‘I knew the moment I saw you that you were the right person to be the mother of my child,’ he breathed. ‘Look at you. You’re magnificent.’ He spread his arms wide. ‘Come on, Rosie. Attack me again. Hit me with everything you’ve got.’
I gazed at his face. He genuinely wanted her to attack him and the thought was chilling. Athair wanted Rose to give herself up to blood magic entirely. The more of those foul powers that she called upon, the closer she would be to becoming a fiend herself. Perhaps he had visions of creating a happy fiend family – himself, Rose and me. Three fiends together.
A growl rumbled deep in my chest. That wasn’t going to happen. I wouldn’t let it.
Rose didn’t have the same qualms that I did. As Hugo and I ran towards her with both brownies keeping pace in the air, she released another blast of power, conjuring up clouds of pitch-black smoke that billowed in Athair’s direction and obscuredhim from view. I could still hear his laughter as it enveloped him.
I grabbed Rose’s right arm while Hugo took her left. ‘Enough!’ I snarled at her. ‘We are leaving!’
‘No,’ she muttered, resisting. ‘I will kill him. Ihaveto kill him. It’s the only way to keep you safe.’
‘You can’t kill him, Rose. The only way you can achieve that is if you become a fiend yourself.’
She turned her wild eyes to me. ‘So be it.’
I hissed. Hugo looked over her head towards me. ‘Do it,’ he told me. He was right.
I inhaled deeply. ‘Sorry, Mum,’ I said. Then I curled my hand into a fist and hit her in the head. She crumpled immediately.
Hugo caught her before she fell to the ground and scooped her up. She moaned briefly. She’d be pissed off when she came round, but she’d recover.
Unfortunately, that was when the smoke started to clear and Athair’s figure reappeared. ‘Go,’ I urged Hugo. ‘Get her to the car!’
‘Daisy—’
‘Please, Hugo!’
His expression twisted but he did as I asked. I turned and faced my father. Any doubt I’d had about our shared identity had long since faded away.
Athair’s maniacal grin had been wiped from his face. ‘You again.’ He stared at me. ‘You shouldn’t have involved yourself in this. Your death will not be pretty – but it will be well-deserved.’
Otis zipped towards him. ‘If you didn’t want her involved, you shouldn’t have left that letter for her in Rose’s bedroom!’
Genuine confusion crossed Athair’s face.
Before I could stop her, Hester joined her brother. ‘Yeah!’ she yelled. ‘And you shouldn’t appear at Gordon Mackenzie’shouse in thirty years’ time and force her to release her magic and set off the stupid magic skull that sent us here! This is all your fault!’
‘What?’ Athair asked. ‘What the fuck are you on about?’ His eyes flicked to mine. ‘Why am I being harangued by two brownies with a death wish? What are they talking about?’
My voice was soft. ‘You haven’t worked it out yet? I thought you were smart.’
Athair’s head tilted – and that was when I sent out two blasts of air magic that snagged the cars parked on either side of the road and flung them forward. The hunks of metal crashed down on top of him, squashing him flat beneath their heavy weight.
I knew they wouldn’t keep him down for long and I only had seconds to escape. I reached out, snatched a brownie in each hand and ran for all I was worth.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
‘You know,’ Charles said, as we drove away at high speed, ‘Edinburgh Council will bill you for that mess if they ever track you down.’
‘I’ve heard they do that,’ I said drily, raising my voice to be heard over the cries coming from Baby Daisy, who was now wide awake and making sure we all knew it. Rose was slumped against Tash, Hugo was white faced, and Charles was ignoring every red light. We were in a mess – although Hester and Otis appeared exultant.
‘You showed him,’ Hester crowed. ‘You showed Athair who’s in charge!’
Otis added, ‘He’ll think twice before he tries to come at us again!’
I wished I shared their enthusiasm. ‘He won’t allow himself to be distracted in that way again. We got lucky this time, but those cars I dropped on him won’t hold him for more than a few minutes. He’ll already be back on our tail.’
