Nothing happened. There was a series of clicks from the worm but unless my adrenaline had truly kicked in to the point where I could feel zero pain, it wasn’t actually eating me. I lifted up one eyelid. The worm’s blind eyes were turned in Jamie’s direction. It hissed and spat. Jamie whined once more then I fell to the ground with a heavy thump as the worm released its hold on me. It withdrew every tentacle, lifted its head up in sea-monster acknowledgement and a heartbeat later it slithered out of the window and vanished.

I stared at the spot it had just vacated. Pushing away the urge to scream, I scrambled to my feet and lurched to the window. The stoor worm was already on the ground, its body snaking with incredible speed towards the Tay. A few Sidhe standing around far below shrieked, but the worm paid them no attention. Before I could draw another breath, it was out of sight.

Jamie shook his head in disbelief. ‘It worked. I’ve never used my Gift before to learn another tongue. I thought what I had was useless unless it involved archaeology or analysing a murder weapon.’

I refrained from telling him that I had had the same thought. Psychometry generally meant you could touch an object and learn its history because the object’s energy field would transfer knowledge to someone gifted enough to understand it. Using psychometry to communicate with a sea monster had seemed like the longest of long shots.

I looked at him as he got to his feet. ‘I thought I was a goner,’ I told him, honestly, my heart still rattling around my ribcage.

He nodded. ‘Me too. How did you know it would leave like that?’

‘Because it didn’t want to be here either. Someone used their Gift to drag it here from whichever sea depths it came from. It was angry and scared so it attacked us.’

He held my gaze. ‘I can’t believe we’re still alive.’

I fervently agreed. ‘We make a good team.’ Without thinking, I reached over and gave him a tight hug. His arms wrapped round my body, holding me close. He smelled really good.

He sucked in a breath and pulled back slightly, looking into my eyes. ‘I’m shaking,’ he muttered.

‘Adrenaline,’ I said, more breathily than I’d intended.

We stared at each other then his gaze dropped to my mouth. I licked my lips and he groaned. A second later we were kissing, a frantic ‘seize the moment’ kind of action that left us both gasping for air. His mouth pressed hard on mine, stealing away my breath.

‘This is a mistake,’ he told me as he curled one hand round my head and the other round my waist.

‘Textbook,’ I agreed.