He raised a hand in acknowledgment. Feeling Byron’s gaze, I smiled tightly and walked on.

‘Jamie is a good man,’ he told me quietly. ‘I’d hate to think you were toying with him.’

Actually, I felt a bit sorry for Jamie. He’d probably been chewed out by Byron and was suffused with embarrassment when he saw me. Well, two could play the cryptic game. ‘As you said, Byron dear, not everything is as it seems.’

Without waiting for his reaction, I strode ahead, halting only when I reached the edge of the grove. I peered inside. There was a path and there were a lot of trees but I couldn’t make out much else.

‘You know,’ I said to Byron as he reached my side, ‘when I was four or five, I made the mistake of stumbling into the Scrymgeour grove. I didn’t get very far. It was probably only a few metres. The reactions I got though?’ I whistled and shook my head. ‘You’d think I’d tried to commit murder.’

He squeezed my fingers. ‘That was wrong,’ he said simply. ‘The groves are holy places to us all but you were only a child.’

I stared in, emotions warring inside me. Trepidation was winning. ‘Are you going to come with me?’

‘No.’ He released my hand. ‘Only one person should enter at any time. It makes it less confusing for the ancestors.’

‘But whose ancestors will I meet?’ I whispered.

Byron didn’t answer. From here on in, I really was on my own. I reached for Bob’s scimitar and handed it over. Byron looked confused. ‘You’re giving me a letter opener?’

It was safer not to get into a discussion about what it actually was. Not with Bob listening in. ‘Just hold onto it for me, will you? It has, um, sentimental value.’

Despite my concerns that someone was out to get me, I couldn’t risk Bob hearing my true name. There was no telling what he’d do with that kind of power. And even if Byron tried to clean the blade, Bob wouldn’t appear. Until I used up my wishes – or died – I was Bob’s owner. Besides, the sacred groves were places of peace. It would be sacrilege for someone to attack me here.

Byron nodded, watching as I squared my shoulders. With a deep breath, I crossed into the grove and focused on logical thinking rather than my twisty emotions. Truth be told, I was hoping that my true name would be something manageable. My knowledge of formal Sidhe language was scanty; it was just as well it was only used in ceremonial settings and for legal documents, or I’d be stumbling around here without a clue about what was being said around me.