I tilted up my chin. ‘Think on this,’ I said in perfect Fomorian. ‘I could have stolen teleportation and taken myself far from here but I did not. You can trust me. I am here to negotiate, not to fight, not to challenge, not to steal. Neither am I here to destroy Alba.’ I met the leader’s eyes. ‘Deal with me.’

The watching crowed gasped. Unfortunately it barely registered with me because the energy it had taken to steal, not to mention how difficult it was to make my little speech, had almost done me in.

‘Stop!’ a female voice shouted. ‘Leave her alone!’

May strode out from the far gates with Byron, Fergus ‒ and presumably Bob ‒ in her wake. I was sure I was still having issues with my vision because May never walked with that kind of confidence. Neither did she speak with that kind of authority.

She walked up to us, glaring at the huge demon who was holding me up and then addressing the Fomori leaders. ‘She is not what you think she is.’

‘You can talk,’ someone burst out.

‘I have a tongue.’ May pointed at me. ‘Thanks to her.’

I looked past her. The expression on Byron’s face suggested that he didn’t know whether to attack every single Fomori in the place for even thinking about hurting me or whether he should run over and cradle me in his arms like a wounded child. I was hoping for the latter. Fergus, meanwhile, had his mouth flattened and his face masked. There was a glittering rage in his eyes as he watched May, which didn’t make sense.

‘She isn’t evil,’ May continued. ‘She isn’t planning our downfall. With this one we can really negotiate.’

A thought poked through the clouds of pain and confusion in my mind. ‘Wait,’ I said suddenly. I looked at the English-speaking leader. ‘Levitation. You said I could levitate. I only did that once though when—’ I looked at May. ‘You told them about that.’

She met my eyes. ‘Yes. That was before I knew what you could really do.’

‘So,’ the other demon said, ‘when you told us you only had one Gift and we knew you weren’t lying, we assumed it was something to do with manipulating the air. We had never seen such a thing before. But,’ he smiled slightly, ‘we have never seen anyone who could steal magic before either.’

My eyes drifted back to May then to Fergus whose jaw remained tight with tension. ‘May’s a spy,’ he spat, bitterness lacing every word. ‘She’s been working for the Fomori demons all along. She followed you across the Veil to watch you and report back. All along she’s been manipulating us. May is no victim.’

His words penetrated my skull and I wobbled, agony nibbling at my body. Byron cursed and marched over, glaring at the monster demon who shrugged and passed me over. Byron wrapped his arms round me so I could lean back into his chest. ‘You’re alright,’ he murmured into my ear. ‘We’re all still alright.’