Veiled Threat (27 page)

She simply gave me a pretty smile in return. We watched Jamie approach. When he pulled up and got out, it was clear that he’d rather be anywhere else in the world. ‘Hey,’ he said weakly.

I threw him an enthusiastic wave. There was no point in being anything other than zippily optimistic. He needed to see that I could do this – so did everyone else, for that matter. The glum expressions on their faces when they thought I wasn’t looking were getting to me.

‘Thanks for coming!’ I trilled.

‘Byron’s my best friend,’ Jamie answered. Despite his show of bravery, he had to shove his hands in his pockets to stop them shaking.

I walked over to him. ‘Relax. I just need you to stay here. I asked you because I trust you. Byron trusts you. When I return with him,’ my voice wobbled slightly, ‘he might need medical attention.’ I thought of Frances, away in the Ochterlony Lands. ‘You’ll be better placed than me to help him if he needs it.’ Jamie looked beyond relieved then beyond guilty for feeling relieved. I patted him on the shoulder. ‘The others will stay here until Angus arrives. He’ll keep you company.’

‘MacQuarrie?’

I nodded. It was all part of the master plan.

‘And what are they going to do then?’ Jamie asked.

‘Oh,’ I said airily, ‘they’re going to make sure Chieftain MacBain keeps her promise. She’s sending a contingent to help clean up my Lands.’

Jamie looked at me oddly. ‘While you’re risking life and limb, they’re going to be cleaning?’

I grinned. ‘Yeah. I got the better part of the deal, didn’t I?’

He didn’t smile. ‘Why did you steal the trolls? We need them now more than ever. Without their expertise, our borders are weakened.’

‘I didn’t steal them, Jamie. They’re not objects.’

‘Yes, but...’

‘They chose to come to me.’ I sighed. It wasn’t Jamie’s fault that he’d spent his life believing that everyone who wasn’t Sidhe was at his beck and call. I softened my tone. ‘Frankly, there are far too many of them. I can’t feed them and I don’t want them. If you want to persuade them to go back, then be my guest.’

‘If the Fomori demons attack again...’

I chose not to mention that the people who’d suffered the most from the last attack had been Clan-less. The Fomori had stayed well away from any Clan Lands. Apart from mine, anyway. ‘We’ll worry about that later,’ I said. ‘Let’s focus on Byron for now.’ I reached into my pocket and threw him the brooch which May had given me. ‘Here. Keep yourself busy while I’m gone. Use your psychometry Gift to find out what you can about that.’

He stiffened as if even touching it gave him the heebie-jeebies. He did, however, give me a tiny bow. ‘I’ll do what I can.’

‘Thank you.’ I met his eyes. I should have felt guilty about all of this but I couldn’t muster up enough sorrow for it to make a difference. This was the way it had to be – for all our sakes.

I returned to my friends and hugged them tightly. Taylor, in particular, clutched at me as if he was afraid that if he let go I’d dissipate into a puff of air. ‘I’ll be fine,’ I told him. ‘I can do this.’

‘The odds of this working...’

I drew back for a moment and frowned. ‘Have you made a bet?’

He shook his head. ‘Not this time. Not when you might not return.’ He swallowed.

I enjoyed the safety of his arms for one more moment. ‘I’ll return,’ I whispered. ‘I keep telling you that I’m a bad penny. You can’t get rid of me.’

His arms tightened. ‘I’d better not.’

I stretched up on my tiptoes so that my lips were by his ear. ‘Tell Tipsania the truth about what we’re planning.’

He was so surprised that he jerked his head back. That would have been fine except Speck was standing right behind him and he received an inadvertent head butt as a result. The warlock let out a sharp howl and glared.

‘Are you sure?’ Taylor asked me.

I glanced at her. Tipsania’s fingers were twitching, plucking anxiously at the folds of her skirt. There was a lot at stake for her as well. I could ask her to swear fealty – she had already offered to do so after all – but somehow I knew it was better not to go down that road.

‘Yeah.’ It felt right.

‘You’re the boss.’

‘You’re not going to try and tell me I’m wrong?’

Taylor smiled. ‘You’re not a little girl, Tegs, you’re my Chieftain. Brochan and I shouldn’t have argued with you about Byron. Go bring your boy home.’

My bottom lip trembled. I stepped away and looked at the others. Lexie had a curious sheen to her eyes that probably mirrored my own. Speck’s glasses had fogged up and Brochan wouldn’t look at me.

I raised my hand. ‘I’ll be back before you know it.’ And then, before I had to look at their forced smiles, I spun round and plunged back through the Veil. Third time lucky.

***

S
ecrecy was far more important than speed. I had to keep my presence hidden; it was the only way I had a chance of rescuing Byron. Rather than rushing, I took my time. I had to be absolutely sure that there were no demons around. I was even wearing the Hello Kitty t-shirt which I’d taken from a reluctant May. It reeked to high heaven but, if it helped to disguise my scent, it was worth it.

I skirted away from the route I’d taken on my two previous visits. I was heading in a different direction and I needed to change others’ expectations. If I were a balding, ugly demon with murder in my heart, I’d expect the object of my desire ‒ me ‒ to take the same path she’d taken before. Of course, if I
were
that demon and I possessed any iota of sense, I’d also keep an eye out everywhere else too. But I reasoned that the demons couldn’t be everywhere at once.

There was a considerable expanse of land between here and the old capital. Aifric had said that the Fomori had wanted more land but that didn’t make sense; they really did have all the space they could possibly want or need. With the sky obscured as it was, they didn’t grow anything; not even weeds could live in this barren landscape. I couldn’t see the Fomori as farmers; whatever they ate – and I was trying not to think about that part too much – the need for more land was the one point I was sure Aifric was lying about. The other thing I couldn’t reconcile was that he was prepared to lose his son because of whatever was going on with the demons. That was a level of unfeeling callousness that, even knowing what I already did about him, was impossible to fathom.

Although I was travelling in a different direction, the Lowlands were still depressing in their uniformity. The atmosphere was sticky and unpleasantly humid; the ground was hard and dark. Everything was still shrouded in an unshakeable evil. The idea that Byron might spend his last hours on earth here was untenable. I set my jaw. His father might not care enough about him to mount a rescue but I was damned if I was going to abandon him – no matter how little he trusted me.

I was just getting used to the silence when there was a low whistle. Managing not to shriek out loud, I lunged for the tiny figure that appeared from nowhere. I’d left Bob’s scimitar back at the Adair mansion so he must have hitched a ride without me noticing.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ I hissed. ‘You know I can’t risk this getting screwed up!’

‘It
is
pretty grim, Uh Integrity,’ he said. ‘Let me take you somewhere nicer. The Caribbean is looking particularly good at the moment.’

‘Bob, so help me God...’

He sighed dramatically. ‘I thought you might need some help. And if not help, then some company. It’s not my fault that you can’t control yourself when I’m around. You only have one wish left anyway. How much damage can one teeny little request do?’

I glared at him but his face was the picture of innocence. He knew damned well just how much damage could be wrought. If I found Byron and he was in a bad way, there was no telling what I’d wish for. Bob could harp on about self-control all he wanted, but if temptation was there I’d reach for it if I couldn’t see any other way. And the consequences could be catastrophic.

‘Get yourself back home,’ I told him. ‘Now.’

‘You’re not my boss.’ He paused. ‘Well, you are, sort of. But I’m tied to you. I can’t risk you dying before I get what I’m owed.’

‘I’m not going to die. Besides, if I die you’ll just find a new owner who’ll probably be more than happy to make lots of wishes.’

Bob scowled. ‘The merman said that if you die, he’ll bury my scimitar in the ground.’

‘I doubt he meant it.’

‘He did.’ Bob flounced. ‘I know he did.’ He leaned into my ear. ‘I don’t think he likes me. It hurts my feelings. I’m a congenial genie.’ He flashed a grin. ‘Congenial genie. Cool, huh?’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Do you see what I’m doing now? Where we are? I do not have time for your petty bullshit.’

‘Just because you don’t care what others think doesn’t mean the rest of us can be so blasé.’ He stuck out his tongue. ‘Just for that, I won’t tell you about the twenty demons that are about to show up.’

I froze. Shite. Bob beamed and burrowed his way back into my bag while I swung my eyes from left to right. I couldn’t see anything but I knew that the Fomori could move at ridiculous speeds. They could be on me at any moment. I twisted round, checking my back. Nothing there. The Veil was already out of sight. Where...?

‘Made you look,’ Bob trilled.

I counted to ten very slowly; when that didn’t work, I lunged for Bob’s squirming figure. ‘Hey!’ he cried. ‘You make jokes all the time. Obviously you don’t like it when you’re on the receiving end.’

‘Why the hell doesn’t Kirsty Kincaid’s truth-telling Gift work with you? Nothing told me that was a lie.’

He tossed his head. ‘Duh. I wasn’t lying, I was telling a joke.’ He waved his tiny hand in the air. ‘It’s all about intentions, darling.’

My eyes narrowed. That was an interesting – and sobering ‒ difference. ‘It wasn’t a joke because it wasn’t funny.’

‘Then how do you get away with being unfunny all the time?’ he enquired. ‘Besides, it was a little bit funny. The way you panicked...’ He halted mid-speech and his eyes widened. ‘There are demons heading right this way.’

‘I’m not going to fall for that again, Bob.’

‘I’m being serious this time! Uh Integrity, hide!’

Even Bob couldn’t fake that note of terror. I flung myself on the ground and flattened my body as much as I could. My heartbeat was so loud that I was certain any creature within a ten-mile radius could hear it. I did what I could to regulate my breathing.

The only saving grace was that the demons, who numbered at least thirty, were taking some pre-designated route which didn’t involve coming this way. I watched them; it was difficult to tell from this distance but there seemed to be a tension about them that I’d not seen in our previous encounters.

I thought about what Angus had said about the look of fear on the other demon’s face. I considered what I knew of the prophecy. Were they more afraid of me than I was of them? The thought wasn’t comforting. Fear made all living creatures act rashly; in terms of fight or flight, it didn’t take a genius to work out which option the demons would take.

I was worried that the troop was heading to the Veil to attempt another attack on the Highlands but they veered away from the border. They were searching for something. Or someone. I nibbled on the inside of my cheek. Hm.

‘Uh Integrity,’ Bob whispered, once they were out of sight, ‘I have a bad feeling about this.’

I swallowed. ‘Me too.’

‘Is he really worth it?’

There was no point asking who Bob was referring to. ‘It’s not just Byron,’ I said. ‘The Fomori have enslaved others. They need my help too.’

‘You don’t know that. They might be perfectly happy working for the demons.’

I didn’t bother to answer. Bob sighed. ‘You don’t know how many are enslaved. You wouldn’t come to their rescue without knowing as much as you could about them first. Don’t kid yourself. No matter what is going on in this godforsaken land, you’re here for Byron Moncrieffe. There’s no shame in it but you’re risking your life for someone who doesn’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth.’ There was no censure in his tone; there wasn’t even any amusement. He was merely stating a fact.

I inhaled deeply. ‘I’ve accused his father of genocide, of trying to kill me. Why would he believe me? It’s his
father
.’

‘He didn’t choose Aifric Moncrieffe as his father. He chose you, though.’

I shook my head sadly. ‘I don’t think it’s possible to choose who you fall in love with. If it was, the world would be a far happier place.’

‘You think he’s in love with you?’

I shrugged awkwardly and stood up. ‘I don’t know, Bob. I think he feels a hell of a lot of lust for me, whether he wants to or not.’

‘Are you in love with him?’

I thought about the way I couldn’t get him out of my head. The way his golden hair flopped across his forehead. How his green eyes flashed when he was angry. The tone of his voice when he spoke to me and only me. The stiffness with which he’d held himself when he’d given me the prize for the Games, even though he’d won. ‘I’m here, aren’t I?’ I said eventually.

Bob cocked his head for a moment before flying up to my cheek and leaning against it as if in sympathy.

‘Thank you, Bob.’

He didn’t reply. We remained there like that for a moment longer. ‘You know,’ he said eventually, ‘we could call you Byntegrity. A romance for the ages.’ He frowned. ‘No. The other way around. Integron.’

I grunted. ‘Sounds like a Transformer.’

‘Yeah, you’re right. You should call this whole thing off. It’s not going to work after all.’

‘No,’ I said. ‘It’s probably not.’ I tucked my hair behind my ear. ‘You need to go, Bob. It’s too dangerous.’

‘I don’t want to leave you here on your own.’ His voice was small.

‘I appreciate the thought, I really do, but I can’t risk having you here. Go enjoy yourself in the Caribbean. Have a cocktail for me.’

Bob nuzzled against me. ‘I’ll go. But don’t get hurt, Uh Integrity.’ He paused. ‘You’re the only friend I’ve got.’

And then, before I could say anything else, he’d gone.

T
here was part of me that regretted sending Bob away. Annoying as he could be, and as much as we sniped at each other, I enjoyed his company. It was oddly reassuring having him by my side and I was pretty certain he felt the same way. He was my friend, as Speck or Lexie or Brochan or Taylor were. I couldn’t imagine asking the little genie for my last wish but, if I did, I worried about what would happen to him afterwards. I sighed. It seemed like all I did was worry these days. I pushed him out of my head. At least he was safe for now. For my part, the solitude and silence were clawing at me and there was a tightness around my shoulders that belied my own tension. I had to get on and find Byron. There was simply no other choice.