The world stopped spinning then. Time became elastic. Effie could see her pet, her beloved dog, almost hang in the air, her silky coat ruffled by the winds, lips pulled back to reveal glistening white teeth. The factor’s leg – the bloodied one – lifted and wheeled around in an arc, connecting with utmost precision his boot to her body. Poppit folded and changed trajectory, travelling not forward now, but sideways, into the rocks that had once formed a cleit. Her body slammed against a boulder with shattering force, falling to the earth and lying limp, where seconds before it had rippled with dazzling, intense life.

‘Poppit!’

Effie’s scream alone almost tore her in half but the factor was upon her in the very next instant. His hands pinioned her arms as he shook her violently. He could kill her, she didn’t doubt it. ‘One word about any of this and I’ll see to it that your father doesn’t see the sun rise. Do you understand me?’ he hissed.

She nodded desperately, tears streaming down her cheeks. She felt delirious with terror.

He sneered, looking at with her contempt. ‘You should be thanking me. I’ve thrown you a lifeline. You’ll never survive the mainland. You’re already saddled with debt and you’ve no skills of use over there. If you want a future for him, you’ll accept the way things are and not try to fight me, do you hear?’

She nodded frantically again. Anything to appease him.

‘I’ll be back soon enough. Now I have an evacuation to organize, I’ll need to come back here multiple times this summer.’ His sneer grew. ‘You’d better be ready for me. We’ve jumped the broom and that makes you my wife now—’

She kept nodding, her heart threatening to leap from her chest.

‘—I’ll be back for what is mine! Lawfully mine, do you hear?’ he spat, his face pressed against hers so that even their lashes touched. ‘I will take what is owed to me – if it’s the last thing I do!’

His breath made her want to retch but she was saved by him slapping her hard and throwing her to the ground, sending her rolling over the grass. For several moments she lay stunned, her hair streaming over her face so that she could only see him hobble away through narrow blonde slices.

With effort, she lifted her head. Mhairi, groaning, was curled up on the ground, a hand to the back of her head as she blinked, groggily. She had no idea what had just happened to her. With her back turned, she hadn’t seen the factor coming. One moment she’d been up, the next down.

‘Eff . . .?’ she groaned.