LIZ INSISTED ON driving me back. “Diana can drive my car back to the inn,” she explained as we walked to my car, “and I don’t think you should be driving so soon after your … journey.” She started to say something else, but then glanced out at the fields and motioned for me to get inside the car. As soon as we were inside, with the windows rolled up, she didn’t waste any time getting right to the point. She turned to me “Brock’s right,” she said. “Your incubus is back.”

She said it like I’d had a reoccurrence of shingles or bed bugs.

“Maybe that’s not such a bad thing,” I said defensively. “I’d still be spinning through space if Liam hadn’t pulled me back and that wouldn’t have worked if he weren’t my true love.”

Liz clucked her tongue and started the car. “According to him, Callie!” she said, keeping her eyes on the road and grasping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “He’s enslaved you. Look at yourself. You’ve got so much Aelvesgold in your system that you’re glowing. He’s gotten you addicted to the stuff.”

“Oh, so now I’m an addict and a sex-slave … hey, wait a second, I’ve been using Aelvesgold under the direction of Duncan Laird, the tutor you got for me.”

A pained look crossed Liz’s face and she took her eyes off the road long enough to turn and give me a doleful stare.

“You don’t think …?”

Liz turned her eyes back to the road but not before I saw her lip tremble. “I’m sorry, Callie, but yes, I think Duncan Laird is your incubus.”

“No,” I said, my stomach roiling at the idea. “You said he was recommended by a member of the circle …”

“Yes, but I’m afraid it’s possible that the circle member who recommended him might not have been acting with your best interests in mind.”

“Who …?” I began, thinking of Moondance’s obvious hostility and wondering if she had been the one to recommend Duncan, but Liz silenced me with a raised hand.

“I’d rather not say who it was until I’ve verified my suspicions, but I think we have to consider the possibility that Mr. Laird might have been foisted upon us under false pretenses.”

“But you checked his references personally.”

“Such things can be faked. I’m afraid now that I might not have been careful enough. Believe me when I say that the thought that I may have made the same mistake twice and put you in harm’s way again is deeply mortifying to me.”