My hormones needed to be bitch slapped.

“I’m not keeping information from Sgott,” I said, a little more forcefully than was needed.

“I’m not asking you to.”

I studied him for a second, then returned my gaze to my phone and sent a message to Sgott detailing everything we’d discovered. Cynwrig’s people might have gotten an informational jump, but the IIT had the resource might of the law behind them. As races went, it should be fairly even.

We continued on in silence. At the airport, we were ushered into a private lounge and eventually escorted out to a small jet. Though there were ten—very comfortable—seats on board, we were the only passengers.

Thankfully, we had a tail wind, and it took less than an hour to get to Swansea. The minute I turned the phone’s flight mode off, it dinged; Lugh, letting us know they’d arrived.

They’d? I glanced at Cynwrig. “Did Lugh say anything about bringing someone with him?”

Annoyance flickered through his expression. “Apparently Mathi has decided he needs to be useful.”

A smile twitched my lips. “And he undoubtedly will be, especially if the Looisearch or Annwfyn attack.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why would the Annwfyn attack?”

“Because the sword will call to darkness the second anyone picks it up, and that unfortunately includes the shadowed folk.”

He hesitated. “It’s unlikely they’ll attack unless our search takes us well into the night. For the most part, they avoid the sun.”

“It’s the ‘for the most part’ that worries me.” I screwed up my nose. “Does that mean the myths of them not being able to move through daylight aren’t true?”

He nodded. “It’s a choice rather than a rule.”

And he’d know. His people had done more than anyone else to keep the shadowed folk at bay; in fact, they were the only ones—aside from the Annwfyn themselves—capable of opening and closing the dark gates, though the latter didn’t come with any sort of permanence.

“Well, the sword is only accessible through a cave in the dragon’s head, and from what I saw, it’s darker than hell in there, even in daylight.”

“Then we’d better hope there’s no gate on the island.”

“You don’t know? I thought the Myrkálfar kept track of them all, whether they’re active or not.”

“We do, but the problem is, humanity were once nomads and the gates shifted location with them. Records from those times are scant at the best.”

As the flight attendant unlocked the door, Cynwrig offered me his hand, then tugged me into his arms. His kiss was very thorough indeed.

The attendant eventually cleared his throat. I stepped back, slung my pack over my shoulder, and said, “You did that for Mathi’s benefit, didn’t you?”

“Mathi has never figured into any of my actions.” With his fingers still twined around mine, he turned and led the way out of the plane.

“So that kiss didn’t come from a primeval need to assert territory?”

“It did not.”

It was so flatly said I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah. Believing that.”