‘What are we waiting for?’ hissed Shane. ‘Let’s go get them.’

‘No!’ Cat reached for him, but it was too late. He was already off, ducking and weaving his way through the tangle of bodies.

‘Wait!’ she called out, trying to catch up, but the crowd seemed to press all the closer, cutting her off – or holding her back.

The king’s speech ended and, all of a sudden, the music struck up louder than before. All around her the fairies erupted into a frenzy of dancing and twirling. Cat felt like she was caught in the centre of a whirlpool. She tried to dart between the spinning bodies, but each time she was knocked back again. She had completely lost sight of Shane.

Suddenly, strong arms gripped her from behind and whipped her around. After a moment’s dizziness, she looked up into the face of the creature she had spotted earlier, before she had been distracted by the wonders of the Revels.

‘We meet at last, Caitriona,’ he said, and his voice sent a shiver down her spine. It made her think of frosty winter mornings and twigs snapping underfoot. ‘Won’t you join me in a dance? It is a time of celebration, after all.’

Before she could respond, the creature began to spin her around, faster and faster. She tried to break away, to get to Shane, but with each turn he seemed to be spinning her further away from the stage.

‘Please,’ she gasped, ‘I have to–’ but her words were cut short as the creature twirled her even faster. Soon she was so dizzy she thought she might be sick.

‘You have impressed me tonight,’ he said. Despite the pace of their dance, Cat heard every word he spoke and unlike her, he wasn’t remotely out of breath. ‘But I knew you would. A little bird told me that you did well with the Merrow and the Dullahan. But can you repeat the feat with the Queen of the Sídhe?’

How did he know about the Merrow and the Dullahan? Cat opened her mouth to ask, but every time she tried she felt as though the words were ripped away from her lips.

‘What’s the matter? Can’t keep up?’ he laughed and the sound of it was so mocking, so cruel, it awoke something in Cat. She hadn’t gone through all she had tonight to stand here and be made fun of by this … this thing. He might be the one leading, but she didn’t have to take part in his dance. So she stopped.

She thought coming to a sudden and abrupt stop would send the creature tumbling away from her, but it was as though he anticipated her every move. The second her foot planted onto the ground he disengaged and, with the grace of a trained ballet dancer, dropped into an exaggerated bow.

‘Thank you for the dance, Caitriona. We’ll speak again before the rooster crows. You can count on it.’

With that, he was gone and Cat was left staring at thin air, her mouth agape and dozens of questions unasked. She whirled around, searching for him in the crowd, but there was no sign of the creature anywhere save for the lingering smell of damp earth in the air.