Freya had already stripped off her outer clothes and was now peeling the two pairs of thick underwear from her limbs.

“Hey,” he said, stepping down from the ladder.

“Hey.” She dropped the long johns onto the decking with a slight squelching sound.

“Looks like it wasn’t only your boots that leaked.”

She laughed lightly. “You’re right. It certainly seems as if the snow snuck in everywhere.” Running her fingers through her hair she flicked them, and he felt tiny droplets of water on his skin.

“Why didn’t you get changed first?” he asked wryly.

“I wanted to hear what Indigo said.”

“And?”

She stopped, putting her hands on her hips as if it helped her think.

“He’s lying.”

Mal nodded slowly. “Figured as much. But you got any idea what about, exactly?”

She shrugged, quite expressive in her semi-naked state. “We’re not sure.”

“That the royal ‘we’ or have you and River been ... talking?”

“At least you didn't ask if I was pregnant,” she said, smiling, alluding to the fact that carrying both Ethan and Jesse had dampened her abilities somewhat.

“Frey, honey, if that was the case you’d be shouting from here ‘til Christmas.”

“Oh, at least. And I wouldn’t be the only one.” Her smile widened, but it faded just as quickly. “And yes, River and I have talked .”

“So what’s Indigo lying about? And is it likely to come back and bite me in the ass?”

“Not sure,” she repeated.

“Frey, what’s the point of having my own private lie detector – two, in point of fact – when neither you nor the ‘tross can decide what the lie is?”

“I wish I could tell you,” Freya said, her lips thinning in annoyance, but at herself, not him. “Something about this place ...”

“Then we’re gonna have to do this the old fashioned way.”

“Thumbscrews and whips?” she suggested.

“Hey, I keep them for us.” He shook his head. “No, I was thinking more of assuming Indigo ain’t telling the truth about anything, and trying to catch him out in one of the lies.”

“Or we drop him off and leav