‘Which was?’

‘To usurp her own Chieftain and take the reins of her Clan. They’re one of the top four, you know. The others are conditioned to listen to her.’

I watched in shock. Molly Kincaid’s tiny figure joined them and she shouted something to the mass of waiting Sidhe. From this distance, her words were indistinct but I had a good idea of what she was saying. In fact, she was still talking when Jamie Moncrieffe strode up to her.

‘I told you I wasn’t twiddling my thumbs while you were dead,’ Byron chided me. ‘I wasn’t just learning how to pick locks. Obviously not all of this is down to me but I’ve helped smooth the way.’ He sounded rightly proud. ‘They were taken in by my father’s words but now they’re seeing the light.’

Literally and figuratively. I stared while the entire Kincaid Clan moved, effectively switching sides. They took up places next to the MacQuarries. ‘We stand with Clan Adair!’

At Jamie’s behest, at least three-quarters of the Moncrieffes did the same, then the Carnegies followed. Their Chieftain was a canny woman: she knew which way the wind was blowing and she knew what it would take to survive. With the Veil gone, the smart move was to fall back and, whether she liked me or not, she was smart. Others peeled off and followed. Each time they did, the call was the same.

‘We stand with Clan Adair!’

‘We stand with Clan Adair!’

‘We stand with Clan Adair!’

I pressed my lips together, my vision blurry with tears. ‘Three days ago, they wanted me dead.’

‘And now the Steward is dead instead,’ Fergus murmured. ‘People gravitate to where the power is. Some would have followed you anyway. Others will follow you because you’re the one who’s now in control. There will be plenty who are praying that you fail but unless you do, they’ll keep quiet. They’ll do whatever’s necessary to keep themselves safe.’

Crowd mentality indeed. Fickle freaks. Taylor took my hand, squeezing it hard. ‘The Adairs are never going to be forgotten now,’ he said quietly.

Bit by bit, the original Sidhe army was decimated. Plenty still remained but their ranks were in tatters. Even though I knew that I’d have their unmitigated hatred for a generation, all I could do was gape.

‘The Fomori are still approaching,’ Fergus warned.

My heart pounded. I turned to Asbar and gestured helplessly. ‘Call them off. We’ve helped you.’ I smiled at Speck. ‘There was a plan.’ He grinned back and doffed an imaginary cap. Then I pointed at the brilliant blue sky and gave Asbar another meaningful look. ‘You’re free now. All of us are free now.’

He stared at the dappled shadows around us which highlighted the now-golden sunshine. Even the Fomori army below us kept craning their necks upwards as if to check that the sun was still there. This wasn’t the day for fighting. It might be the end of Scotland as we knew it but it was also the beginning of our country. The Fomori king knew it as much as I did.