Lexie’s plaintive complaint rang out across the dining hall. ‘Aw, Tegs, come on.’

‘The only ones who are supposed to be here are trolls, Lex. Everyone else needs to stay hidden.’ What I didn’t say was that if the border had been breached I’d also need people I could count on to stay back here and hold the mansion. We had to be prepared for every eventuality. Even with his knowledge of my apparent death, I could never be sure what Aifric was planning.

I sensed the blue-haired pixie pouting but she fell quiet. I barrelled out of the door and sped towards the border, doing everything I could to avoid looking down again at my own body. One of these days I was going to get the trolls to build a giant slide from the mansion down to the bottom of the hill. Either that or learn how to roller-skate.

The only light visible by the border was cast by old-fashioned torches which used flame rather than electricity to illuminate the area. The flagpole remained in place but, in order to keep to the fiction that the Adair Clan was finally gone for good, Sorley had taken down the flag. Instead he’d concealed some stitched Adair colours into the flat top of the pole to maintain the border magic but to keep my presence secret from prying eyes.

I scanned the area and spotted a small army of trolls glaring at the lone figure who stood across the border and who was, incongruously, holding a bicycle. The nearest settlement was miles away; it was a long way to cycle, especially in the dark.

Whoever our visitor was, he was wearing a hooded top and keeping his face shadowed. Sorley was closest to him and was gesticulating wildly. ‘Show yourself!’ he hissed.

The hooded man crossed his arms. ‘Not until I see Chieftain Adair.’ His voice was hoarse. I frowned. I recognised the accent.

‘I’ve already told you. She’s dead. We own these lands now.’

‘I don’t believe she’s dead at all,’ the man – or rather the Bauchan ‒ said huskily.

My eyes narrowed. Fergus might have proved knowledgeable on the few occasions we’d met in the past but that didn’t mean he should not believe I was dead. Had someone talked?

I stepped forward, inadvertently brushing against one of the trolls. He flinched, a movement so brief that I barely caught it.

Irritatingly, Fergus noticed it too. ‘Chieftain Adair!’ he called out. ‘How good of you to come and greet me!’

Sorley spun round, searching for me. ‘You’re seeing things,’ he growled. ‘Because unless Integrity Adair’s ghost is haunting these parts, she’s not here.’

‘It’s alright, Sorley,’ I said softly.

He stiffened, rage at his security measures being discounted lighting up his eyes. He took his job very seriously. I skirted through the trolls until I was by his side. ‘I know this guy,’ I told him in a half whisper. ‘He’s helped us out before and—’

‘And you made me a promise,’ Fergus said. ‘Tell me, did you steal Invisibility from Tipsania Scrymgeour? Or did she give it to you?’