‘What do you think?’ I asked quietly. I pirouetted. ‘Close enough to the real thing?’

He stared then jabbed a finger at me. ‘Steward Moncrieffe?’ he asked, his voice wavering.

I smirked. ‘Call me Aifric.’

Bob shook his head in a mixture of giddy fear and delight. ‘Awesome,’ he breathed.

‘Glad you like it.’

He pointed at my newly acquired paunch. ‘How does it feel to carry around that extra weight?’

‘It’s an illusion. I’m not actually Aifric Moncrieffe.’

‘You certainly look like him.’ His gaze turned wary. ‘How do I know you’re still Uh Integrity under all that?’

‘I might look like him but I don’t sound like him, do I?’

Bob still seemed doubtful. ‘What’s your favourite colour?’

‘Hot pink.’

‘Ha! Everyone knows that’s your favourite colour.’

There was a shuffling noise round the corner; the Sidhe guard had probably heard something and was coming to investigate. I glared in warning but the genie wasn’t done yet. ‘Who is the smartest person you know?’ he asked.

‘Fergus.’

He glared. I grinned. There was no further time for Bob to interrogate me as the guard was upon us. ‘Who …’ her voice faltered. ‘Steward. I apologise. I didn’t realise it was you.’

I reminded myself that Aifric presented a benign, kindly face to the world and twinkled at the Sidhe. I coughed to disguise my voice. ‘No problem.’

Luckily she was still surprised by my appearance or she might have questioned why ‘Aifric’ sounded so strange. I would have to limit my words if I wanted to pull this off. I jerked my head in the direction of the corridor, a question in my eyes. The Sidhe understood. ‘He’s sleeping,’ she said. ‘He had some food at midday.’

‘Hm,’ I nodded. I waited, still looking at her expectantly and hoping my silence would encourage her to fill the void with helpful chatter.

‘It’s good he’s sleeping,’ she said anxiously, as if desperate to please. ‘It means that when you get him down to the Adair Lands, he’ll be more alert.’ I pursed my lips to encourage her to continue. ‘I still can’t believe that a Wild Man is working with those trolls. Traitors,’ she spat. ‘And abducting Byron’s fiancée.’ She shook her head. ‘It beggars belief. He deserves to be hung, drawn and quartered.’ I frowned and she quickly backtracked. ‘I know you’re trying to be lenient, Steward, because of the pressure everyone’s been under. It’s not a criticism. Obviously you have the full picture and I’m just a lowly guard.’

I patted her on the shoulder. Aifric had been spinning quite a yarn to his minions. What were the odds that if he managed to get Candy down to my border to dangle him in front of Tipsania, the Wild Man would then die in some horrific ‘accident’?

Byron wasn’t that kind of bastard; maybe he wasn’t involved in this at all. Not that it mattered either way. I’d had my suspicions confirmed and I now knew for sure that Candy was going to be used as bait to drag Tipsania back for her impending nuptials. Once I got Candy out of here, Aifric’s plans would be scuppered. There was a lot of satisfaction in knowing that.