With the promise that Hecate would find out the truth of Lily’s claims, she was released from the wall-chains, only to be cuffed again and dragged to the middle of the hall. The walls were made of ancient stone, damp and streaked with copper ore that reflected and refracted the torchlight. The entire room looked to have been carved directly from the rock, and the furnishings, if they could even be called that, seemed to have been dumped there in an attempt at creating a more grandiose atmosphere. There was a huge, rusty chandelier hanging from the arched ceiling, an altar at the back of the room covered in a variety of weaponry and bottles filled with all manner of strangely coloured, swirling liquids. The theme of battle continued throughout the room: attached to the walls were swords, staffs, bows, and quivers filled with arrows. The door she’d come through, which she now faced, was reinforced with a huge contraption made of steel bars, ropes, and pulleys. This was no hideout.

It was a fortress.

‘Look at me, child.’ Hecate’s rich, slimy voice forced Lily back into the moment. She was pushed to her knees by invisible hands and refused to make eye contact, instead choosing to stare intently at the witch’s leather boots. ‘I said,’ Hecate growled, ‘look at me. Did the Brotherhood send you?’

Lily slowly raised her head and met Hecate’s eyes. She could hear Alice’s struggles in the background, but the woman obscured her view. With a flick of the wrist, Lily’s hands were thrown outward and fastened to wooden posts that hadn’t been there seconds previously. On her knees with her arms outstretched, she was helpless. Where is Jem? she thought. If there was anyone who could give her the last ounce of strength she needed to survive this, it was him. She closed her eyes and pictured him standing by Alice, the two of them smiling at her with kind tenderness in their eyes.

All of a sudden, Lily felt warmth on her face that didn’t come from the joy of her wishful thinking. Opening her eyes, she found herself face to face with a roaring fire that was burning without fuel, right in front of her. Through the flames, Hecate leaned towards her. ‘Talk, or this fire gets hotter and it gets closer. The longer it takes you to tell us what you know, the longer you’ll be trussed up, slowly burning on a pyre of your own making.’

‘I don’t know anything,’ Lily pleaded. ‘Please, I don’t know anything. I came alone. I followed my heart. Please…’ Smoke clutched at her throat, choking her. The more she coughed, the more smoke she inhaled. Suffocation would kill her faster than the flames if she continued to hyperventilate, but she couldn’t catch her breath to try and calm herself. Panic filled her, threatening to force her into unconsciousness.

‘If you don’t know anything, girl, then why do you look exactly like Alfryd Knight? He sent you, didn’t he?’