Blackthorn’s sitting on the dry-stone wall with everyone moving around her, and a look in her eyes that says Cass and Brennan are only a finger’s-breadth away. Folk are speaking to her and she’s taking no heed at all. It’s like she’s blind and deaf. I find Donagan, tap him on the shoulder, make sure he’s listening.

‘Branoc. What happens to him?’

Donagan doesn’t take offence, which is just as well since I’m not in the kindest mood. ‘He’ll be kept in confinement. Within the prince’s residence. There are many guards; he won’t escape, I promise you. At the next open council he’ll be called to account for his actions. Prince Oran will hear everyone’s story of what happened. He’ll arbitrate. That includes deciding on an appropriate punishment.’

I make some kind of noise meaning all right, and glance over at Blackthorn, who hasn’t moved. I can tell her, at least, that the bastard will face justice. Donagan’s looking at me, and I think he’s got some understanding of what’s going through my head, so I say, quiet-like, ‘Wanted to kill him, that’s the truth. Came close to it. She said no. Justice, she said, you’ve got to give him justice.’

‘She was right.’

‘Thing is, her and me, we haven’t always seen justice done. Being a chieftain, being a prince, that doesn’t always mean a man’s wise or fair.’

‘On matters of this kind, Prince Oran is both,’ Donagan says, sounding as if he believes it. ‘Be assured that he will make a just decision.’

‘Mm-hm.’

‘Your house,’ Donagan goes on. ‘You’ll need somewhere to live while it’s rebuilt. If nobody can accommodate you in Winterfalls village, I am certain Prince Oran will wish to offer you a place within his own residence for as long as you need it. He was impressed by what you did yesterday, the two of you. Am I right in thinking Branoc may be responsible for this fire as well as the girl’s abduction and her father’s death? It seems improbable, otherwise, that he would have come so close to your house. Common sense would have seen him putting as many miles between himself and the scene of his offences as he could.’

‘Vengeance,’ I say, nodding. ‘We take his woman, as he sees it, and he torches our house. Lucky we weren’t in it at the time.’

‘Lucky indeed.’ Donagan takes a look at the broken and charred thing that was our home. ‘But unlucky too; I know how hard you worked on the place.’