I experimented with the light, checking that my shadow wouldn’t give me away if I stood in the corner, and peeked out. The chance of Byron wandering in here was slim. If he did, however, I wanted to be able to scoot under the bed without him noticing the flicker of movement.

Once I was satisfied with my position, I relaxed a little. Not a moment too soon either as I heard the door opening and Byron emerging. I squinted at him through the gap. He’d dressed casually in a pair of jogging trousers and tight T-shirt. It was as if he had to show off his pecs, even when he was alone. Poser.

He moved around the room, sometimes within my line of sight and sometimes not. After downing a glass of juice which looked so orange and so tasty that I was gagging to run out and snatch it from him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. He walked to the window and murmured into it. It was annoying that I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I tensed, straining my ears, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t catch more than a word or two.

Not long after he hung up, there was a sharp rap on the door. Byron strolled over and opened it.

‘Morning. How are things?’ asked another male voice. ‘I thought you’d be done by now.’

‘Things are good,’ he answered. ‘It’s just a more delicate operation than I realised. I’m going to take my time. Come on. Let’s head downstairs and see what Jamie has to say.’

I frowned. Delicate operation? That was an odd way to talk about getting your leg over. Not that I really cared. In fact, it probably wasn’t anything to do with my little sleepover and was about the business he was in town for.

I nibbled my bottom lip. Was he here just for the Lia Saifire or was the jewel merely an added bonus? The part of me that had flirted with him the night before hoped the jewel’s disappearance wouldn’t cause him too many problems. The part of me that remembered what it was like to be eleven years old and dismissed by him hoped that it would.

I wasn’t used to feeling this conflicted and I didn’t like it.