Kit would be fine; Emilia had to believe Winnie that he would be fine. She stepped away from the window and settled into the armchair next to her sister-in-law. "It can't," Emilia said simply. This couldn't last as long, because it would kill them first — the freezing cold, and the piled-up snow, were not amenable to human life.

That wasn't soothing, though; she would not say it out loud.

"Are you ever going to tell me why you're back in your flat full-time?" Emilia said — despite the rudeness of the sentence, her tone was demure, and she looked at Winnie over the top of her mug of tea expectantly.