The official story was that they’d been hired to supplement the household guard while Oran and his entourage were away. That was believable. But why so many? These were hard men, highly trained and ruthless. I could see it in their eyes and in the way they moved and in the weaponry they carried. Their nice manners – and they all proved to be like Cúan, courteous almost to a fault – could not disguise the fact that these were no ordinary men-at-arms.

While I worked on my document, Cara read story after story and rhyme after rhyme. So far she’d found nothing about a heartwood house. I asked Aedan whether the druid, Oisin, was expected to visit Winterfalls any time soon, and was told that Oisin came and went in his own time, which I knew already. Time passed and I grew more and more ill-tempered. I wished I had not promised to keep an eye on Cara. I wished I had never heard of Wolf Glen or Master Tóla or his poxy heartwood house. As for those so-called guards walking around the place, every time one of them said good day or gave me a polite smile, I thought of Mathuin’s henchmen coming to take me away. My dreams were full of unspeakable things.

‘Mistress Blackthorn?’

I started in fright, dropping my quill. Cara was standing right by my desk. I whipped a spare sheet of parchment over my work, even though the ink was still wet.

‘You look terrible,’ Cara said, blunt as always. ‘You should get up and walk around for a while. That’s what you’re always telling me.’

I felt weak and dizzy. My mind was half in the nightmare past. ‘I’m fine,’ I said. ‘Forget about me, do your own work.’ I tried to stand up, but my knees refused to cooperate. My neck ached. How long had I been sitting here?

‘You look sick. Shall I fetch someone?’

‘No! I don’t want anyone!’ Only Grim, to make a brew and sit with me while we drank it, and wait until I was ready before he spoke. Morrigan’s curse, the big man had put up with a lot from me since the day we’d escaped the lockup.

‘It’s time to stop anyway,’ Cara said. ‘Let’s go outside. I’ll show you my favourite tree.’ She flashed a smile. ‘If you come with me, I won’t need Mhairi.’

‘I must put this away first.’