Act II
Scene III

Weeks passed, long and cold. Winter petered out into a drizzly spring, grey and chilly, damp with misery. A few flowers dared grow underneath tall, cold blades of grass, but nothing more, lest they die of the cold.

Tino had once been called a flower by the man he loved.

Now his duties were to both Berwald and his wife. He would help them organise their affairs, clear their chambers while they were out for the day – he was Berwald's valet but Yekaterina was bound to Berwald, and was, by extension, also an employer of Tino.

The Finn wasn't bitter. He was simply miserable.

There came a cold day when only him and Yekaterina occupied the chambers. Tino was stoking the fire, dully prodding the logs to try and ease life into them, while the lady sat at her desk, writing letters. She wrote many letters – to her sister, her other friends, and even other men she had met at formal affairs.

"Do you have any siblings, Tino?" she asked, turning a little in her chair to watch the valet, not so much curious about what he was doing as curious about him in general. Berwald didn't often talk, but when he did, it was usually about Tino.

The Finn looked up, a little surprised at her interest. "No, madam. I was the only child that survived infancy."

"You must be very strong then," she smiled, her eyes shining with genuine admiration. "But it must have been lonely, mustn't it?"

"I had the village children to play with," Tino said with a shake of his head, a hint of his old smile coming to his lips. "I was never left wanting for company."

"I always felt blessed to have my brother and sister," Yekaterina mused, "but now – well, I don't want for anything, Berwald is such a good man –" It stung Tino's heart even though he knows she doesn't mean it to, " – but I am lonely." Then she turned flustered. "I must appear terribly ungrateful, I am so sorry, Tino!"

"No need to apologise, madam! One should never apologise for their feelings."

Yekaterina looked down at her letter, the one she had just headed with Dearest Matthew, and sighed worriedly.

"Tino…" He breathed his lover's name, the word tinged with something like sadness. Lying in the bed in the spacious dressing room, Berwald clasped Tino to his chest, warm, bare skin pressed against bare skin. It was a delight, a treat to be able to lie with him like this, no duties to perform today, nobody to impress or hide from.

Just Berwald and Tino and nobody else in the world.

The Swedish lord had his face nuzzled into the valet's neck, arms wrapped strongly around him, inhaling the scent of his skin. They held each other, protecting each other from the coming storm that always seemed to hover over them.

"Tino…"

"Yes, Berwald?"

"Don't be angry." It was almost a plea, a kind of desperation Tino had never heard before in Berwald's voice. It left him quiet and confused for a few seconds before Berwald managed to say – "I lay with Katya."

Silence.

"You lay with her?"

"We're expected to produce children –" Berwald sat up a little, supporting himself on his elbows to hover above Tino, unreadable expression belying the anxiety in his eyes. " – heirs to the family –"

"Oh, Berwald." Tino reached up to cup his cheek, stroking it fondly with his thumb – though he closed his eyes to still his tears. "Don't worry about me," he whispered. "I always knew this would happen."

The world was crumbling.

Tino was tidying their chambers when he heard the click of the doorknob, and the soft swish of the door opening. Berwald stood in the doorway, and as ever, Tino's heart lifted. He gave his love a warm smile – too intimate for a passing glance between lord and valet – before continuing with his duties, as he knew he should.

"Yekaterina writes a lot of letters, doesn't she?" he noted cheerfully, tidying them into a neat pile for when she returned. "She has many good friends, it's rather enviable!"

On hearing Berwald's hum of agreement, he continued, "She seems very close to, ah, a man named Matthew, do you know him?"

"Family friend." Berwald cleared his throat lightly, hesitating before he spoke. "She talks of him as I talk of you."

"They must be especially close…" Tino blinked, running the words through his mind again, then turned to face Berwald, shock evident on his face. "As you talk of me?" he repeated.

Berwald was sitting on the bed, looking up at the Finn with nothing in his face to suggest anything out of the ordinary, except a flicker in his eyes. Was it hope, or something deeper?

"What does it mean?" The fact that they were alone was the only reason Tino could sit beside Berwald on the bed and take Berwald's hand in both of his own, squeezing it, eyes wide. "What –"

Click – swish. The door opened.

Tino had never been especially superstitious but everyone said that should you speak of the devil, he will appear; he had never thought of Yekaterina as the devil but in this situation there were no other words to use. The lady stood in the doorway, light blue eyes running over her husband and her valet, settling on their linked hands before looking to their faces.

There was no anger in her face, merely… surprise.

"You have been so subtle until now," she smiled lightly, closing the door behind her. The reaction was so soft, it was as though the blow hadn't hit – Berwald and Tino sat frozen, waiting for the storm to break. But no storm would come from Yekaterina, fair woman as she was.

"Not that I blame you at all, I'm sure everybody finds himself or herself in this situation at some point or another!" She took a seat in her chair, hands resting on her stomach. "But here we have such a tangled situation," she sighed.

"Madam –" Tino started to talk but Yekaterina hushed him gently.

"You two are in love. I am also in love," her face softened into a sweet little smile, before she turned mournful, rubbing her stomach. "But I am pregnant, Berwald. He or she will be your heir."

And at exactly that moment, or thereabouts, Mathias' second son and third child came into the world, and without a moment's thought, he was named Lukas.

A/N: It's getting so... dramatic! Or tangled, as Katya said. Let's see if I can really wrap this up in just two more chapters! I'm sorry for the long wait, but at my school they get pleasure out of dumping a ton of exams on us in the last three weeks. Just one week left, but I've got a German assessment. So let's hope I can finish this soon!