‘Bring him up to the mansion,’ I said. ‘At least Taylor will be kept busy for a while.’ My old mentor was no surgeon but he did possess some sterling first-aid skills.
‘Wait,’ Fergus whispered. ‘There’s something else.’ His eyes fixed on a patch of ground to my right; I was, after all, still invisible. ‘I was right before, wasn’t I? Tipsania Scrymgeour is here.’
I took a leap of faith. ‘She is.’
Fergus chuckled softly. ‘Is her dress ready?’
Confused, I asked, ‘What do you mean?’ His jaw worked in response. Judging by his pupils, he was on the verge of passing out. ‘Fergus!’ I demanded. ‘What do you mean?’
‘The invitations have gone out,’ he said. ‘Her wedding to Byron Moncrieffe is happening in thirteen days’ time.’
I drew back. What? That didn’t make any sense. I opened my mouth to question Fergus some more but his head dropped forward. He was already out for the count. Shite.
Chapter Two
‘He’s still unconscious,’ Taylor informed me. ‘I don’t think he’s in any real danger but he’s travelled a long way and he’s lost quite a bit of blood. There’s probably mild concussion too.’
Tipsania flounced towards him, hands on hips. She was the perfect modern-day representation of Scarlett O’Hara. ‘Can’t you throw water in his face or something? I need to know what’s going on!’
As ridiculous as her statement was, I sympathised with her. Even her father, the Bull, wasn’t thick-headed enough not to have noticed that she’d been missing for months. How on earth he planned to hold a wedding without the actual bride was beyond me. Tipsania wasn’t concerned with logistics, however; despite the appearance she maintained in public, she had no interest in Byron. Not these days, anyway. Her heart belonged to a rather intimidating Wild Man by the name of Candy.
‘He needs to sleep,’ Taylor said.
Tipsania gave a frustrated growl. May, who’d been watching the proceedings wide-eyed, shuffled over and put her head on Tipsania’s shoulder. It was a measure of how far my old adversary had come that she didn’t shake off the demon and start throwing things.
‘It could be,’ Brochan rumbled, his gills twitching with the tension, ‘that it’s just smoke and mirrors and the wedding will be cancelled at the last moment.’
I scratched my head. ‘But to what end? The marriage is supposed to cement the alliance between the Moncrieffes and the Scrymgeours. Leaving Byron standing at the altar isn’t going to achieve that. In fact, it’ll do the opposite.’ What I didn’t ask was why Byron was apparently going ahead with the charade. I shouldn’t feel hurt – after all, he thought I was dead. And even if I wasn’t dead, I had no claim on him. But rationality has no place when it comes to affairs of the heart; I could still feel a dull ache in the centre of my chest.
Lexie piped up. ‘Maybe they think the wedding is still going ahead.’
‘It can’t go ahead without the bride,’ Speck said. He paused. ‘Can it?’
‘Of course not,’ I dismissed. A niggle of worry gnawed away at me. I wouldn’t put anything past Aifric Moncrieffe; he might change the law to suit his own purposes, although I couldn’t imagine that he’d get away with marrying someone off in absentia. Even he wasn’t that crazy. But the Moncrieffes were still in debt and they’d been counting on the Scrymgeour gold.
Morna laughed without much humour. ‘The other Clans would never let him do that. We’re living in the twenty-first century, not the first. And Byron is a decent boy. He wouldn’t permit it.’
‘He hasn’t seen or heard from his supposed fiancée in weeks and yet he’s apparently letting the wedding proceed,’ I pointed out, disgust in my voice.
‘He knows I’m here,’ Tipsania said dully. ‘My father knows I’m here and he’s going to force me to leave.’
Taylor shook his head. ‘He can’t. He couldn’t get past the border.’
I swung my head towards her. ‘Doeshe know you’re here?’ I asked sharply.
She sank down, her shoulders dropping in defeat. ‘I don’t know. It’s not like I left a note. I wasn’t followed here, I made sure of that.’
‘Did you tell anyone you were coming?’
Her face was completely miserable. ‘Only Candy. And Byron knew as well, of course, because he brought me.’
I exchanged glances with the others. ‘When was the last time you spoke to Candy?’
‘Last month.’ She gave me an icy glare. ‘If the phone signal was better…’
Exasperated, I pushed back my hair. I couldn’t solve all the problems in the world, regardless of what everyone thought. If all we had to worry about was the lack of a mobile phone mast, we’d be laughing. ‘Would Candy have confided in anyone else?’
She scowled. ‘If you’re asking whether he’d betray me then the answer is no.’
