‘Let go of my horse!’ I screamed. ‘Get out of my way!’ Escort, hah! I’d need to be stupid to believe that.

The other one was off his horse now and grabbing for the knife. I struggled to control the panicking mare as I slashed out in defence, snarling an oath. Then, so quick I hardly knew what had happened, the first man had hold of the mare’s reins and the other had twisted the knife out of my hand. Bile rose to my mouth.

‘It’s a choice, Mistress Blackthorn,’ said the man with the knife. ‘You can keep on fighting us, so we have to tie your wrists and take you under guard. Or you can see sense and ride along with us. Ségán wants you escorted wherever you go from now on. Our orders are to bring you safely back.’

Wait a moment. Ségán wants? I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better look at them through the downpour. Made myself draw a slow breath; did not like the way it shuddered in my chest. Yes, they were familiar. Swan Island men, from Winterfalls. Why had they set on me with such violence?

‘You scared me,’ I said. ‘What business is it of Ségán’s or anyone else’s where I go or what I do?’ They could still be in Mathuin’s pay. I had doubted them from the first time I saw them. I’d never understood why they were in the district.

‘He’ll explain that back at Winterfalls,’ said one of them. I guessed it was the man called Caolchú, though I wasn’t sure. The other one was probably Art, the tallest of them.

‘Why don’t you explain it right here and now? You could be taking me anywhere.’

‘Our orders are to bring you back. And to keep you safe. What has to be said is best said behind closed doors.’

‘Behind closed doors where nobody can see or hear what’s going on.’ Winterfalls? I didn’t think so. If not all the way to Mathuin’s hellhole, they’d take me to some place just like it. I tried to keep my breathing steady. Tried thinking of Grim, but that didn’t help. I saw him in the lockup with me, staring out through the bars, a big, shaggy-bearded man with sad eyes. Calling me Lady when everyone else had a foul name for me. Talking to me softly amid the screaming and shouting and the begging for mercy. ‘At least have the guts to tell me the truth,’ I said. ‘Who really sent you? Where are you really taking me?’