‘A tale for another day,’ says Conmael. Doesn’t want to talk about it, that’s plain as plain. Too painful. Would be, wouldn’t it? ‘Suffice it to say that cruelty and kindness exist in both worlds. There are folk who love unwisely; folk whose burning need for vengeance blinds them to common sense. Folk eaten up by jealousy, such as the woman who pronounced the curse you encountered at Bann. Folk with a mad lust for power, caring little who falls by the wayside. And folk who do their small best to mend, to heal, to make peace. Those, too, who have in us both good and bad. Who must work hard every day to keep our hearts steady and our minds in balance.’

Blackthorn doesn’t say anything. Just looks at him.

‘And in that, I have long believed we should help one another,’ says Conmael. ‘Did you mention a favour?’

Blackthorn takes a big breath. ‘The promise I made you,’ she begins. ‘The seven years. Is there a chance you might reconsider? There is an opportunity. Or there was. An opportunity to testify against Mathuin of Laois at a council of his peers. A secret council.’

‘Was,’ says Conmael. ‘Not is?’

She explains. About the attack on Flidais’s parents, and the king’s council at Cahercorcan, and the Swan Island men. About this meeting being so secret she had to go at the last moment, and how she ended up saying no. Conmael’s still as stone, listening. A bad thought comes into my head. If he says he’ll do it, if he turns back time so she can get there to testify, that’ll leave me trussed up in Tóla’s root cellar bleeding all over the floor. Waiting to be fed screamers and die. Hope she’s thought of that.

‘I tried to call you,’ Blackthorn says. ‘All different ways. Over and over. When they told me about this, I wanted to go with your blessing, not to break the rules.’

‘Not to risk my meddling with time? But is that not what you are about to ask for now?’

‘I’m hoping you will release me from my promise, Conmael. Not all of it, but the part about not seeking out Mathuin. He is coming north. Or more likely being brought north. I can’t tell you if the place is in Dalriada or over the border. But the hearing is properly organised, even if it’s not quite being done by the rules. The High King has given it his blessing.’ She’s keeping her voice down. Remembering she’s been told not to talk about it.

‘Let me understand this fully. After turning down this opportunity, the one you have craved for so long, in order to save your friend here,’ – he gives me a nod – ‘you wish me to take you back to this morning so you can make the other choice? Condemn him to his fate?’