buying you an ice diamond of that size,” Eirik returned.

“I’ve been dragged from my bed, and the company in it, to witness a domestic?” Franka asked, performing the remarkable feat of sounding both astonished and bored.

“I advise you keep quiet,” Calder clipped at her.

“If I do, then how would you all know that Valeria has long since tired of her husband’s wandering eye, and cock, and for years has been bedding Malcolm Turnish, a wealthy merchant who could afford dozens of those diamonds, and Korwahkian emeralds, sapphires, rubies.” Franka threw out a hand. “I could go on. He would actually wed her, if she would sever ties with Eirik and allow it. However, it’s unlikely some of her acquaintances would invite her to their gales if she was on the arm of just a merchant. And we all know Valeria likes to dance.”

She looked to Valeria and continued, what seemed genuinely.

“I’m sorry to tell tales of your wifely betrayal, darling, but I actually like Malcolm, regardless of his profession, and have desired for some time for you to be kept in the style to which you should be accustomed without needing to beg. Not to mention the not insignificant bonus of having a man known to be much endowed in a variety of ways.”

Franka barely finished her words before Eirik roared, “You betray me?” and he made a move toward his wife.

He didn’t get very far. Garik moved in and detained him.

Eirik struggled infuriatedly, though futilely, against his son’s hold while Valeria studied her husband like he was a specimen tacked to a board.

“I have not entertained you in my bed in fifteen years, husband. And I only took you before to get my sons and, after I had them, as duty to our marriage,” she explained casually, as if she was informing him of the menu she’d chosen for the week.

Suddenly Eirik stood still and hissed, “You never had an interest in play.”

“Oh no, darling,” Valeria whispered. “I never had an interest in playing with a man who doesn’t know how to use his cock. One who does is very different.”

Franka emitted a purring chuckle.

Garik looked to his eldest brother. “Just to say, at this point, I don’t know whether to vomit or cut off my ears.”

Apollo was done as well.

And he communicated this by saying quietly, “Frey.”

Frey looked to Apollo and nodded.

Then he moved his gaze from one brother to the next. “You might wish to leave.”

“I’ll be staying,” Calder announced immediately.

“And I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Garik murmured, pushing his father off and moving toward Finnie. He settled in, leaning his shoulders close to where she was still lounging.

Frey looked to Apollo. “Oleg or Laures?”

“Let’s see what Laures can get,” Apollo answered.

He felt Maddie’s hand convulse in his and he reconsidered his decision to allow her to enter, especially as she was close to Laures and he did not like to think of her perception of him changing as he went about the unpleasant necessities of his work.