Veiled Threat by Helen Harper Page A

was, after all, what I’d wished for.
    Brochan knelt down beside me and took my left hand; Lexie did the same to my right. I felt both Taylor and Speck at my back and Bob on my shoulder. They were there with me. I wasn’t alone.
    My father cut through my mother’s flesh, slicing through it as his own body shuddered in pain. There was blood everywhere. It seemed to take an age and I could sense him withdrawing into himself. There was just him and his gory task; nothing else remained. When he pulled out the tiny red baby, her face contorted and her umbilical cord still linking her to her mother, I felt as if I was being stabbed in the heart over and over again.
    ‘That’s you,’ Taylor said. ‘That’s actually you.’
    Coldness descended across my shoulder blades. ‘And that’s Aifric Moncrieffe.’
    The Steward strode through from the main entrance, his hands gripping a sword. My father didn’t even notice. Aifric sliced the sword through the air, once, twice, and then he smirked. A heartbeat later he plunged it into his old friend’s back.
    My father spasmed and crumpled, falling as my baby self fell with him. Moncrieffe hands took me from him as Aifric stood over his failing body and grinned from ear to ear.
    I stopped looking at my father’s killer; instead I focused on my father. ‘I’m with you,’ I mouthed.
    He blinked slowly. He knew he was dying, it was there in his eyes and in the way his body relaxed. He didn’t fight death; it was almost as if he welcomed it. A world without Coira, his wife and my mother, wasn’t worth lingering in. I saw the light leave his face and his jaw slacken.
    And then the ghostly vision disappeared and I was looking at the old dark patch and the few forlorn weeds still pushing up from the ground.
    It took me a long time to move. At some point I was aware that my tears were drying and my heart was still beating. I got to my feet and slowly walked over to stand on the spot where my parents had breathed their last.
    ‘That’s how he did it,’ Speck said. ‘Aifric. That’s how he beat the magical border. He pretended to leave but didn’t. Probably killed whoever was guarding it and simply waited for the poison to do its job. Then he came back to mop up.’
    ‘It’s a miracle he didn’t kill Tegs too.’
    ‘She was a baby. An innocent baby.’
    ‘Everyone else in Clan Adair was innocent too,’ I said aloud. My voice rang out more steadily than I thought it would.
    Lexie murmured something as I walked away. I loved my friends like family but right now I needed to be alone.
    ‘What about the consequences of the wish?’ I heard Speck ask.
    ‘You’re looking at them,’ Bob said. ‘The consequences of fulfilling the wish are already consequences enough.’
    I kept walking.

Chapter Six
    I sat under the tree for the rest of the day, watching both the real shadows and the imaginary ones. The others were sensible enough to leave me in peace. I’d like to say my thoughts were coherent but there was little other than pain. For now I didn’t plan or scheme or plot, I just let myself feel. I was entitled to that much.
    The sun had fallen when Taylor eventually approached. His hands were in his pockets and he ambled slowly, giving me plenty of advance warning. When he reached me, I looked up. ‘You drew the short straw then?’
    He gave a crooked smile. ‘I wanted to come.’ He held out his arms, ready to envelop me in a hug. There was no denying the anxious light in his eyes.
    I shook my head and stood up. Enough wallowing; I was supposed to be a warrior, after all. ‘No. I’m good now.’ There was just the slightest tremor in my voice.
    ‘Integrity...’
    ‘I’m okay, Taylor.’
    He searched my face, trying to ascertain the truth. Then he nodded and dropped his arms. ‘Good. The, um, troll. Surly?’
    ‘Sorley.’
    ‘Yeah, him. He’s causing some kind of ruckus. He’s not very ... happy.’
    ‘You mean he really is surly?’
    Taylor’s smile grew, albeit