‘That’s not very comforting. Whoever your father was, I doubt he’d be impressed at you dying to win back the Adair Lands.’

I was silent for a moment. The truth was, none of us had any idea what would have impressed my father. Since the day I’d seen a vision of him in the grove at the Cruaich, however, the thought of him had been gnawing away at me. I set foot upon this course months ago; I wasn’t going to back down just because it was a little bit scary. Or a lot scary.

‘You know,’ I said softly, ‘those lands are very close to here. My father probably saw the Veil on a regular basis. He might even have stood on this very spot.’

‘Your father is dead,’ Taylor said.

I turned to him. ‘He died because of the Sidhe, not the Fomori. I can do this.’

‘You don’t even know if the bloody genie is right about the harp.’

Actually, I had the feeling that despite Bob’s posturing he really wanted me to succeed. I shrugged.

‘You should take him in there with you. At least then if you need to make a wish to save yourself…’

I shook my head. ‘No. I’ve already committed myself to one wish. I’m not going to bring him along and be tempted to say the words while I’m under pressure. What if it went wrong and I wished myself out and the wish made the Veil disappear? I could be responsible for the Fomori taking over all of Scotland, not just the Lowlands.’

‘If they wanted to do that,’ Taylor said, ‘they probably would have done it already.’

I sighed. ‘You know what I’m saying.’

He squeezed my shoulder. ‘I do. And I see that you’re committed to this course.’ He heaved a breath. ‘To be honest, I almost did this when I was younger. Crossed the Veil, I mean. It wasn’t for a good reason like yours, though.’ He looked rueful. ‘I’m no honourable Sidhe.’

‘Really?’

He nodded. ‘There are tales of a lot of riches on the other side. And I wanted to be a hero.’

‘What stopped you?’

He gave a crooked smile. ‘In the end, I was too frightened.’

I smiled back. ‘I’m pretty damn terrified myself.’

‘Yeah. But you’re Integrity Adair. You’ll be fine.’

I pursed my lips. I’d been Integrity Taylor for so long that hearing him call me something else jarred. ‘I’ll always be a Taylor too,’ I told him.

His expression grew serious. ‘I know.’

I wrapped my arms tightly round his thickening waist. ‘I might be doing this for my biological father,’ I whispered, ‘but you’ve been my real father.’

Taylor jerked back. ‘Don’t you dare.’

‘What?’

‘This is not a suicide mission. You are not going to die and you are not saying goodbye. Don’t you dare talk as if you are.’

‘Okay.’

He glared at me. ‘I mean it.’

‘Sure.’ I nodded. ‘I’m just going for a stroll and a bit of shopping and I’ll be back before you know it.’ I tried not to notice the way his eyes glistened.