Last Wish (Highland Magic #4)(10)

Taylor eyed me. ‘What do you care? You’ve lived most of your life without giving a hoot about any Sidhe, living or dead.’

Angus nodded in agreement. ‘The Clans have always ignored you. Leave them to their machinations.’

I glanced from one to the other and sighed. ‘I can’t pretend that I’m that person any more,’ I said quietly. ‘And one way or another I’m going to bring down Aifric Moncrieffe.’

‘Even if it means destroying his son in the process?’

I looked down. ‘I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.’ I was hoping I wouldn’t. Unfortunately, there’s no fool like an optimistic fool.

‘Three to one this is going to end in disaster,’ Taylor said. My head shot back up and I glared at him. ‘Those are pretty good odds given the circumstances.’

I tutted in disgust, although I appreciated that he was doing what he could to lighten the mood. ‘Let’s stay focused, shall we?’ I pulled off my headscarf and let the wind do its worst to my hair, whipping it round my face in white tangles. ‘Maybe we should concentrate on the Bull. He’s the weak link in all this and not just because I have his true name. He must know that his daughter is missing. I mean, she’s been with us for months.’

‘He’s telling everyone that she’s sick and is staying at home.’

‘Obviously she’s not though,’ I persisted. ‘Why hasn’t he done something to stop the wedding?’

‘That’s easy,’ Lexie said, appearing from behind the nearest dune and holding hands with Speck. ‘He’s afraid of Aifric.’

‘He’ll have more cause to be afraid when Aifric’s only son gets jilted at the altar. We need to find out for sure,’ I said decisively. ‘They could be in cahoots and he could lead us to Aifric’s true motives. The Scrymgeour borders are weak because of the lack of trolls guarding them. We can slip through.’

Speck frowned. ‘There’s no we,’ he chided. ‘You don’t have enough of Tipsania’s Invisibility Gift left and you can’t afford to let Aifric see you and realise you’re still alive.’

‘Except,’ I grinned, ‘I’m the only one who knows the layout of his castle. It’s too complicated to map out for you. I have to go. I can conceal myself well enough without magic.’

‘Brochan won’t like it.’

I shrugged.

Lexie tilted her chin, her blue hair ruffled by the wind. ‘Speaking of the grumpy merman, where is Brochan? Did he find Candy?’

‘No trace of the Wild Man. They’re a law unto themselves at the best of times.’ I smirked. ‘Brochan is hiding back there, away from the sea. Bob is keeping him company.’

We exchanged glances. I pushed myself onto my tiptoes and looked over the bank of sand. Bob was wearing a rather startling mankini and tugging at the finger of a glowering and sneezing Brochan as he tried to get him to move closer to the sea.

‘I think Brochan will be happy we’re going to the Bull. At least we’ll be inland,’ Lexie mused.

Speck still appeared troubled. ‘This castle. We’re not going to have to scale any walls, are we? And it doesn’t have any mice or bats or anything, right? Or cramped spaces?’

My smile widened. ‘You’re the most powerful warlock in Scotland now, Specky. All you have to do is cast a spell.’

‘I’d rather stay here by the sea,’ he muttered.

‘What do you call a warlock who hangs out on the beach?’ I received nothing but sighs of irritation in response. ‘A surfer druid!’

‘I have to say it, Tegs,’ Lexie interjected. ‘That’s truly the worst one you’ve told us for a long time.’

‘Yeah. I’m under a lot of pressure these days, though,’ I admitted. ‘Stick with me and I’ll do better soon.’

She raised her eyes to the heavens. ‘That’s what I’m afraid of.’

***

We left Angus to return to the MacQuarries. It was no secret that he’d sworn fealty to me on their behalf and, even with my alleged death, it was important that he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary which might raise suspicion. Having him – and the rest of his Clan – on our side made me feel considerably better. Despite my jokey bravado, however, I had mixed feelings about coming back to the Bull’s corner of Scotland.

Taylor pulled up in the same layby where we’d first met all those years before and I couldn’t prevent a shiver rattling down my spine as I stared at the familiar spot. With the wedding less than two weeks away, time was of the essence. We couldn’t afford to run back to the Adair Lands so that I could nab some more of Tipsania’s Gift. Even so, I was starting to regret not taking a couple of hours to find a Sidhe in Aberdeen whose Gifts I could steal. I was being brave, not foolhardy, I told myself. This was necessary.

Lexie, Speck, Brochan and Bob were oblivious to the historical nature of our surroundings but Taylor and I got out of the car and stayed silent, looking around then looking at each other. ‘It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?’ I asked him eventually. ‘If you’d left five minutes earlier…’

‘Or if you’d come out at a different spot…’

I smiled at him. ‘You’d probably have been arrested. You’d have ended up in the clink as the buddy of some hulking Bauchan with wobbly tattoos and a penchant for ginger-haired humans.’