“I’m not going to kill Ricky,” Gabriel said, and I stopped dead, my heart pounding. “You can whisper all you like. I’m not Gwynn.”

“No, boy. You don’t have the balls.”

“If you think that will provoke me, then you understand me much less than you believe. I might be Gwynn’s representative in this drama. I’ll accept that. I’ll even accept that there’s more to it than that, that part of me is Gwynn. But the whole is not, and that’s a choice I am free to make.”

“Pretty speech, but you aren’t in front of a judge here, Gabriel. I’ve already rendered my judgment and delivered my verdict.”

“Arawn dies at Gwynn’s hands. Something tells me you don’t want peace after all. What a surprise.”

“My, you are cynical. Your darling Matilda bought it quite handily.” Tristan’s voice took on that earnest tone from the lake. “I just want everyone to get along. Give peace a chance.” His voice reverted to normal. “You didn’t believe me for a second. Too bad you didn’t tell her that. So, Mr. Walsh, attorney-at-law, tell me, what’s my real plan? Let’s see that illustrious mind at work.”

“Chaos. That is your plan. Your only plan. You set James against me to separate me from Olivia. When that failed, you decided to remove me from the picture. But you can’t kill me. You don’t dare provoke the Tylwyth Teg like that. So you murdered James and framed me. I did consider the possibility you were working for the Cwn Annwn, since all your plans involved removing me. But the fact that you’re now ordering me to kill Ricky proves the Cwn Annwn are innocent in this scheme. Which means your plan is, as I said, chaos. War, to be precise. The Tylwyth Teg already blame the Cwn Annwn for my arrest. Then the Cwn Annwn would blame them for Ricky’s death. You take both of us away from Olivia, and you set the two local fae factions at war, with their so-called champions both lost.”

Gabriel had been raising his voice for each of his speeches. Nothing obvious, just enough that, if I was still in earshot, I might pick it up. It also helped to muffle my footsteps as I returned, picking up speed as he talked, then slowing when he stopped.

“Would you like to know your next step, too?” Gabriel continued, in that same unhurried way, as if he were indeed in front of a judge, and the case wasn’t really all that important.

“Please.”