Gifted Thief (Highland Magic #1)(74)

‘I don’t know,’ Aifric replied. ‘A few hours, I expect.’

‘We should eat first,’ Diana said. ‘Then we can leave the rest of our supplies here.’

He pursed his lips. ‘Good idea.’

Byron walked past me. He was whistling and carrying some wood which he must have collected from the campsite. He turned up and gave me an arch look. ‘You’re going to have to get off sometime,’ he said. His mouth curled up in a smile. ‘Barbie needs the rest. Would you like some help?’

I had a sudden vision of falling on top of him because I couldn’t hold my own weight any more. He’d definitely be carrying some wood then, I’d straddle his chest. It would be similar to our position in the penthouse – except the ground was hard and there was an audience.

‘It’s fine,’ I sniffed. ‘I can manage.’ I looked helplessly round and caught Lily’s eye.

She beamed at me and danced over. Byron’s smirk grew then he continued on his way.

‘How are you, Chieftain?’ she asked.

‘I’m okay, Lily but I might need a bit of help getting down. I’m rather stiff.’

‘I wouldn’t worry about it too much,’ Malcolm interrupted. ‘I’m sure after the Foinse is opened, you won’t feel any pain at all.’

Lily and I stared at him. I licked my lips. ‘And why is that?’

He gave me a long look filled with cold amusement. ‘It’ll be so reinvigorating that’ll you’ll forget all about your aches.’

Or I’ll be an unfeeling corpse, I thought. I’d received his message loud and clear. I glanced at Aifric who was murmuring to William, the Kincaid Chieftain. Would he step in? Would Byron?

‘Give me your hand, Chieftain,’ Lily said. ‘I’ll help you.’

I realised that her aura had changed again. It was a crisp green that reminded me of spring. ‘Are you sure? I don’t want to squash you.’

She flexed her muscles. ‘I feel very strong.’ She tapped her head. ‘And the cobwebs have gone. It’s good here.’

‘It’s the Foinse,’ Diana said. ‘It’s affecting her.’

I heard Byron grunt. ‘It’s affecting me too. I can’t light the fire.’

We turned to him, watching him flick his fingers. No matter what he did, nothing worked. He grinned ruefully. ‘Does anyone have a lighter or some matches?’

Aifric grimaced. ‘I was afraid of this.’

I watched them warily. ‘Afraid of what?’

‘We’re too close to the Foinse. Its hold here is too strong. Our Gifts won’t work.’

Diana’s brow furrowed. ‘How are we going to fix it then?’

‘There will be a way,’ Aifric said.

‘How do you know?’

‘Because there has to be,’ he replied simply.

Tension uncoiled deep within me. How could this have happened? How could they be so poorly prepared that they’d not thought about this eventuality? It was beyond ridiculous.

I made an effort to get off Barbie and swung one leg round. Sharp needles of pain shot through my legs and I thought better of it.

‘You should never walk into something without knowing what the possible outcomes are!’ I said, throwing my hands up in the air even though it made me wobble dangerously and almost fall off the saddle. ‘We might make the Foinse worse instead of better! I put my trust in you lot. I thought you knew what you were doing!’

‘Shut that bitch up,’ the Darroch Chieftain muttered.

In a flash, Byron was in front of her. ‘Don’t call her that. She didn’t have to come here and help us.’

Actually, I kind of did, Byron. You forced me into it.

‘Yeah,’ sneered Malcolm, ‘you don’t want to annoy her. She might go nuts just like her father and murder us all.’

‘That’s enough!’ Aifric roared. ‘I understand tensions are running high but this is neither the time nor the place! We have far greater things to worry about. This young lady has endured two attempts on her life and yet she’s still here. Do you remember when you found the adder in your bed, Dorienne? You didn’t leave your lands for a year after that! She’s here helping and she’s braver than the lot of you.’

I felt flustered at the attention and unhappy that my outburst had caused a scene. All these Sidhe wankers – myself included – had a lot of pent-up frustration. Maybe I should recommend yoga?

‘We’ll go to the Foinse and see what the situation is,’ Aifric continued. ‘If we can’t fix it without our Gifts, then at least we can try to understand what the problem is. If we need to go back to the Cruaich and re-group then that’s what we do.’

I was alarmed. I didn’t want to spend any longer among this lot than was necessary, even if a delay meant there was less likely to be another attempt to kill me. Besides, if I stuck around to find out what had really happened to my parents and the rest of the Adair Clan, I wanted it to be on my terms, not because I was forced to wait for someone to come up with a solution for the Foinse.

I looked at their faces. There was a lot of anger towards me, bitterness towards Aifric and resignation that our quest was already doomed. Taylor was a great believer in positive thinking when it came to heists. If we walked into a job thinking we were going to fail, then we would. What was needed around here was some optimism.