Page 11 of The Salted Sceptre
I stared at him. ‘And do what?’
‘Snoop around Culcreuch Castle. Tonight is the one time when we know Athair won’t be there. It’s the perfect opportunity to sneak into his lair and learn everything we can about him.’
My breath caught. ‘That’s incredibly risky, Hugo.’
He grinned. ‘I know. That’s why I’m the bigger hero.’
This time I didn’t respond with a teasing remark. ‘I mean it. If something happens to you…’ My voice trailed off and I couldn’t finish the sentence.
‘It’ll break you. It’ll shatter you into a million pieces.’
I nodded mutely.
‘Now you know how I feel every time you put yourself in danger,’ he said. ‘We’ll just have to be very careful.’ He pulled me closer. ‘We’re a team,’ he said in my ear. ‘Always.’
Chapter
Five
Iwaited for Athair at Pemberville Castle, Hugo’s ancestral home in Perthshire. As the crow flies, it was only thirty or so miles from the old castle that Athair occupied, but my presence at Pemberville was as much a test of Athair’s knowledge of my whereabouts as a plan to help Hugo breach Culcreuch Castle. My fiendish father had said he’d send a car for me but he hadn’t saidwherehe’d send that car. I wanted to know if he was keeping close tabs on me.
When a taxi pulled up in front of Hugo’s ancestral home at 5.59pm, I knew that he was.
I hadn’t dressed up for the occasion but neither had I dressed down. I didn’t want to give any thought to how I looked so I was wearing the same clothes I’d pulled on that morning – although Gladys was sheathed by my side as per usual. I certainly wouldn’t give Athair the satisfaction of thinking that I’d been anxiously preparing for this meeting.
In contrast, Hugo was fully equipped. He was wearing tight black clothes so that he could use the dark night to his advantage and not worry about snagging loose material on sharp corners – it was imperative that he left no trace of himself behind. Our only advantage against Athair at that moment was that he wasunaware that we knew where he was living, and we desperately wanted to keep it that way. Fortunately, most of the Primes were prepared to provide back-up, although Hugo had forbidden any of them from entering Culcreuch Castle with him.
‘Don’t let him into your mind,’ Hugo cautioned me as we prepared to leave. ‘He’ll try and manipulate you at every turn. Keep your barriers up at all times.’
‘We’ll follow you all the way, Daisy,’ Miriam said. ‘Slim and I will be ready to extract you. If you make the signal, we’ll be there.’
Hell would freeze over before I did that; I wouldn’t put them in danger, no matter what happened. I’d already argued that they should stay with the others to help Hugo but unfortunately nobody had listened to me. I had work to do on becoming a hoity-toity high elf whose orders were followed without question; that was going to take more than a title and a castle of my own to achieve.
‘Don’t get caught,’ I said to Hugo. ‘And don’t die.’
‘Same to you.’ His voice was light but I recognised the trace of fear in his velvet-blue eyes because I shared it. I swallowed then gestured to Hester and Otis. They looked as nervous as I felt, but they flew up and took position on my shoulders. The brownies were under strict instructions to pay attention to everything but to keep their mouths tightly closed. I doubted they’d comply, but their presence would be incredibly useful because there would be less chance that I missed any nuances or misconstrued Athair’s words. And they knew not to linger if this all went tits up.
‘Let’s do this,’ I said. I stood tall and walked out.
The taxi driver stayed in his cab and didn’t even roll his window down, a smart move on his part because Duchess had emerged from underneath her bridge and was eyeing him with a predatory gleam.
‘Stand down,’ I told the troll. The last thing any of us needed was her intervention.
She pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips. ‘He doesn’t look so scary,’ she said. ‘I reckon I can take him on and solve all your problems, girlie.’
I sighed. ‘That’s not Athair. That’s the taxi driver who will take us to Athair.’
‘Oh.’ She stared at the poor man, who did his best not to look in her direction, then she shrugged her heavy shoulders. ‘Very well then.’
She clapped me on the back making me stagger forwards. ‘I’d say it’s been nice knowing you but I’d be lying. Enjoy your last few hours. I’ll tell Lord Snoot Face not to cry too much once you’re gone.’ She raised a hairless eyebrow. ‘Although between you and me, he’s been far too jolly recently. His constant good mood is grating on my nerves – and that’s all your fault.’
I’d happily take responsibility for putting a smile on Hugo’s face. I curtsied towards her, then spun on my heel and headed for the taxi.
‘You can change your mind, Daisy,’ Otis urged.
‘Yeah,’ Hester agreed. ‘Stab the driver while you’ve got the chance. If he can’t drive then you can’t travel to have dinner with Athair.’
I ignored them and paused at the passenger door to glance at Hugo. Our eyes met for one long moment. I crossed my fingers, got into the back of the cab and prayed that he’d still be in one piece in a few hours’ time.
