‘Why, Alice?’ Winter probed. ‘Why did he want to know what I was up to?’

She looked away. ‘Diall said you were getting too big for your boots. That you had your eye on the Ipsissimus’s job and that you had to be watched. He thought maybe you were passing Order secrets to the military and that you were plotting to bring down the Order once for and all.’

This time my snort was much louder. You only had to meet Winter for a minute or two to know that was about as likely as a snowman enjoying a sauna. Alice Fairclough’s reluctant tone suggested that she knew it was bullshit as well.

Winter leant back on his heels and rubbed his forehead. He was probably as dog-tired as I was. We’d both been to hell and back only a few hours ago and now I was bringing him conspiracy theorists and kidnap. Yep. He was definitely ruing the day he met me – and that had only been Thursday.

‘When is Ms Harrington due back?’ he asked me.

‘Monday.’

He absorbed this and stood up.

‘Can I ask a question?’ Alice said. We both looked at her. ‘Why do you smell like a toilet?’

I rolled my eyes but Winter didn’t react. He replaced her gag and nodded in the direction of the kitchen. I did as he requested and walked in with him. Harold emerged from underneath the sofa and joined us then Winter shut the door.

‘The legal thing to do is to inform the Order and the police immediately. You could get into a lot of trouble for holding these two here, Ivy. You’ve also made me a co-conspirator by default.’

I folded my arms. ‘They’re dangerous,’ I protested. ‘As soon as I let them go, whether it’s to the police or the Order or the damn Knights of the Round Table, Eve will be at risk. So will I. And so will you. She says it was Diall who put them up to this and maybe it was but we don’t know if he was working alone. There might be others who want to silence us. The entire Order might be compromised. Not to mention that it’s highly suspicious that all this stuff with the sceptre and the attempt on our lives just happened too. They might not be related, there’s no proof, but it’s a hell of a coincidence. In fact…’

Winter put a hand on my arm. ‘I was going to let you keep going until you ran out of steam,’ he said drily. ‘But I was worried that you’d not taken a breath and you’d end up passing out.’ He sighed. ‘What I said was that telling the Order and the police would be the legal thing to do. It wouldn’t be the right thing to do.’

I blinked. ‘Are you also saying that I’m right?’

‘Don’t let it get to your head.’

I held up a hand towards Harold. ‘High five!’ Harold started washing his ears.