Byron gaped. ‘What the hell?’

‘Giant spiders don’t like salt,’ I informed him. I smiled. ‘Now it really is just you and me.’

I jumped up, somersaulting backwards until I was right behind the dais and the button. He stared at me expressionlessly as I made my move.

There was a loud rattle. The salt of my sweat had only been a temporary setback for Debbie. She appeared above Byron’s head once more but this time the look in her many eyes was rage. Her mouth opened again and she snapped.

I didn’t think. I veered off course, missing the dais completely and crashing into Byron. He staggered.

‘What the fuck!’ he yelled.

Debbie hissed, annoyed that she’d temporarily lost her prey again. She flicked a hesitant leg at me but I dodged it easily. She was scared that I might bombard her with more salty sweat and she was keeping her distance but Byron was still in her sights. I scrambled to my feet as she reared up and snapped towards him again. This time, as I pushed him out of the way once more, he fell backwards, his arms reaching out behind his body to brace himself for impact. Quite by accident, his elbow hit the button and a loud gong sounded, along with a burst of fireworks. Shite.

Byron blinked, stunned, while Debbie pulled back and scuttled away, the sound throwing her off balance. I curved round him and slammed down my own hand to register my position in second place. The gong boomed again but there were no fireworks this time. The winner had already been announced – and it wasn’t me.

Chapter Twenty

I received a warm, tight group hug in commiseration. Several well-dressed Sidhe tutted loudly at the blatant show of friendly contact but we ignored them.

‘You came so close,’ Lexie sniffed. ‘It’s not fair.’

‘It is what it is. In the end, Byron was better.’ I was being overly generous but for some reason I didn’t want my friends to think badly of him.

Brochan growled, ‘A Sidhe would never be better than you.’

I gave him a watery grin. ‘I’m a Sidhe.’

‘You know what I mean.’

‘If you’d just…’ Speck started.

‘Speck, leave it,’ Lexie said. ‘Tegs doesn’t need to know the permutations of what might have happened if she’d let Debbie go for Byron.’

‘Sorry,’ he mumbled.

I squeezed his arm. ‘You can tell me later.’

Taylor smiled. ‘It’s not all bad. I just won sixty-five thousand pounds.’ His eyes gleamed. ‘Gambling’s not such a terrible thing after all.’

I gaped at him. ‘But I lost.’

His smile grew. ‘I didn’t bet on you.’

Lexie punched him. ‘You gambled away my money on Byron Moncrieffe instead of Tegs? You prick!’

‘I won though! Byron won! I was right to do it.’

‘So much for honour amongst thieves,’ she grumbled.

I tried not to laugh. It might have been overwrought hysteria or it might have been genuine amusement ‒ at this stage it was difficult to tell.