Hester wrung her hands. ‘It could be Athair.’
Hugo shook his head. ‘That’s not his car.’
We stayed where we were and watched a flashy Porsche head smoothly into the space Hugo’s parents had just vacated. The windows were tinted so it was impossible to see who was inside.
I licked my lips – and that was when my skin started to itch.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Iknew who it was long before he stepped out of the expensive car. Baltar hadn’t used his powers to disguise his body, even though he was more than capable of doing so. That was probably why he was driving a vehicle with tinted windows: anyone seeing a golden-skinned creature with long black hair driving a Porsche would remember him. They might call the police and cause all sorts of problems.
Hugo sucked in a sharp breath and the brownies’ eyes were as wide as saucers. In thirty years’ time I would encounter Baltar on two separate occasions – and the second time I would kill him.
‘Athair is not the only fiendish bastard who wants Lady Rose,’ I muttered. But we still didn’t know why. Surely it couldn’t be because she was using blood magic? Were the fiends trulythatdesperate to recruit her?
Baltar tossed back his hair and gazed at the mansion, a snide smile playing around his thin golden lips. Instead of approaching the building, he walked to the passenger side of the car, opened the door, reached inside and hauled someone out. Whoever it was, it wasn’ta fiend.
‘Who is that?’ Otis whispered.
I shrugged to indicate I had no idea.
‘Sorcerer,’ Hugo hissed. He was right; Baltar’s companion had the lean, gangly look of their kind.
‘He looks a bit like Gordon,’ Hester said. I was about to disagree when I realised she was right. Although this man’s swarthy features were totally dissimilar, his expression mirrored the one I’d frequently seen on Gordon’s face.
‘He’s scared,’ I breathed. ‘That sorcerer isn’t here by choice.’ I felt sick to my stomach; there could only be one reason why Baltar had dragged him here.
The fiend gave his companion a gentle look – then backhanded him across the face with such force that the crack echoed. I clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle my cry, than I started to move to confront Baltar.
Hugo reached for me in warning. ‘Wait,’ he said. ‘We need to see what happens. We need to know what’s going on, Daisy.’
He was right. Despite my frustration, I nodded and turned back .
Baltar shoved the sorcerer towards the wall of the mansion and forced him to crouch down and examine the blood ward. After a few moments, the sorcerer nodded.
The fiend’s answering grin was coldly gleeful. He spread his arms wide and addressed the silent façade in a loud voice. ‘Lady Rose Assigney! My name is Baltar! You know what I am, and you know what I am here for!’
I didn’t know what he was there for; it would be helpful if he spelled it out so we could all understand.
There was no answer. Gladys, however, buzzed impatiently by my side. She recognised Baltar – of course she did; it was her blade that would kill him in the future.
‘You must know that you cannot win against Athair,’ Baltarcontinued. ‘You will have to yield sooner or later. I can smooth the path for you, bring all this to an end.’
I suddenly realised what Baltar was up to: he was hoping to ingratiate himself with Athair by helping him achieve his objective. Fiends were supposed to work alone, but in my experience in the future they didn’t. Perhaps this was the turning point when their methods changed.
‘Drop your ward and open the door,’ Baltar bellowed, ‘and I will allow you to walk away unharmed. If you don’t let me in, I will break down your defences – and you will not enjoy the consequences.’ He ran his tongue across his lips. ‘Personally, I’m hoping for that – I enjoy tasting elvish blood.’
I shuddered.
The sorcerer, still kneeling, was etching a series of runes on the ground next to his feet. I reached to my left and grazed the wall of the mansion with my fingertips; it was growing hot. Very hot. Whatever that damned sorcerer was doing to Lady Rose’s defensive ward was working.
‘We have to act, Hugo. We can’t just watch,’ I pleaded.
His expression was grim, but he didn’t disagree. ‘You killed that bastard once,’ he said. ‘If we fight together, you can do it again.’
‘And if you kill him,’ Hester whispered, ‘you’ll also prove that the past can be changed. You can alter history.’
