Without thinking, I grabbed the letter opener and rubbed it furiously against my thigh. ‘Bob!’ I shrieked.

He appeared in an instant, his gaze sweeping from me to Lily’s prone form.

‘I wish for you to save her!’ I shouted. He didn’t move. ‘Bob!’ I said again. ‘Do something!’

His expression was sorrowful. ‘I can’t. I can’t change death, Uh Integrity. That’s beyond even my powers.’

‘She’s not dead! She was just here! She was fine. She…’

‘She’s gone.’ He flew up to my face and pressed his little hand against my cheek. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘But… but…’ I stammered. I stared down at her. Her eyes were wide and unseeing.

Swatting Bob away, I tilted back Lily’s head and began mouth to mouth resuscitation. I thumped her chest again. ‘Come on, Lily!’

‘She’s not coming back,’ Bob said.

I ignored him. ‘She has to!’ I breathed into her mouth again. I could taste something bitter on my lips, followed by a strange tingle. Rubbing my mouth with the cuff of my sleeve, I spat on the ground.

‘Integrity,’ he said, using my name correctly for the first time. ‘She’s dead.’

Tears blinded me. I rocked back on my heels. ‘I don’t understand,’ I sobbed. ‘I don’t get it.’

My hands fell to my sides, knocking over the bottle of water that had fallen when Lily had. I looked down at it blurrily and the bottom drained out of my world.

Chapter Twenty-Five

‘What did you do with the horses?’ Taylor asked, handing me a cup of tea. ‘I know a guy who deals in premium horsemeat, you know. I could have taken care of them for you.’

I threw him an irritated look. He grinned in return. Now that his debts were cleared, his normal insouciance was returning. I curled my fingers round the cup’s warmth and sighed. ‘I left them in the courtyard at the Cruaich just before I returned Lily’s body to her Clan and retrieved those two.’ I nodded towards Lexie and Brochan who were sitting opposite with Speck perched on the arm of the sofa next to them. All of them looked grim, their mouths tight and tell-tale shadows under their eyes.

‘You’d seemed to think you could trust Aifric.’

My head drooped. ‘I should have known. He’s the Steward. A lot of his power might be inconsequential but he still has more of it than anyone else.’

‘Maybe it wasn’t him. Someone else could have spiked the water.’

I dug into my pocket and threw him my phone. ‘Look at the photos,’ I said dully.

The last one was the group photo that Lily had taken. Taylor examined it. ‘They don’t look happy, I’ll admit, but…’

‘Look at Aifric.’