Wendy straightened, but kept her eyes fixed on the scroll. “This just arrived, so it isn’t what I’d invited you here to talk about. I only meant to ask you about your plans in Förening. But I know about your past relationship with the Skojare, so I’m sure you’d want to know.”

“Know what?” I asked, instantly fearing that something had happened to Linnea Biâelse, or perhaps her husband Mikko or grandmother Lisbet.

The Queen finally looked at us, her dark tawny eyes sad. “The Kanin have declared war on the Skojare.”

“What?” Ridley asked, sounding as shocked as I felt.

“Why would Mina do that?” I asked in disbelief. “She’d aligned herself with them to get their . . .”

And that’s when it hit me. Mina had not been working with the Skojare as a whole—she’d been working with specific people, like the now-dead Kennet Biâelse and the now-exiled head guard Bayle Lundeen.

She had no one to get her the sapphires anymore, so she would have to take them by force.

“It’s all here.” Wendy motioned to the scroll. “Assuming you can make sense of her nonsense.”

Ridley went over to read it for himself, but I sat back in the chair, feeling rather light-headed. Besides, it didn’t really matter what reasoning Mina gave. I knew the truth.

“She’s blaming Evert’s death on Kennet, even though Kennet died before Evert did,” Ridley said, surmising what he’d read. “She says Kennet had ‘empoisoned’ the wine he gifted them before he died, which is said to have killed Evert.”

“Since she’s accused me of killing Kennet, am I exonerated now?” I asked, not that I believed that that would actually happen. Mina would never let me go free.

“No, because you apparently killed Kennet in some sort of lover’s spat, and you’ve been corrupted by the ‘aberrations and unfettered debauchery’ of Storvatten.” Ridley stood up. “She keeps using all these abnormal words like that. I mean, they are words, but not ones that we actually use.”

“Her language is odd, even for a proclamation like this,” Wendy agreed.

“At the end, it says, when the Kanin are through, ‘the ground will be sanguinolent.’ ” Ridley shook his head. “I don’t even know what that means.”

“It means ‘tinged with blood,’ ” Bain supplied. “I looked it up.”

“It’s her British accent all over again.” I rested my elbow on the armrest and propped my head up. “She’s trying so hard to sound smart and important, because she’s really just a spoiled, uneducated princess that got dropped in the middle of nowhere when she was too young to know any better, and nobody taught her how to act or grow up. Everything she pretends to be is just copied from Disney and Julie Andrews.”

“Does that mean that she won’t actually go through with all of this?” Wendy asked hopefully. “That this is all just part of her act?”

“Oh, no, she’s definitely going to attack the Skojare. She’s a monster,” Ridley said, and that hardness had returned to his face, the same hardness that kept me at bay.

“She’s going to slaughter them,” I realized sadly, and looked over at Bain. “You worked in Storvatten. You know. They have no means of protecting themselves.”

He nodded grimly. “Their guard is an absolute joke. The Kanin going after the Skojare will be like shooting fish in a barrel, pardon the pun.”

Wendy’s dark hair was up in a loose bun, but the silver lock fell over her forehead, and she brushed it back, causing her emerald bracelets to jangle. She walked around the desk, so she was closer to Bain, Ridley, and me, and leaned back against it.

“We want to help the Skojare, but we’re in an awful position,” Wendy began. “We’re allies of both the Kanin and the Skojare, which means that technically we shouldn’t get involved. But at the same time, I’m not about to stand by and let an entire tribe be destroyed.

“Mina sent that scroll asking us to rally behind the Kanin’s unwarranted attack, which is so ludicrous.” Wendy rolled her eyes. “I honestly don’t know what she’s thinking. But her overzealousness, I think, may be her downfall.

“However, that doesn’t mean I can just jump into the fray,” she went on. “I need to consult with advisers and talk to the board, and come up with the best possible solution I can.”

I stood up. “I appreciate your position, and I know that you will do all that you can. Until then, I’m going to do all that I can.”

“Meaning?” Wendy asked.

“I’m going to Storvatten, and I’m going to help prepare them for war.”

FORTY

tavvaujutit

Wait!” Ulla shouted, practically tripping over herself as she ran up the muddy embankment toward me. “Wait!”

I looked back up at the top of the hill, where Ridley, Konstantin, and Tilda were all standing at the SUV, making me feel like I was on the Titanic and they were escaping on the last life raft.

Instead of rushing up to join them the way I wanted to, I sighed and turned back to face Ulla. When she reached me, she was panting, and tears sparkled in her amber eyes.

“Ulla,” I said as gently as I could. “We already discussed this. It’s dangerous for you to come with us. Besides, you’re a huge help to Mia and Finn. They need you here.”

“I know, I know.” She tried to shrug it off like it was no big deal, but the hurt was etched into her face. “I just . . .” Abruptly, she held her arm out, with a leather strap hanging from her fist. “I made you this, and I didn’t want you to leave without it.”

I held out my hand, and she unceremoniously dropped the necklace into my hand. Tied onto the strap was a piece of ivory. It had been crudely carved into a rabbit, but it was still unmistakable that that’s what it was.

“Because Konstantin always calls you white rabbit,” Ulla explained. “I thought it must be a nickname or something.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s probably stupid.”

“No, it’s great. Thank you.” I dropped the necklace around my neck and smiled at her.

“Anyway, you should probably get going,” Ulla said.

I nodded, and she hugged me gruffly. It was a case of her not knowing her own strength, and she nearly cracked my ribs when she squeezed me. When she let go, she started backing away.

“Tavvaujutit,” she said, saying good-bye in Inuktitut—tah-vow-voo-teet.

“Tavvaujutit,” I said, and she turned and jogged back to Mia and Finn’s house.

I continued up the slope to the SUV. Tilda and Konstantin had gotten in the backseat, but Ridley waited outside, leaning against the driver’s side. He didn’t say anything when I reached him, choosing to just get into the vehicle instead.

Ridley started the SUV and headed down the narrow, winding roads of Förening toward the gate, and I leaned back in my seat.

“Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you if you try anything,” Tilda warned Konstantin, and I knew that she meant it.

Despite my assurances that Konstantin was on our side, Tilda was reluctant to trust him. I suppose having her husband killed by someone I’d trusted made her question my judgment, and I couldn’t really blame her for that.

“I already told you, I’m not going to try anything,” Konstantin said, exasperated. “I should’ve taken the Mustang.”

“It’s better if we ride together,” Ridley explained to him again. “We’ll draw less attention, and the last thing any of us want is to garner attention from either the Kanin or Viktor’s men.”

Konstantin let out a heavy sigh, and I looked up in the rear-view mirror to watch him sulking in the backseat. “This is gonna be a long ride to Storvatten.”

Yesterday, after we’d gotten back from the meeting with Wendy and Bain where they explained that the Kanin had declared war on the Skojare, we all sat down and talked about what we were going to do. I had already made up my mind that I was going to Storvatten, and Konstantin quickly volunteered to go with me.

Ridley had slowly warmed to the idea. Even though he wanted to do everything he could to avoid getting captured by the Kanin, he knew that the Skojare needed us, and despite his misgivings, he wasn’t about to stand by and do nothing.

I’d wanted Tilda to stay behind in Förening, where she’d be safer, but she insisted on coming with us. She wanted to do something to help stop the people who were indirectly responsible for Kasper’s death. And as of late, she’d been working as a captain in the Kanin army, helping train the soldiers. She would be an excellent asset for the Skojare in helping them get their troops in shape.

So we’d headed out to Storvatten that morning with a light drizzle following us everywhere we went. It soon became apparent that the eight-hour drive from Förening to Storvatten was going to be even longer than normal, thanks to the frequent pit stops needed by Tilda.

We weren’t even halfway through the trip, and we were on our third break. We were on a relatively empty stretch of highway, so Ridley pulled over and Tilda ran out into the thick brush of the ditch.