Gifted Thief (Highland Magic #1)(42)

Byron coughed. ‘I need to take Integrity up to her room. I’ll come and find you later, alright?’

She beamed. ‘I’ll look forward to it.’

Taking my elbow, he led me away. Once we were out of earshot, I couldn’t help myself. ‘You and Tipsy, eh? How long has that been going on?’

‘It’s complicated,’ he grunted. ‘And I’m sorry you had to bump into her like that. I know she wasn’t very nice to you when you were a kid.’

Wasn’t very nice? That was an understatement. ‘You weren’t very nice to me either, Byron.’

He didn’t look at me. ‘No,’ he said after a long pause. ‘I don’t suppose I was.’

We lapsed into silence. I still wanted answers to my questions about the naming but I sensed this wasn’t the right time. He’d shoved his hands into his pockets and was looking particularly grim. I’d find someone else to explain - Byron apparently had far weightier things to worry about.

He deposited me in a small suite of rooms in the high reaches of the castle without saying another single word. It wasn’t until he was preparing to leave that he grunted that someone would come to help me settle in. Whatever that entailed.

Still, I was finally getting some much-needed solitude. I looked around the rooms approvingly. While I was betting that the other Sidhe were housed in far more luxurious quarters, the simple elegance here pleased me. Until I sat down on the bed; it was rock hard. I tried bouncing up and down and received nothing more than a sore arse for my efforts. I snorted. Well, it wasn’t like I was here to sleep.

Checking the door and the corridor and satisfied that I was well and truly alone, I opened my bag and pulled out the letter opener. I had been rather mean to Bob the last time we talked and I needed him on my side. Especially now. Steeling myself for some grovelling, I unsheathed the blade and gave it a good rub.

Bob appeared with the now-familiar flash of light. That was a start at least. He was, however, clearly put out. I received a petulant grimace before he turned his back on me, sat down and crossed his legs and his arms.

‘Come on, Bob,’ I soothed. ‘Don’t be like that.’

He didn’t answer.

‘I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings before or to take advantage of you. I won’t do it again. I promise.’

When he still refused to look at me, I reached out with my little finger and gave him the gentlest poke. ‘You know how you were impressed with the luxury of the last place? Wait until you see where we are now.’

His body jerked. I was getting somewhere.

‘It’s not as opulent,’ I continued, ‘but it’s certainly exciting. You must be bored being stuck in that knife all the time. Now you can do something more interesting.’

He muttered a few words under his breath. I leaned forward, not quite catching them. ‘What was that?’

‘Dagger. It’s not a knife. It’s not for buttering bread. It’s a dagger. In fact,’ he said, ‘from now on you will only refer to it as a sword. Or a scimitar. Yes. Call it a scimitar.’

I pressed my lips together, forcing myself not to laugh. The letter opener was about as far removed from a scimitar as I was from a troll. If that was all it took to appease him, though, I could manage it.

‘Scimitar, then. It must be boring inside the scimitar.’

‘It’s not so bad. I have Deep Space Nine to keep me company.’

I whistled. ‘The boxset?’

‘The entire boxset. Frankly, you’re interrupting my viewing.’

Sitting down with a slab of chocolate and some classic sci-fi sounded incredibly appealing and I was genuinely envious. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to see if it was within his powers to lend it to me. How did he even get it inside the knife? Distracting questions swirled around my head before I tamped them down and got back to business.

‘You’ve still not asked where we are,’ I said, dangling the carrot in front of him again.

He sniffed. ‘I don’t need you to tell me. I’m perfectly capable of working it out for myself. I’m a vastly powerful magical being, remember? I…’ He halted in mid-flow. Then he stood up and slowly spun round, his expression full of awe. ‘The Cruaich? We’re at the Cruaich? Girlfriend!’

I grinned. ‘See? I knew you wouldn’t be disappointed.’

He bounced up and down. ‘I thought you were some crappy minor Sidhe with no powers. But you’ve brought me to the Sidhe Court. I’ve never been to the Sidhe Court before. Are the hallways really paved in gold?’

‘Er, not exactly.’

‘Oh.’ He seemed disappointed. ‘But I bet all the plates are encrusted with diamonds, right? I like diamonds.’

‘I have a fondness for shiny, sparkly things myself,’ I confided. ‘But I’ve not been given anything to eat so I can’t tell you what the kitchenware is like.’

His expression was eager. ‘Find out. You must find out.’

‘I will do my best.’

My earlier rudeness apparently forgotten, Bob leapt onto the palm of my hand, belly-flopping and linking his fingers underneath his chin. ‘So, why are we here?’

‘Something to do with the Foinse and the flow of magic. It’s running out or broken. I’m going to help open it so it can be…’ I hesitated. Actually, I was bit unclear about what was going to happen once it had been accessed. Rebooted, perhaps?