‘That’s enough!’ snapped Donagan. ‘You’ll speak to the prince with due respect!’

‘You!’ retorted Ciar. ‘If you’re so shocked, why did you turn a blind eye to it? You must have known.’

‘Enough,’ said Blackthorn. ‘I don’t suppose anyone’s behaviour has been entirely beyond reproach; that’s for each of you to come to terms with. Just now we are only concerned with you, Ciar. Why did you lie to me about Prince Oran and what he had done to you? Why did you accuse him of rape, or something close to it?’

Ciar scowled. ‘You were always there, asking questions, looking at everything, writing in your wretched little book. I was sure you’d find out, if you didn’t already know. I guessed he – the prince – had asked you to snoop. I’d have had to be blind not to realise he’d started to suspect me. And poxy Bramble didn’t help. That dog took against me from the moment I came out of the pool. I talked to Mhairi about the best way to put you off the scent. We’d heard you at the council, seen how angry you were about that girl, what was her name? And you’d spoken out in the sewing room about men having too much power over women and not being properly answerable for what they did. If you believed Prince Oran had abused me, then you wouldn’t want to help him anymore. That was what we thought.’

‘I’m sorry, my lord.’ Mhairi was weeping again. ‘I didn’t want to, but . . .’

‘But she threatened you,’ Blackthorn said. ‘It can be hard to find the courage to stand up for what you know is right. You’ve done it now, at least. A bit late, maybe. But not too late.’

‘Too late for what?’ asked Ciar. ‘I’m not going back in that water. If that was Flidais in my body, she’s dead. There’s nobody for me to change back into. You can’t do this. It would be murder.’ The terror was back in her voice; she looked from one of us to another, her face white in the moonlight. Grim shifted his grip.

‘You know,’ said Blackthorn, ‘I don’t believe it would be. If this concerned only yourself and Lady Flidais, maybe. But there weren’t only two who went into Dreamer’s Pool that day. There were three.’ She pushed back her concealing cloak and there, in her arms, was Bramble.

Ciar stared, not understanding. Mhairi was quicker. ‘You mean – are you saying Lady Flidais has been alive all this time? That she’s in Bramble’s body?’

‘So I believe. And so Prince Oran believes. If we are right, a terrible injustice has been done, and there is only one way to fix it.’

Ciar let fly a stream of curses. She was fighting against Grim’s hold.