‘What did you do with the horses?’ Taylor asked, handing me a cup of tea. ‘I know a guy who deals in premium horsemeat, you know. I could have taken care of them for you.’

I threw him an irritated look. He grinned in return. Now that his debts were cleared, his normal insouciance was returning. I curled my fingers round the cup’s warmth and sighed. ‘I left them in the courtyard at the Cruaich just before I returned Lily’s body to her Clan and retrieved those two.’ I nodded towards Lexie and Brochan who were sitting opposite with Speck perched on the arm of the sofa next to them. All of them looked grim, their mouths tight and tell-tale shadows under their eyes.

‘You’d seemed to think you could trust Aifric.’

My head drooped. ‘I should have known. He’s the Steward. A lot of his power might be inconsequential but he still has more of it than anyone else.’

‘Maybe it wasn’t him. Someone else could have spiked the water.’

I dug into my pocket and threw him my phone. ‘Look at the photos,’ I said dully.

The last one was the group photo that Lily had taken. Taylor examined it. ‘They don’t look happy, I’ll admit, but…’

‘Look at Aifric.’

She’d snapped it at just the right moment. When you enlarged the photo, it was easy to see. Aifric was fingering a tiny silver ball with veins of red running through it. I’d seen one of those before – Charlie had tried to give me one. It was filled with poison.

‘I was a fool,’ I said. ‘I thought it was the Kincaids who hated me, the Darrochs too. But it turns out that Aifric Moncrieffe is an excellent actor. William Kincaid was collateral damage. And so was Lily.’

‘What about his son? Byron, is it?’

Something clutched at my heart. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think he’s involved but I can’t be sure. I can’t be sure of anything any more.’

‘I found out a lot when you were gone,’ Lexie admitted. ‘The Moncrieffes are destitute because Aifric’s been forced to pass a lot of money to some of the other Clans. He’s been doing it for years.’ She swallowed. ‘Ever since Clan Adair.’

‘Bribes. To cover up whatever it was he did.’

‘You think he’s responsible for what happened with your father?’

I shrugged helplessly. ‘It seems that way.’

Speck shifted. ‘The vast majority of the Clan-less don’t give a flying bejesus what happens with the Sidhe but…’

Taylor broke in. ‘But anyone who met Gale Adair has nothing but good things to say about him. No matter what he might have done.’

My eyes flew to his. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘If you’d dwelled on your life with the Sidhe, I would have. But you wanted to forget that part of you had ever existed. You were just a kid, Tegs. You needed to heal. If you didn’t want to know, then I wasn’t going to stir up the past for you.’

I understood the sentiment. But while I might have needed Taylor’s protection when I was eleven years old, I certainly didn’t need it now. My world had been turned on its head and nothing would ever be the same again. ‘Did you find anything at the Adair lands, Brochan?’ I swallowed. ‘At my lands?’

He took a moment before answering. ‘There’s definitely still evidence of an immense battle. Old scorch marks, rubble that no-one’s cleared up. That kind of thing. It’s been too long though. I can’t say what happened with any certainty.’

Speck looked at me with dark, worried eyes. ‘He’s going to know you’re still alive. He’s not going to stop trying to get rid of you. I don’t know what his reasons are, but with the Foinse out in the open and no issue any more with the magic, he has no cause to keep you alive. Especially now that you know he tried to kill you.’

‘He’s much more dangerous than the Bull ever was,’ I agreed. ‘Aifric is intelligent enough to manipulate people into believing that he’s a decent guy.’ I took a deep breath and stood up. ‘But he’s not going to be sure whether I know his true nature or not. He’ll expect me to suspect him but he doesn’t know I have proof. I can use that. I need time to find out more about what happened all those years ago. If I’m going to expose him, I’ll need evidence of what happened to my parents and the rest of Clan Adair. Not to mention why it happened.’

‘What’s the plan?’ Lexie asked. ‘Because whatever it is, I want in.’

‘Me too,’ Speck piped up. ‘There’s no way I’m letting that blue-haired pixie get all the glory.’

‘I’m in too,’ Brochan agreed. ‘Aifric Moncrieffe isn’t going to get away with this.’

Taylor stood up as well. ‘So Integrity? What is the plan?’

I looked at him. ‘You’re normally the man with the plan.’

He smiled, although his smile was tinged with a sad pride. ‘I think the student has become the master. You held it together through all this. I’m the one who fell apart.’

I squeezed his arm.

‘All you need to do,’ Bob drawled from where he lounged on a cushion, ‘is wish for…’

‘No,’ we chorused. ‘No wishing.’

I looked at them all. ‘You have to do bad shit to get ahead. I’m not going to fight Aifric. But I am going to be smarter than him. We’ll sort out things with the money and lull him into a false sense of security. Then we’ll go back to normal and act as if nothing’s happened.’

Lexie’s brow furrowed. ‘How’s that going to help?’

My eyes gleamed. ‘Because it’ll force him to come to me. He won’t be able to help himself. Bit by bit, I’m going to make Aifric Moncrieffe my bitch. And then I’m going to destroy him.’

Bob lazily got to his feet. ‘And his son?’

I looked away. ‘Sometimes there’s collateral damage.’