I barely got a chance to take it in and definitely didn’t get a chance to open my mouth before my hat and cloak were gone as were my gloves.

And while they did this with practiced ease and uncanny quickness, they kept talking.

“We wanted to send a messenger but no one knew where you’d gone.” This was Esther.

“Everyone was abuzz that The Drakkar rode into the night with you right after the ceremony. They’re still talking about it. I mean, obviously, you’re beautiful and equally obviously, he’s The Drakkar, so they think he couldn’t wait to get his hands on you, especially after your conjugal kiss which everyone is also still talking about.” This was Alyssa and she went on to state, “But your mother was livid. She’d spent months planning the celebration that was to happen after the wedding ceremony. She didn’t get over The Drakkar hauling you away for weeks.”

“She’s still not over it,” Esther muttered.

“Yes, it was frosty in the Winter Palace, believe me.” This was Bess, her eyeballs moved around the group as she finished, “And still is.”

As they talked they led me to the bed and pushed me on it and in it and then they climbed in and surrounded me close and Jocelyn spoke before I could get a word in edgewise.

“Where did he take you anyway?” Jocelyn asked. “Rumor had it he was on his ship the very next night, away on crucial business.”

“Oh gods, I hope he didn’t take you on one of his ships,” Bess muttered.

My wide eyes moved to Bess.

One of them?

They finally paused enough for me to speak. “Uh… he was. Before he left, though, he took me to a hunting cabin, I think.”

Jocelyn looked to Alyssa. “His hunting cabin. I told you.”

“This I cannot believe,” Esther muttered. “His hunting cabin?”

“I know!” Bess exclaimed (but her exclamation was subdued, like she didn’t want anyone to overhear). “His lodge in Kellshorn is fit for a princess, balls to that, I’ve heard it’s so grand, it’s fit for a queen. Even his chalet in Skarnwyld would be better than his hunting cabin!” She looked to Jocelyn and noted, “I’ve heard it’s quite lovely.”

“She’s just lucky he didn’t take her to his fishing cottage in Tylgould. The smell…” Alyssa’s cute, pert nose scrunched up.

Jeez, how many houses did Frey own?

“Tylgould is lovely,” Esther stated. “My parents took me there as a child. And I hear his cottage is right on the Winter Sea. The properties right on the sea are very old but very quaint and very exclusive.”

“Yes, but even so… the smell,” Alyssa repeated as she shook her head.

“Uh –” I tried to cut in and all attention came back to me including Jocelyn’s hand that curled lightly on my thigh.

“Please tell us he’s been kind to you,” she whispered.

“Well…” I started but clearly didn’t speak quickly enough for Esther spoke.

“Bloody hell, he hasn’t.”

“Well –” I tried again.

“I knew it,” Alyssa hissed and looked at Bess. “If he was away on his ship so quickly that means everyone was wrong. The Drakkar would never leave a woman in his bed who he wanted to be in that bed with, balls to crucial business. We should have done something.”

“What could we have done? The queen was in a state. And when Queen Aurora gets in a state…” Bess trailed off, saying it all without saying a thing then finished, “We didn’t have time.”

Alyssa’s hand came up and she squeezed my arm so my head turned to her and she said softly, “I’m so sorry er… other Sjofn.”

“Finnie,” I urged her to call me on a smile, “please call me Finnie.”

“Finnie,” she smiled back.

Okay, well, I was definitely going to like these girls, that I knew right off, but I wished they’d let me talk.

“Finnie,” Jocelyn said and I turned to her. “That’s very sweet.”

“Oh we have so much to tell you!” Bess exclaimed in that restrained way again.

“Yes, including the fact that Sjofn’s witch has been here three times,” Esther stated.

I grew tense at this unexpected news and blinked at her but before I could ask, Alyssa spoke.

“That Agnes, she has something of great import to tell you,” Alyssa shared and I turned my head to stare at her.

Great. Just great. I wondered what that was but I was thinking maybe I didn’t want to know. Who knew what Sjofn was getting up to in my world?

“But she’ll only tell you,” Bess stated and my eyes went to her. “Still, it seems rather urgent.”

Ho boy.

“Well! Enough of this!” Jocelyn finally announced. “It’s clear The Drakkar is in a mood and he and his men have been travelling a long way. We need to prepare Finnie for dinner without delay.”

“But –” I started as they scrambled off the bed, tugging me with them.

“Bath first,” Alyssa mumbled. “Bess, off you go to see about her trunks. We need to unpack her immediately.”

Bess scurried away without a peep.

“The sky blue satin, I think,” Jocelyn mumbled as they led me to the wall which I saw had a hidden door, the doorknob barely noticeable in the wood.

“Ice blue,” Alyssa disagreed. “He called her his Ice Bride.”

Esther opened the door in front of us and in we went to another room, this clearly a bathroom slash dressing room with a fabulous light blue, suede-covered chaise lounge in the corner, a three paneled screen that had a beautifully stitched tapestry depicting a snowy-mountain landscape with a cloud-free sky, three dark wood, carved wardrobes on three different walls, a table with a gorgeous porcelain basin adorned with delicate blue flowers, a matching pitcher on a shelf underneath it, a roaring fire in another beautifully carved, stone mantel fireplace, another heavily-carved, full-length oval mirror and a big, oval copper tub in the middle with one side swayed back with a fluffy, ice blue, cotton-covered pillow tied to holes in the copper where you could lay your head when you lounged back.

I stared with mouth open, rendered speechless by the room rather than the girls’ chatter.

Only two syllables described this room: awe… some.

“He must be blind or just mad, I cannot understand why he wouldn’t see our, er… princess’s charms,” Jocelyn muttered and my attention went back to the conversation.