‘To see you safely home, Blackthorn.’ My fey benefactor came up beside me. ‘Why would you assume that I want anything more?’

‘Let’s just say I’m a natural doubter.’ I walked on, and he walked with me, a deeper shadow in the growing dusk. It was disturbing the way he moved without a sound. ‘Besides,’ I added, ‘I can see myself safely home. I’ve been doing so for years.’

‘In the past,’ Conmael said quietly, ‘there have been certain occasions when a protector might have been useful to you. That is not to deny your courage or your fighting spirit. But there is such a thing as too much independence.’

‘Bollocks,’ I said. ‘I don’t need a protector. I’m best left to get on with things alone.’ Even as I spoke, I knew that at least part of what he’d said was true. I’d never be able to confront Mathuin of Laois on my own. I’d tried, and look where it had got me. ‘For now, at least,’ I felt obliged to say.

‘Ah. But you’re not alone anymore, are you?’ Conmael’s gaze went toward the cottage window, a bright square of lamplight against the gathering dark.

I made no reply.

‘Planning to keep your guard dog long?’ he asked, off-hand.

‘What business is that of yours?’ I heard the snap in my voice; could not quite understand the sudden flare of anger. I had never intended Grim to stay, not even as long as he had. Every day I considered how I might put the suggestion to him that it was time he moved on. But it was not for Conmael to weigh in on the matter.

‘Your welfare is my business. You brought the big man with you to Dalriada, I imagine, because he asked for your help. He’s done a good enough job of making the cottage comfortable. But you don’t need him anymore. In time he might prove a liability. His story is unsavoury. If you heard it, you might have second thoughts.’

‘Stop right there.’ I halted and turned to look him in the eye. ‘It’s up to him and me what we tell about the past. I don’t want him knowing my story, and I surely don’t want to hear his from you. Grim always said the fey were meddlers, and I’m starting to believe him.’

‘He would stay, no doubt, even if he knew the whole truth about you. The dog-like devotion in his eyes makes that abundantly clear. You, on the other hand, might not be so quick to give him space in your house, indeed in your bedchamber, if you knew his background.’