Gifted Thief (Highland Magic #1)(72)

I twirled a strand of hair round my finger. I needed to tread carefully. ‘I was in the library the other day. The Cruaich one, I mean. I couldn’t find anything about the Adairs. Anywhere.’

Aifric took my hands. ‘It was a difficult time in our history,’ he said. ‘We tried to keep it as quiet as we could. There are a lot of people in the Clans. We didn’t want the Clan-less to realise we were vulnerable and we definitely didn’t want anyone else getting ideas.’

‘Ideas of genocide?’ I was confused.

‘Some things are better forgotten.’ He squeezed my fingers. ‘Anyway, will you come and eat?’

I was tempted to try and hold him back, to pry out more information. From the look on his face, however, I’d pushed him as far as I could for now. Nevertheless, I decided that it might be worth cultivating my relationship with Aifric Moncrieffe, no matter how his son felt.

I was passed a plate as soon as I sat down. My fingers brushed inadvertently against the Kincaid Chieftain’s as I took it from him. I’d never seen anyone flinch so obviously.

I cocked my head. ‘Do you think that you’ll catch a disease by touching me?’ I asked. ‘Or are you afraid that I’ll take offence that you touched me and murder you tonight in your sleep?’

His younger Clan companion joined him, expression blazing. ‘Adair,’ he snarled. ‘You think you’re important now. Once the Foinse is dealt with, you will crawl back to the dirty hole you came from. You’re no one.’

Aifric threw an arm round his shoulders. ‘Relax, Malcolm. We are all friends here.’

Malcolm Kincaid didn’t look happy but he didn’t throw off Aifric’s arm either. He subsided in a series of grumbles before eventually going to the other side of the fire –as far away from me as possible.

Aware of Byron watching me, I picked up a hunk of crusty bread then said to no-one in particular, ‘A man asked his friend, “Want to hear a joke about butter?” His friend was like, “Sure.” The man thought about it then changed his mind. “Nah, I butter not tell you. You might spread it.”’

They all stared at me. ‘Not my best, I admit,’ I said, then ignored them all and ate my dinner.

*

The next day, as we started to ride again, my muscles screamed with pain. I couldn’t stop thinking about Darth Vader. He was evil. In fact, he was arguably one of the best science fiction villains ever created. When Taylor introduced me to Star Wars not long after I joined him, I was utterly terrified. But I was convinced that, while I might tread on the wrong side of the law and I was far from perfect, I wasn’t evil. And, in the end, as well as the beginning (although I refused to dwell too much on those films), Darth Vader wasn’t bad. He was also Luke Skywalker’s father.

Darth Vader and my dad were not all that different. It’d be nice to think that my father didn’t go in for the whole heavy breathing thing, though – that was just creepy.

‘I’m Luke,’ I said decisively to Lily, who was dreamily gazing up at the sky. ‘I don’t have a light saber – and I wouldn’t want to use it even if I did have one –but I think I’m Luke.’

Barbie whinnied in agreement.

‘Lookee, lookee,’ Lily hummed.

‘Of course,’ I grumbled, ‘people generally liked Luke. No-one bullied him. He was a hero.’

‘Gale Adair was a hero,’ Lily said.

I froze. ‘Was he?’ I asked carefully. ‘Can you explain why?’

She gazed at me, her expression reflecting a clarity I’d not seen since we set off yesterday. ‘He saved people,’ she said. ‘They say he didn’t but he did. He was a good man.’

I stared at her. Unlike everyone else I’d seen so far, her aura was continually changing colour like a kaleidoscope. Right now, there were shimmers of blue not all that different to those I’d seen for Speck. It was frustrating that I had this key to people’s souls and I still couldn’t unlock it. ‘What happened, Lily?’

‘He was betrayed, Chieftain. Make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to you.’ Her aura changed again, settling into a cloudy white.

‘Lily,’ I hissed, ‘this is important. How was he betrayed?’

She placed her finger to her lips. ‘Shhh,’ she said. ‘There are ears. Ears of corn. Bunny ears. Big ears.’ She winked.

I looked up and noticed that both the Kincaids and the Darrochs had twisted round in their saddles and were frowning at us. I clenched my fists – and my entire body tightened. Barbie, sensing the movement and misinterpreting it, abruptly sped up into a canter. She narrowly avoided Diana Darroch’s huge bay gelding and made a beeline for Byron’s black monster. I tried in vain to pull her up but I guess his swishing tail just looked too tempting to eat.

Byron’s horse was unimpressed. He swung his round to take a bite out of Barbie.

‘Hey! Leave my horse alone!’ Okay, she started it but still, he was at least double her size.

‘Then keep your pony under control,’ Byron hissed.

Aifric smiled. ‘Help her out, Byron.’

Byron muttered something under his breath and pulled back. ‘You’re still doing it all wrong,’ he observed calmly, although the dark jade in his eyes suggested he was feeling something different.