‘No. It’s not money I’m after.’ His face fell. ‘I’m sorry,’ I apologised. ‘But we can always make more money. There are some things that even the biggest treasure chest can’t offer.’
‘Like what?’ Taylor seemed baffled that I’d even consider anything other than hard cash.
I took a deep breath. ‘The Adair Lands.’
Even Brochan’s jaw dropped at that. ‘You’d ask for your own Clan Lands? But technically they already belong to you, don’t they?’
‘First of all,’ I said ticking off the points on my fingers, ‘the Lands were destroyed by being covered in salt and then confiscated. They’ve been lying empty ever since…’ I didn’t finish the sentence. ‘If I asked for them back, every single Sidhe would have to recognise my Clan again and I’d be in a better position to find out what really happened to my parents.’ And to get my revenge.
‘But you’re the only member of Clan Adair,’ said Speck.
I grinned. ‘Didn’t you all say you were working for me?’ The Sidhe might run the Clans but there was no law against getting others to work for them.
‘I love you Tegs but I’m not swearing fealty.’ Lexie flipped back her hair.
I rolled my eyes. ‘You know I wouldn’t ask you for that. I’m sure we could come to an alternative arrangement.’
A gleam lit Taylor’s eyes. ‘It would be like throwing sand in the other clans’ faces.’
‘Not sand,’ Speck said thoughtfully. ‘A whole lot of our sweet-smelling shit.’
‘And we’d rub their faces in it,’ grinned Taylor.
‘Not to mention,’ Bob’s voice piped up as Brochan sneezed, ‘we could leave this town and go somewhere more civilised.’
‘Who says you’re coming along?’ I asked.
‘You might need me.’ I snorted but Bob looked only momentarily put out. ‘If you want,’ he said, warming to the topic, ‘you could make a wish and win automatically. Job done.’
I didn’t even deign to answer.
‘Actually,’ Taylor interjected, ‘I’m pretty certain that there are wards in place to prevent anyone from using magic to win.’
‘Participants can’t use their Gifts?’
‘They can use them during the individual challenges but not to control the outcome of the Games as a whole. There’s some trigger system that alerts the organising Clan. Anyone caught trying to play the system is banned from competing for the next six generations.’
More of Byron’s supposed honour shite. Whatever. I fixed my gaze on Taylor. ‘What else do you know about the Games?’
He frowned, searching through his memory. ‘There are three challenges: Artistry, Adventure and Acumen.’
Speck pursed his lips. ‘Alliteration.’
‘Bless you,’ said Lexie. He glared at her.
Taylor ignored them and continued. ‘The nature of the challenges changes every time. If memory serves me right, that ice wall thing Byron Moncrieffe was talking about came in the Adventure challenge last time around.’
Lexie clapped her hands. ‘That would be a piece of cake for Tegs!’
Taylor grimaced. ‘It was only part of the whole thing. The reason I heard about the competition in the first place was because of what came after the ice wall in the last Games. In the Acumen challenge.’
‘Which was?’
‘A Yeti.’
I blinked. ‘Seriously?’
‘Yeah. There were some rather brutal, er, deaths.’
